The American Mafia - Who Was Who

Balestrere, James (1891-c1959)

Born Bagheria, Sicily, June 24, 1891.

Died Kansas City, MO, Oct. 19, 1959.

Born near Palermo, Sicily, Balestrere initially settled with his family in Milwaukee(1), in spring 1903(2). When he was a teenager, his family moved to the Kansas City area.
Balestrere became a big shot in the Kansas City outfit during Prohibition. Though a stone mason(3) by trade, he is believed to have teamed with the DiGiovanni brothers - Joseph and Pietro - in a bootlegging-related venture, supplying sugar to moonshine operations.(4)

After Prohibition the K.C. mob appeared to be under the control of Charles Binaggio, connected to the Pendergast political machine. Binaggio might also have had a hand in St. Louis-area gambling(5). Some believe Binaggio was merely a front man, while underworld orders continued to come from Joseph DiGiovanni(6).

At that time, Balestrere put his mason skills to use constructing a local restaurant/casino. (He previously worked operating a grocery store and a drug store.) The gambling establishment became known as "the White House." In the late 1930s, Balestrere also managed a keno game for Pendergast.(7)

Binaggio and his chief lieutenant Charles "Mad Dog" Gargotta were murdered on April 5, 1950, at a political headquarters(8). At the time, Missouri Senator James P. Kem called the murders an outgrowth of "the unholy alliance between politics and the underworld in Kansas City."(9).

Balestrere reportedly was a senior partner in the leadership group that followed Binaggio (or one which existed for some time under cover of Binaggio). Control of the K.C. mob looks to have been shared by Balestrere, Thomas "Tano" Lococo, Charles Carollo and former Binaggio ally Anthony Gizzo(10).

Some pronounce Gizzo the supreme boss in the city's underworld from 1950 until his death of natural causes(11). However, the Kefauver Committee, after hearing Balestrere's testimony in September 1950, decided that Balestrere was the big man(12).

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Notes:

. Fox, Blood and Power, p. 37. A Mafia clan in Milwaukee had a similar-sounding name spelled "Balestrieri" or "Balestreri."
. Passport application dated Feb. 21, 1923; U.S Census Records, 1930.
. Ibid. World War I Draft Records, 1917.
. Fox, op. cit. In testimony before the Kefauver Committee, Sept. 30, 1950, Balestrere admitted only to supplying sugar to those engaged in the manufacture of "moonshine": "Kefauver clears Kansas City police," New York Times, Oct. 1, 1950, p. 81. Roots of the sugar business were traced back to a black market enterprise during World War I: May, Allan. "The History of the Kansas City Family," ItalKC.com.
. Kefauver Committee Report #3.
. "Organized Crime Syndicates" website - Kansas City
. "Kefauver clears...," op. cit.
. "Binaggio, Kansas City political figure...," Sedalia (Mo) Democrat, Apr. 6, 1950, p. 1.
. "President asked to halt Kansas City crime wave," Sikeston (Mo) Herald, Apr. 20, 1950, p. 10.
. Kefauver Committee, op. cit. Virgil Peterson testimony to Kefauver panel.
. "Organized Crime Syndicates," op. cit.
. Kefauver Committee, op. cit.
. Hayde, Frank R., The Mafia and the Machine, Fort Lee NJ: Barricade, 2007; "James G. Balestrere," Find-a-Grave ( http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16782970 ).

Avena, John "Big Nose" (1893-1936)

Born Novara, Sicily, 1893.

Killed Philadelphia, PA, Aug. 17, 1936

Avena took over the Philadelphia Mafia Family after founding boss Salvatore Sabella stepped down at the conclusion of the Castellammarese War in 1931. The Philly Mob had sided with the momentarily victorious Maranzano faction in that underworld conflict. Avena was an unusual choice as Mafia boss because he was born in the Messina region of Sicily, generally not associated with the Mafia tradition.

During his reign as boss, the Sicilian Mafia in Philadelphia formed a partnership with local Jewish organized criminals from the "69th Street Mob." This appears to have aided the Mafia in entering post-Prohibition gambling rackets.

