The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder and the Birth of the American Mafia (50 page)

10
Sergeant Joseph Petrosino:
Herald
, March 14, 1909, p. 1, and
Sun
, same date, p. 2, and
Washington Post
, June 28, 1914, MS6, and Train,
Courts
,
Criminals, and the Camorra
, pp. 103-4, 106, and Lardner and Reppetto,
NYPD
, pp. 128-29 (description and career).

10.
“W&T”:
World
, April 15, p. 14, and April 17, p. 3;
Herald
, April 16, 1903, p. 4; Carey,
Memoirs
, pp. 114-15.

11.
the city morgue:
Commercial Advertiser
, April 18, 1903, p. 1; Flynn, p. 8; LeBrun,
It’s Time to Tell
, pp. 132-38.

12.
allowed a photographer:
Evening Journal
, April 14, 1903, p. 4.

12
reporters could scarcely remember:
New York Times
, April 15, 1903, p. 2;
Evening Journal
, same date, p. 3. 12

12.
William Flynn was chief:
Washington Post
, April 19, 1914, SM1 (recollections of barrel case);
New York Times
, December 8 1912, p. 13 (profile);
Flynn’s Weekly
, October 4, pp. 388-400, and October 11, 1924, pp. 618-36 (life and career); Manhattan marriage certificate 13668, September 11, 1895, NYMA (family);

Dailies Flynn, vol. 3 fol. 555, reel 106, May 11, 1901 (heads New York office).

12.
U.S. Secret Service:
Melanson,
The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency
, pp. 3-28.

13.
Counterfeiting … enclaves:
Annual report of the Chief of the Secret Service Division, October 18, 1912, letter 50485, Secret Service letters sent 1899-1918, Box 48 (May 19-October 28, 1911), RG 87, NARA.

13.
Flynn had spent the evening:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fols. 80-83, reel 109, 13 April 13, 1903;
Washington Post
, April 19, 1914, SM1; Flynn, p. 8.

14
ever since the spring of 1899:
Dailies Hazen, vol. 5 fols. 773-74, reel 173, March 19, 1899.

14
caught in Yonkers:
Federal transcripts Giallombardo, trial transcript fols. 2-13, 27.

14.
Vito Laduca:
Pittsburgh Gazette
, April 17, 1903, p. 1 (arrested);
Herald
, April 16, 1903, p. 3 (disappearance); Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 175, April 25, 1903, (date of arrival).

15.
William Flynn had built his reputation:
Flynn’s Weekly
, October 4, 1924, pp. 392, 401-2.

15.
“La Cava is a good man”:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 8 fol. 880, reel 108, March 30, 1903.

16.
almost a dozen members:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fols. 1-92, reel 109, April 1-14, 1903.

16
Flynn switched his attention to the stranger:
Ibid., fols. 93-96, 99, reel 109, April 15, 1903;
New York Times
, April 15, 1903, p. 1 (weather);
Washington Post
, April 19, 1914, SM1 (scene at Laduca’s).

17.
The evening papers:
Evening World, Mail and Express
, and
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
, all April 14, 1903, p. 1;
Evening Journal
, same date, pp. 1, 4.

18.
Get down to the morgue:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fols. 93-6, reel 109, April 15, 1903 (orders agents to morgue);
Washington Post
, April 19, 1914, SM1 (sees photograph, cigar, suit color, experiment).

19.
the Café Pasticcerea:
Washington Post
, August 2, 1914, MS6 (Petrosino’s notes);
Sun
, April 16, p. 1, and
Mail and Express
, same date, p. 1 (café described);
Herald
, April 17, 1903, pp. 3-4 (Inzerillo’s age); Carey,
Memoirs
, p. 117 (barrels sold).

20.
a briefing on the Morello gang:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fols. 99-104, reel 109, April 16, 1903 (meeting, attendees);
Chicago Tribune
, August 24, 1913, section I, p. 13 (police tactics).

