The Crews

Have the crew(s) of the La Cosa Nostra crime families changeed over time such as size, locations, and who had the most in the past and present? Also, as a crime family grows and start a crew, are there requirements for forming that group?

I have always been very interested in membercharts, including crew succession lines and breakdowns. But I have learned that it is extremely hard to follow the lines from back in the 1930s to today. Such straight lines are very rare.
Keep in mind that a boss wants to have loyal captains around him. He can basically do whatever he likes by promoting and demoting crew leaders. He can split crews up, start new ones and disband other crews however it pleases him. He also have the power to take some soldiers out of one crew and place them under a different captain in order to make that captain stronger. All this has been done, and I guess still is being done, frequently.
Sometimes soldiers are put directly under the boss. These soldiers don´t have to report to a captain. They sometimes acts as drivers for the boss or personally attends or runs the boss´s personal businesses such as loansharking or numbers operations. Greg Scarpa (when Joe Colombo was boss) and Johnny Morales (for Bonanno) comes to mind. Sometimes, if these guys have a very close relationship with the boss, they are made captains but without a crew.

In the past, the Gambino Family had the largest number of crewleaders. Since the 1930s the Gambinos was regarded as the biggest Family. Today, I believe the Genoveses have replaced them in that regard.

You're probably right but i've heard before that the Genovese family were always the largest the only reason the Gambinos were more powerful at one point was because of Carlo controlling most bosses on the commission .

"You're probably right but i've heard before that the Genovese family were always the largest the only reason the Gambinos were more powerful at one point was because of Carlo controlling most bosses on the commission ."

I strongly believe the Gambinos were the biggest (in numbers) between 1930 and 1980. Of course, the bosses never informed the authorities about this. So I could be wrong, Cam. And besides, I´m not Italian...

Same here i was probably wrong anyway i most likely came up with that fact myself

In 1969, after the FBI started to identify the members of the Mafia, they listed these guys as current captains in the Gambino Family:

David Amodeo
Domenico Arcuri
Joseph Colozzo
Vincent Corrao
Pasquale Conte
Charles Dongarra
James Failla
Peter Ferrara
Joseph Gambino (brother of Carlo Gambino)
Anthony Napolitano
Gaetano Russo
Giacomo Scarpula
Paul Castellano
Anthony Scotto
Anthony Sedotto
Peter Stincone
Giuseppi Traina
Mario Traina (probably acting for Giuseppe Traina)
Ettore Zappi
Joseph Zingaro
Olympio Garofalo
Frank Corbi
Frank Perrone
Joseph Paterno
Joseph Silesi
James Eppolito
Frank Rizzo (probably acting for Ferrara)

That´s 25 official captains.

Genoveses:

Vincent Alo
Ruggiero Boiardo
Angelo DeCarlo
Antonio Carillo
Salvatore Celembrino
Frank Celano
Peter Defeo
Cosmo Frasca
Vincenzo Generoso
Michael Generoso (acting)
Thomas Greco
Philip Lombardo
Rosario Mogavero
Frank Tieri
Harry Lanza
Rocco Pellegrino
Salvatore Cufari
Tommy Eboli (acting underboss)
Pasquale Eboli (acting for Tommy Eboli)
Tony Salerno (possibly a captain)
Peter LaPlaca

19 official captains.

wow, awesome stuff! I love this!

i always wonder who mario traina was i remember they had him on a chart as a gotti capo he was around foever guess he never wanted to be boss

Traina has been dead since the mid '90s. He was a very low key guy. You can Google him all day long, and I doubt you'll find out much about him.

Thanks for this Hairy. Is it from the Valachi charts or later?

No they are from specially made charts by the FBI in 1969.
In the post above, I put Salerno and LaPlaca as Genovese captains because I´m farily sure they held that rank at the time. They are not listed in FBI´s charts.

You will find the charts here (not only those of the New York Families but other Families as well):

https://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=1341474

I always thought during the 30's to 60's that there were like around 7 crews for Genovese and Gambino families and 4 for the others since a captain was a more influencal and powerful position than today. And from then to now the amount of crews/Captains increased.

I think on the contrary. As the total membership dropped in the 70s and the 80s, so did the number of crews.

I would say The Genovese Crime Family are at the top in the 2000's with powerwise.

The Genovese family was always the most powerful except during Carlo Gambino's reign.

Page 7 Joseph Aiuppa as a capo, is that right?

Joseph was like a Capo he was a top member and eventually a boss of the Outfit.

I thought he was a boss at the sametime as the tuna.

