Yes, good thread. Thanks!

Did you like the Harbor?

Yes they did!!!

Baltimore has a Little Italy!!

In Goodfellas and Gangsters Henry said he did business down here (Baltimore) quite often.

He used to drive down for cheaper cigarettes it had nothing to do with Baltimore wiseguys. Cigs were a lot cheaper in terms of bulk out of state resale in places like the DMV and the Carolina's back then. Save a dollar on every pack in Baltimore sell em in NY for at least double...easy money

I've heard all that cheap cigarettes buying shit too, plus some other business down here. This I know of from first primary sources. Baltimore has too many snitches, that's why the city has never had any strong families here. People in Baltimore are snitches and bitches!!

WAY TOO MANY SNITCHES IN BALTIMORE!!!

Philadelphia runs Baltimore!!

what exactly do you mean by that?
are you talking about lcn?

"Connected" Philly crews still get money down here, this I know of. Not gonna get into all of that..seriously!! Ain't no organization down here, a bunch of clowns and snitches.

In the 80's, the Jamaican Posses did major business with some fellas of the Scarfo crew in Baltimore. Nuff Said!!

During Preakness time...!! Man.. it was on!!

The Shower Posse is all over though

Does anyone know about LCN activity before the Corbis or Gambino involvement? Or perhaps other traditions of organized crime? Was there any ongoing Black Hand racketeering presence?

Seems odd that there is little information about Italian OC in the city prior to the Corbis; when so many American cities in the era had some kind of BH presence.

As someone else said, too many blacks and hillbillies in Baltimore to take it over. Both of these groups are mean and, in an inner-city environment, will be too dangerous for a bunch of out-of-town Italians to fvck with.

Not to mention Baltimore is a complete cesspool.

Anyone know of a strip club in baltimore that was alledgedly LCN? This would have been recent, like the 1990's.

Carbo was Lucchese, wasn't he? Interesting thing about Carbo is that for all he's been involved in, from making his bones with Murder Inc. and handling so much dirty work in Hollywood, to big time boxing promoter/fixer, he never ranked higher than soldier.

The last name of the Gambino guy in Baltimore was Corbi, not Carbo.

I think that in Baltimore wasnt become an indipendent family because there was no true leaders,if even in Texas there was indipendent families like the fertitta and Mineo in galveston. I see the maryland map and for sure a strong boss would run the state like patriarca sr with the Rhode Island.But its just a my opinion.

https://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.com/2018/03/baltimore-faction-gambino-family.html?m=1

 BALTIMORE  FACTION  : -  GAMBINO FAMILY.




Early organized Italian crime in Maryland and Virginia seems to have been dominated by Calabrians.  There were many of these small Black Hand type groups in existence during the 1910-30’s.  Vito Corbi, born 1866 in Catanzaro, led a small organization based in Virginia.


 This group included his son Pasquale [Patsy], and Vincenzo [Jim] D’Urso.  In 1923 they were all arrested for the murder of Frank Naples, a reputed Camorra member.  Patsy Corbi was sentenced to a life sentence, while D’Urso fled to Canada.  Vito Corbi was already living in Baltimore by then [1920 Census], and avoided conviction. Another reputed Camorrist, Rocco Fiorello, was killed in 1924 and several Calabrians were arrested.  It points to a conflict between Neapolitan and Calabrian groups.  


Almost nothing is known of Sicilians active in Baltimore in this period.  The only   Mafioso known to be living city was John [Angel Face] Torres, once acquitted of murder in Detroit, who was later killed during the “Castellammarese War”.


Meanwhile Vito Corbi had died in1929, Patsy was paroled in 1932 and he and his brother Frank were living in the city. They were continuing to operate, and associate with fellow Calabrians in cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland.  By the mid-1930’s the traditionally Sicilian Mafia had opened membership to mainland Italians.  But with no local Mafia Family, this was not possible in Baltimore.


We do not know the exact reasons, or timing, for the formation of a regime in the city, but we know the individuals responsible.  Frank Scalice was a former head of the future Gambino Family, since demoted to Capo rank.  He was still a very important member, and although we do not know the details, he was the catalyst for the regimes formation. 


The other individual involved was Luigi Morici, who like Scalice, was born in Palermo, Sicily.  Morici may have already been a member in NYC living in Baltimore, or he was sent there to give the Family a presence.  Whichever, by the early 1940’s he had gathered a small group of local Sicilians together to form the crew.


