The Agrigento Network

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Antiliar
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The Agrigento Network

Post by Antiliar »

B and others pointed out that within the early American Mafia there appears to be a network of members from Agrigento who maintained connections even if they were members of different Families. So lets see if we can figure out what it was in a single thread that deals only with these connections.

Nick Gentile, from Siculiana, Realmonte and Racalmuto, had connections to Canada, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Boston, San Franisco, and New York.

One connection that hasn't been discussed is Jack McGurn of Chicago. He was born Vincenzo Gibaldi in Licata to Tommaso Gibaldi and Giuseppina Verderame. There was another Gibaldi in Milwaukee, but generally few in the USA. There were several Verderame families living on Union Street in Brooklyn. The Verderames also appear to have had Cleveland connections, and as we know, the Lonardos and Porrellos were also from Licata. Angelo Lonardo claimed that his father Joe Lonardo met with Al Capone, and at one point Capone offered for Lonardo to be in charge of everything east of Cleveland. (I'm not saying the story is accurate, only that he was told this story.) Maybe McGurn had some lost connection that enabled him to make the introduction to Joe Lonardo.
Last edited by Antiliar on Sun Feb 23, 2020 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Villain »

Antiliar wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2020 4:02 pm One connection that hasn't been discussed is Jack McGurn of Chicago. He was born Vincenzo Gibaldi in Licata to Tommaso Gibaldi and Giuseppina Verderame. There was another Gibaldi in Milwaukee, but generally few in the USA. There were several Verderame families living on Union Street in Brooklyn. The Verderames also appear to have had Cleveland connections, and as we know, the Lonardos and Porrellos were also from Licata. Angelo Lonardo claimed that his father Joe Lonardo met with Al Capone, and at one point Capone offered for Lonardo to be in charge of everything east of Cleveland. (I'm not saying the story is accurate, only that he was told this story.) Maybe McGurn had some lost connection that enabled him to make the introduction to Joe Lonardo.
Thanks for the additional info on McGurn. The Cleveland story is quite interesting since a similar deal allegedly was also made with the Detriot faction at the time
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by B. »

There are so many connections it's hard to weave them into anything cohesive at the moment, but I'll just lay down some starting threads here. As you can see, Gentile traveled along this network and may have been the most prominent figure altogether when you consider how important he was and how many places he went. Keep in mind, too, with all of these threads we still don't even know the half of what was going on with the Agrigentesi, especially considering they aren't one of the more talked about groups, at least compared to Palermo, Castellammare/Trapani, Partinico/Terrasini/Cinisi, and Corleone networks.

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- The Pueblo family was dominated by men from Lucca di Sicula, Agrigento. Future boss Colletti had previously lived in NYC where he was likely a Bonanno member, as he was a longtime business partner of Joe Bonanno and his first cousin (also a Colletti from Lucca di Sicula) was a Bonanno captain.

- Old line Bonanno capodecina Nick Alfano was from Racalmuto and had contact with the Bordonaros from Racalmuto in the Ontario faction of Buffalo and he also had members in his crew from Cattolica Eraclea, so it's no coincidence that Alfano and his men maintained contact with the Cattolicensi in Montreal.

- Nick Gentile was from Siculiana and lived in Cattolica Eraclea for a time. His brother Vincenzo Gentile arrived in NYC earlier and a man from Agrigento named Domenico Taormina directed him to St. Louis, where there was a significant early Agrigento faction and leadership. When Nick went to the US, the same Domenico Taormina sent him to Kansas City where Vincenzo Gentile was now living, and while waiting for his brother, Nick met with Vincenzo LoCicero, future D'Aquila capodecina from Agrigento. At one point Gentile and his brother traveled to Pueblo, where as mentioned there was a dominant Agrigentesi faction.

- Nick Gentile's other brother Gerlando came from Siculiana and settled in Vancouver BC, where his son Giuseppe and other relatives appear to have formed a local mafia crew. This group was close to Paolo Violi of Montreal, who supervised a group of men from Siculiana and Cattolica Eraclea, which may be taken as a sign that the Gentiles of Vancouver were also in contact with their paesani in Montreal and where older brother Nicolo Gentile visited decades earlier.

