Agueci Brothers

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Albert and Vito Agueci, also known as the Agueci Brothers, were Sicilian mafiosi who were involved with the "French Connection" in smuggling heroin from Canada and into the United States during the 1950s. While Albert Agueci would become known his torture-murder in 1961 by members of the Magaddino crime family, Vito Agueci would eventually end up spending time in the same Atlanta Federal Penitentiary as New York boss, Vito Genovese and his underling, Joseph "Joe Cago" Valachi who was a former member of the Agueci brothers heroin network until he was arrested along with the Agueci brothers all the members of their operation in 1961. Vito would harboured ill feelings towards Valachi while they where in prison and he would conspire to have him killed by lying to Valachi's boss, Genovese.

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[edit] Early life and involvement in the French Connection

Born in Sicily, the Agueci Brothers immigrated to Canada following World War II and used a Toronto bakery for their base of operations. The Agueci brothers, Alberto and Vito were both Buffalo crime family members and held the rank of soldier. Their main partner in the heroin operation which was Hamilton mobster, Buffalo crime family capo and Ontario Don, John "Johnny Pops" Papalia who had connections to the Cotroni crime family in Montreal and to the Genovese and Bonanno crime families in New York.[1] The Aguecis and Papalia ran a branch of the famous "French Connection" heroin ring which was controlled at the time by the French-Corsican Mob or Unione Corse which obtained opium base from Turkey and Afghanistan and converted it into heroin in clandestine laboratories in France and Corsica. The Unione Corse had many French and Corsican born Italians that had affiliations to some of the biggest mafia bosses in Italy and North America and sold most of their heroin to the Sicilian mafia, including Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Frank "Fingers" Coppola, Nicola "Cola" Gentile, Salvatore Greco, Giuseppe Settecase, Salvatore and Angelo La Barbera and Luciano Leggio.[2]

Alberto Agueci specialized in importing heroin from Sicily by hiding 10-20 kilo loads in the false bottom of trunks and suitcases, while having them braught over with unsuspecting immigrants and vacationers who booked passage of their trip through a travel agency and its owner in Sicily Alberto Agueci was associated to. Johnny Papalia was an associate of Bonanno crime family Boss, Carmine "Lilo" Galante, Cotroni crime family boss, Vincent "Vic the Egg" Cotroni and his brothers, Giuseppe "Pep" and Francesco "Frank/Le Gros" Cotroni who were the middlemen or overseers for the heroin shipped from Sicily into North America by way of the Montreal, Canada ports and was able to buy heroin from them as well. Once the herion reached the Agueci and Papalia in Canada they would contact their associates and main customers in the Genovese crime family, Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo, Vincent Mauro, Frank "Frankie the Bug" Caruso and Joseph "Joe Cago" Valachi to inform then the heroin had arrived and was being prepared for its transport to New York, the largest heroin market in North America.

[edit] Cooperation with the Magaddino crime family

The Papalia-Agueci Group also worked closely with their own Buffalo crime family and with some of its top members in the distribution of heroin in the United States. With the permission of Boss, Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino and the help of his top Lt.'s, Frederico "Freddie Lupo/The Wolf" Randaccio and Pasquale "Pat Titters" Natarelli who oversaw the Canadian operations of the Buffalo crime family and Salvatore "Samuel Johns" Pieri and John "Johnny Ray" Pieri who oversaw the Buffalo crime family's heroin distribution operations as well throughout Western New York, the Ohio Valley and Eastern Pennsylvania through their connections to members of the Colombo crime family of New York, the Scalish crime family of Cleveland]] and the Bufalino crime family of Eastern Pennsylvania.[3] The Papalia-Agueci Group had customers in Toronto and other areas of Southern Ontario such as Geulph, but had to export most of their heroin to the United States not only because they were aligned with the American crime families, but because they were not big distributors of heroin in the Southern Ontario area being that their group was being overshadowed by a rival group based in Toronto that had direct ties to the Sicilian mafia. The Zizzo-Indelicato Group in Toronto was led by Benedetto Zizzo, the brother of Salemi, Trapani mafia Boss, Salvatore Zizzo and Giuseppe Indelicato from Siculiana, Agrigento who was an underling of mafia Boss, Giuseppe Settecase and a member of the Cuntrera-Caruana family.[4] The direct access to the Sicilian mafia groups that controlled the importation of heroin and eventually controlled the clandestine heroin laboratories in Sicily made the Zizzo-Indelicato Group much better connected and influential than the Papalia-Agueci group. Their early success in New York State, not to mention the greed of Stefano Magaddino who demanded a big cut of the profits made in the operation encouraged the Agueci brothers and John Papalia to make as much money as they could by expanding the amount of heroin they imported. Stefano Magaddino's greed was legendary and he proved this to the Papalia-Aguecci Group by ordering them to take a heroin order of 5 kilos on consignment from the competition, the Zizzo-Indelicato Group and not pay them.[5]

