---

Problems, Questions…contact me.

All information entered to post a comment, name, email address etc., will not be used for any purpose other then to confirm you are a real person. We will not sell, share or publish our visitors email addresses and we will not email you for any reason. We believe in omerta!

If you've a real interest in New England Organized Crime and landed on this page by following a browser link and haven't seen the homepage you should check it out here. There are two videos with info on the current state of the family here. It'll give you an idea of whats happening and who's who. Really worth watching.

 

---

 

1792:

New York: Coulter's Brewery is built at the Five Points, named for the points created by the intersection of Park, Worth, and Baxter streets in New York's Lower East.It would become known as the "Old Brewery" and be inhabited by the poorest of the New York City's immigrant poor.It was known as a center of vice and debauchery throughout the nineteenth century where numerous gang battles, murders and assorted crimes would occur.

1834:

New Orleans, US: Joseph P. Macheca is born, one of the first to organize Sicilian immigrants into a gang in Louisiana.
 
1857:

Sicily: Carlos Matranga is born who would eventually became the leader of the New Orleans Mafia.

1858:

New Orleans, US: Carlos Matranga’s family moves from Sicily.

1860:

Boston, Mass: The first Italian immigrants came in from Genoa and settled in a three-block area off Fulton Street, they numbered fewer than 200. The Genoese were followed by the Campanians, who were followed by the Sicilians, the Avellinese, the Neopolitans, and the Abruzzesians. Each group settled in their own area within the North End, creating their own enclave within the greater North End neighborhood.

1861:

Palermo, Sicily: Sicilian underground “Mafia” appears to begin incorporating the groups of bandits in the Sicilian hills.

Sicily: Sicily became part of the Kingdom of Italy.

Texas, US: Joseph Macheca becomes rich running Union blockades during the Civil War.

1862:

Bisacquino, Sicily: Vito Cascio Ferro is born. Believed to be one of the men primarily responsible for establishing the communication between the Sicilian and U.S. Mafia

1863:

Sicily: The term "Mafia" becomes more widely known after the production of a play depicting Palermo jail inmates as heroic.

1865:

New Orleans, US: A wealthy Joseph Macheca returns to Louisiana, sets up steamship trading company, involves himself in local Democratic politics. Begins to organize the "Innocents" gang of Sicilian immigrants.

1866:

Corleone, Sicily: Nicholas Morello is born. One of the first New York organized crime figures later founding the Morello crime family

1867:

Sicily: Rosario Meli, age 22, possibly a key player in the youth-oriented early Mafia, is convicted of murders and flees to the US.

1868:

New Orleans, US: Joseph Macheca’s "Innocents" gang gets its first notice from authorities and media during election time.

New Orleans, US: Rosario Meli turns up in New Orleans as a subordinate to Raffaelo Agnello, who is challenging the rule of the Innocents.

1869:

New Orleans, US: Macheca’s men ambush Agnello and several bodyguards. Agnello is killed in the attack. Macheca's gang puts down the remnants of the Agnello challenge. Macheca, recognizing that the symbols, gestures and language of the Agnello Mafia group carried much weight in the immigrant Sicilian community, and subsequently patterns his organization and tactics after Agnello 's group. Macheca's inclusion of some of Agnello 's gang opens a line of communication to the criminal society back in Sicily.

1870:

US: Italian immigrants in American Cities: New York-2,794; San Francisco-1,622; New Orleans-1,571; Chicago-552; Philadelphia-516; Boston-264.

1871:

Calabria, Italy: Giacomo Colosimo (a.k.a. "Big Jim".) is born.

1872:

Chicago, US: Giacomo “Big Jim” Colosimo arrives in Chicago.
 
1874:

Sicily: Mafia gains international attention as leader Antonino Leone and his lieutenant, Giuseppe Esposito, kidnap English banker and demand ransom. Payments are slow. Leone reportedly mails first one ear, then the other, and then a portion of the victim's nose to his family.

1875:

Sicily: Under pressure from the English government, the Italian army moves against Antonino Leone. Enduring significant losses, the army encircles Leone's band in the hills and captures the leader as well as Esposito. Leone is sentenced to life in prison (serves only a few years before escaping to North Africa), but Esposito escapes from police and returns to lead the Sicilian Mafia.

San Francisco, US: Roserio Meli and some followers move from New Orleans to San Francisco in the hopes of establishing themselves as leaders of a Mafia group there.

1877:

New Orleans, US: Sam Carolla arrives in US and aligns himself with Matranga.

1878:

New York, US: With authorities on his trail, Giuseppe Esposito decides to flee to U.S. Sails to New York via Marseilles, France. Notes that New York underworld is dominated by Irish gangs with some smaller, inconspicuous Italian/Sicilian gangs. There is a possibility he works to organize the Mafia in New York.