- The aforementioned Vincenzo LoCicero of the D'Aquila family, who had previously lived in Kansas City, later had a son Felice who was a Gambino member that lived in Tampa for a time, where they had ties to the Agrigentesi of the Tampa family.

- The Cardinellis of Pueblo were from Agrigento and had previously lived in Brooklyn, where the D'Aquila Agrigentesi faction was massive. Early Pueblo leader Scaglia was from Burgio and after his murder, his relates moved to Kansas City where the Agrigentesi network extended as already mentioned. The LaRoccas of Kansas City and Pueblo were both from Lucca Sicula, so that is another Pueblo->KC connection among this network. Gentile of course would become boss of Kansas City.

- LoCicero and Gentile would later become significant members of the D'Aquila/Mangano Sciacchitani faction, which included other powerful Agrigentesi leaders like Accursio Dimino, Gaetano Trupia, Giuseppe Parlapiano, and Domenico Arcuri. Arcuri had previously been a member of the Tampa family which was dominated by his paesani from Agrigento. The Arcuris would stay close to Tampa figures and also have a close relationship to the DeCavalcante family members from Ribera for decades.

- At one point Gentile went to Quebec with a friend from Ribera. While he didn't specify who he met there, it's likely there was a colony from Siculiana and/or Cattolica Eraclea already in place that would later provide a foundation for the Bonanno Montreal members from Cattolica and Siculiana, both places where Gentile lived. Personally, I believe Gentile was sort of a proto-member of what would later become the Caruana-Cuntrera group given he came from the same small town and as extensively involved in international drug trafficking

- The early foundations of the Buffalo Canadian crew were from Racalmuto and belonged to the same organization as mafiosi from nearby Agrigento towns in Rochester and Buffalo. Gentile had contacts in Rochester who may have been among these Agrigentesi.

- Gentile traveled back and forth to Agrigento where he lived periodically and seems to have operated on both sides. Similarly the DeCavalcante family maintained contact with Ribera in Sicily and exchanged members. There appears to have been a degree of fluidity in the relationship between US Agrigentesi and their paesani in Sicily, as well as fluidity between them in the US.

- In Pittsburgh, early boss Gregorio Conte was from Agrigento and of course Gentile shows up there. Gentile also became close to Pittsburgh member Charles Cavallero who came from Agrigento and when they came into conflict with the leadership, they were transferred to the Gambino family's Sciacchitani faction.

- Early NYC member Salvatore Cina was from Agrigento and started out in Tampa, a family dominated by Agrigentesi, before ending up in Manhattan in the early 1900s. Early Tampa boss Ignazio Italiano was from Agrigento and did the reverse, first living in Manahttan for a time before going to Tampa.

- Sebastiano Bellanca of the Gambino family was from Cattolica Eraclea and was involved with Alfonso Attardi and Nick Gentile in drug trafficking, all of them from Agrigento. Bellanca was also involved early on with Montreal, where his paesani from Cattolica Eraclea would later become the dominant faction in Montreal. Bellanca's mother was a Renda, though it's unknown what the relation is to the future Montreal Rendas from Cattolica.

- There was an early Sciacca mafia group in Norristown, PA, which is likely where Nick Gentile became a made member. This group doesn't appear to have joined the Philadelphia family and Celeste Morello believes they belonged to an NYC family after falling into retirement. Morello's uncle was a mafioso who lived in Brooklyn where he was active in crime before returning to Norristown. It's possible this group was close to the Brooklyn Gambino Sciacchitani group given the info Morello provided. There was definitely a strong Sciacchitani colony there.

- Salvatore and Joseph Falcone were from Sciacca and lived in Brooklyn, where one of their sisters married the brother of Accursio Dimino, early D'Aquila captain from Sciacca, likely making the Falcones early members of the D'Aquila Sciacchitani faction. Salvatore Falcone got married to a woman from New Orleans in Colorado, where as mentioned there was a strong element from Agrigento, before moving to Utica. Their cousin Joseph Sabella was a made member and Sciacchitano who lived in Brooklyn but belonged to Buffalo.

- Similarly, another Falcone cousin was Joseph Indelicato who was a Gambino member from Sciacca and also a cousin of the Bonanno Indelicatos who were Sciacchitani. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but Sonny Indelicato would team up with fellow Sciacchitano Phil Giaccone in the 1980s to try and take over the family. Mike Sabella of the Bonannos was also of Sciacchitani heritage. Other Bonanno leaders from this era who came from Agrigento were Salvatore Farrugia and Angelo Salvo, the latter of which ran a crew of men from Agrigento.