Avena appears to have had Sabella's full support as boss, but a rebellious faction arose in the Philadelphia area. That group was led by the Lanzetti brothers. A civil war erupted in the Family during the mid-1930s.

The Lanzetti brothers are believed to have been responsible for the shooting death of 43-year-old Avena at the corner of Washington and Passyunk Avenues in the summer of 1936. A gunman firing from the rear window of a passing automobile shot to death both Avena and his lottery racket partner Martin Feldstein. Police noted that three other attempts had been made on Avena's life in the past 10 years.

There was considerable media attention to the September 18, 1937, arrest of Michael Montanaro on Philadelphia's North Broad Street. Montanaro, indicted for robberies and suspected of involvement in the murder of Avena, was shot and wounded by Detective Richard "Pete" McClure during the arrest. He died on September 28, 1937.

Joseph "Bruno" Dovi succeeded Avena as boss.

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D'Aquila, Salvatore "Toto" (1873-1928)

Born Palermo, Sicily, 1873

Killed New York, NY, Oct. 10, 1928.

Palermo-born D'Aquila ran a cheese importing business in New York when he wasn't occupied with the day-to-day business of one of the more successful Mafia organizations.

D'Aquila began his underworld career as a Bronx-based underling in the Mafia of American boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello. His personal criminal pursuits are not well known. He was arrested in 1906 as a confidence man and arrested again in 1909 on unknown charges. Both times, the charges were dropped.

D'Aquila moved to Brooklyn, where he likely became an important lieutenant under Morello brother-in-law Ignazio Lupo. When Morello and Lupo were jailed for counterfeiting in 1910, D'Aquila was selected as leader of the Lupo operation and as boss of bosses of the American Mafia.

D'Aquila meddled extensively in the business of other American crime families. He is believed to have inserted his own loyal followers as spies into other families.

Despite D'Aquila's vast strength, he did not succeed in uniting all of New York City's Mafiosi. He attempted to put down an insurrection in East Harlem through the assassinations of the Lomonte brothers. Italian colonies on Manhattan's Lower East Side also eluded his grasp.

The questionable loyalty of his underworld subjects in Manhattan apparently nagged at D'Aquila. When Morello and Lupo were released from federal prison around 1920, D'Aquila passed death sentences against his former superiors and ten of their closest allies in order to eliminate the potential rivals. One of those condemned by D'Aquila was his loyal henchman Umberto Valenti, then powerful enough to concern the boss of bosses.

Valenti reached an accord with D'Aquila by promising to eliminate Manhattan Mafia upstart Giuseppe Masseria, who had become the Morello faction's standard-bearer. Through guile and luck, Masseria survived Valenti attempts on his life and managed to kill D'Aquila's gunman in 1922.

The events of the early 1920s cost D'Aquila a key ally. Saverio "Sam" Pollaccia, a close friend of D'Aquila's who followed him from the Bronx to Brooklyn, abandoned D'Aquila and became a personal adviser to Masseria.

The boss of bosses' authority waned, particularly in New York, through the next few years. D'Aquila retreated back into the South Bronx about 1925-1926, moving into a home across the street from the entrance to the Bronx Zoo. D'Aquila was cornered and killed during a visit to a Manhattan doctor in 1928. Giuseppe Masseria became the new boss of bosses and retained Giuseppe Morello as his chief strategist.

While a number of D'Aquila loyalists sided with Brooklyn Castellammarese leader Salvatore Maranzano in the Castellammarese War of 1930-31, the old Brooklyn-Bronx D'Aquila unit was officially taken over by Masseria supporter Al Mineo and his right-hand man Steve Ferrigno.

After the deaths of Mineo and Ferrigno, the unit was run by Frank Scalise during the later Castellammarese War and was then turned over to Vincent Mangano in the 1931 underworld reorganization. It survives to this day as the Gambino Family.

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Crime boss listing - Mafiahistory.us