23.
The two Sicilians had no chance:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fols. 100-3, reel 109, April 16, 1903 (events); Federal Transcripts Morello fol. 200 (Agent Henry);
Herald
, April 16, pp. 1, 4, and
Tribune
, same date, p. 1 (police operation);
Herald
, April 17, p. 4 (under guard);
Sun
, April 16, 1903, p. 2 (Petto punched, McClusky jubilant, Flynn bored).

24.
It was obvious:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 106, reel 109, April 17, 1903;
Sun
, April 16, 1903, p. 2 (correspondence, interrogation);
Tribune
, same date, p. 1 (collar);
Washington Post
, April 19, 1914, SM1 (at the morgue; “redoubled their efforts”); Carey,
Memoirs
, p. 17 (sawdust sample).

25.
an anonymous letter:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 142-43, reel 109, April 21, 1903.

25
no one in Little Italy:
Commercial Advertiser
, April 18, 1903, p. 1.

25
the name Giuseppe Di Priemo:
Passenger list for the SS
Marco Minghetti
, May 25, 1901, “Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1957,” T715/199, RG85, NARA (immigration date); inmate admission register for federal prisoners, Sing Sing correctional facility, 1896-1908, vol. 1 fol. 172, March 17, 1903, B0148-80, NYSA (description, sentence).

25.
locked up in Sing Sing:
Gilfoyle,
A Pickpocket’s Tale
, pp. 42-58, 74; Dash,
Satan’s Circus
, pp. 284-89.

26.
decided to send Petrosino:
Commercial Advertiser
, April 20, p. 1 (arrival time);
World
, April 21, p. 4 (McClusky sends Petrosino);
Sun
, April 21, p. 1,
New York Times
, same date, p. 1,
Evening Journal
, April 20, pp. 1-3, April 21, pp. 2-3, and
Herald
, April 21, 1903, pp. 1-2, Flynn, pp. 13-14 (details of interview).

27.
a photograph of the barrel victim:
World
, April 16, 1903, p. 1.

28.
By the time Petrosino got to Buffalo:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 142-43, reel 109, April 21 (red ink);
Evening Journal
, April 20, pp. 1-2, and April 21, 1903, pp. 2-3 (at Madonia’s house); Carey,
Memoirs
, p. 116 (interview with Mrs. Madonia).

29.
had raised a thousand dollars:
Evening Journal
, April 21, 1903, p. 2.

30.
“a great society”:
Herald
, April 21, 1903, p. 2.

CHAPTER 2.
Men of Respect

32.
the history of Sicily:
Fentress, Rebels and Mafiosi
, pp. 18-19 (kings’ visits, pile of grain); Servadio,
Mafioso
, pp. 3, 9-17 (absentee landlords, conditions); Nelli,
The Business of Crime
, pp. 5-6 (landlords, population, natural disasters); Hess,
Mafia and Mafiosi
, pp. 27-29 (alien police).

33.
It would be misleading:
Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, p. 27; Nelli,
The Business of Crime
, p. 9.

34.
the
mala vita:
Fentress, Rebels
, pp. 153, 174; Hess,
Mafia
, p. 25 (murder rates for 1893 by Italian province); Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 50-53 (monopoly on violence).

35.
the emergence of the Mafia:
Servadio,
Mafioso
, pp. 9, 17 (prerequisites);
Cutrera, La Mafia e i Mafiosi
, p. 57 (before 1850?); Fentress,
Rebels
, pp. 2, 22-25, 41-43, 136, 149, 169, 213 (oath swearing and secret societies, networks of power, priests, rebels); Schneider, “On Mafiology,” pp. 145-49, and Catanzaro,
Men of Respect
, p. 3 (central leadership?); Ianni,
A Family Business
, pp. 34-36 (facts in dispute); Hess,
Mafia
, p. 29 (banditry, castration).

36.
In some tellings of the story:
Servadio,
Mafioso
, p. 18; Catanzaro,
Men of Respect
, p. 24; Fentress,
Rebels
, pp. 163, 174; Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, p. 122.

36
a bit of slang:
Ianni,
A Family Business
, pp. 34-35; Catanzaro,
Men of Respect
, p. 5.