- Early Lucchese Brooklyn captain Curiale came from Agrigento and his longest-surviving soldier was one of the D'Anna brothers from Agrigento who escaped the warfare in Pueblo, where as mentioned the Agrigentesi were dominant. We don't have enough info to know if there were other early members of Curiale's crew who may have been from Agrigento but it's certainly possible. D'Arco said Curiale started out in another Brooklyn family originally, so he may have split off from the big Gambino Schiacchitani faction for all we know.

- Rockford had many members from Aragona, Agrigento, and their main hangout was a social club named for Aragona. As Cavita has shared, they imported mafia figures from Aragona, Sicily, in the 1970s and 80s because of how strong these relationships remained. It appears they maintained contact with Boston "zip" capodecina Biagio DiGiacomo who was from Aragona.

- Michele Merlo of Chicago was from Sambuca, not far from Ribera, and it appears the Riberesi like Pasquale + Giuseppe Lolordo, the DiGiorgis, and Bacino moved to Chicago and rose in stature during the time Merlo was in charge. Lolordo and Bacino had previously lived in NYC where there was a Riberesi group in Manhattan and Elizabeth, NJ. Bacino would maintain close ties to Elizabeth and Giuseppe Lolordo would return to that family after his brother's death. Longtime St. Louis boss from Burgio (even closer to Sambuca), Pasquale Miceli, started out in the Chicago area as well and the St. Louis family was said to be under Chicago's influence while Miceli was boss.

- The Riberesi in Birmingham appear to be related to some of the Riberesi in Elizabeth and possibly Chicago. One early Birmingham Riberese family moved to Elizabeth where their in-laws were involved in the local NJ mafia, assuming the father of that family wasn't an early member himself.

- The Gaglianos and Marcellos of New Orleans were from Agrigento and there were others, like the Campo family and various others. Given that New Orleans was a major port for early immigrants, probability tells us New Orleans served as a starting point for the early Agrigentesi who arrived in the US before they filtered into other cities like Tampa, Birmingham, and St. Louis. There could be countless connections to NO we don't know about.

- The Amatos of the Gambino family lived in Florida but were from the same Agrigento town as the Arcuris as well as many of the Tampa members and their presence in Florida put them in close contact with the Tampa membership, including some relations. Another Gambino member from the same town was Giuseppe LiCalsi, who also started out in Tampa and arrived to the US with future Tampa members before becoming a Gambino member like the Amatos and Arcuris.

- Joe Masseria was born in Agrigento and had relatives in the Agrigentesi-dominated Cleveland family. Masseria's faction during the Castellammarese War were called the "Sciacchitani" even though Masseria himself doesn't seem to have had any Agrigentesi guys working directly for him, but it shows he was heavily associated with that region or even the network itself.

- One of the Lonardo brothers went from Cleveland to San Francisco, where there were a number of early Agrigentesi members. One of the Trafficantes also moved to San Francisco / Bay Area. The first known boss of San Jose, Alfonso Conetto was from the same hometown as the Trafficantes. Gentile of course ended up in San Francisco for a time, which shouldn't be a surprise given he's the mascot of this network.

--

Believe it or not, there is much more to it than just these examples and I believe with a little more work we could tie more of these connections together. Keep in mind, too, many of these guys came from different hometowns that operated in clusters, but my belief is that the entire Agrigento coast operated as one giant network with many different wires crossing back and forth between the towns and clusters of villages.
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Angelo Santino »

You recalled all that memory, didn't you? I was about to post a few names last night but was so tired.. you beat me to it and I couldn't have contributed a 10th of what you added.

Maybe we need to break these guys down further by town?
Here's a few Gambinos: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KKBydmEAZ-s/U ... Sicily.jpg
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by sdeitche »

B. wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 2:47 am

- Early NYC member Salvatore Cina was from Agrigento and started out in Tampa, a family dominated by Agrigentesi, before ending up in Manhattan in the early 1900s. Early Tampa boss Ignazio Italiano was from Agrigento and did the reverse, first living in Manahttan for a time before going to Tampa.

