The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder and the Birth of the American Mafia (52 page)

83.
Flaccomio had spent:
New York Times
, October 22, p. 8 (bread knife, premeditated, Byrnes statement, informant, vow, Quarteraro surrenders), October 23, 1888, p. 8 (witnesses talk), March 27, 1889, p. 3 (“Mafia murder,” trial, Carlo escapes, evidence); March 29, p. 2 (lack of proof), March 30, p. 8 (since 1881), April 3, p. 8 (blame prosecution witnesses); Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, pp. 26-27 (failed to convict); Lardner and Reppetto,
NYPD
, pp. 79-89 (Byrnes background).

86
As it was, however:
New York Tribune
, March 15, 1891, p. 1; Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, p. 27 (“Kill each other”).

CHAPTER 5.
The Clutch Hand

88.
their choice of residence:
Federal census, 1900 (Terranova); Dailies Hazen, vol. 5 fols. 773-4, reel 173, March 19, 1899 (Morello).

89.
attempts to make his mark:
Federal transcripts, Morello, fol. 457.

89
he maintained a wide correspondence:
Dailies Hazen, vol. 9 fols. 127-28, reel 174, June 17, 1900; fols. 136-37, June 18, 1900; fol. 198, June 27, 1900.

89
the first faint whiff of trouble:
Dailies Hazen, vol. 5, fols. 773-74, reel 173, March 19, 1899 (Mastropole); fol. 789, March 20, 1899 (Brown’s search).

89.
John Wilkie, the director:
New York Times
, January 29, 1911, SM3; Melanson,
Secret Service
, pp. 26-27.

90.
Several miles uptown:
Dailies Hazen, vol. 9, fol. 5, reel 174, June 1 (where notes passed), fols. 74-83, June 9 (Gleason), fol. 92, June 11 (East 106th Street), vol. 8 fols. 879-82, May 24, vol. 9 fols. 1-8, June 1; fols. 13-14, June 2, fols. 38-39, June 7; fols. 71-84, June 9, fols. 122-25, June 15, fols. 139-40, June 20, 1900 (members of gang).

91.
Mollie Callahan:
Dailies Hazen, vol. 9, fol. 74, reel 174, June 10, 1900 (sees plates, murdered);
Tribune
, June 12, 1900, p. 14 (disappeared December 1899, police report).

92.
Morello had the counterfeiting operation:
Dailies Hazen, vol. 8, reel 174, fols. 872-76, May 23 (Kelly arrested buying drawers), vol. 9, reel 174, fol. 3, June 2 (in threes or fours, North Beach, Brown talks);
Tribune
, June 12, 1900, p. 14 (total printed, side shows).

93
the Secret Service did things differently:
Dailies Hazen, vol. 9, reel 174 fols. 2-7, June 2 (arrests, transferred, Tyrrell), fols. 13-14, June 3 (trail Thompson, drunks), fols. 50-51, June 8 (Kelly interviewed), fols. 76-80, June 10, 1900 (arrests, Morello booked).

95.
brought before Judge Thomas:
“Description and information of criminals,” fols. 348-49, 371, vol. 37 of 40, RG87, NARA (sentences, Morello goes free).

96.
were recruited from Corleone:
Washington Post
, May 19, 1914, SM1 (approval required); Flynn, pp. 15-16 (from hometown), 211 (“All of Corleone”); Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, p. 205 (Carini, Villabate, Lercara Friddi).

96
thirty strong:
Sun
, April 16, 1903, p. 2.

96.
working as a waiter:
Federal transcripts, Morello, fols. 459-60.

97.
Vito Laduca:
Pittsburgh Gazette
, April 17, 1903, p. 1 (arrested Pittsburgh, January 17);
New York Sun
, August 13, p. 1, August 14, p. 5, August 15, p. 1, August 17, p. 3, and August 18, 1904, p. 10 (alias, kidnapping);
Canton Commercial Advertiser
, August 16, 1904, p. 2 (naval career, Italian prison sentence, ransom);
New York Times
, August 19, p. 1, and August 20, 1904, p. 1 (age, ransom of only $500 paid);
Sun
, March 29, 1905, p. 3 (“dread bulwark”);
Evening World
, February 22, 1908, p. 1 (wealthy in Italy).

97
Others made the same journey:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 176, reel 109, April 25, 1903.

97.
letters of recommendation:
Critchley,
The Origin of Organized Crime
, pp. 62-63; Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, p.
219; New York Times
, May 8, 1903, p. 7 (example letter).

