Occasionally, the name of Frank Corbi pops up here and there on this forum. I have gathered some info on him and his brothers, which I find interesting. Here it is:

The Baltimore crew was active already during prohibition but most of its members wasn´t brought into the Gambino Family until later. Not sure when but according to informants they were put under capo Louie "Moro" Morici, who controlled the rackets for the early Gambino Family in the Baltimore area. Morici was a Palermitano while the Corbi brothers seems to have been Neopolitans. Considering the early Gambino Family was not especially keen on bringin in non Sicilians, I´d say the Corbi brothers (Frank and Patsy) were made in the early 1950´s when Albert Anastasia led the Family.

When capo Morici stepped down due to ill health, 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. An Informant said that the Baltimore group consisted of close to 50 members. But only a few of them were actual made members of the Gambino Family. The group was primarily engaged in running strip clubs in the area but had also interests in vending machines, restaurants and gambling.

According to FBI, Frank Corbi had around 10 fully inducted members in his crew. Only a few of these are listed as such in various FBI documents:
Frank Corbi (1904-1990), Vincent "Jimmy Russo" Caronna (1904-1980), Luigi Morici (1896-1971), Thomas "Red" Aversa (1903-1968), Frank Dabbene (1897-1984).

Former members: Benjamin "Benny Trotta" Magliano (1904-1964) and Pasquale "Patsy" Corbi (1895-1955).

Associates (and here is some confusion because some informants claim that some of these guys were made members, while others claim they were not):
Joseph Nunzio Corbi (1911-2001), Joseph Tamburello (1906-1983), August "Nick Trotta" Magliano (1917-1998), Angelo Munafo (1927-2001), Mario Orazio Anello (1905-1972), Joseph Gigliotti (1903-2001), Frank Malvaso (1904?-1991?), Angelo Perrera (1912-1972), Anthony Corbi (?-?) and others.

Together with four others, Patsy Corbi (b 1895) was convicted in 1923 for the murder of Frank Naples. Patsy was given life imprisonment (but paroled in 1932) while the others "are doomed to hang" according to Syracuse Journal from Apr 21, 1923. At the time, Naples was described as a barber, but later as a rival in the extortion business.
Previously, Patsy Corbi had numerous arrests for his involvement in the white slavery trade and a third brother, Tony, had been the prime suspect in the Bella Lemone murder, a woman who was found murdered in 1922. Tony was arrested but freed. In addition, the brothers, with other gang members, had numerous arrests for murder and assault. A forth brother Joseph Nunzio (b 1911) was arrested in 1950 for interstate transportation of lottery tickets and was sentenced to a fine of 500 dollars.

In 1967, Frank Corbi was shot through his leg during an argument in a card game possibly by Antonio Ripepi, a mobster with the Pittsburgh Mafia. The dispute was over a gambling debt. When FBI interviewed him and asked him about the incident, he dismissed it as a misunderstanding and said that the witness who had named the assailant had simply mistaken him for another guy Corbi had never seen before.
Of course, being a Mafia member, he would never say the opposite to the feds.
According to informants, Frank Corbi was a man who didn´t like violence. Because of this, he would rather accomodate people than offend them or cause any trouble. It was also said that Frank lacked the guts and respect that his brother Patsy have had. Informants "complained" that Frank Corbi had neglected the crew and allowed other groups to muscle in on the crew´s territory. No wonder why this crew simply died out later on.

In the 1980s, FBI still listed Frank Corbi as a Gambino member (and righteous so). His address was listed at 3407 Norman Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland.

Frank F. Corbi: Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Death Record

Name: Frank Fidele Corbi
State of Issue: Maryland
Date of Birth: Wednesday January 13, 1904
Date of Death: July 1990
Est. Age at Death: 86 years, 6 months

Here´s pictures of four crew members. From top to down Aversa, Morici, Dabbene and Caronna.

Best post I've ever seen on B'More. Awesome info thanks!

You´re welcome buddy.

I think one of the reasons that baltimore never had a legit crime family was because italian gangsters from there sort of gravitated towards new york and chicago and other areas such as philadelphia where most of the action was.

Awesome info there HairyKnucks! Keep killing it, bro. Love the chart in the middle of made guys and associates, and the pictures at the bottom.

Thanks NJ!

I might add this to the thread:

Joseph Nunzio Corbi, Frank Corbi´s younger brother, had attended City College. He played baseball, football and basketball until transferring on a full scholarship to Calvert Hall College, where he played baseball. He graduated in 1929.
An outstanding pitcher, he played in the early 1930s for the Cumberland Colts, a New York Yankees farm team, until an accident ended his career. He was a member of the Old-Timers Baseball Hall of Fame.

Another crew member, Benny "Trotta" Magliano had been a boxer but ended his career when decided to manage boxers and promoting fights instead. Here´s a link to a story and picture of him with boxer Lou Salica.

http://books.google.se/books?id=T3rJ__lJ...ano&f=false

Magliano was a made guy at the same time.
His son in law, Angelo Munafo took over the promoting business in the 50s/60s and sued a newspaper man who had called him "a criminal".

http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19560405_0000081.SNY.htm/qx

Sounds like Frank was a Racketeer ! Not a Gangster!

Love information on the old mob guys, not so much the new guys. I'll be honest, when it comes to the New York mobsters I don't really like to read that much on them. Too much overkill. The small families are far more interesting to me.

Great stuff, Hairy.

Thanks Meatballs!

Awesome.I've been wantn to read bout bmore wiseguys and now I know where to start
THANK YOU!!!!!

Found some interesting info today while trolling for some more info about the Corbi bros. Apparantly, all this action took place in Fairmont/Clarksburg, West Viriginia area. From what I gather, there was a Black Hand organization there colloquially called the Familia Vagabonda to which the Corbi bros. where involved in a internecine conflict amongst the group. Which Frank Naples was a part of. And looks like the went to Baltimore in chase of a surviving victim from what appears in the newspaper article.

http://www.marionhistorical.org/pages/miscellaneous.php

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19420712&id=I1FQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8w0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3334,3319654

Towards the end of the article, the info aligns with the Marion Historical org. With name mispellings typical of the era.

Yes you are correct. And some of the brothers were born in West Virginia, not the first place that pops up in your mind when you think of Italo-Americans.

The link you provided goes to an article I used when I made the post. Thanks for the additional info!

Yeah, totally. At first I was like wtf? Italians in West Virginia. But then when you look the area of West Virginia that they were situated in is close to the border with PA. Next to the Pittsburgh family territory, which might explain the interaction between the Corbis and that group.

Apparantly, there was a very large Black Hand operation (wherein the media reported around 150 active racketeers in the are, however flawed that may be). 17 members arrested in connection with the Frank Naples/Belle Lemmon thing. Which was nothing compared to the number of other murders. One guy claimed he had 23 notches in his revolver. Basically, what I found out is that the Naples hit was actually retribution for the murder of Big Joe Cenetti (or something:Name gets mispelled alot). Who lead a gang in the adjacent town, of Clarkburg.