-
I did not know this about Italiano! Though makes sense as most of them came through NY/Ellis Island. Thanks for the info. I have some great photos of Ignazio from his great grand-daughter. Will try to post here (always seem to have issues).

Within the Agrigento province, an overwhelming majority of Tampa Sicilians came from the villages of Allesandria Della Rocca and Santo Stefano Quisquina like the Cacciatores, Trafficantes, Diecidues, Ippolitos, etc.
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Angelo Santino »

sdeitche wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:30 am
B. wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 2:47 am

- Early NYC member Salvatore Cina was from Agrigento and started out in Tampa, a family dominated by Agrigentesi, before ending up in Manhattan in the early 1900s. Early Tampa boss Ignazio Italiano was from Agrigento and did the reverse, first living in Manahttan for a time before going to Tampa.

-
I did not know this about Italiano! Though makes sense as most of them came through NY/Ellis Island. Thanks for the info. I have some great photos of Ignazio from his great grand-daughter. Will try to post here (always seem to have issues).

Within the Agrigento province, an overwhelming majority of Tampa Sicilians came from the villages of Allesandria Della Rocca and Santo Stefano Quisquina like the Cacciatores, Trafficantes, Diecidues, Ippolitos, etc.
Cina, of Bivona, wrote people from Tampa-
Filippo Giglio, bro in law. Once Tampa and the other Ybor with address 2107 11th Ave. It's one or the other.
Francesco Mobia, cousin, West Tampa

Cina's bro in Law Vincent Giglio wrote to
Vincent Giglio's wife, Giovanna lived in West Tampa, 245 Oak St
"Mr. Greco Giuseppe", West Tampa, 836 Oak St
Angelo Giglio, cousin, 146 Oak St, West Tampa


I have people from Birmingham who were incarcerated in the 10's also, they wrote people in Tampa (not sure if they are connected or not.)
Giuseppe Ramatta, he wrote to
wife Carmela (Vicari), 141 Arch St, Tampa and later on 236 Oak St.
brother Enrico, 215 Fortune St.

Stefano Vicari of Birmingham also wrote:
Giuseppe Vicari, 246 Oak St, Tampa

Even if these last two guys aren't connected in any way to OC, it makes me wonder if Birmingham and Tampa had more connections? Looks like Oak Street might be a place to check.
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by B. »

Chris Christie wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:55 am You recalled all that memory, didn't you? I was about to post a few names last night but was so tired.. you beat me to it and I couldn't have contributed a 10th of what you added.

Maybe we need to break these guys down further by town?
Here's a few Gambinos: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KKBydmEAZ-s/U ... Sicily.jpg
Even my twisted mutant brain wouldn't be able to pull all that out of thin air -- just half of it.

If we want to really break this down, it def requires going town by town, or more like clusters of towns, as that's how the families (or factions) in different US cities formed. But the paesani from those towns/clusters were aligned with paesani from other towns/clusters in Agrigento which is why this network was larger than singular hometown connections. It's a lot like the connections you see concentrated in metropolitan Palermo but spread out over the whole southern coast of Agrigento province, less urbanized and maybe even more tight-knit.

I'm trying not to overgeneralize the connections by throwing everyone from "Agrigento province" into the same group, but the impression I have is that the entire province had a strong sense of fellowship that carried over to the US. Gentile is the mascot of this, as he gravitated toward cities and mafia groups that had significant figures from all around Agrigento and they often weren't from his town. He would go places where there was a strong Agrigentesi presence and meet up with men from various Agrigento towns and quickly form bonds that would carry throughout his travels. If some of the other guys from this network wrote a memoir, we might find that they didn't travel as much as Gentile but we would probably see very similar patterns and connections -- we can def see glimpses of it even in the limited info we have on other individuals/groups in this network. Salvatore Falcone is another great example I'd use who was a little bit younger than Gentile.

