The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder and the Birth of the American Mafia (53 page)

113.
had brought Salvatore Madonia:
Evening Journal
, April 22, 1903, p. 2 (more evidence, Petrosino and Madonia, “I believe …”).

114.
he would not stay in New York:
Evening Journal
, April 23, 1903, p. 2 (Illich, “If I stay here,” train).

114
felt that he should try to help:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 182, reel 109, April 26, 1903 (discovers ticket);
New York Times
, April 26, 1903, p. 2 (bail; Carey redeems ticket; bail revoked; McClusky’s call; arraigned); Carey,
Memoirs of a Murder Man
, pp. 116-17 (pawnbrokers), 119 (Morello as king);
Herald
, May 2, 1903, p. 5 (Inzerillo and Fanaro cracking).

117
the Barrel Murder inquest:
New York Times
, May 2, p. 16 (difficulties, jurors’ names, Zacconi, “gruesome objects”);
Herald
, April 28, p. 5 (“made no secret”), May 2, p. 5 (“Evident misgivings”), and May 8, 1903, p. 5 (“remarkable exhibition”);
Evening World
, April 27, 1903, p. 1 (insufficient jurors), and January 29, 1904, p. 2 (Petto discharge);
Sun
, January 30, 1904, p. 12 (Petto discharge); Carey,
Memoirs
, p. 120 (intimidation of Inzerillo, the Madonias, Di Priemo); LeBrun,
It’s Time to Tell
, p. 138 (“I had difficulty …”). The outcome of the inquest is detailed in
Tribune
, May 9, 1903, p. 6.

117.
left few clues to his true character:
Private information from the Morello family (sons’ names); Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, p. 205 (unique structure); Comito confession II, 74 (overrules others);
Washington Post
, February 5, 1922, p. 64 (Flynn on Morello).

121.
Salvatore Especiale:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
, December 14, p. 22,
Brooklyn Standard Union
, December 13, p. 1, and December 14, p. 18 (informant; barrel case; Catania; Condon; details of shooting),
San Francisco Call
, December 14, 1903, p. 3 (“dread penalty”).

122.
The victim on this occasion was Tommaso Petto:
Evening Word
, January 29, p. 2 (release);
Wilkes-Barre Record
, October 23, p. 5 (circumstances, other arrests, wounds “large enough to admit a teacup”), and
Sun
, October 24, p. 5 (Luciano Perrini, five bullets, revolver, Di Priemo out); inmate admission register for federal prisoners, Sing Sing correctional facility, 1896-1908, vol. 1 fol. 172, March 17, 1903, B0148-80, NYSA (parole date);
Washington Post
, April 26, 1914, M5 (Flynn on release date; “act of vengeance”).

123.
Morello as the killer, wreaking vengeance:
American
, February 23, pt. 2, p. 2, and
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
, February 27, 1908, p. 3 (Laduca murder);
Washington Times
, July 22, p. 6 (Zacconi killed by barrel murderers),
Sun
, July 28, p. 2 (face blown away), and
Chicago Tribune
, July 29, 1909, p. 7 (Genova murder, “the police explain”).

124.
had grown almost pathologically cautious:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 10 fol. 373, reel 109, October 27, 1903 (mail) and fol. 395, October 30, 1903 (movements).

124. 124
Flynn was extremely perturbed:
Chicago Tribune
, August 24, 1913, p. 13 (“Too many policemen”).

124.
“The detectives used to come around”:
Federal transcripts, Morello, fols. 457-58.

125.
Detective Sergeant Antonio Vachris:
Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, p. 44.

125.
this new Italian Squad:
New York Times
, December 30, 1906, SM21 (Petrosino described; long hours; office, rogues’ gallery; “almost entirely separate”), and March 14, 1909, p. 2 (numbers increased, files in head);
Sun
, March 14, 1909, p. 2 (eight men); McAdoo,
Guarding a Great City
, p. 154 (created by McAdoo); Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, pp. 56-57 (members), 66 (Italian), 81-83 (Alfano, kidnapping, fingerprinting); Lardner and Reppetto,
NYPD
, pp. 129 (more teeth than a dentist), 131 (dates of formation and expansion).

126.
an especially bloody murder in the Bronx:
Sun
, March 14, 1909, p. 2.

