The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder and the Birth of the American Mafia (49 page)
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Authors: Mike Dash
Tags: #General, #Fiction, #History, #Espionage, #Organized Crime, #Murder, #Social Science, #True Crime, #United States - 20th Century (1900-1945), #Turn of the Century, #Mafia, #United States - 19th Century, #United States, #Biography & Autobiography, #Criminals, #Biography, #Serial Killers, #Social History, #Criminals & Outlaws, #Criminology
BOOK: The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder and the Birth of the American Mafia
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NOTES
The First Family
is narrative history, but it is also intended to be
good
history. I have provided the most precise source notes that I can. Considerations of space, unfortunately, have meant that the discursive footnotes that accompanied my previous books have had to be omitted. As this is a subject of considerable importance, however, I have written detailed footnotes anyway, amounting to some forty thousand words of additional material—nearly half as much again as the main text of this book. Anyone wishing to find out exactly where I got my information from and why I have interpreted it in the way I have, or who wishes to have a fuller analysis, see transcriptions of original documents and other background material, and read a much more voluminous discussion of various contentious points, is welcome to consult them. Bound copies have been deposited in the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the British Library. Readers can also download the notes, for free, by visiting my
The First Family
pages at
www.mikedash.com
.
A
BBREVIATIONS
U
SED IN THE
N
OTES
| ASP | Archivio di Stato, Palermo. These documents are arranged by section (b.), then category (c), and finally by bundle (f.). |
| Barrel file | New York District Attorney’s papers concerning the “Barrel Murder” case of April 1903. File 42841, District Attorney’s Closed Case Files 1895-1966, NYMA. |
| Comito confession | “Antonio Comito’s statement in re the Morello-Lupo case,” August 1910, in “Black Hand confessions 1910,” Box 1, Lawrence Richey Papers, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, Iowa. Two versions of the confession, the first 48 pages long and only partial, and the second 109 pages long and complete, are contained in this file; in the notes that follow they are numbered I and II. |
| Dailies | Daily reports of Secret Service agents, summarizing activities, intelligence, and the movements of suspects. These reports have been microfilmed and make up the several hundred reels of National Archives Microfilm Publication T915 in Record Group 87 of NARA at College Park, Maryland. The series referred to are: |
| Flynn | Reports of William J. Flynn, chief of the New York office 1901-10 (31 vols.) |
| Hazen | Reports of William P. Hazen, chief of the New York office 1898-1901 (11 vols.) |
| New York | Reports of successive chiefs of the New York office 1911-18 (30 vols.) |
| Taylor | Reports of Richard H. Taylor, chief of the New York office 1910-11 (5 vols.) |
| Federal transcripts | Trial transcripts of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of New York, 1790-1912, held in NARA-NE, New York. These include stenographic records of counterfeiting cases brought in U.S. federal courts. The trials referred to are: |
| Giallombardo | Transcripts of the trial of Giuseppe Giallombardo, Giuseppe Di Priemo, and others, March 1903, in USA v. Salvatore Romano, Isidore Crose, Joseph DePrima and Giuseppe Giallombardo . Case file C-2832. |
| Morello | Transcripts of the trial of Giuseppe Morello, Ignazio Lupo, and others, Jan.-Feb. 1910, in USA v. Giuseppe Calicchio, Giuseppe Morello, Nicholas Sylvester, Ignazio Lupo, Salvatore Cecala, and Giuseppe Palermo . Case file C2-347. |
| Flynn | William J. Flynn, The Barrel Mystery . New York: James A. McCann, 1919. |
| Gentile interviews | Translations of interviews with Nicola Gentile conducted by Felice Chilanti, 1963, in the Gentile file formerly maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. |
| MS | Miscellany Section, part of The Washington Post . |
| NARA | National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. |
| NARA-NE | National Archives and Records Administration, Northeast Region, New York City. |
| NARA-SE | National Archives and Records Administration, Southeast Region, Morrow, Georgia. |
| NYMA | New York Municipal Archives, New York. |
| NYSA | New York State Archives, Albany. |
| Sealy transcripts | Trial Transcripts of the County of New York 1883-1927, in the Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York. The trials referred to are: |
| Impoluzzo | People v. Antonio Impuluzzo , January 4, 1916, trial 3240, reel 400 |
| Giordano | People v. Antonio Giordano , March 31, 1919, trial 2597, reel 323 |
| Antonio Morello | People v. Antonio Morello , January 19, 1893, trial 33, reel 9 |
| Terranova | People v. Ciro Terranova , June 3, 1918, trial 2472, reel 311 |
| SM | Sunday Magazine , a supplement of most weekend newspapers of the day. |
| Terranova files | New York district attorney’s papers concerning Ciro and Vincenzo Terranova’s trial for the murders of Charles Lombardi and Joe DiMarco. Files 118362 and 23838, District Attorney’s Closed Case Files 1895-1966, NYMA. |
| Trial transcripts | Transcripts of trials before the Court of General Sessions of the Peace for New York County, held among the Records and Briefs of the New York Court of Appeal at the NYSA. The trials referred to are: |
| Florio | John A. Philbrick & Brother v. Ignatz Florio Go-Operative Association Among Corleonesi , 122 N.Y.S. 341 (1910) |
| Giordano | People v. Angelo Giordano , 231 N.Y. 633 (1921), in volume 96 of 1921 |
| Maraño | People v. Pellegrino Maraño , 232 N.Y. 569 (1922), in volume 152 of 1921 |
| Paretti (1922) | People v. Aniellio Paretti , 234 N.Y. 98 (1922), in volume 149 of 1922 |
| Paretti (1926) | People v. Antonio Paretti , 244 N.Y. 527 (1926), in volume 166 of 1926 |
| Vollero | People v. Alessandro Vollero , 226 N.Y. 587 (1919), in volumes 75 and 76 of 1919 |
A Note on Citation
In order to keep the length of these notes within reasonable bounds, I have reduced discussion to a minimum. Where lists of several associated newspaper articles appear, I have cited the year only once, at the end of the list, and I have referred to books consulted only in the short form.