We can pinpoint Sciacca as the heart of the network. However, when Gentile talked about the "Sciacchitani", he wasn't just referring to guys from Sciacca... Gentile wasn't even from there and many of the individuals/factions he included in the "Sciacchitani" were from other Agrigento towns. When he said "Sciacchitani" he was referring to the network.
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Angelo Santino »

I've never really looked up the proto-groups. We only have what's been written on them and I wish I could see court transcripts, if such a thing exists. From what's been written, in the 1870's-80's there were several identified groups:
1 Fratellanza in Favara (In the 1920's, informants in NYC used Fratellanza.)
2 L'Oblonica in Girgenti
3 Scattialora in Sciacca
Should be noted that these groups appear connected with other the other groups inc
4 Zubbio (Villabate)
5 La Fontana (Misilmeri)
6 Scaglione (Castrogiovanni)
7 Stoppaglieri (Monreale)
8 Fratuzzi (Monreale), I believe it was also called the Fratuzzi in Corleone as well.

Am I missing any?

There were Gambino members from Favara and Sciacca.

cavita wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 4:45 pm
NinoFromNYC2 wrote: Tue Feb 18, 2020 1:38 pm The Rockford family had many from Aragona
Yeah by later 1961 most of their hierarchy was from there:

Boss: Joe Zammuto (Aragona)
Underboss: Frank Buscemi (Aragona)
Consigliere: Joe Zito (San Giuseppe Iato)
Capo: Lorenzo Buttice (Aragona)
Onetime acting boss Phil Caltagerone (Aragona)

By the late 1970s you still had Zammuto and Buscemi but also men from Aragona with the names Galluzzo, DiGiacamo and Seminerio among others but they were pretty diverse in that they had guys from Sambuca, Partinico, Casteldaccia, Roccamena and Marsala.
Very interesting. How early did Rockford have an Aragonese presence?
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Angelo Santino »

Rockford - Aragona

Gambino - Sciacca, Favara, Siculiana, Porto Empedocle, Cianicatti, Alessandria Della Rocca, Ribera / Caltabelotta, Agrigento (the town)

Bonanno - Siculiana, Cattolica Eraclea, Sciacca, Racalmuto

New Orleans - Siculiana, Porto Empedocle, Ravenusa

Buffalo - Montallegro (Was this a larger group or just limited to the Todaros?)

Rochester - Grotte

Utica - Sciacca

Hamilton - Racalmuto

Montreal - Siculiana, Cattolica Eraclea (Siculiana and Cattolica Eraclea are extremely close to Montallegro, where Joe Todaro's father was from and where both Joe Todaro and Todaro Jr. visited themselves.)

Cleveland - Licata, Agrigento (the town), Siculiana,

Chicago (Non-Outfit) - Licata, Sambuca, Ribera, Burgio(?)

Tampa - Allesandria Della Rocca, Santo Stefano Quisquina, Cianciana

DeCavalcante/Elizabeth - Ribera, Caltabellotta

St. Louis - Burgio / Villafranca Sicula, Casteltermini, Siculiana

Pueblo - Burgio, Lucca Sicula, Ravenusa

Kansas City - Burgio, Lucca Sicula, Siculiana, Racalmuto, Gela

Pittsburgh - Comitini, Siculiana


----
With the exception of upstate NY and Canada, these groups each appeared to keep to themselves. Each of them were connected to NY, mostly the Gambinos but am I wrong in observing that you don't see much of a cohesion among the AG factions?
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by B. »

Can add these in addition to the above. Not all cases refer to groups of paesan members, but in some cases simply the presence of select members in small families. For the most part, these appear to be part of a larger trend.

Chicago - Sambuca, Ribera, Burgio(?)

St. Louis - Burgio / Villafranca Sicula, Casteltermini, Siculiana

Pueblo - Burgio, Lucca Sicula, Ravenusa

Kansas City - Burgio, Lucca Sicula, Siculiana, Racalmuto, Gela

Pittsburgh - Comitini, Siculiana

Gambino - Siculiana, Porto Empedocle, Cianicatti, Alessandria Della Rocca, Ribera / Caltabelotta, Agrigento (the town)

DeCavalcante - Caltabellotta

Cleveland - Agrigento (the town), Siculiana,

Bonanno - Siculiana, Cattolica Eraclea, Sciacca, Racalmuto

New Orleans - Siculiana, Porto Empedocle, Ravenusa

Tampa - Cianciana
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Angelo Santino »

@B. - Added...
1 I don't agree fully on Siculiana in every instance but I completely understand the logic and would be tempted to list it with an asterisk myself. It's like Castellammare and Detroit. There was not a significant portion of CDG in that city, but it's a coastal city that's walking distance from Alcamo and Terrasini and maybe that factored into Milazzo's relocation to that city. There's serious overlap. Same goes for Philadelphia and the Cast.

