My Youngstown mob pics: through the bomb war

Posted this to The Real Deal; decided to repost here as well. These are from my collection of Youngstown mob pics through the bombing war that started in 1959 and they include just about everyone important. Feel free to correct any mistakes (I think some of the spellings are off).

This is the first half of my collection and the pics are posted in rough chronological order as a timeline. These go up to the early 1960s. I'll post the 2nd half later on. Most of these are really rare




Buffalo rep Joe "The Wolf" DeCarlo



Warren-based Cleveland family rep Tony Dope DelSanter. He later became the family's consigliere.



Detroit rep Frank Cammarata



Jasper "Fats" Aiello



Fats Aiello again



John Farah



Mike Farah



The Jungle Inn



Jungle Inn machine gun turret



Jungle Inn raid



Corrupt Mayor Frank Franco. Was a disgraced judge who was kicked off the bench, and then almost immediately was elected mayor. He threw the city wide open, and the Pittsburgh and Cleveland families made major moves on the city. Mobsters allied with the different factions didn't get along too well.



Greek gambling boss Chris Sophocleos, the first to get blown up.



Sophocleos death car



Sophocleos bombing suspect Ronnie "The Crab" Carabbia when he was about 30. He would later (along with Ray Ferrito) blow up Danny Greene. His son, amusingly, now owns a big fireworks company.



Sandy Naples



Sandy Naples again



and again



Shotgun slaying victims John <illegible>, Mike Farah, and Sandy Naples. Anyone know who the "John" guy on the left is?



Naples' girlfriend Maryanne Veranzic, who was shotgunned to death along with him.



Vince DeNiro, gambling boss and bombing victim.

DeNiro again



DeNiro death car



DeNiro death car again



DeNiro death car from another angle



Sandy Naples' short-lived successor and brother, Billy Naples.



Billy Naples death car



Cadillac Charlie Cavallaro, gambling boss and bombing victim.



Cavallaro death car (well, what's left of it)



Cavallaro death car again. I've heard that the top half of his body landed on top of some telephone wires and hung there for a while, grossing everyone out of their minds, but I have been unable to confirm this.



Cavallaro's sons who were in the car with him. Tommy (left) was pretty much disintegrated, while Chucky miraculously survived but was maimed for life. This incident outraged the entire country and the FBI responded by flooding the city with 40 new agents.



Bomb blast survivor Chucky Cavallaro at the scene of the crime.



Little Joey Naples, the successor to his blown up and shotgunned older brothers, when he was really young. He would run Pittsburgh family rackets in Youngstown with Lenny Strollo under Jimmy Prato, but the two of them wouldn't be made until 1987. Naples was taken out by a sniper 4 years later in 1991.



Freelance arsonist and bomber for hire Dominic Moyo, who was a suspect in the DeNiro, Naples, and Cavallaro bombings (even though those guys were on different sides). Moyo was clipped for the bad publicity and crackdown that resulted from blowing up the little Cavallaro kids.

BTW this is only half of the collection; I'll post the other pics (from the Carabbia-Naples war through Strollo flipping) when I get a moment.

Hello I wanted the real deal forum to register but is not, someone could help me that would be nice of you? sorry for my bad english

I think new memberships are closed for the time being.

the guy on the left in the shotgun slayings is big john schuller.

Yeah thanks. What do you know about him? I guess he was a local rackie who the mafia killed when they tightened their grip on the Valley?

was Tony Dope Delsanter of Italian descent?

Yes. Delsanter was made in Cleveland and eventually became consigliere.

cool pics...thanx

Great pics thanks Ivan .

Best of all: Tony made great wine. My Dad would tell me that Tony got his nick-name "The Dope" because he drank too much of it. I often wonder if he wasn't one of the first in our area to be involved in drugs. Any one know for sure?

Fats Aiello was my uncle. Quite a character

Great Stuff, thanks for sharing!