Saro Mogavero is my gpa.

if memory serves his name came up in Dileonardos testimony

Trainas crew is now joe marinos. The laplaca crew went to the gattos

Paul ricca was boss until he died on 1972

Accardo and giancana might have driven the car but ricca had final call

Aiuppa being top boss is debatable

His consigliere was accardo and his underboss was cerone (accardos guy)

So how much power did he really have

How can someone be a captain without a crew? Could somebody explain that.

As a way to rank a guy when dealing with other guys. If he's ranked as a captain he gets the respect of a captain, gets to keep a captain's share, get's to sit down in capo level meetings. Things like that, it's more than just ceremonial

Cicero was more dominant than Elmwood park, and Nagal/Black Sam had much more weight & respect on the streets than accardo/cerone did.

Where is charley wagons fatico, he was a capo at the time

I've always had the same opinion. It's sort of like a boss without a family.

-Captains with out a crew.







-The Scarfo family had quite a few of them
it seams like the reason was in Philly
the family was old but only had (don't kill
me if i am wrong like 4)old skippers when nick
took the reins.
Then he started making all kinds of guys
and in a years a couple were captains.

- And here the complete opposite
the DeMeo crew of the Gamibinos
was large for a soldier to have,
or was it the Nino Gaggi crew ?

-Do the DeCavalcantes have a crew in jersey
at all now ?

-The new york familys have captains with no
crew driver and bodyguard type .

yes the "demeo crew" was under the supervision of Nino Gaggi. Roy was a soldier in Gaggis crew who had a lot of associates underneath him.

The Decalvecantes have about 30 made guys on the street with about 4 or 5 crews.

Thanks, did not think that they would pop back up,
that will keep the feds earning there salary in jersey.

Np, despite their manpower, their activity is still way down. All the indictments from the 90s and early 2000s have gutted them. And not to mention their presence in the unions is no where near what it used to be, and unions is where all their power and big money was coming from. I would say the geneveses and lucheses are a much bigger priority for the Feds in jersey.

Philly probably has more activity in Jersey than the DeCavalcantes right now. They are an on the endangered species list.

i know were venturing back to what the guy asked but i know old matty's crew was like Joe Adonis>Vincent Alo>Matthew Ianniello>and possibly (and most likely) Conrad Ianniello

Accardo had amassed way more connections than cicero

Plus wasn't it elmwood park, grand avenue and the connection guys

What kind of "connections"? You're pulling that out of your ass.

Cicero/berwyn/Bridgeport have had more street action than the northside/elmwood park for decades, and it's not even close.

Joe adonis-vinny blue eyes-Matty ianiello-jimmy ida-Joseph Ida-ciro perrone-Conrad ianiello

My guess is that Fatico was made captain later, sometime in the early 1970s.

@huronsocial


Accardo was one of the top guys since the 1940s

He built more connections with political, the police and whoever else

Not too mention that accardo gavr aiuppa the "top" spot

Just because accardo lived to an obscene age, and is fawned over in the Bill Roemer books that people here just love to take as literally as possible doesn't mean he "amassed vast political/law enforcement connections". There's no solidarity behind that. What we do know, is that his crew was never, ever the #1 largest/most profitable crew in the Outfit, and that his territory began dying long before the south side's did. We also know that Cicero has also been the #1 street crew in the Chicago Outfit since Alderisio croaked. He didn't place Aiuppa into power, Aiuppa took it through racket domination & cunning. Accardo helped him because it was the right (safe) move to make. Elmwood Park/grand Ave/whatever the hell you want to call the north side crews were in no position to block Cicero from doing anything. Aiuppa would have taken it with or without accardo & cerone's blessing. He also would've murdered cerone had he felt the need, just like carlisi would have murdered difronzo & eboli had he found out What was going on behind his back prior to his death.

Could you expand on this please? What was going on behind his back? Thanks.

Wasn't he the acting boss for The Outfit? He wouldn't of had complete hegemony over the outfit.

Joseph "O'Brien" Aiuppa was the #1 in the Outfit for around 15 years. In between Milwaukee Phil Alderisio & Black Sam Carlisi. It can even be argued that he ran the organization from prison through Carlisi, Infelice, & Marcello up until the time of his death.

Eboli was pocketing money & lying about how much he was kicking up. Johnny DiFronzo put his younger brother Joseph into hiding when Carlisi ordered him to be knocked down after the botched marijuana grow house operation.

was cerone the top boss prior to him getting arrest in the late 60s

DeCavelcante's still hold more power in NJ than Philly

That family still owns Elizabeth and surrounding areas in Union county

From what I hear the guy that runs things now has brought activity back up
From when they were dismantled earlier in decade . Can't remember his name but he is from that Sicilian town the family is from .

Still Genovese and then Gambinos are top 1,2 and then luchesse

Francesco Guarraci from Ribera, Sicily.