2 There is no definitive number as to what constitutes a faction. I think most contemporary people view factions like Philadelphia's Calabrese Wing where the numbers are split. This early on faction may have had a different meaning. Rather than being a sizable portion within a local family, an individual's regional origin and connections with others from that same origin may have factored into someone's background. So hypothetically Milazzo could have entered the Detroit Family and been viewed as "head of the Cast" faction despite being the only one. Thoughts?

3 Am I correct in what's a blanket observation that you do not see this AG faction acting in tandem, in order words you don't see deep-rooted links between groups from that province, instead it all seems to run towards NYC. Would you agree or disagree?

4 We might as well expand on this to include other factions, then we can get a US map and map it out. Keep it Siciliano.

5 It still amazes me that this faction fell under the Gambinos. Its occurrence just defies or goes against all the logical arguments we try and build. Unless... drawing back to my previous observation that these AG groups seem to keep to themselves rather than function as a collective whole, maybe they were just fine being represented by Palermo if they cold maintain some independence. We'll never know I reckon.
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by B. »

Chris Christie wrote: Thu Feb 20, 2020 4:23 pm @B. - Added...
1 I don't agree fully on Siculiana in every instance but I completely understand the logic and would be tempted to list it with an asterisk myself. It's like Castellammare and Detroit. There was not a significant portion of CDG in that city, but it's a coastal city that's walking distance from Alcamo and Terrasini and maybe that factored into Milazzo's relocation to that city. There's serious overlap. Same goes for Philadelphia and the Cast.

2 There is no definitive number as to what constitutes a faction. I think most contemporary people view factions like Philadelphia's Calabrese Wing where the numbers are split. This early on faction may have had a different meaning. Rather than being a sizable portion within a local family, an individual's regional origin and connections with others from that same origin may have factored into someone's background. So hypothetically Milazzo could have entered the Detroit Family and been viewed as "head of the Cast" faction despite being the only one. Thoughts?

3 Am I correct in what's a blanket observation that you do not see this AG faction acting in tandem, in order words you don't see deep-rooted links between groups from that province, instead it all seems to run towards NYC. Would you agree or disagree?

4 We might as well expand on this to include other factions, then we can get a US map and map it out. Keep it Siciliano.

5 It still amazes me that this faction fell under the Gambinos. Its occurrence just defies or goes against all the logical arguments we try and build. Unless... drawing back to my previous observation that these AG groups seem to keep to themselves rather than function as a collective whole, maybe they were just fine being represented by Palermo if they cold maintain some independence. We'll never know I reckon.
1 - I was hesitant to include some examples, like those where Gentile only touched down briefly, though in many of the examples there was more than one member and in cases where there was only one person from a village, there was a collective presence connected to Agrigento province or other US cities. But my overall reasoning bleeds into the next point...

2 - When I say "faction", I basically mean someone representing a unique sphere of political influence, whether it's one member, several members, or forty members, though of course in most cases we're not going to think of one person as a "faction" and there might be a better word to use, but it sounds like you understand exactly what I mean. Early mafia politics often draw from hometown, provincial ties, etc. but there are some exceptions that don't necessarily require more than one member.

This could be taken literally, where a single member represents a distinguishable group of associates and carries his own political influence as part of that group. Nicky Scarfo in the late 1970s is a great example of this, as he could be described as both a Testa faction member and part of the dying Calabrese faction, but was really a factional power in his own right given his unique influence in a specific area (AC) with a significant group of loyal associates. If someone were to say the "Scarfo faction" in the late 1970s, many people would know exactly what that phrase referred to.

Or it could be what we see when a family has one member in a remote city, and that member is a defacto "boss" of that city -- it wouldn't be wrong to say that person represents their own regional faction even if they're the sole member in that area. It could apply to someone from a specific hometown or Sicilian region, too, especially if through that background they are part of a larger network or they otherwise represent influence drawn from where they are from and who they know (even if it's outside of their own organization).