126.
Enrico Alfano:
New York Times
, March 12, p. 16, April 1, 1911, p. 5, and July 16, 1922, E6 (case details); Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, p. 82 (demi-god).

127.
Joe Petrosino:
Sun
, March 14, 1909, p. 2 (“short fat man,” disguises).

129
The family burned ten thousand:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 349, reel 109, May 24, 1903.

129.
the loose ends of the Yonkers investigation:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 204, reel 109, April 30, 1903 (Canadian case); vol. 10 fol. 123, reel 109, September 19, 1903 (watch begins again), and fol. 259, October 10, 1903 (agents’ trial);
Annual Report of the Chief of the Secret Service Division
, 1903, p. 8 (mail fraud); Flynn, pp. 226-38 (Canadian case);
Washington Post
, February 5, 1922, p. 64 (“enveloped in mystery …”).

130.
Flynn’s Secret Service bureau:
Washington Evening Star
, August 24, 1889, p. 9 (Washington HQ, rogues’ gallery, number of agents); dailies Hazen, vol. 9 fol. 72, reel 174, June 10, 1900 (lack of manpower); dailies Flynn, vol. 6 fol. 702, reel 108, May 16, 1902 (number of operatives in N.Y.); vol. 9 fol. 161, April 23, and fol. 430, June 4, 1903 (Brancatto);
Chicago Tribune
, August 24, 1913, I3 (“A detective force of a hundred”);
New York Times
, February 6, 1911, SM14 (wide variety of Secret Service agents);
Time
, April 1, 1929 (Richey);
New York Times
, March 11, 1939, p. 21 (Rubano); Flynn, p. 24 (keeps watch); Melanson,
Secret Service
, p. 3 (waiting list); Johnson,
Illegal Tender
, p. 33 (Brancatto); Dash,
Satan’s Circus
, pp. 49-52, 55-56, 62-66, 114, 376 (police corruption).

132
gave Flynn a large advantage:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 11, reel 109, April 3, 1903 (intercept post);
Washington Post
, April 26, 1914, M5 (followed to New Orleans); Flynn, pp. 38-39 (hires room).

CHAPTER 7.
Family Business

134
Salvatore Marchiani:
Passenger list for SS
Neckar
, March 15, 1905, “Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1957.” T715/544, RG85, NARA (arrival in New York);
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
, February 20, p. 1 (discovery, scene of crime, mutilations), February 21, p. 1 (“desanguination,” informer, Pigtown), February 23, p. 1 (Fanaro arrested), and February 27, 1908, pp. 1, 3 (police theories);
Brooklyn Standard Union
, February 21, 1908, p. 1 (mutilations);
New York American
, February 21, p. 4 (mutilations), and February 23, 1908, p. 2 (in U.S. three years, father’s letter, Fontana, Petrosino);
Herald
, February 21, 1908, p. 5 (Sicilian vengeance);
Evening World
, February 22, 1908, p. 2 (Fontana connection);
Sun
, February 23, 1908, p. 2 (Fanaro); Kings death certificate 3956, February 20, 1908, NYMA (spelling of name; age).

135
gang led by Paul Kelly:
Thompson and Raymond,
Gang Rule in New York
, p. 361 (Morello protection); Territt,
Only Saps Work
, pp. 30-33, and Downey,
Gangster City
, pp. 3-11 (career); Sante,
Low Life
, pp. 217, 223 (numbers, career).

135
death of Meyer Weisbard:
Evening Journal
, January 16, pp. 1, 5, and January 17, 1901, p. 1 (circumstances, $300); April 15, 1903, pp. 1, 3 (links to Mafia);
Herald
, January 17, p. 1, and January 18, 1901, p. 5 (circumstances);
Sun
, April 19, 1903, second section, p. 15 (links to Mafia).

135
Louis Troja:
Evening World
, April 19, 1902, p. 8 (circumstances);
Herald
, April 16, 1903, p. 4 (Mafia link).

135
“Diamond Sam” Sica:
American
, January 13, 1908, p. 6 (circumstances);
Herald
, May 9, 1922, p. 1 (Terranova a suspect); Manhattan death certificate 12266, January 12, 1908, NYMA (name, place of death).

135.
did not scruple at killing women:
Dailies New York, vol. 36 fols. 120-21, reel 591, July 18, 1912.