[edit] Downfall

In early 1961, the Papalia-Agueci Group was in the process of importing a large shipment of heroin that would have allowed them to undercut their rivals and become top heroin distributors in the Southern, Ontario, Western, New York area and quite possibly put them on the map in the global heroin trade with one master stroke, but the leaders of the Agueci-Papalia group, Alberto Agueci and John Papalia ran into legal trouble. Johnny Papalia was the Buffalo crime family capo in charge of all Southern Ontario operations and Johnny had been trying to acquire a piece of the highly lucrative gambling operations of independent Toronto gambler, Maxwell "Maxie Bluestein" Baker who controlled the top betting operation in Toronto which took in $30,000 a day in bets.[6] Johnny gave Maxie Bluestein an ultimatum after trying to negotiate with him for months and on March 21, 1961 in the Town Tavern in downtown Toronto Johnny and 2 of his associates severely beat Bluestein within an inch of his life, Johnny surrendered to police on May 11, 1961 and was released on $2,000 bail. Next, on May 5, 1961, Alberto Agueci was plucked off the Toronto streets by cops who found two capsules of heroin and charged him with drug and weapons possession for carrying a baseball bat. On May 22, 1961, the United States District Court, Southern District of New York grand jury returned an indictment against of 30 chareges against 20 people in the Papalia-Agueci Group including ring leaders, John Papalia, Alberto Agueci, Vincent Mauro, Frank Caruso, middlemen and couriers, Rocco Eugenio Scopolliti of the Toronto Siderno Group, Vito Agueci, Liugi LoBlue, Filippo "Fifi" Cottone, the mid-level distributors, Joseph Valachi, Salvatore "The Little Guy" Maneri, Charles Shiffman, Arnold "Walsh" Barbeto, low level distributors, Robert Guippone, William "Shorty" Holmes, Michael Maiello, Matthew Palmeri, Anthony "Porky" Porcelli, Charles Tandler and Morris Taubman.[7] On June 12, 1961 Johnny Papalia was moved to the top of the RCMP's top 10 list for his warrants on the Bluestein beating and for extradition to the U.S. on the drug dealing charges which occurred by the second week of July 1961 after the Canadian authorities dropped Johnny's Bluestein assault charges so he could be extradited. The Aguecci's and Rocco Scopolleti were extradited also in July of 1961. Johnny Paplia was eventually convicted in 1964 and given a 10 year sentence in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, the mafia country club, which at the time mafia row was controlled by Johhny's associate Carmine Galante who was also serving a 12 year drug dealing sentence. Johnny returned home to Hamilton after serving five years to become one of the top Southern Ontario mafia Dons, but never dealt in narcotics again.

