Calabrian and Sicilian faction in Philly

I wonder how it started? Were the sicilian and calabrian factions were at the beginning two separate groups that made one family somewhere around the 30s, just like the neapolitan and sicilian groups in NY? Was there any tensions beetween the two groups? Any information on the different factions, the leaders?

Celeste Morello wrote books about the Sicilians and Calabrian OC groups in Philadelphia during the decades you asked about.

Her extensive research showed that people who were Calabrian or Campanian, or Neapolitan and involved in OC, were not involved in the Sicilian famiglia, and were instead just street thugs, blackmailers, and extortionists in the black hand gangs.

That sounds like The Black Hand. Check out an old good movie starring Ernest Borgnine "Pay or Die"

very slightly related, but how did the term "siggie" come about? i've only heard this word in books about philly OC like leonetti's and previte's.

It's a bigoted/quasi-racist term used by mainland Italians for people who are Sicilian.

thanks, i'm aware of the meaning just wondering if anyone knew the origin. when you say used by mainland italians do you mean it originated in italy?

I mean people who are not Sicilian, as Sicily is an island and not part of the mainland of Italy; but neither is Sardinia.

It's an Italian-American slang term based on prejudice/bigotry, and the slang word originated in the United States.

scarfo made it sound like there was 2 different familys down there you had Bruno and his Sicilians and the consig uncle joe who hated scarfo but was nep. and maintain the balance between the 2 groups. sr patriarca was recorded during the gallo war talking how carlo Gambino was a sneaky Sicilian causeing the whole dam thing stiring the pot calling for peace but causing trouble but patriarca told nick bianco he is a boss and to respect his authority. he was close to vito Genovese think he new carlo had a part of framing vito on the drug rap.

was patriarca neapolitan? never heard much about his origins, i also read he was made in NYC but never heard about who it was with.

You got that right. You can call my husband "siggie" all day long, and he'll think you're speaking chinese. This is an italo-american term/word/whateveritis. Same goes for "zip". Nobody in Sicily would know what that is.

With regard to Philly (and I know nothing about Philly but this), I know for fact that the Massimino's are related to the Massimino's in Agrigento, Sicily and in Sicily, they are inter-married with the Bruno family. Many Massimino's in Sicily are married to Bruno's.

I have never heard the term siggie, I thought the northern insult for southern Italians is "terrone".

Yes, terroni is a big one. And sicilians, in turn, call them polentoni.

Really no way for Sicilians to insult northern Italians.

"You're light skinned & wealthy & Happy! Grrrrr you suck!!"

Yeah I read how Scarfo and Leonetti saw Sicilians as "different" from them; that you can't trust a siggy. Most sicilians will say the same about neapolitans ahahah.

Bruno wasn't Angelo Bruno's real last name. It was Anallaro.

The tension between the Sicilians and the Neopalitans/Calabrese/Etc., exists in all of the families; not just philadelphia.

It was still a family name, though.

Most sicilians are looking down at neapolitans, they say they are "mariuoli" which means "thieves", and they say calabresi are particularly stubborn. In fact in Sicily when you call a guy "testa i calabrisi" it means that he is stubborn.

I grew up with a guy that had a Neapolitian last name/heritage and he IS a thief, and pathological liar as well. He would steal pretty much anything from anyone even people he did not know, his parents, other people's families including their parents as a kid, and his teachers from school.

I cut ties with him as a teenager/young adult. I hope he got help for his Kleptomania and pathological lying but I wouldn't be surprised if he's still into it and lying.

I didn't know that, what was his real full name?

Seamus Flynn O'Boyle.

I was reading a book today about Philadelphia that mentions John Avena and it said his original name was Giovanni D'Aveni in Novara di Sicilia in the province of Messina on April 7, 1893.

USICILIANU-The books "Before Bruno" books 1 and 2 will answer your questions. They're by Celeste A. Morello or some she published as C.A. Morello.

and northerns would reply:

"Ehm, not really. You must have mistaken us for Germans."

I am reading the Phil Leonetti book and they use that term.

Scarfo and Leonetti are Calabrian last names; but they are both related to each other.

In the Leonetti book Phil would say how his uncle would claim you "can't trust 'siggies'".

In that line of work or business, I don't think you would want to trust anyone too much.

Some Calabrians do have Sicilian ancestry, or vice-versa as they both would marry each other.

I looked up Italian-American slang, and they have this term on the link below it.

sigilian’ – Sicilian (siciliano)

http://xeroth.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/italian/

I have an Italian friend from Genoa. I showed her that site and she said that with some Italian-Americans they use words that are based not on Italian but the local dialects. Or some can be regional slang like in Philadelphia and other cities in the Northeast they call marinara sauce "gravy".

The comments on the slang blog page are interesting.

What are other stereotypes for the different regions?

My grandmother and mother are Calabrese-American, as am I. My grandmother is in her mid 90s, and my mother jokes that "being stubborn is what kept her alive that long".

I remember growing up one year my grandmother came for Thanksgiving and she was not happy that my mother did not allow her to cook the Thanksgiving day dinner, or help cook at all. During the meal she said something like, "The turkey tastes OK but it needs more salt."

My Sicilian grandmother is pretty much the same way we also say the reason she's alive for so long is because she's so mean that god is scared of her haha, She was married to a philly wise guy back in the day before Bruno was the boss but he died young, natural causes he didn't get whacked or anything, Then years later for a while she dated a pretty well known member of the Philly family I don't wanna say his same because he's still alive even though he's in prison and is never getting out.

I thought Scarfo is Calabrian