What Happened to Pittsburgh boss John Bazzano?

[JoelTurner]

The John Bazzano murder comes up in other discussions but is still pretty confusing. I'm making this post to share what I know and organize the information that's readily available; I think that a clear timeline is the best way to go about this.

Bazzano Timeline - 1932:

July 29- Neopolitan gangsters James, John, and Arthur Volpe are killed at Bazzano's Coffee Shop. His brother Santo Bazzano, who was in the restaurant at the time of the shooting, refuses to talk. Bazzano says he was in Aliquippa, PA during the event.

August 6- Bazzano's corpse is dumped on a street in Brooklyn.

August 7- Inquiring about the Volpe shooting, the Pittsburgh press looks for Bazzano. Members of his family say he left town indefinitely: "He's gone and he won't be back for a long time".

August 11- Bazzano's corpse is identified by his brother-in-law and a Pittsburgh police officer. It stated that he came to New York with 2 other men and registered at the Hotel Pennsylvania. One of these men gave their name as "Sam Pagano".

August 17- A group of people are arrested over the Bazzano murder.

-------------------------------------------------

Who was Arrested?

Sources differ on the exact number of people who were arrested but what's clear is that the following fourteen people were held:

Pittsburgh Family:
- Michael Russo - 1202 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
- Frank Adragna - 90 Washington St, Pittsburgh, PA
- Michael Bua - 208 South Atlantic St, Pittsburgh, PA
- Carlo Sparlino - 1215 Pennsylvania Ave, Pittsburgh, PA

Gambino Family
- Albert Anastasia - formerly of 151 Sackett St. Brooklyn, NY
- Joseph Traina - 1778 71 St, Brooklyn, NY

Bonanno Family
- Ciro Gallo - 708 Bushwick Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Colombo Family
- Anthony Bonasera - 7515 13th Ave, Brooklyn, NY
- John Oddo - 1955 W10th St, Brooklyn, NY

Buffalo Family
- Paul Palmieri - 1538 Whitney Ave, Niagara Falls, NY
- Sam DiCarlo - 274 Prospect Ave, Buffalo NY

Ne Pennsylvania family
- Angelo Calizza - 285 Elm St, Dunmore, PA
- Santo Volpe - 215 Wyoming Ave, Pittston, PA [Not related to the aforementioned Volpe Bros.]

Family Unclear
- Peter Lombardo/Giallombardo - 103 Greenwood Ave, Trenton, NJ

-------------------------------------------------

Where were the Lucchese and the Genovese families? According to Gentile, Vito Genovese was pretty angry at Bazzano and wanted him dead over the Volpe shooting.

How did the police know whom to arrest? These men were arrested at a party. Several news articles claim that they were meeting to pay Bazzano's four killers (they're not named) $5,000 each and would be paid $7,000 to eliminate a widely known NY racketeer. How would the police learn this fairly specific information?

[JoelTurner]

This article mentions Eighteen people being arrested over the Bazzano killing but only lists the 14 mentioned in the starter post.



(https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1096548 ... no-murder/)

--------------------

This article mentions Twenty people being arrested. Even if we subtract the women, it still leaves us with 16 men, two more than accounted for in the starter post.

Interestingly, it says there were some stool pigeons in Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. I have no idea where they would get the story that he was negotiating for several days; I highly doubt anyone in the group of arrestees was talking.



(https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1096545 ... no-murder/)

[B.]

This article goes into some of the arrestees' backgrounds: https://mafia.substack.com/p/a-different-set-of-gallos

Anastasia was paesan / ally of Bazzano while Genovese was paesan / ally of the Volpes so they were closely in the fallout involved according to Gentile. There was a Calabrian vs. Neapolitan element to the dispute.

Gentile was accused by Vito Genovese of helping Bazzano with the Volpe murders as allegedly Bazzano used three Pittsburgh members who were compaesani of Gentile and it was felt they acted on his orders. No idea who they were but it would imply they were from Agrigento like him.

He denied involvement but it ultimately led to Gentile and Charles Cavallero transferring to the Gambinos.

[Pogo The Clown]

Were the Volpes Pittsburgh members? If so why would a Boss get killed by NY so soon after for authorizing a murder within his own family?


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

Were the Volpes Pittsburgh members? If so why would a Boss get killed by NY so soon after for authorizing a murder within his own family?


Pogo

John was confirmed as a member when he was killed, Louis and the other one were ID'd in the 60's.

In theory, part of the function of the commission was to protect the soldiers, no murders were to be committed without a commission ok. Now, I'm sure we can find examples of bosses killing underlings, what we don't know in many cases if the commission (or someone on it) was consulted. I imagine if a boss killed a nobody who had no connections to anyone else or groups it might not matter. But the Volpes were connected outside of Pittsburgh, had a strong ally in Genovese so their killing had political impacts in that world.

[Antiliar]

It probably had something to do with killing all three brothers at once, almost wiping out a complete biological family.

[JoelTurner]

This article goes into some of the arrestees' backgrounds: https://mafia.substack.com/p/a-different-set-of-gallos

This was super interesting. It says that Giallombardo was from Belmonte Mezzagno, do you have the source for this? I wasn’t able to find anything on him outside of the census that I posted in the Trenton thread.

Gentile was accused by Vito Genovese of helping Bazzano with the Volpe murders as allegedly Bazzano used three Pittsburgh members who were compaesani of Gentile and it was felt they acted on his orders. No idea who they were but it would imply they were from Agrigento like him.

A quick glance at Pittsburgh’s Mafia chart of that era shows a couple of members from Agrigento: Gregorio Conti and Giuseppe Cusumano.