[edit] The Agueci Brothers under Federal protection

Alberto and Vito Agueci were placed in the Federal Detention House on West St.in New York and Albert Agueci was obviously having a rough time of it as he constantly paced his cell and wouldn't stop talking. When Albert found out that his boss, Stefano Magaddino who had been taking a large cut of the profits from the heroin operation in exchange for a guarantee of assistance if Albert was arrested would not put up any money for bail or support for Agueci's family in their time of need Alberto Agueci began to talk uncontrollably about how Magaddino had betrayed him and his brother, Vito. Albert's anger was fueled even more when Buffalo crime family member and Toronto lawyer, Ignazio "Harold" Bordonaro, son of Hamilton mafia Don, Calogero "Charlie Bordonaro came to New York and threw up legal road block after legal road block in Alberts defense which made him believe Magaddino did not want Albert Agueci to be released. Albert began to openly threaten to rat on his Boss, Stefano Magaddino if he and his brother were not released and all the while Albert made his threats, associate, Joe Valachi, who was also in the Detention House with Alberto Agueci, warned him he was playing with fire and made a mistake letting Harold Bordonaro hear the threats as his family was close to Magaddino. Finally Albert's wife raised the bail money by September 1961 and was able to return to Toronto to await trial. On October 8, 1961, Albert Agueci left Toronto allegedly for a meeting with his Boss, Stefano Magaddino, but he never returned home. On November 23, 1961, hunters near the Rochester, New York area stumbled on the rotting corpse of Alberto Agueci in a cornfield in Penfield, New York. Agueci's body was naked and burnt beyond recognition, his hands were tied behind his back with barbed wire, his face and hands had been burnt off, while the medical examiner eventually stated that Agueci was tortured before death, his ribs broken, half a dozen teeth knocked out and his skull fractured and he was strangled to death, while his body had been left to be eaten by animals, some thirty pounds of flesh missing when he was found.

[edit] Vito Agueci Imprisoned

Vito Agueci was eventually convicted of narcotics violations and, as an inmate in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, where he was a fellow inmate of Genovese crime family Boss, Vito Genovese and his henchman and Agueci-Papalia Group member, Joe Valachi. Vito Agueci had a vendetta against Joe Valachi concerning his brother, Albert who Vito felt was betrayed by Valachi as well as Magaddino. Vito Agueci informed Vito Genovese that he intended to avenge his brother’s death by killing, but then Agueci used Vito Genovese to get his revenge by Genovese that Valachi was a rat and could not be trusted as he was already talking to the feds. This was a lie, but Vito Agueci wasa able to convince Valachi's boss, Vito Genovese of this provoking Genovese to order Joe Valachi's murder. However, an inmate in prison with Joe Valachi was able to convince Valachi that Genovese wanted him killed eventually resulting in the paranoid mobster to murder an inmate he suspected was sent by Genovese to kill him in 1962. The inmate however, forger John Saupp, had no connection to the Genovese, and Valachi was sentenced to life imprisonment and Vito Agueci's plan of revenge was not completed as Valachi would eventually become a government informant revealing extensive activities of what federal authorities would refer to as "La Cosa Nostra"

[edit] Further reading

  • Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
  • Peterson, Robert W. Crime & the American Response. New York: Facts on File, 1973. ISBN 0-87196-227-6
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Government Operations Committee. Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics. 1964. [1]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Humphreys, p. 40-46, 106-108
  2. ^ Humphreys, p. 104-108 WARNING: Wrong reference, see Talk:Agueci Brothers#Wrong reference
  3. ^ Humphreys, p. 70-71
  4. ^ Lamothe & Nicaso, p. 26-28, 204 & 206
  5. ^ Humphreys, p. 108, 118, 124
  6. ^ Humphreys, p. 84
  7. ^ Humphreys, p.130

[edit] References

  • Humphreys, Adrian. The Enforcer:Johnny Pops Papalia, A Life and Death in the Mafia. Toronto, Canada: Harper Collins, 1999. ISBN 0-00-200016-4
  • Lamothe, Lee. & Nicaso, antonio. Bloodlines:Project Omerta and the Fall of the Mafia's Royal Family. Toronto, Canada: Harper Collins, 2001. ISBN 0-00-638524-9
  • Edwards, Peter. & Nicaso, Antonio. Deadly Silence:Canadian Mafia Murders. Toronto, Canada: MacMillan, 1993. ISBN 0-7715-9017-2
  • Dubro, James. Mob Rule:Inside the Canadian Mafia. Toronto, Canada: Totem Books, 1985. ISBN 0-00-217657-2
  • Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
  • Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3

[edit] External links

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