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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Anselmi, Albert (1883-1929)
Born Marsala, Sicily, July 15, 1883.
Killed Cicero, IL, May 7, 1929.
Anselmi was a bootlegger and enforcer in the Genna Brothers Mafia Family in Chicago who later became an important figure in the Al Capone Outfit. He was widely suspected of involvement in the 1924 murder of North Side gang boss Dean O'Banion.
In the mid-1920s, Anselmi and his perpetual companion John Scalisi appeared to pull away from the Genna Mafia and join an independent Sicilian underworld organization led by Samuzzo Amatuna and Orazio Tropea. Mike Genna was killed in a shootout with police June 13, 1925, while in the company of Anselmi and Scalisi. The two men subsequently became allies of Al Capone.
Between 1925 and 1927, Anselmi and Scalisi battled cop-killing charges arising from the shooting deaths of two Chicago detectives. After three trials, in which the defendants argued that they used deadly force against the police officers only in self-defense, the two men were freed.
Some believe that Capone used Anselmi, Scalisi and others to execute the St. Valentine's Day massacre of Bugs Moran's men. Scalisi was indicted for participating in the massacre, but he was never tried.
Just three months after that bloody event, Anselmi, Scalisi and Joseph Guinta were found dead in Indiana. The accepted legend is that Capone discovered the the three Sicilian men, all known as Capone supporters, were plotting against him. Capone reportedly held a lavish dinner in their honor at Hawthorne Inn in Cicero, IL, and personally beat them to death with a baseball bat.
The bodies of the three men - badly beaten and shot - were found within an automobile on May 8, 1929.
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Killed Cicero, IL, May 7, 1929.
In the mid-1920s, Anselmi and his perpetual companion John Scalisi appeared to pull away from the Genna Mafia and join an independent Sicilian underworld organization led by Samuzzo Amatuna and Orazio Tropea. Mike Genna was killed in a shootout with police June 13, 1925, while in the company of Anselmi and Scalisi. The two men subsequently became allies of Al Capone.
Between 1925 and 1927, Anselmi and Scalisi battled cop-killing charges arising from the shooting deaths of two Chicago detectives. After three trials, in which the defendants argued that they used deadly force against the police officers only in self-defense, the two men were freed.
Some believe that Capone used Anselmi, Scalisi and others to execute the St. Valentine's Day massacre of Bugs Moran's men. Scalisi was indicted for participating in the massacre, but he was never tried.
Just three months after that bloody event, Anselmi, Scalisi and Joseph Guinta were found dead in Indiana. The accepted legend is that Capone discovered the the three Sicilian men, all known as Capone supporters, were plotting against him. Capone reportedly held a lavish dinner in their honor at Hawthorne Inn in Cicero, IL, and personally beat them to death with a baseball bat.
The bodies of the three men - badly beaten and shot - were found within an automobile on May 8, 1929.
See also:
Annaloro, Angelo "Bruno" (1910-1980)
Born Villalba, Sicily, May 21, 1910.
Killed Philadelphia PA, March 12, 1980.
Angelo Annaloro used the same adopted "Bruno" surname as World War II-era Philadelphia Mafia chief Joseph "Bruno" Dovi. Angelo Bruno was referred to as "the Gentle Don" and "the Docile Don" because he tended to look for compromise rather than conflict.
Born in Villalba, Sicily, Angelo Bruno came to the U.S. as a baby in 1911. He grew up in the Philadelphia area during the Prohibition Era. He remained on friendly terms with Mafiosi in his Sicilian hometown, in particular Calogero "Don Calo" Vizzini. During World War II, Allied forces endorsed the cooperative Vizzini as mayor of Villalba. That endorsement is sometimes cited as an example of Allied support for Mafia rule in Sicily.
Bruno was boss of the Philly Mob from about 1959 to his death in 1980. His reign was said to be one of compromise, and he is often referred to by the nickname, "The Gentle Don." His wife was Sue Maranca Bruno.
During Bruno's tenure as boss, Atlantic City was opened for gambling. The rich territory was right in the Philly Mob's backyard and became a source of conflict with the New York-New Jersey organizations. Some New York crime lords appear to have conspired with Bruno's ambitious consigliere Anthony Caponigro to eliminate Bruno. The Philadelphia chief was killed March 12, 1980. He was hit by a shotgun blast as he sat in his car in front of his Philadelphia home.
Caponigro's future didn't turn out the way he planned it. The Mafia's ruling Commission was offended by the unauthorized murder of a crime family boss. Caponigro was murdered in New York a short time later.
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Killed Philadelphia PA, March 12, 1980.
Born in Villalba, Sicily, Angelo Bruno came to the U.S. as a baby in 1911. He grew up in the Philadelphia area during the Prohibition Era. He remained on friendly terms with Mafiosi in his Sicilian hometown, in particular Calogero "Don Calo" Vizzini. During World War II, Allied forces endorsed the cooperative Vizzini as mayor of Villalba. That endorsement is sometimes cited as an example of Allied support for Mafia rule in Sicily.
Bruno was boss of the Philly Mob from about 1959 to his death in 1980. His reign was said to be one of compromise, and he is often referred to by the nickname, "The Gentle Don." His wife was Sue Maranca Bruno.
Caponigro's future didn't turn out the way he planned it. The Mafia's ruling Commission was offended by the unauthorized murder of a crime family boss. Caponigro was murdered in New York a short time later.
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