Membership is closed permanently. There is no family, rather remnants of associates who run independent bookmaking and other scams. Two of the largest bookmakers in Cleveland are the Sabatini brothers, Gerald and John, both former high level associates of Pittsburgh, but they moved into Cleveland in the mid 1990's after Cleveland was decimated. They were under the supervision of Charlie Imburgia, aka, Charlie Murgie, longtime consigliere of Pittsburgh who lived in Warren, OH and owned the a Sunrise Inn restaurant in downtown Warren. Joe "Loose" Iacobacci did try to rebuild the family, but just didn't have enough steam with other families who refused to give him support. He had some contacts that were low-mid level guys from Chicago and had a medical insurance scam he ran with a few of them. Problem with Iacobacci was he didn't garner respect from other families and with "most" of his Cleveland associates. RJ would have been a much more effective leader but by the time Loose and RJ were even made, it was truly the beginning of the end for Cleveland. Scalish was such an effective boss for 30 years, it still boggles my mind why he did not keep the ranks replenished. Licavoli was a terrible boss and truly shouldn't have been boss of that family. If Lonardo was named boss (which many sources claimed he was chosen, Maishe Rockman, Scalush's other brother in law, never would have gone with Angelo because they rarely saw eye to eye). Lonardo and Rockman were married to Scalish's two sisters, but Rockman didn't like the fact that Angelo was respected nationwide and was exceptionally close to some of the major players like Tony Salerno, Joey Aiuppa, Jackie Cerone, Tony Acxardo, Carlo Gambino's, Frank Balistrieri, Nick Civella, Jimmy Lanza, the Milano brothers in L.A and Joe Bonanno. If Angelo was named boss like he was supposed to be, the war with Greene never happened and he never would have cooperated, as he flipped because he was named in a drug conspiracy, and if you knew anything about Lonardo, there is NO WAY he was involved with narcotics. And if Cleveland did in fact have a family, Ron Carabbia would have been running it without question once he was released after 27 years in the can. Plus, Lonardo and DelSanter hand picked Ron Carabbia to run the Warren, OH rackets and if you know Ron, he was a very smart, loyal, diplomatic, charismatic and respected by his superiors in Cleveland and was a "favorite" of Jack Tocco from Detroit, as when Jack Tocco came to town, he always would spend a few nights in Youngstown at Carabbia's house, as their wives were close as well, and I believe the wives were 3rd cousins.

Tony DelSanter was a favorite of my uncle Dominic Mallamo. Tony always looked after my uncle when he started getting sick. DelSanter in my opinion, would have been boss had he not died in 1976. He was truly one of the most respected mafioso in the history of Cleveland's underworld. He was exceptionally close to Joe Todaro.

if delsanter lived maybe he could been Made boss. Its hard to say what would of happened had he lived etc. But I think he would of indicted along with Jack white in the Greene thing. Off the top of my dome wasn't Delsanter tight with jimmy the weasel. So my guess is even if he lived he goes down because the weasel was a snitch.

You may be right...but I do believe if DelSanter lived, the outcome of the Greene situation would have been different. I think he would have been more of a voice of reason with Licavoli. Just my opinion...but definitely a plausible one. DelSanter was a guy who would have rather made money than fight a war. He always looked at the $$$ and made no bones about it that he didn't get into the life to murder...but to make $$$. He was described as a lover, not a fighter but wouldn't hesitate to put one in the back of your head for the right reason.

But Rick Porrello says in his book "Kill the Irishman" that DelSanter actually encouraged Licavoli to kill Nardi and Greene, while Licavoli initially preferred to wait.

What role if any did Alfred Polizzi have in the mafia in at this point in time. Let say the 1970's in general.

He was very respected and had a say on certain matters. Similar to Tony Milano, who was always asked his opinion and weighed in on sensitive family matters because of his expertise. IMO, the Milano's were the strongest in Cleveland.

While DelSanter certainly wanted to get rid of Greene, if he were in charge of taking care of it, it would have been done right, without a car bomb and it would have been taken care of immediately.

Think how unlucky the mob was in trying to take out Greene. They blow up his house , the debacle at the airport.
The young enforcers were no match for Greene. It almost seems they afraid of him in a sense that Greene was not afraid to die.
I want to know why Tony Lib and his Hit team backed off at the dentist office. Greene alone you would be a easy target for a few shooters.

Lets say nardi/greene wins ? then what? If nardi wasnt a made guy what does he do. Appoint Old man Milano as the figured head and he makes Nardi ? I wonder how the commission would of reacted to a drug running car bombing , possibly fbi informant taking the reigns. Who is partners with a Fbi informant , Irishman

I agree...however, I think this whole debacle could have been avoided if Licavoli would have made Nardi in the first place. If they made Nardi (and Licavoli hated Tony Milano, so it was never going to happen)then Nardi never would have hooked up with Danny to try and overthrow the mafia. Danny was one tough SOB, nobody could deny that. He wasn't bending for anyone unless you killed him...he proved that over and over until he exploded.

Interesting...why did Licavoli hate Tony Milano?

Tony Milano was known as the King of the Hill, Murray Hill that is, plus Milano was Calabrese. Jealousy mostly. Licavoli lived there to but he despised how much homage was paid to Milano.

From what I hear Licavoli was a miserable bastard who hated everyone, probably why he was never married and lived with his Mom until he went away.

You are correct my friend...except he lived with another elderly bachelor for many years so he could split the rent.

Lol cheap prick he was to eh.

He got arrested once for switching the tags on a pair of pants in a department store, after the manager found out who he was, he dropped charges.