I don’t think there were that many guys from there though.

[B.]

Here's the manifest where the Giallombardo brothers came to the US in 1902. You can see Belmonte on the far right:


CC found Pietro witnessed Tampa member Steve Italiano's marriage and it looks like he was gumbata to the DiLeonardos but his surname is butchered on that record.

[JoelTurner]

Here's the manifest where the Giallombardo brothers came to the US in 1902. You can see Belmonte on the far right:


CC found Pietro witnessed Tampa member Steve Italiano's marriage and it looks like he was gumbata to the DiLeonardos but his surname is butchered on that record.

Thank you!

[Stroccos]

Were the Volpes Pittsburgh members? If so why would a Boss get killed by NY so soon after for authorizing a murder within his own family?


Pogo

John was confirmed as a member when he was killed, Louis and the other one were ID'd in the 60's.

In theory, part of the function of the commission was to protect the soldiers, no murders were to be committed without a commission ok. Now, I'm sure we can find examples of bosses killing underlings, what we don't know in many cases if the commission (or someone on it) was consulted. I imagine if a boss killed a nobody who had no connections to anyone else or groups it might not matter. But the Volpes were connected outside of Pittsburgh, had a strong ally in Genovese so their killing had political impacts in that world.

Wasnt Frank Milano Clelveland boss Allegedly the one to sign off on the Volpe hit?
Also MIlano Allegedly signed off the Dr ROmano ( former boss of cleveland ) hit in Cleveland and Al polizzi had to go to a commission to meeting get made man John Demarco a pass , Angelo Lonardo was given a pass because he wasn't made.

[Angelo Santino]

That's the rumor and the fallout may have cost Milano his office but beats the same fate as Bazzano.

[JoelTurner]

I remember reading that Vito Genovese blamed both Milano and Anastasia for giving Bazzano the go-ahead.

[JoelTurner]

Mike Russo was born in Cerda but his mother was from Trabia, same hometown as Mike Bua.

Carlo Sparlino was from Castlevetrano and Frank Adragna was from Monte San Giuliano (Erice).

I don’t know how much this stuff would have mattered in this instance considering that the core issue was an affair between a Calabrian Bazzano and the Neopolitan Volpe bros.

[B.]

There was a Frank Adragna from Monte San Giuliano in Sharon PA and Ohio who was the same age as the one arrested for the Bazzano murder but the murder suspect was from Alcamo and lived in the actual Pittsburgh area. The one in Sharon married a non-Italian while the mafioso married a woman with heritage in Avellino who was originally from PA. Adragna's father and brothers were also mafiosi with Families in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, and the Bay Area.

His half-brother Joe is a suspected Bonanno member, same with their father Giuseppe. Fellow Bazzano suspect Ciro Gallo of the Bonanno Family was married to a woman from Alcamo and lived near Williamsburg where the Adragnas lived. I couldn't find any links between Gallo's wife and the Adragnas beyond that, though both Gallo and the Adragnas had close ties to the CA Bay Area and became members there. George Adragna was a Pittsburgh member who transferred to San Jose and another brother Vito was a Pittsburgh associate later proposed into the San Jose Family. Another half-brother of Frank was Antonino Dragna who was heavily active in crime and died in a 1928 still accident.

A Pittsburgh member called "Joe l'Alcamese" (Joe the Alcamese) was involved in the Pittsburgh Family's turmoil circa 1932 and according to Gentile it resulted in his murder as he chose to stay in Pittsburgh with his fiancee rather than move to New York and transfer like his allies Gentile and Charles Cavallaro. I've seen speculation that Joe l'Alcamese was Giuseppe Adragna Sr., Frank's father, but he was living in Williamsburg in 1930 with his wife and Frank's half-brothers and died in New York in 1931. Nothing to substantiate the idea that he was in Pittsburgh, had a new fiancee, and was murdered there, especially not in 1932. However he was a mafioso named Joe from Alcamo and two of his sons joined the Pittsburgh Family so there could be a connection, especially given that Alcamo doesn't otherwise show up in what we know of Pittsburgh.

More likely is that Gentile was referring to someone else entirely but I do think it's significant that both Joe l'Alcamese and Frank Adragna from Alcamo were linked to the conflict(s) in Pittsburgh at this time. Ciro Gallo's involvement is interesting too not just because his wife was from Alcamo like the Adragnas but because his brother Joe was the suspected driver in the 1931 murder of previous Pittsburgh boss Giuseppe Siragusa. Joe Gallo and the other killers allegedly came from NYC but Gallo only ever lived in California from what I've found before the Siragusa hit and afterward, becoming a San Jose member; his brother Ciro was living in Brooklyn at the time so maybe Joe was staying there. Ciro and Joe Gallo apparently never lived in Pittsburgh but odd that both Gallo brothers were suspects in the 1931-1932 murders of two Pittsburgh bosses.

I believe Joe Adragna Jr.'s wife came from Menfi, Agrigento. One of the Bay Area informants who was close to Vito Adragna knew that Joe Jr. was a member of an unspecified New York Family. His Trapanese heritage and Williamsburg residence make the Bonannos most likely. Giuseppe Adragna Sr. would be another likely Bonanno member, same with his brother Vito who had a son named Francesco/Frank as well though this Frank Adragna lived out his life in NY.

[johnny_scootch]

Angelo Lonardo was given a pass because he wasn't made.

This explanation never made sense to me. He gets a pass for not being made? Usually that would be the first guy to go. I’m inclined to believe there was more to it than that.