I feel like there is more to Masseria's story that we're missing, but he could even be included. He is described as the head of the Sciacchitani faction against the Castellammaresi, but the Castellammaresi were led by someone from CDG who had countless followers from CDG in his own family, while Masseria was not from Sciacca and may have had no members from there in his own family. He had an alliance with the Sciacchitani members of the former D'Aquila family and even though they were in the same city, the same principle applies when I'm talking about "factions" in other cities -- these individuals were relying on a political force that was distinct from their own organization, it's just in Masseria's case it was in the same city and he had a lot of other groups behind him as well. Interestingly, though, nobody would call Vito Genovese ,Willie Moretti, Frank Costello, and probably not even Luciano part of the Sciacchitani, as it refers to a specific set of relationships. You can't get too scientific about it, as most people wouldn't be able to understand that the Sciacchitani were not limited to members from Sciacca, yet other members allied with the Sciacchitani under a Sciacchitano boss would only be considered allies and not an actual part of that faction.

Your example of Milazzo is a great one, as there was a Castellammaresi community in Detroit but it doesn't seem to have produced a large membership, at least not by the time Milazzo was in charge (and by the way, I'm out of my depth commenting on Detroit), but he was part of the international Castellammarese network and represented his own political influence in addition to local relationships. But we know he had Parrino from Alcamo with him and that's an important point that gets lost -- in the same way that the Sciacchitani weren't limited to men from Sciacca, the Castellammaresi weren't limited to men from Castellammare and we can see this in the Bonanno family, who attracted the vast majority of mafiosi from all over Trapani. It was actually a Trapanesi network in the same way that the Sciacchitani was actually an Agrigentesi network.
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Angelo Santino
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Angelo Santino »

B. wrote: Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:05 pm 1 - I was hesitant to include some examples, like those where Gentile only touched down briefly, though in many of the examples there was more than one member and in cases where there was only one person from a village, there was a collective presence connected to Agrigento province or other US cities. But my overall reasoning bleeds into the next point...

2 - When I say "faction", I basically mean someone representing a unique sphere of political influence, whether it's one member, several members, or forty members, though of course in most cases we're not going to think of one person as a "faction" and there might be a better word to use, but it sounds like you understand exactly what I mean. Early mafia politics often draw from hometown, provincial ties, etc. but there are some exceptions that don't necessarily require more than one member.

This could be taken literally, where a single member represents a distinguishable group of associates and carries his own political influence as part of that group. Nicky Scarfo in the late 1970s is a great example of this, as he could be described as both a Testa faction member and part of the dying Calabrese faction, but was really a factional power in his own right given his unique influence in a specific area (AC) with a significant group of loyal associates. If someone were to say the "Scarfo faction" in the late 1970s, many people would know exactly what that phrase referred to.

Or it could be what we see when a family has one member in a remote city, and that member is a defacto "boss" of that city -- it wouldn't be wrong to say that person represents their own regional faction even if they're the sole member in that area. It could apply to someone from a specific hometown or Sicilian region, too, especially if through that background they are part of a larger network or they otherwise represent influence drawn from where they are from and who they know (even if it's outside of their own organization).

I feel like there is more to Masseria's story that we're missing, but he could even be included. He is described as the head of the Sciacchitani faction against the Castellammaresi, but the Castellammaresi were led by someone from CDG who had countless followers from CDG in his own family, while Masseria was not from Sciacca and may have had no members from there in his own family. He had an alliance with the Sciacchitani members of the former D'Aquila family and even though they were in the same city, the same principle applies when I'm talking about "factions" in other cities -- these individuals were relying on a political force that was distinct from their own organization, it's just in Masseria's case it was in the same city and he had a lot of other groups behind him as well. Interestingly, though, nobody would call Vito Genovese ,Willie Moretti, Frank Costello, and probably not even Luciano part of the Sciacchitani, as it refers to a specific set of relationships. You can't get too scientific about it, as most people wouldn't be able to understand that the Sciacchitani were not limited to members from Sciacca, yet other members allied with the Sciacchitani under a Sciacchitano boss would only be considered allies and not an actual part of that faction.