136.
“Sometimes the system”:
Tribune
, November 28, 1917, p. 16; Downey,
Gangster City
, pp. 35-36 (“Sometimes the system …”).

136.
botching the killings:
Terranova files; Sealy transcripts, Terranova, fols. 2, 97, 107; Thompson and Raymond,
Gang Rule
, pp. 5-6.

137.
“There is a wood”:
Herald
, January 7, 1917, SM2.

137
a killer named Lulu Vicari:
Dailies New York, vol. 36 fols. 66-67, reel 591, July 11, 1912.

137.
Rival gangs had their own:
New York Times
, December 15, 1906, p. 18 (Sperlozza’s place in underworld);
Harper’s Weekly
, May 8, 1909, pp. 7-8 (chalk mark);
Herald
, November 10, 1909, p. 1 (holdup man).

138.
Barnet Baff:
New York Times
, November 25, p. 1, November 26, p. 5, November 27, 1914, p. 5 (killing, cartel), February 11, 1916, p. 20 (gunmen, $100);
New York American
, October 8, 1915, p. 5 (Greco); Critchley,
The Birth of Organized Crime
, pp. 73-76, 100-11 (significance of Baff case).

138.
a set of nine regulations:
Flynn, pp. 199-202.

139.
It was Nicola Gentile:
Gentile,
Vita di Capomafia
, pp. 7-71 (career, “boss of the bosses”); FBI Gentile file, interview 2, fols. 1-4 (early years) and interview 3, fol. 6 (Mafia diplomat); Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 213-23 (“the classic raw material”).

140.
families in eight or ten large cities:
Gentile,
Vita di Capomafia
, pp. 1-75 (boss of bosses, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles); FBI Gentile file, interview 2, fol. 4 (Cleveland, Kansas City, Pittsburgh);
Winona Republican Herald
, February 22, 1901, p. 1 (New Yorker at Chicago murder);
Winona Republican Herald
, December 2, p. 1, and December 4, 1903, p. 1 (“admitted in court”); Celeste Morello,
Before Bruno
, I, 4-46 (Philadelphia);
Sun
, April 19, 1903, p. 15 (Boston, Chicago);
Winona Republican Herald
, February 22, 1901, p. 2 (Chicago);
Ogden Standard Examiner
, December 7, 1898, p. 8 (Di Franchi and San Francisco); Bonanno,
A Man of Honor
, pp. 19, 63, and Critchley, “Buster, Maranzano, and the Castellammarese War,” p. 56n (Buffalo);
Los Angeles Times
, February 10, 1916, section II, p. 1, December 20, 1917, section II, p. 1, February 27, 1919, section II, p. 1, and Warner, “The First Mafia Boss of Los Angeles?” (Los Angeles, Mike Marino).

142
Morello’s influence in New Orleans:
New York Times
, May 8, 1903, p. 7 (F. Genova);
Herald
, May 8, 1903, p. 5 (Genova letter).

142
to deal with an Italian hotelier:
New York Times
, April 3, 1910, SM6 (four-day visit; “the offending Italian”);
Washington Post
, April 26, 1914, M5 (knotted handkerchief, death sign).

142.
likely ordered other murders:
New York Herald
, February 22, 1908, p. 1;
Evening World
, same date, p. 2 (suggestive cases).

143.
“the Commission”:
Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, p. 219 (“It was made up …”); for Morello’s, see Flynn, pp. 207-14; Bonanno,
A Man of Honor
, pp. 126, 141, 159-61 (commission in 1930s); Raab,
Five Families
, pp. 117-24 (every five years).

144.
“pretty rough in those days”:
Maas,
The Valachi Papers
, pp. 39-40.

144
“dipping the beak”:
Petacco,
Joe Petrosino
, pp. 93-94 (introduced to New York); Celeste Morello,
Before Bruno
I, 39 (“With the Mafia”).

145.
that Mafiosi were somehow benefactors:
Bonanno,
A Man of Honor
, p. 62.

145.
“Good morning”:
Washington Post
, February 5, 1922, p. 64.

145.
Salvatore Romano:
Flynn, pp. 174-98.

146.
his discharge from prison:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 584, reel 109, June 27, 1903.

147.
stole horses and wagons:
Dailies New York, vol. 34 fol. 729, reel 591, March 13, 1912; Comito confession II, 86-87; McAdoo,
Guarding a Great City
, pp. 144-45.