Morello crime family
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The Morello crime family was one of the earliest crime families to be established in the United States. Based in New York's East Harlem, the Morello's would establish Sicilian dominance over Italian-American organized crime defeating the rival Neapolitan Camorra. Many of the organizations members included such criminals as "Lupo the Wolf" Ignazio Saietta, Joe Masseria, Rocco Valenti, and Charles Ubriaco as well as others becoming future leaders of the "Five Families" such as Gaetano Lucchese and Charles Luciano. The Morello's would gain control of Manhattan following the fall of many of the cities Irish and Jewish street gangs during the early twentieth century.
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[edit] History of the Morello Crime Family
[edit] Early history
The Morello crime family was established by brothers Antonio, Nicolo, and Giuseppe Morello and half brothers Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova following their arrival from Corleone, Sicily in 1892. Originally known as the 107th Street Mob, the Morellos quickly established dominance within East Harlem allying with Black Hand leader "Lupo" Saietta. With the murder of Francesco Meli in December 1892, allegedly by Antonio Morello, the Morellos controlled the Brooklyn dockyards and eventually parts of Upper Manhattan and Bronx waterfront. Continuing to support Saietta's Black Hand organization, the Morellos would later be suspected of the "barrel murders", supposedly murder victims of the Black Hand, which would be seen regularly throughout the decade.
With the death of Antonio Morello in 1898, leadership of the crime family fell to Giuseppe Morello (although Saietta 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 Saietta began a major counterfeiting ring with Sicilian mafioso Don Vito Cascio Ferro, printing $5 dollar bills in Sicily and smuggling them into the United States. Many of the later "barrel murders", particularly that of Joe Catania (whose body was found in July 1902), were thought to have been committed by the Morellos, who employed a large number of members of the counterfeiting operation.
On April 13, 1903 the body of Beneditto Madonia, brother-in-law to police informant Giuseppe DiPrimo (de Priemo), was found in a barrel after being brutally tortured. A U.S. Secret Service detective, who had been investigating the counterfeiting ring, traced the man to a restaurant where he was seen with Morello associates Saietta and Tomasso "The Ox" Petto. New York detective Joseph Petrosino later confirmed Madonia's identity after visiting DiPrimo at Sing Sing Prison. A letter by Madonia seeking to leave the organization was found in a search of Madonia's house. With this evidence several mafiosi were arrested including Giuseppe, Saietta, Petto, and restaurant owner Pietro Inzarillo as well as several other members. However the charges are later dropped after witnesses changed their statements.
[edit] Counterfeiting Scandal
By the late 1900s, the Morellos had consolidated their hold on Upper Manhattan however on November 15, 1909 New York police raided a building in Highland, New York the Morello's were using as a front for their counterfeiting operation. After letters were found by Black Hand victims from New Orleans, fifteen members of the Morello's, including Giuseppe and Saietta, were arrested. Recovering a large amount of both American and Canadian counterfeit bills, including Morello member Pasqual Vasi in possession of $1,200 worth of counterfeit money, the Morello printer agreed to testify against the Morello's.
Beginning on January 26, 1910 the trial ended on February 19 with all members involved convicted, including Giuseppe and Saietta, who were sentenced to thirty and twenty-five years respectively at Atlanta Federal Prison.
[edit] Mafia-Camorra War
With Giuseppe and Saietta's conviction, Nicolo Morello, with Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova, took control of the Morellos. At this time the Morellos' power was at its height, controlling Manhattan's criminal activities from East Harlem to Greenwich Village. Soon after opening the Venezia Restaurant, the club became a popular hangout for the city's underworld.
Nicolo's efforts to unify the Italian criminal organizations of New York, particularly the Sicilian mafiosi and the Neapolitan Camorristas, during the early 1910s were unsuccessful despite his best efforts.
The Morellos' main rival was Don Pellegrino Morano who controlled the Camorra gangs controlling Brooklyn. As violence continued between mafiosi and Camorristas, particularly the 1914 murder of Morello associate Charles Lamonti, the Morellos began to split into several factions headed by Joe Masseria and Rocco Valenti.
During this time the Morellos had allied with Don Giosue Gallucci, a prominent businessman with local political connections, in an effort to unite the Morellos and the Neapolitan Lamonti Brothers. After Gallucci's murder in 1915, the alliance between the two groups ended as the Brooklyn Camorristas planned to eliminate the Morellos from Manhattan.
In early 1916 Morano, with lieutenant Vincenzo Paragallo, began moving into the Morellos' territory. After six months of fighting, however, Morano offered a truce to end the stalemate. Morello agreed as a meeting was arranged at a Navy Street café. However upon arriving, Morello was ambushed by five members of Morano's men and killed with lieutenant Charles Ubriaco on September 7, 1916. While the loss of the Morellos' senior leader was a blow to the Morellos, Morano was quickly charged with Nicolo's murder after two members of Nicolo's crew, Tony Notoro and Ralph Daniello, contacted New York police implicating Morano and revealing the war between the Sicilian and Neapolitan gangs. Morano, after being denied help from New York detective Michael Mealli, was convicted of murder and imprisoned, as were the remaining leaders of the Camorristas, effectively ending the Mafia-Camorra War.
[edit] A Family Divided
In the aftermath of the war the Morello's were in control of New York, ensuring the dominance of the Sicilian mafiosi, as the remaining Camorras were absorbed into the organization by the end of 1917. The Terranova brothers took Nicolo's place and, although Ciro Terranova was tried for the murders of Charles Lombardi and Joe DiMarco in 1918, he remained in control of the Morellos as the case was later dismissed.
The organization remained divided between Masseria and Valenti however and, as Joe Masseria began gaining power during the early 1920s, the Morellos faced a civil war.
[edit] Bosses of the Morello Crime Family
- 1892–1898 — Antonio Morello (1854–1898)
- 1898–1899 — Giuseppe Morello (1870–1930)
- 1899–1902 — Ignazio Saietta (1877–1947)(acting boss)
- 1902–1909 — Giuseppe Morello (1870–1930)
- 1909–1916 — Nicholas Morello (1866–1916)
- 1916–1920 — Ciro Terranova (1889–1938)
- 1920–1922 — Peter Morello (1880–1930)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. ISBN 1-56025-275-8
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