Your example of Milazzo is a great one, as there was a Castellammaresi community in Detroit but it doesn't seem to have produced a large membership, at least not by the time Milazzo was in charge (and by the way, I'm out of my depth commenting on Detroit), but he was part of the international Castellammarese network and represented his own political influence in addition to local relationships. But we know he had Parrino from Alcamo with him and that's an important point that gets lost -- in the same way that the Sciacchitani weren't limited to men from Sciacca, the Castellammaresi weren't limited to men from Castellammare and we can see this in the Bonanno family, who attracted the vast majority of mafiosi from all over Trapani. It was actually a Trapanesi network in the same way that the Sciacchitani was actually an Agrigentesi network.
I don't know if there was a large percentage of Castellammarese in Detroit or Michigan for that matter. Even outside of the topic which had one member that we know about, Michigan Italian demographics doesn't seem to show that there was any sizable colony there. So at the very least it was similar to Philly: a few blood relatives and within that mini-demo were a few made guys. CDC and Alcamo and Terrasini aren't that far away and, from personal experience, the populations are interrelated. I for instance, am from CDG but I have relatives in Alcamo, Partinico as far as Bagheria. While I don't come from a Mafioso-infused family I reckon those that are likely have those same connections beyond their own town.

I recall in Leonetti's book Scarfo is talking shit about the Sicilians and seems to lump the Ciancaglinis in and along with them. Technically they aren't Sicilian in the least so perhaps that was an error on Leonetti's part or Scarfo lumped the Changs in with the Sicilians because that's who they were around and came up with?

There was something going on in Cleveland 1915 that involved people from Carini, a string of murders that cannot be explained or connected to the players that we have from this time. They either occurred independent of Lonardo and everyone on Orange Ave (the murders did occur in and around there) or there was more going on than we are aware of. We know Charles Masseria was a member, CL might have been more than just a Licatese affair by the 1910's.

Perhaps when it comes to these factions we need to split them up between Italian-demographics in a certain area (Cast in Williamsburgh) and then transplants/oddities with asterisks such as Gentile or Milazzo? And also, people can fall into more than one faction, Maranzano and Gallo were from CDG and Santa Ninfa but they are both Trapanesi. Might require a bit of zooming in and out to make these connections.

The Cinas/Giglios were from Bivona and they arrived in New Orleans, settled in Tampa for a time before relocating to NYC where they fell under the Gambinos. We have a few names from Birmingham who appear to be linked to Tampa as well. It's an interesting and complex web.
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Angelo Santino
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Angelo Santino »

For the Gambinos we earliest we have are

Filippo LoCicero, E39th (1910's), Capo? (Never specifically stated but appeared to be 'somebody')
Vincenzo Lo Cicero, E39th (1920's) (ID'd by Gentile)

Accurso Di Mino, Little Italy (1910's) (ID'd by Attardi, hinted at by Gentile)
- Umberto Valenti (Messina, related to AG)
- Alfonso Attardi
- Vincenzo Di Leonardo (Bisacquino), was he with Di Mino directly? Di Mino was in the city and Di Leonardo lived in Brooklyn.

There was a guy who killed Thomas Lo Monte from around E12th, I disremember the name but he was from Canicotti or Castrofilippo. One of those C-places in AG.

What other names can we attribute to the Gambino AG faction.

Should be noted that the components of all the Riccobono and Scalise factions that came later on down the line all originated with Saverio Virzi who was related to both men and seems to have been someone of prominence (capodecina?) on E12 for Lupo and then D'Aquila until he was incapacited from a shooting in 1913. This was Mid Village but these relatives later moved to Staten and the bronx.

And then we have South Brooklyn which likely had more than one faction of Palermitans even without throwing Mineo into the mix. Giuseppe Trovato was an earlier power (one of the Mangano bros would marry his daughter). Giuseppe Fanaro was likely somebody as well, which I'm basing on his murder being 1 of the 2 that was documented in the 1913 war. Both men were in the Red Hook section.

There's the Romano-Quartuccio- faction, they were linked to Carinesi. But we really don't know their affiliation and outside of Romano if anyone else were strambergs (I like that).

We're familiar with Battista Balsamo, whom the grandson credits as boss and founder of the Gambinos. While that's not true the man did indeed exist and appears to have been Gambino affiliated. It's interesting that he was from Terrasini and had compaesan' in Detroit if not relatives. But there's not much information on him to take it further than that. I've never seen anything to suggest- but then I never looked for- his rank. He attended Gambinos funeral or Gambino attended his, something or other.
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Pogo The Clown
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Re: The Agrigento Network

Post by Pogo The Clown »

Chris Christie wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2020 9:06 am We're familiar with Battista Balsamo

The first Godfather.


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