CHAPTER 1:
The Barrel Mystery
3.
Benedetto Madonia sat eating:
Madonia murder details are from Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 108, reel 109, April 17, 1903 (physical description); passenger list for SS
Neustria
, January 9, 1901, “Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1957,” T715/168, RG85, NARA (immigration date);
Evening Journal
, April 14, pp. 1, 2, April 15, p. 3, April 16, p. 3, April 24, p. 3, and
World
, April 15, p. 1, and
New York Times
, April 15, p. 2 (last meal, murder, weapons, locations, autopsy);
Evening Journal
, April 18, p. 3 (position of body in barrel);
Herald
, April 17, pp. 3-4, and
Evening Journal
, April 21, pp. 1-2 (reconstruction of murder);
Herald
, April 22, 1903, p. 4 (soft hands); Flynn, pp. 6 (reconstruction of murder), 25 (restaurant interior); Carey,
Memoirs of a Murder Man
, pp. 116-17 (Morello’s restaurant); Riis,
How the Other Half Lives
, pp. 41-57 (life in Little Italy).
4.
he required an escort:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fols. 143-44, reel 109, April 21, 1903.
4.
Tommaso Petto:
Petto’s real name was Luciano Perrini, and he came from Carini in western Sicily;
Sun
, May 8, 1903, p. 5,
Wilkes-Barre Record
, October 23, 1905, p. 5; see also Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 144, reel 109, April 21, 1903.
5.
Giuseppe Morello:
“Description and Information of Criminals,” vol. 37 of 40 fol. 366, RG87, NARA, and autopsy report, August 16, 1930, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, file DA4801 fol. 3, NYMA, and Bonanno,
A Man of Honor
, p. 100 (physical description); Comito confession II, 55, and
Herald
, April 17, 1903, p. 4 (intimidating presence);
Herald Tribune
, August 16, 1930, p. 1 (nickname).
6.
had dragged a barrel:
Herald
, April 16, 1903, p. 4.
6.
one-horse covered wagon:
World
, April 16, p. 1, and
Evening Journal
, April 23, p. 2, and
New York Times
, May 2, p. 16, and May 9, 1903, p. 6.
7
Mallet & Handle’s lumberyard:
Flynn, pp. 1-6.
7
What Connors saw:
Evening Journal
, April 14, p. 2 (Connors interview);
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
, April 14, p. 1 (ooze of blood);
Mail and Express
, April 14, p. 1, and
Herald
, April 15, p. 5, and
New York Times
, same date, p. 2, and
Commercial Advertiser
, May 1, 1903, p. 2 (circumstances of discovery).
7.
examining their find:
Evening Journal
, April 14, p. 1, and April 21, p. 2;
Tribune
, April 15, p. 1;
Herald
, April 17, pp. 3-4;
Sun
, April 17, 1903, p. 2.
8.
Forensic science:
Lardner and Reppetto,
NYPD: A City and Its Police
, pp. 81-6, 221.
8
It was left to Detective:
New York papers for May 14 and 15 as previously cited; Carey,
Memoirs
, pp. 113-15; George LeBrun,
It’s Time to Tell
, pp. 132-33. 8
8.
a brief note, written in Italian:
World
, April 15, p. 14, and
Sun
, April 15, p. 2, and
Evening Journal
, April 21, 1903, p. 3.
8.
Not all of Carey’s colleagues:
Commercial Advertiser
, April 15, 1903, p. 1; LeBrun,
It’s Time to Tell
, p. 135.
9.
the Italian sections of the city:
Jackson,
The Encyclopedia of New York City
, pp. 584-85.
9
three-quarters of whom were Irish:
Levine, “Police, Parties and Policy: The Bureaucratization, Unionization, and Professionalization of the New York City Police 1870-1917,” p. 43.
9
“Chesty George”:
New York Times
, November 7, 1908, p. 1, and Lardner and Reppetto,
NYPD
, p. 87 (career, nickname);
Chicago Tribune
, August 24, 1913, section I, pp. 3, 12 (police deficiencies).
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