The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder and the Birth of the American Mafia (54 page)

147
Kidnapping, too, enjoyed a vogue:
NYPD criminal record for Giuseppe Morello, inmate file 2882, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary papers, RG 129, NARA-SE (arrests);
New York American
, March 7, p. 1, and March 8, 1906, p. 5 (Bozzuffi);
Washington Post
, July 26, 1914, M6 (Morello’s involvement); File 01097-02C, line 910476, Division of Old Records, New York Country Clerk’s Office (Bozzuffi knows Morello).

147.
theft of fifteen watches:
Comito confession II, 86.

148.
“band of incendiaries”:
Comito confession II, 59-61 (poor, methods); Atlanta Federal Penitentiary inmate file 2880 (Cecala’s physical description);
Washington Post
, May 3, 1914, M8 (Lupo relative, from Corleone).

149.
almost entirely risk-free profits:
Comito confession II, 60 (police corrupted, political corruption, “Morello knows”);
New York Times
, March 9, 1900, p. 1 ($3 million a year).

150.
larger and more profitable rackets:
Terrett,
Only Saps Work
, pp. 78-87 (poultry racket), 93 (wet wash); Nelli,
The Business of Crime
, p. 244 (labor racketeering).

151.
Terranova brothers became increasingly involved:
Manhattan marriage certificate 18591, July 23, 1913, NYMA, and dailies New York, vol. 35 fol. 913, reel 591, June 22, 1912 (Vincenzo); dailies Taylor, vol. 4 fol. 92, reel 277, January 9, 1911 (Ciro); dailies New York, vol. 34 fol. 729, reel 591, March 13, 1912 (Nick); Dash,
Satan’s Circus
, p. 24n (New York ice trade).

152.
Morello began making investments:
Evening Journal
, April 22, 1903, p. 2 (barbershop, cobbler’s); Flynn, pp. 28-29 (multiple stores, $200,000).

152.
It was Lupo:
Washington Post
, February 22, 1922, p. 64.

152
Ignatz Florio Co-Operative Association:
File 01097-02C, line 910476, Division of Old Records (incorporation, directors, shareholdings, extraordinary meeting);
New York Times
, March 7, 1905, p. 14, June 21, 1905, p. 12, June 30, 1905, p. 13, December 29, 1905, p. 14, March 4, 1906, p. 16, March 11, 1906, p. 16, July 1, 1906, p. 16, August 19, 1906, p. 12, February 22, 1907, p. 16, and September 26, 1907, p. 13 (lots and mortgages), April 22, p. 13, June 24, p. 9, July 10, p. 9, September 24, p. 11, and October 7, 1908, p. 12 (sued by creditors);
New York Times
, May 7, p. 11 (Supreme Court), June 25, 1909, p. 16 ($8,032);
Washington Times
, December 2, 1910, p. 6 (need for more funds becomes urgent);
Washington Post
, April 26, 1914, M5 (shares $3, $5; Mississippi to the Gulf; embezzlement, legal actions);
John A. Philbrick & Brother v. Ignatz Florio Co-Operative Association Among Corleonesi
, 137 Appellate Division 613 (1910), 122 N.Y.S. 341, fols. 1-99 (disputes with suppliers); Flynn, pp. 183-84 ($5 down, Romano holding, dividends); Carmine Altieri to William Moyer, August 24 and 29, 1912, in inmate file 2882, Giuseppe Morello, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary papers (staggered on); Salvatore Cina statement in dailies New York, vol. 38 fols. 472-3, reel 592, February 11, 1913 (menaced by shareholders); Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 111-17 (Ignatz Florio of Palermo); Sante,
Low Life
, p. 26 (cost of building).

154
The depression of 1907:
Bruner and Carr,
The Panic of 1907
, pp. 105-15 (extent); Iorizzo,
Italian Immigration and the Impact of the Padrone System
, p. 123 (effects in Little Italy).

156.
Lupo’s problems:
New York Times
, December 5, 1908, p. 1 (mortgages and re-mortgages); March 17, p. 1 (grocery business fails), and November 17, 1909, p. 1 (Petrosino beating, stock value, losses);
Herald
, November 13, 1909, p. 7 ($38,000 loss);
Washington Post
, July 12, 1914, MS6.