98.
Vito Cascio Ferro:
Passenger list for SS
La Champagne
, September 9, 1901, “Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving in New York 1897-1957,” T715/225, RG85, NARA; Dailies Flynn, vol. 6 fols. 615, reel 108, May 7, (Morello associated with Fraute), and fols. 763-68, May 22, 1902 (Cascio Ferro arrested with Fraute gang); “Description and information of criminals,” vol. 39 of 40, fol. 370, RG 87, NARA (arrest details, description); Petacco,
Joe Petrosino
, p. 94 (“plate of macaroni”), 95 (proffers advice).

98
Ignazio Lupo:
Queens death certificate 524, January 13, 1947, NYMA (correct spelling of name).

98
Ignazio Lupo had been born in 1877:
Comito confession II, 68 (voice); federal transcripts, Morello, fols. 462-64 (youth, Palermo murder, emigration, New York businesses); Flynn, p. 28 (“business man of the two”); prisoner’s criminal record (Palermo murder) and admission summary, August 5, 1936 (education, lachrymose), both inmate file 2883, Ignazio Lupo, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary papers, RG 129, NARA-SE; dailies Flynn, vol. 35 fol. 723, reel 591, June 4, 1912 (relative in Palermo Mafia);
New York Times
, February 17, p.
4, American
, February 20, 1910, p. 3 (lachrymose);
Washington Post
, May 17, 1914, p. 47 (voice), February 5, 1922, p. 64 (intelligent, looks, touch like poison); Selvaggio,
The Rise of the American Mafia in New York
, pp. 51-53 (buggy, Trestelle, office, working habits); “The Mafia and the Secret Service—the Elizabeth Street Syndicate,” in Frank Wilson collection, box 10, folder 370, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming (“Field agents …”).

99
a prosperous grocery shop:
New York Times
, December 5, 1908, p. 1 (pretentious), December 31, 1911, SM5 (branches); Flynn, p. 24 (branches).

100.
run by a Calabrian named Giuseppe D’Agostino:
Washington Post
, July 12, 1914, SM6.

101.
“Lupo was the business man”:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 135, reel 109, April 20, 1903 (first noticed);
Herald
, April 16, 1903, p. 4 (inner councils);
Washington Post
, February 22, 1922, SM1 (“Lupo was the business man …”).

101
The wedding took place:
Manhattan marriage certificate 251, December 22, 1903, NYMA (details of marriage); 1910 and 1930 federal censuses (family); Salvatrice Lupo to Myrl Alexander, director, Social Service Unit, n.d. (July 1936), inmate file 2883, Ignazio Lupo, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary papers, RG 129, NARA-SE (husband’s qualities).

101.
Morello had lived a largely solitary:
Dailies Hazen, vol. 5 fol. 789, reel 173, March 20 (neighbors do not know him), vol. 9 fol. 92, reel 174, June 11, 1900 (East Harlem); dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 6, reel 109, April 2, 1903 (Chrystie Street; sleeps in);
Herald
, April 16, 1903, p. 1 (squalid, live as man and wife);
New York Journal
, April 22, 1903, p. 2 (elusive, move about); Flynn, pp. 177-79 (illegitimate child, “shortly before the Barrel Murder”).

102.
time to find her son a second wife:
Passenger list for SS
Sardegna
, September 23, 1903, “Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1957” T715/396, RG85, NARA (literate, dowry, youngest, brother and sister, age); thirteenth census of the United States (1910) for 218 East 90th Street, Borough of Manhattan (no English, children);
Washington Post
, July 12, 1914, MS6 (death of first wife);
Herald
, April 16, 1903, pp. 3-4 (does not live with son); Flynn, p. 177 (“notion to get married,” death of daughter); private information from Morello family (chosen from photographs); Lina-Morello correspondence, 1910-20, inmate file 2882, Giuseppe Morello, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary papers, RG 129, NARA-SE (passionate, sharp temper, self-worth).

102.
a pair of sisters named Salemi:
Manhattan marriage certificate 249, December 27, 1903, NYMA (Vincenzo marries Lucia);
New York Times
, June 20, 1923, p. 4 (Vincenzo Salemi and organized crime).

103.
Lupo’s grocery empire:
New York Times
, March 3, SM10, and May 25, 1907, p. 18 (Costa); March 17, p. 1 (Manzella), and November 29, 1909, p. 2 (extortion schemes; extorts $4,000);
New York Herald
, October 12, 1905, p. 1 (Costa).