According to a 1950 FBN document given to the Kefauver committee the following were members by then : -


Vincent Carrona [AKA Jimmy Russo], born 1904, Bisaquino, Sicily.


Frank Gattuso


Gaetano [Thomas] LaFata [AKA Reds], born 1898 Carini, Sicily.


Joseph Palazzolo


Luigi Morici [AKA John Maurice], born 1896 Palermo, Sicily.




About Gattuso and Palazzolo we can find no record, but the other names can be confirmed.


The year1950 saw a violent change in the Families leadership, with the Calabrian Albert Anastasia becoming Head with Scalice as his deputy.  It was probably Anastasia, seeking to strengthen his position, who ordered Morici to induct some local Calabrians as members.


Thus the Corbi brothers, among others, finally joined the Family.  Morici was promoted to Capo status, and his connection to NYC became Joseph Gallo.  The crew membership during the 1950-80’s looked like this : -




Luigi Morici  -  Capo till 1966 /  died 1971


Vincent Caronna  -  died 1980


Thomas LaFata  -  died 1965


Patsy Corbi  -  1895-1955


Frank Corbi  -  1904-90  /   Capo 1966-90


Mario Anello  -  1905-72


Louis Comi  -  1906-79


Joseph Gigliotti  -  1903-2001 [poss. Member in Pittsburgh]


Frank Dabbene  -  1897-1984


Charles Barbera  -  1904-87


Benjamin Magliano  -  1904-71


Frank Malvaso  -  1901-91


Sam Adornato  -  1905-72


Joseph Corbi  -  1911-2001


Angelo Perrera  -  1912-72


Angelo Munafo  -  1927-2001


Another possible member was Antonio Messina, who was killed in Baltimore in 1952.




By the 1980’s most of the membership had died or retired, and with Capo Frank Corbi in his 80’s and inactive, the regime became extinct.

Baltimore's pretty close to DC, Quantico. Not an ideal region for rackets. Was their ever a predominately Italian area of D.C?

This has been number 1 question for years for those exact reasons. It blows my mind. How do cities like Denver (much much smaller back in the day), Rockford, Madison, Dallas, even Providence have families and Baltimore did not. Baltimore was one of the largest cities in the US back then.

As someone who has been born and raised in Baltimore, I can tell you that the reason why there has never been much LCN in Baltimore is because of the black gangs that have ruined the city. We actually do have a decent Little Italy section but beyond that, nothing going on with us Italians

A lot of it has to do with nepotism. There are threads with pretty good breakdowns of who in smaller towns throughout the country are related to or grew up around big guys in NY, Just do a search for any given town and you'll find some interesting posts on its history and how their early bosses were connected to influential people in NY.

Another paisan born and raised in Baltimore. As Ravens said, there is a decent Little Italy and at one point there was a tight-knit Italian community in the city (mainly Little Italy and Highlandtown), but it's very spread out now and into the suburbs. The Italian community overall is much less noticeable here than other northeast hubs like Philly, Jersey, NYC and Boston.

Little Italy has always been a very safe and nice neighborhood, despite being next to the projects and near high-crime parts of East Baltimore. I used to hear growing up that it was so safe because there was thought to be a mob presence, but nothing is going on nowadays.

Frank Corbi was Gambino and ran a Baltimore crew, but Frankie Carbo did have a connection to Baltimore. Benny Maligano was his guy here who ran nightclubs and boxing. Maligano was also connected with the mayor Thomas D'Alesandro, Nancy Pelosi's father.

It did have all the makings of a city that would at least have a small crime family, and it sort of did. The FBI has a record of Corbi having about fifty guys in Baltimore back in the 50s or 60s. I guess due to its proximity and maybe how they were organized, they just fell under NY as opposed to becoming an independent family. It quickly died off in about a generation. I think due to the city being predominately black and Italians moving to the burbs. There's just too much crime in Baltimore.

Here's the FBI link. I remember seeing one too where the feds originally thought the Gambino crew in Baltimore was its own family. Can't find it right now.

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32307882.pdf

The informant in the link above is said to be Carmine lombadarzzi. Credit to the rat trap website for working that out

The Belair Market Gang aka Central Garage Syndicate and the Baltimore Central Syndicate was a numbers syndicate that was formed in Baltimore. Members of this syndicate were Angelo Perrera, Frank Corbi, Luigi Morici, Mario Anello, and Isaac Sapperstein. Its believed that Frank Corbi, Luigi Morici, and Angelo Perrera were all member of the Gambino Crime Family. The Belair Market Gang goes all the way back to the 1930s during prohibition. I will give you a breakdown on who these men were and the set up of their numbers operation in Baltimore.