157.
back in the counterfeiting business:
Washington Post
, April 26, 1914, M5.

CHAPTER 8.
Green Goods

158.
Antonio Comito had decided:
Comito confession I, 1-37; confession II, 1-46 (most details); federal transcripts, Morello, fols. 20-32 (home, in Italy and Brazil, Katrina, Philadelphia, Cecala, Cina, Sylvester, journey to Highland, Giglio, stone house, pornography), 89 (age), 119 (languages), 132-34, 138-41 (Katrina’s name, journey, $5, age);
Washington Post
, May 3, M8 (Cecala background), and May 10, 1914, M8 (Comito physical description).

164
In an anonymous apartment:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 33 fols. 517-18, reel 590, November 24, 1911 (Antonio Milone; engraving the plates; Florio Society); Comito confession II, 38-40, 43 (zinc plates, description of notes, advantages of $5 bills); Lynn Glaser,
Counterfeiting in America
, pp. 192-94 (photoengraving techniques).

166
Snow blanketed the woods:
Comito confession II, 37-42 (snow, boredom, illness, plates and paper, threats, branches of society).

169
Zu Vincenzo told the printer more:
Comito confession II, 48-52 (story); Flynn, p. 114 (former banker).

172
They printed the Canadian:
Comito confession II, 39-43 ($5 plates, silkless, orders, print targets), 45 (other families), 53 (completion date, macaroni box, $2 colors), 65-66 (printing time, sentries); federal transcripts, Morello, fols. 42 (days per plate), 45, 53 (total printed, box).

174.
“He was wrapped up”:
Comito confession II, 54-59.

175.
Giuseppe Calicchio:
Federal transcripts, Morello, fols. 317-19 (background); Comito confession II, 65-66 (poorly dressed); prisoner records for Giuseppe Calicchio, inmate file 2881, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary papers, RG 129, NARA-SE (appearance), dailies Flynn, vol. 28 fols. 5-8, reel 116, January 7, 1910 (Calicchio’s account of his time in Highland).

176.
But the men waiting on the doorstep:
Comito confession II, 68-71 (date and time, guns and ammunition, Petrosino, hiding out).

CHAPTER 9.
“See the Fine Parsley”

178.
crime rates rising in Little Italy:
Sun
, November 16, 1908, p. 3; Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, pp. 74 (accounts book), 80, 92 (White Hand).

179.
“See the fine parsley!”:
Petacco,
Joe Petrosino
, p. 40.

179.
The only real solution:
Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, pp. 61-62 (Stanton Street Petrosino quote, detective bureau in Italy), 83-84 (new immigration law, list of criminals);
San Francisco Call
, October 18, 1905, p. 4,
New York Times
, same date, p. 20, and Train,
Courts, Criminals, and the Camorra
, pp. 226-27 (five thousand former convicts, new treaty on deportation).

180.
Theodore Bingham:
Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, pp. 63-65 (career, one leg); Lardner and Reppetto,
NYPD
, pp. 141-42 (riffraff, Italian Squad);
North American Review
, September 1908 (ethnic crime); Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 68-69 (Petrosino’s report).

181.
a “secret service” branch of the police department:
Herald
, February 20, 1909, p. 6.

182.
thirty thousand dollars of private funding:
Winona Republican Herald
, March 13, 1909, p. 1.

182
Petrosino had married:
Manhattan marriage certificate 33618, December 30, 1907; Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 70-71 (courting, “You too”), 110 (daughter).

183
Petrosino left New York:
Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 118, 123 (liner, mood, Vachris); Pitkin,
The Black Hand
, pp. 109-10 (mission background).

183
the alias of Simone Velletri:
Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 119-22 (alias, digestive, deportee, recognized, Delli Bovi).

185
his absence had already been noticed:
Nelli,
The Business of Crime
, p. 97.
L’Araldo’s
article appeared as early as February 9.

185.
Petrosino’s first inkling:
Herald
, March 14, 1909, p. 4 (meets journalists, followed); Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 123-32 (Rome, Padula, letter to brother).