San Francisco, US: Rosario Meli and several associates are accused of murder. An underling confesses to the killing and insists it was a matter of honor. No prosecution in the case. Group then charged, convicted and jailed for robbery.

1879:

New Orleans, US: Looking for greener pastures, Giuseppe Esposito and associates relocate from New York to New Orleans where he adopts the name, Vincenzo Rebello. Finds Joseph Macheca agreeable to sharing underworld leadership. Esposito and his right hand man Giuseppe Provenzano quickly controlled much of the profitable activity on the New Orleans docks.

1880:

New Orleans, US: Esposito lieutenant Giuseppe Provenzano controls work on New Orleans docks.

New Orleans, US: David Hennessey, who works in the New Orleans police force along with his brother, first becomes aware of a Mafia presence in his town.

San Francisco, US: American officials seek to deport Rosario Meli. He is moved to New York and reportedly boarded ship for Sicily. However, he seems never to have arrived at his destination.

US: Approximately 56,000 Italians arrive in America from 1871 to 1880.

1881:

New Orleans, US: David Hennessey learns of Giuseppe Esposito’s Sicilian Mafia connections through an informer. Hennessey arrests Esposito and turns him over to be deported. Esposito returns to New York City on July 13 for an extradition hearing.

New York, US: Giuseppe Esposito insists he is Vincenzo Rebello and has been wrongly identified. He cannot be deported until authorities can prove his identity through photos and witnesses. New York Sicilian community mobilizes to assist him.

New York, US: His true identity revealed, Giuseppe Esposito is deported and faces murder charges in Italy. Internal struggles erupt within Mafia organizations in New Orleans and New York as Mafiosi seek to determine who has betrayed Esposito.

Rome, Italy: Convicted of murder, Giuseppe Esposito is jailed for life.

1882:

New Orleans, US: Two factions emerge in New Orleans after Esposito's arrest. Giuseppe Provenzano's group, comprised of more traditional Mafiosi with ties to Palermo leadership, are angered that Joseph Macheca did not use his political influence to save Esposito. The Joseph Macheca- Carlos Matranga faction includes home-grown criminals. Macheca is able to use political muscle to have the Hennessey brothers dismissed from the police force.

New York. US: Arnold Rothstein is born.

Orsara, Italy: Johnny Torrio (a.k.a. "Terrible John.") is born.

1883:

New York, US; Joe Petrosino joins the New York police force

Sicily: An assault is reportedly first official charge to go on Vito Cascio Ferro's police record.

1884:

New York, US: Johnny Torrio is taken to live in New York by his recently widowed mother.

1886:

Sicily: Giuseppe Masseria (a.k.a. "Joe the Boss.") is born.

Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily: Salvatore Maranzano (a.k.a. "Don Turridru.") is born.

1888:

New Orleans, US: A wave of reform sweeps through New Orleans and leads to David Hennessey rejoining the police force as its chief. Rocco Geraci is identified as top enforcer for the Macheca-Matranga group. Authorities believe Macheca-Matranga organization has imported 320 members of the Stoppaglieri group from Sicily. Macheca-Matranga is preparing for all-out war against Giuseppe Provenzano's Mafia and begins challenging Provenzano's monopoly on the docks.

New York, US: Antonio Flaccomio is stabbed to death in first recognized Mafia murder in New York. The brothers Carlo & Vincenzo Quarteraro are accused of the crime, which occurred at Eight Street and Third Avenue. Police decided that the killing was the result of a vendetta linked to the betrayal of Mafia leader Giuseppe Esposito in July 1881.

1889:

New Orleans, US: Giuseppe Provenzano attempts to negotiate a peace treaty with Macheca-Matranga, but his emissary, Vincenzo Ottumvo, is axed to death. David Hennessey attempts to intervene in the erupting conflict. Calls a conference and arranges truce but appears to be siding with Provenzano.

New York, US: Carlo & Vincenzo Quarteraro are acquitted of the Flaccomio murder. Disgusted police detective remarks that Italians in New York can go ahead and "kill each other."

Palermo, Sicily: Ignazio "Lupo the Wolf." Saietta , just 12 years old, is believed to have murdered a man named Salvatore Morello (apparently unrelated to the Nicholas and Giuseppe Morello family). He flees to New York to escape prosecution.

1890:

New Orleans, US: Provenzano forces ambush some Macheca-Matranga men at Claiborne and Esplanade Streets, killing two. Key Provenzano figures are arrested. Despite "underworld code," Macheca-Matranga gang provides information on the crime to police.  Open warfare begins between rival underworld factions. Provenzano defendants are convicted of the killings, but judge throws out the verdict and orders a new trial to take place Oct. 17. in the summer Police Chief David Hennessey prepares to testify on behalf of the Provenzano group and to implicate the Macheca-Matranga mob in Oct. 17 trials. Hennessey is ambushed near corner of Girod and Basin Streets at about 11:30 p.m. He was on his way home to 275 Girod Street. A boy walks ahead of him along the street and whistles a signal. Gunmen emerge and kill the police chief. Macheca-Matranga leadership is hauled in and charged with the assassination.