36.
“so-called Maffia”:
Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 2
(cosche)
, 60-61 (prefect’s report), 122
(cagnolazzi);
Fentress,
Rebels
, pp. 1, 147 (“Maffia”), 148 (organization), 175-76 (territories).

37.
initiation ritual:
Fentress,
Rebels
, pp. 215-17 (police report); Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 36-37 (Masons, teeth).

39
“men of respect”:
Servadio,
Mafioso
, p. xiii; Ianni,
A Family Business
, p. 31 (men of respect); Catanzaro,
Men of Respect
, p. 26;
Bonnano, A Man of Honor
, p. 19 (men of honor).

39
alliances with landowners and the church:
Fentress,
Rebels
, p. 187; Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 34, 70-71; Servadio,
Mafioso
, p. 18; Catanzaro,
Men of Respect
, pp. 12-13; Nelli,
The Business of Crime
, p. 12.

39
a summary compiled in 1900:
Min dell’Interno, dir gen PS, aa.gg.e.rr atti speciali (1898-1940) b.1, f.1, Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome; Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 100-27.

39.
more than thirty towns:
Prefect of Sicily’s report to the Minister of the Interior, 1874, in Gambetta,
The Sicilian Mafia
, p. 82.

40.
There were significant differences:
Fentress,
Rebels
, pp. 16-18, 175 (agricultural towns); Catanzaro,
Men of Respect
, p. 4 (rustling and robbery); Sabetti,
Village Politics and the Mafia in Sicily
, p. xix (Mafia of the coast and highlands); Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 26-33 (citrus groves), 128-52 (Notarbartolo and Fontana).

40.
the Stoppaglieri:
Fentress,
Rebels
, pp. 193-211; Ianni,
A Family Business
, p. 30; Schneider, “On Mafiology,” p. 14.

41.
in Favera:
Fentress,
Rebels
, pp. 214-15; Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 79-86.

41.
Corleone—”lionheart”:
Donna Gabaccia,
From Sicily to Elizabeth Street
, pp. xvii, 11-30 (housing); Ianni,
A Family Business
, pp. 35-37; Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 155-56, 167 (poverty, diet, armed clergy).

42.
Exactly when the Mafia:
ASP 1885, b.85 c.50 f.133, and Hess,
Mafia
, pp. 52-55, 61, 116-19 (Valenza); letter to the sub prefect of Termini, May 26, 1884, ASP 1885, b.85 c.20 f.107 (Patti); verdict in the Bernardino Verro murder case (Palermo Assize Court 1917), copy in the Archivo di Gramsci, Palermo (Cutrera); Flynn, pp. 248-50 (Streva).

43.
called themselves the Fratuzzi:
Fentress,
Rebels
, p. 214.

44.
There had been Morellos:
Details of births, marriages, and deaths are all drawn from the records of the Ufficio Anagrafe, Comune of Corleone.

44
his closest and most trusted allies:
Washington Post
, April 14, 1914, SM1.

44
would describe himself as a “laborer”:
Passenger list for SS
Alsatia
, March 8, 1893, “Passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1820-1897,” M237/603, RG85, NARA.

44.
The writer, Bernardino Verro:
Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 156-64, and Anselmo,
La Terra Promessa
, pp. 215-16 (background); verdict in the Bernardino Verro murder case (1917), copy in the Archivio di Gramsci, Palermo (member of the Mafia).

45.
He was also literate:
Herald
, April 16, 1903, p.
1, New York Times
, same date, p. 1, and
Washington Post
, February 5, 1922, p. 64.

45
became involved in cattle rustling:
Catanzaro,
Men of Respect
, p. 21; Hess,
Mafia
, pp. 55, 98.

45.
the Field Guards:
Report dated January 15 in ASP 1884, b.77, c.20, f.20 (mayor of Borgetto); Cutrera,
La Mafia e i Mafiosi
, p. 95 (“Frequently a Field Guard …”); Hess,
Mafia
, pp. 22-25 (mixed reputation);
Washington Post
, February 5, 1922, p. 64 (Vella and field guards); Blok,
The Mafia of a Sicilian Village
, p. 65, Hess,
Mafia
, p. 60, and Catanzaro,
Men of Respect
, p. 20 (reputation).