That always makes me laugh. IF he wasn't such a tight ass he could of shelled out a big number on Greene OR Nardi and they would of been taken care by a pro. Didn't he put a contract out on ray ferrito instead of getting a lawyer LMAO. You just have to wonder what the hell he was thinking.

LMAO-YES, he promised Ferrito to be made along with having his own book and said he would pay for the legal fees if any repercussions were to happen...when Ferrito finally figured out he wasn't getting shit, he turned...and I have to say that I do not look at Ferrito as a "very smelly" rat because Licavoli bent him over without the common courtesy of Vaseline!

Personally, from everybody I have ever talked to, such as law enforcement, lawyers, ex-mobsters etc...They all said that Licavoli was a guy who was not very intelligent and was merely a knock around guy who ran his blue collar operations with an iron fist...but that nobody except Maishe Rockman thought he was right for the job...and Maishe had a hidden agenda, knowing that Licavoli would rely on him for all family matters ensuring he was kept in the loop, which apparently, Lonardo always refused to keep Rockman in the loop about business matters.

Why did they ever believe Rockman that Scalish said Licavoli should be the next boss? I mean, no other proof other than the words of a man who wasn't even made, for such a serious matter.

What choice did they have? Maishe Rockman was married to John Scalish's sister and was with him on his deathbed, plus, Maishe was said to sit on the left side of Scalish while Lonardo (Scalish's other brother in law) sat on the right. Maishe was high up, although he was Jewish, he was married to John's sister. Maishe was considered John Scalish's "personal consigliere." Plus, Maishe was extremely tight with Bill Presser, one of the most powerful men in the Teamsters and set up many of the loans through Allan Dorfman in Chicago who was head of the Teamster State Pension Fund.

Rockman may of been a better boss then both of them. I read somewhere that When in Chicago with Big Ange, A Chicago wiseguy asked Rockman to leave the table when they were discussing the skim. NOt knowing of course Rockman's stature.

Mostly true...In Chicago, the only guy that Accardo wanted anybody dealing with was Lonardo. Remember, Chicago had their own Jewish racketeer that was very important to the family, his name was Gus Alex. However, guys like Accardo, Lonardo etc were old school and even though a person who was non-Italian and had stature, they still did not want to talk business in front of a "non-member." Guys like Accardo left it up to guys like Big Ange to relay any part of the discussion.

Angelo Lonardo should have flown to NYC, gone to Palma Boys Social Club, obtained Tony Salerno's blessing, and TAKEN the Cleveland Family over as boss. The Westside would have backed him And who could argue with their decision? No one.

I agree...but that wasn't Lonardo's style. He was similar to Neil Delacroce and his philosophy was "the boss is the boss is the boss." It was all about rules with the old timers and they adhered to them which is why LCN lasted so long. Lonardo was railroaded with that drug conviction, perfect example of RICO and how Lonardo was "in charge" of a group who were dealing behind his back.

Lonardo whole crew was dealing dope. I really believe he had to know or at least suspect it. He couldn't be that naive . He was not insulated from the streets. he should of had at least one more buffer to deal with Gallo and SInito. He should of never even spoke to Carmen Z.

John Nardi

Could have been...but I strongly believe that they viewed him as a dinosaur and did their own thing.

Youngstown is an opressed area no?

It has been for a while now, but the rackets were booming for a century because there was a lot of work there for many years in the auto, steel and manufacturing arena. Located halfway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, both families plus Buffalo and Detroit fought for control over the lucrative rackets. The last boss, Lenny Strollo, turned states evidence and it was essentially the end of the mafia, happened in 2000. Pittsburgh ended up getting total control which was in the neighborhood of $30 million per year, $20 million alone from the All American Club, which was the largest illegal casino in the country.

That is a possibility as well. Even Dominic lonardo got pinched for selling cocaine. So I just think they old timers had to have some clue to what was going on. Or maybe Lonardo had a don't ask dont tell policy when the envelopes were going. The profits were to huge for most to ignore.

What does Lonardo himself say about his drug conviction, after turning informant? Does he say he really did it or were they dealing behind his back?

Try to get your hands on this documentary...phenominal!!! The last "in depth" interview Angelo Lonardo gives before he died. He tells a pretty compelling story.

http://sugarwarsthemovie.com/

It just says "this account has been suspended".

What? Whose account has been suspended?

That is what I see on the screen when I click on the link to get the documentary.

Account for the documentary or my account?

I don't know, the only thing that appears on the screen is "This Account Has Been Suspended" while the link address above looks like this
http://sugarwarsthemovie.com/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi

If I try to write just http://sugarwarsthemovie.com it automatically adds cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi

No, now that I used a program to connect to American servers the site for the documentary seems to load all right.

Where do we buy it? One of the commentators Is John Nardis nephew.