US: Italian immigrants in American Cities: New York-39,951: San Francisco-5,212: New Orleans-3,622: Philadelphia-6,799: Chicago-5,685: Boston-4,718.

1891:

New Orleans, US: Jury finds Macheca-Matranga defendants not guilty. Jury tampering is evident. The group remains in custody. An  angry mob assembles, enters the jail and murders eleven of the nineteen defendants Two were hanged, nine were shot, and the remaining eight escaped. Macheca is among those killed. Carlo Matranga manages to survive the incident and becomes recognized head of New Orleans underworld. In response to the lynching in New Orleans, an Italian American newspaper, "Progresso Italo-Americano" issues the widely held feelings of Italian American communities by demanding intervention of the home government-Italy. The international reactions to the New Orleans lynching were as severe as the domestic ones, and under the influence of a sensationalist American press, a veritable war scene with Italy develops.

Cosenza Province, Italy: Francesco Castiglia aka Frank Costello.is born. His birthplace is usually said to be the village of Lauropoli. But other sources name the town of Cassano Jonio.

Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily: Salvatore Sabella is born.

Corleone, Sicily: Jack Dragna is born.

1892:

New York, US: January 1, Ellis Island, called "L'isola delle Lacrime" (Island of Tears) by Italian immigrants, opens and begins processing millions of immigrants.

Ellis Island 1892

New York, US: Antonio Morello, Nicholas Morello, Giuseppe Morello, Ciro Terranova, Vincent Terranova. Morello-Terranova (brothers, half-brothers, step-brothers) moves from Sicily to New York and establishes the Morello crime family. Originally known as the 107th Street Mob, the Morello's quickly established dominance within East Harlem allying with Black Hand leader "Lupo the Wolf" Ingazio Lupo. The Morellos were in control of the Brooklyn dockyards and eventually parts of Upper Manhattan and Bronx waterfront.

New Orleans, US: Giuseppe Provenzano family flees New Orleans as Matranga organization absorbs the remainder of the Provenzano mob. Matranga is supreme Mafia boss in the city.

Brooklyn, US: Antonio Morello allegedly kills Neapolitan born Francesco Meli of Brooklyn. Incident may represent a struggle over control of the Brooklyn docks.

1895:

Chicago, US: 1895 is generally regarded as the official start date for the Unione Siciliana in Chicago. The Unione became a national brotherhood providing support for Sicilian immigrants but was later contaminated by Mafiosi and turned into a criminal network.

Brooklyn, US: Giuseppe Balsamo (a.k.a. "Battista Balsamo") Arrives in New York. Was an established Sicilian Mafioso. One source claims erroneously that he was the first American "Godfather." His authority was likely confined to a region of Brooklyn.

New York, US: Francesco Castiglia, Frank Costello arrives in New York. Family settles into apartment on East 108th Street and begins operating a small grocery.

New York, US: Barrel murders make headlines in city. “Barrel Murders” was the name used in the American media for a method of execution used by early American Mafiosi. .The victims, usually Italian immigrants, would be found stuffed inside a barrel after being shot, stabbed, or strangled to death, and left on a random street corner, back alley, or shipped to a nonexistent address in another city. First used by the Sicilian Provenzano crime family in New Orleans and the Morello crime family in New York, the Barrel Murders eventually alerted authorities of the existence of the Mafia.

1897:

Palermo, Sicily: Joe Profaci is born.

Lecara Friddi, Sicily: Salvatore Lucania is born. (a.k.a. Charlie Luciano, "Charlie Lucky," Charles Ross.)

Risigliano, Italy: Vito Genovese is born. (a.k.a. Don Vitone.)

New York, US: Louis Buchalter is born. (a.k.a. "Lepke")

1898:

New York, US: Antonio Morello the eldest of Morello-Terranova brothers is shot down. Leadership of the crime family fell to Giuseppe Morello (although Lupo was considered the overall leader of the Manhattan Mafiosi). Arrested the following year for counterfeiting and sentenced to three years' imprisonment, Giuseppe, following his release in 1902, and Lupo began a major counterfeiting ring with Sicilian mafiosi Don Vito Cascio Ferro printing $5 dollar bills in Sicily and smuggling them into the United States.

1899:

Brooklyn, US: Alphonse Capone is born (a.k.a. "Snorky," "Scarface")

Palermo, Sicily: Gaetano Lucchese is born (a.k.a. Tommy Lucchese, Luckese, and Three-Finger Brown.)

NEXT PAGE

The Beginning of Organized Crime in the U.S., 9.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

Popularity: 48% [?]