Isaac Saperstein was a former boxer who was known to hang around with the fight crowd in Baltimore and was closely associated with the numbers rackets and was in 1944, described as a member of the Belair Market gang. He was also known had connection with Nig Rosen of New York and Willie Weisberg of Philly.

Frank Corbi was a member of the Gambino crime family and capo of the Baltimore crew. When Gambino capo Luigi “Louie” “Moro” Morici (1896-1971) stepped down due to ill health, Frank Corbi and his wife Rose Romeo were godparents to Luigi Morici son Serafino F. Morici. Frank Corbi took over the crew first on acting basis and reported to Joe N. Gallo (the future Gambino consigliere) before being named the official capo. In 1967, Frank Corbi was shot through his leg during an argument in a card game possibly by Antonio Ripepi (1902-1996), a mobster with the Pittsburgh Mafia. Antonio Ripepi and his wife were the godparents to Frank Corbi son Lawrence A. Corbi. Frank was also shot at on Oct 9th 1960 outside of his house. The reason behind the shooting was that Frank was involved in a love triangle and the husband of his girlfriend took a shot at him. The husband was a assistant engineer for the Isthmian Steamship Company, Baltimore MD.

Angelo Perrera was believed to be a member of the Baltimore faction of the Gambino Crime Family. Angelo was born on June 13, 1912, in Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Angelo was known to be a “muscle man” in Baltimore. According to newspaper articles In 1934 Perrera was found guilty of perjury and served 30 days in jail. Then in 1944 according to newspaper articles, Perrera along with Joseph M. La Terza and others were arrested for manslaughter in connection with the death of Christopher Cibelli of Newark, NJ. Angelo and three others were found guilty and were sentenced to two years in prison. In 1961 Angelo along with his younger brother Orlando Perrera (1921-1965) and Benjamin Wildstein was all charged with the slaying of Edward J. Castranda who was a used car salesman, The charged was later dropped. Perrera died on April 23, 1972, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Luigi Morici aka Lou Jean aka LOUIDICIENA was was a soldier in the Gambino family. He was possibly sent to Baltimore, by Frank Scalici, to organize the local Italian underworld. Gathering together a few fellow Sicilians, he began to dominate gambling and other rackets. Several arrests followed. When the Family membership expanded he became a Capo and recruited local Calabrian into his crew. By now Scalici had become Under-Boss, so Morici’s NYC contact was Joseph Gallo.

Mario Orazio Anello (1905-1972) was an associate of Frank Corbi and the crew. Mario arrived in the U.S.A in 1921 and started to work as a bricklayer and a construction worker. During the late 1950s, he ran a development corp called, “Mario’s Development Inc”. At this corporation his son, Vincent J. Anello was the vice president and Luigi Morici was secretary of this Inc. According to FBI files, it stated that his family and Frank Corbi family both came from the same town in Calabria Italy.

The Setup on the numbers syndicate that was formed in Baltimore by the Belair Market Gang:
According to fbi files it stated that the operation was headed by
Frank Carbo of New York. Frank Carbo was the godfather of Benjamin “Benny Trotta” Magliano son.

Lou Jean (alias of Luigi Morici) was to be the direct connection in Baltimore with Carlo Gambino in New York.

Frank Corbi was to be the local representative under Lou Jean.

Angelo Perrera was the contact man who would attempt to convince the operations that a syndicate should be formed.

Benjamin “Benny Trotta” Magliano was to be the “fixer”.

Tom Andra and Ike Saperstein were to be numbers operations.

Benjamin “Hitty” Wildstein was the numbers “pick up” man. Benjamin “Hitty” Wildstein was known to be a “hustler” and “hanger-on” of the Corbi’s. Benjamin was also close to Gambino crime family member Dave Iacovetti. It seems that Iacovetti was getting money from the “Jew Boys” from Baltimore. Both “Hitty” and Frank Corbi had a piece of a club in Baltimore. According to FBI files it stated that both Corbi and “Hitty” reportedly brought in two New York hoodlums, Pasquale Zirpoli (believe to be a member of the Bonanno crime family) and Sal Romano (real name could have been Salvatore Granello who was a member of the Genovese crime family) to extort money from Baltimore numbers operator Julius “The Lord” Salsbury.


https://theindependentresearchclub.home.blog/2019/10/21/belair-market-gang/