186.
travel to Palermo:
Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 133-45 (certificates, bank account, typewriter).

187.
Ceola found himself underwhelmed:
Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 130, 139.

188.
his presence in the capital was already too well known:
Comito confession II, 69 (Mafia knowledge);
Washington Herald
, March 14, 1909, p. 6 (Alfano, Baltimore Black Hand); Fiaschetti,
The Man They Couldn’t Escape
, pp. 276-78 (Camorra); Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 158-59
(Il Mattino)
.

188.
the difficulty of killing the policeman:
Comito confession II, 81.

189.
Carlo Costantino and Antonio Passananti:
New York Times
, December 31, 1911 SM5 (work for Lupo); anonymous letter to Ceola, March 16, 1909, in Petacco,
Petrosino
, p. 168 (bosses pay fare, visit Cascio Ferro); report of Baldassare Ceola, reprinted in Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 170-74 (passage, creditors, activities, aliases, Milone and Fontana).

189.
he had made his escape from New York:
Dailies Flynn, vol. 9 fol. 117, reel 109, April 18, and fol. 132, April 19, 1903.

190.
According to the recollections:
Sun
, March 14, 1909, p. 1 (blood, two men); Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 146-50, and Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, pp. 199-200, 209-11 (shots, wounds, carriage, gaslights).

192
They rounded up:
New York Times
, March 15, p. 1, March 16, 1909, p. 1 (initial investigation), and January 17, 1911, p. 1 (Costantino);
Chicago Tribune
, March 21, 1909, p. 1 (140 arrests); Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 150-63 (Schillaci, Militano, Cascio Ferro, anonymous letters); Dickie,
Cosa Nostra
, p. 211 (Cascio Ferro’s alibi).

192.
a pair of telegrams:
American
, November 17, 1909, p. 9;
New York Times
, December 31, 1911, SM5 (“whiskers”); Petacco,
Petrosino
, p. 125 (“I Lo Baido”).

193.
letters and telephone calls:
Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 167-69.

194.
“Lieutenant Petrosino’s arrival”:
Cited in Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 165-66. 194
Cascio Ferro’s story was not enough:
Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 175-79.

194.
cost Baldassare Ceola his job:
Sun
, November 17, 1909, p. 3 (release); Petacco,
Petrosino
, pp. 178-79 (Ferrantelli, retirement).

195.
there were rumors:
Richmond Times Dispatch
, January 11, 1910, p. 11 (Pennsylvania);
New York Times
, July 2, 1909, p. 1 (Mexico).

195
the first official telegram:
American
, March 14, 1909, p. 1 (Bishop’s telegram). 195
Most New Yorkers felt a sense of outrage:
Tribune
, March 14, 1909, p. 1. 195
Adelina Petrosino:
Herald
, March 14, 1909, p. 4 (wife);
Winona Republican Herald
, March 13, 1909, p. 1 (tears).

196.
Petrosino’s funeral:
New York Times
, April 13, 1909, p. 1;
Sun
, same date, p. 1;
Tribune
, same date, p. 1.

CHAPTER 10.
Sheep and Wolves

197.
The news of Petrosino’s death:
Comito confession II, 80-81.

198.
Production of the counterfeits:
Comito confession II, 75, 79, 82 ($2 notes, retouching $5 million); Flynn, pp. 121, 126, 134-35 (rate of work, more paper).

198
the problem of the five-dollar bills:
Comito confession II, 73.

198
became abusive:
Comito confession II, 72 (rifle), 73, 80, 84-85 (burn notes, “damn brains,” grabbed by the throat). 200
to engrave new plates:
Comito confession, II, 97.

200.
As the pace of work increased:
Comito confession II, 71 (towns), 73 (twenty-five cents on the dollar), 74 (barely profitable), 87 (orders), 102 (promised $500, $13,500 order); dailies Flynn, vol. 28 fol. 824, reel 116, January 7, 1910 (others charge ten cents on the dollar); Flynn, pp. 34-35 (thirty-five cents on the dollar), 135-36, 142 (proofs, orders).