103.
Veiled threats soon gave way to violence:
Bowen and Neil,
The United States Secret Service
, pp. 37-38 (poisoning);
New York Times
, March 17, 1909, p. 1 (bombing, extortion).

104.
smuggling the counterfeits:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 349, reel 109, May 24, 1903 (quantity of notes);
Annual Report of the Chief of the Secret Service Division
, 1903, p. 8,
New York Times
, April 3, 1910, SM6, “The Mafia and the Secret Service—the Elizabeth Street Syndicate,” Frank Wilson collection, Walter Page, ed.,
The World’s Work
, 1913, p. 35,
Washington Post
, April 26, 1914, M5, and Flynn, p. 18 (smuggled from Italy).

104
Flynn was aware:
Sun
, April 16, 1903, pp. 1-2 (Flynn aware since spring 1902); dailies Flynn, vol. 8 fol. 699, reel 108, March 2, 1903 (agents collect samples); federal transcripts, Giallombardo, trial transcript fol. 11 (spelling mistakes).

104.
when Vito Laduca was captured:
Pittsburgh Gazette
, April 17, p. 1, and
Evening Journal
, April 23, 1903, p. 2.

105.
Giuseppe Catania:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
, July 24, p. 1 (“bled a gallon,” hogtied, family, no enemies, quarrel, multiple killers), July 25, p. 2 (address), July 26, p. 18 and July 30, 1902, p. 18 (vendetta); October 5, 1902, p. 5 (police say Mafia killing);
Brooklyn Standard Union
, July 28, 1902, p. 2 (last seen in Manhattan);
Herald
, July 24, 1902, p. 1 (Dead Man’s Cove); dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 93, reel 109, April 15, and fol. 135, April 20, 1903 (drunkard, killed by Morello gang, last seen with Lupo); federal transcripts, Morello, 469 (Lupo admits to knowing Catania).

106.
caught in Yonkers:
Federal transcripts, Giallombardo, trial transcript fols. 2-13, 27 (circumstances, origins, arrival in U.S.); evidence of John Rossi (separately typed and filed with the Bill of Exceptions), fols. 1-4 (events in Rossi’s shop); inmate admission register for federal prisoners, Sing Sing correctional facility, 1896-1908, vol. 1 fols. 171-73, March 17, 1903, B0148-80, NYSA (Di Priemo, Crocevera, Giallombardo personal details); passenger list for SS
Marco Minghetti
, May 25, 1901, “Passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1902,” T519/199, RG85, NARA (Di Priemo arrival, hometown);
Washington Post
, April 26, 1914, M5 (circumstances, boodle carrier);
Flynn’s Weekly
, October 4, 1924, pp. 401-2 (butchers’ grease).

107.
Flynn tried one last subterfuge:
Washington Post
, April 26, 1914, M5 (“I kept Di Priemo …”); dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fols. 149, 152, reel 109, April 22, 1903 (common knowledge).

108.
wrote to New York to request money:
Evening Journal
, April 20, pp. 1-2, April 21, p. 3, April 22, p. 1, and April 23, 1903, p. 1;
Sun
, April 21, p. 1, and April 23, 1903, p. 1;
Herald
, April 23, 1903, p. 6;
Chicago Tribune
, April 23, 1903, p. 5.

CHAPTER 6.
Vengeance

109.
“Clear the court”:
Sun
, April 17, April 20, p. 1 (court cleared), and April 21, 1903, p. 1 (word arrives); Dash,
Satan’s Circus
, p. 11 (description of court).

110.
Morello stood flanked:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 107, reel 109, April 17 (Lupo arrest);
Sun
, April 20, p. 1 (Le Barbier in court);
Sun
, April 23, p. 1, and
New York Times
, same date, p. 16 (Laduca knife);
Commercial Advertiser
, May 1, 1903, p. 2 (Genova); dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 176, reel 109, April 25, 1903 (minor members).

110
the legal fees had been met:
Evening Journal
, April 21, 1903, p. 2 ($10,000);
St. Lawrence Herald
(Potsdam, N.Y.), May 1, 1903, p. 1 (Boston).

111.
Barlow opened the proceedings:
Sun
, April 20, p. 1 (“I ask…;” “I am sure …”); dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 160, reel 109, April 23, 1903 (Morello on the stand);
Herald
, April 21, 1903, p. 4 (same);
Washington Times
, same date p. 1 (Lupo; third degree).

112.
proof Morello knew the barrel victim:
Sun
, April 21, p. 1 (Garvan’s paper);
Evening Journal
, April 22, 1903, p. 1 (“In the Mafia …”).