<<Home Niagara Falls Reporter Archive>>

Mob Book Filled With Murder

Angelo Palmeri gets arrested for murdering Emilio Gnazzo. But he is somehow released when the witness mysteriously disappears.
Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was known as " the boss of the bosses."

A murderous new two volume book, "DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime," by Thomas Hunt and Michael A. Tona, traces the history of mobster Joe DiCarlo. It is, in large part, a history of the Mafia in Western New York and, as it intertwines, the Mafia in Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Detroit and Ontario. With two volumes, it totals 1,000 pages, 100 photographs, a bibliography, an index and 3,100 endnotes. It also has a fair share of murder.

By naming a few, random ones from the first volume, one can see a lot of Italian action going on.

Dominic Speranza and Dominic Paparone, for instance, were arrested for the 1918 murder of James Celona of Hamilton, Ont.

Speranza was convicted, Paparone was shot to death.

In Niagara Falls, in 1921, Angelo Palmeri is seen murdering Emilio Gnazzo by Gnazzo's wife. Palmeri is arrested. But somehow Gnazzo's wife disappears. Palmeri is released.

Samuel Mancusa is murdered. Joseph Sottile is charged. Somehow a relative of the murdered man claims he witnessed the slaying and supports Sottile's self-defense claim. Sottile is released.

"Busy Joe" Patitucci is tried, convicted and sentenced to prison in a drug trafficking conspiracy. Patitucci decides to inform federal agents about DiCarlo, who, in turn, is arrested. On Jan. 1, 1924, Patitucci is shot, but survives. He claims his assailants were DiCarlo and Peter Gallelli. With Patitucci as a witness in the trial against DiCarlo and Gallelli, the two are convicted and sentenced to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Shortly afterwards, Patitucci reportedly attempts to kill his common-law-wife then reportedly ingests poison and dies. Patitucci relatives "discover" that he wrote a deathbed confession recanting his testimony against DiCarlo.

In Niagara Falls, a feud results in the killing of Vincenzo DiNieri and Charles Austaro. Calogero DiRosa is shot to death near Buffalo police headquarters on April 30, 1923. John Gambino is held as a suspect. Frank Genovese is murdered Nov. 26 at Erie Street and Dante Place. Gambino is arrested. John Manestri is killed March 5, 1925, behind police headquarters. No one is arrested. Joseph LaPaglia is shot to death. No arrests are made. Gambino is murdered on July 13.

Joseph Cicatello is killed. Peter Rizzo is killed. John Vassallo is killed.

Mafia bosses Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Lupo are released from prison. Boss of bosses Salvatore D'Aquila orders a hit on the duo. Morello goes into hiding. Giuseppe Masseria challenges D'Aquila. Meantime Vincent Terranova and Silvio Tagliagambe meet with a violent end in a gang war. D'Aquila rescinds the contract on Valente and orders Valente to do a hit on Masseria. Valente is knocked off. Antonio Lombardo is wiped out. Lorenzo Lupo surrenders to Cleveland Police in August, 1927, claiming he killed a deputy sheriff in self-defense.

Cleveland bootleggers Joseph and John Lonardo, playing cards at Ottavio Porrello's barber shop, were dealt a final hand by gunmen in October. Philip "Manor" Livaccori, bondsman for Joseph DiCarlo, is expunged in January, 1928. Lupo is nullified in May. Mafia boss Joseph Aiello and allies from Bugsy Moran's North Side Gang, extinguish Antonio "The Scourge" Lombardo along with his bodyguard Joseph Ferrara in September.

Mafia boss of bosses Salvatore D'Aquila is eliminated in New York in October. Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria becomes the new boss of bosses. In December, Philip Mazzara, leader of Buffalo's underworld, is fatally shot in a borrowed automobile.

In January, 1929, Aiello and his allies assassinate Pasqualino "Patsy" Lolordo.

On Valentine's Day, Alphonse Capone responds with the massacre of seven of Moran's gang members. Giuseppe Giunta replaces Lolordo. Capone had Giunta, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi beaten to death in May. Giuseppe DiBenedetto is slain Feb. 27, 1929. Bootlegger Joseph Syracuse is butchered on June 25. Police suspect Umberto Randaccio and his son Fred of the carnage.

Cleveland Mafia boss Salvatore Todaro is dispatched in June by Angelo Lonardo and his cousin Dominic Sospirato in revenge for slaying Joseph Lonardo. On Feb. 26, 1930, Mafia boss Gaetano Reina is nullified. Chester LaMare has Gaspare Milazzo obliterated on May 31. Nicola Schiro disappears. Vito Bonventre is wiped out. Joseph Porrello and bodyguard Sam Tilocco are terminated on July 5. Porrello's brother James is liquidated three weeks later.

Giuseppe Morello is slaughtered on Aug. 15. Remnants of the old Reina group, led by Thomas Gagliano, extinguish Joseph Pinzolo. Capone rubs out Aiello. Maranzano and Gagliano bump off Alfred Mineo and Steve Ferrigno on Nov. 5. On Jan. 19, 1931, Giuseppe Parrino is exterminated. Joseph Catania is done in on Feb. 3. Detroit boss Caesar "Big Chet" LaMare is cut down to size when two bullets enter the side of his head blowing his brains out, on Feb. 7.

Masseria, while playing cards, is riddled with five cowardly bullets- four in his back and one in the back of his head-- at the Nuova Villa Tammaro restaurant in Coney Island on April 15. The lifeless body of John Giustra, believed to be Masseria's assassin, is found the following month.

New York Mafia leader Charles "Lucky" Luciano arranges a contract on Salvatore Maranzano, which was delivered to Maranzano's office by four men who annihilate Maranzano by shooting and stabbing him on Sept. 10. Saverio Pollaccia is escorted to Chicago by Vito Genovese and extirpated. John Bazzano moves against the Volpe Brothers. Bazzano is eradicated at a convention of Mafiosi, including Buffalo's Sam DiCarlo. Gerardo Scarpato, owner of the restaurant where "Joe the Boss" Masseria had his card game interrupted, is interrupted on Sept. 12, 1932.

The Grim Reaper met horse racing wire service collector Faulkner Vanderburg in Buffalo. DiCarlo is questioned in connection with Vanderburg's demise. His brother Sam is arrested in New York City in connection with Bazzano's quietus.

In August, 1933, Salvatore and Vincenzo Callea are annulled. The Angel of Death dropped in when Anthony Palmisano, Mike Palamara and Joe Mule were invalidated.

After all these good times, a sad event occurred: Prohibition was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933 and the Mafia, put out of the lucrative alcohol business, had to enhance their drug, prostitution, gambling, money laundering, loan sharking and murder for hire businesses.

"DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime," continues with more Italian names and gruesome murder in volume two which focuses on 1938 to 1984 and includes the works of Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino, Salvatore "Sam" Pieri and DiCarlo, along with hundreds of their fraternity.

Anyone contemplating a career in the Mafia should buy this well researched book to learn about the work, its history and how to earn an early retirement. For more information see www.buffalomob.com.

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter - Publisher Frank Parlato Jr. www.niagarafallsreporter.com

Nov 26, 2013