Early on there was a war between the sicilian mafia and the Camorra in America. Camorra is made up of Neapolitans. How did they disappear? Did they both just decide to be one organization with the Sicilians? I am an Italian American and my roots trace back to mostly sicily and I also have some neapolitan in me. I'm about 75% sicilian and about 25% neapolitan. I might be a little less neapolitan but idk for sure. So I'm pretty interested in this topic for some reason. Most of the Italians who came to America during the late 1800s/early 1900s were from southern Italy.I believe more than 80% of those Italians who came over at that time were southern Italians from the Calabria, Campania, and Sicily region. So many Sicilians and Neapolitans came over at that time. Did al Capone really get denied induction into the mob in NYC because he had no sicilian roots? Because Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia and Frank Costello(Certainly more)didn't have siclilian roots either but they were still inducted and nobody really seemed to have a problem with them. I know maranzano didn't like Costello because he was calabrese but he didnt seem to have a problem with Genovese who was neapolitan.

Yes, they more or less merged. The differences were/are irrelevant here in the states.

the camorra in new york was pretty much done after the arrest of their godfather pelligrino moran, and i think by the end of the 1920s the camorra had completely merged with the sicilians.

After the war with the Morellos, the New York Camorra gangs were largely decimated due to prosecutions and deaths/murders. They suffered highly from co-operating witnesses like Dainello, Antonio Notaro and others. A very large majority of the mainland Italians who joined the Mafia in the late 1920s/early 1930s like Joe Valachi, Frank Costello, Joe Adonis, Rocco Pellegrino etc were not former Camorristas. There never was a merger of the two criminal organizations. At least not in New York.

Vito Genovese did a lot of hits for Masseria that's why he respected him and Vito was a devoted camorrist.In the late 20's Vito visited the jailed camorrist Anthony Paretti in his last days,because Paretti was sentenced to death for a murder.Genovese honored his roots in some way and was associated with the Brooklyn Camorra.

You know I found the head of the Camorra, Pellegrino Marano (Morano) in the 1930 census unexpectedly when I was researching my own family history. He was in Sing Sing Prison. There's not much information on him as to whether or not he was ever released.
HK do you know anything about him? Did he ever return to Italy?

I don´t know. All I know is that he was sentenced to 20 to life in 1919 (?) for murder and extortion.

For anyone interested, here´s an article published in Standard Union Feb 20, 1927. It´s mostly about Tony "The Shoemaker" Perretti and his death but also goes into (at least to some extent) the "defeat" of the Camorra (in this article called "The Black Hand" and "The Mafia"):

"PARETTI´S DEATH ENDS BLACK HAND GRIP ON BROOKLYN

Leader of Notorious Navy Street Gang Was Last of His Clique to Pay Penalty for Crimes.

Brooklyn is rid of the terror of the black hand. Electrocution of Anthony Paretti, known among the gangster element in which he was for years one of the chief leaders, "Tony the Shoemaker," was the finishing blow. It is declared by District Attorney Dodd and the police, to the clique of parasites that terrified their victims into paying them tribute. Nowhere In this country did the black hand rise to greater strength than here in Brooklyn in the clique that was known as the Navy street gang. Between the years 1912 and 1916 this gang extorted its tribute, stopped at no crime to exact and obtain its demands, and defied the police successfully to prosecute its members. The secrecy of the dreaded Mafia, sworn to in blood held the leaders and their hirelings together and fear that their own lives would be placed in jeopardy closed the lips of victims of the gang so that the police could not obtain the evidence that would enable them to convict its members. The leaders of the Navy street gang were Anthony Peretti, Alessandro Vollero, Pellegrino Morano, Leopoldo Lauritano and Andrea Ricci. Among the principal hirelings of the gang were Raphael Daniello, Lefty Esposito, Mike Notaro and Butch Sgroia.

State Traps Leaders

Murder made possible the reign of this ring of extortioners and murder attended its passing. Finally the State broke through the ring to visit well-earned justice upon its leaders. The beginning of the end of this ring came in 1916 when District Attorney Lewis, now a Justice of the Supreme Court, and Assistant District Attorney Herbert N. Warbasse, drew from Lefty Esposito an admission of perjury. This was followed by the surrender of Ralph Daniello, at the time a fugitive from justice in Nevada. Daniello turned on the gang when they refused to send him further funds. In fear of his life he refused to return to Brooklyn alone. The late Detective Barney Grottano was sent to Nevada and brought him to Brooklyn. Daniello here told the full story of the inside workings of the Navy street gang. He recounted more than thirty murders the gang had committed. His testimony led to the conviction of Alessandro Vollero, now serving terms of from twenty years to life in Sing Sing for murder. Paretti had been indicted with Morano and Vollero, but he fled Brooklyn when the expose came. No trace of him could be found for almost nine years. In the meantime the murdered body of Daniello was found on the Lincoln Highway near Metuchen, N. J. Lefty Esposito was shot and killed in Newark, N. J. Butch Sgroia wiis kidnaped and forced to return to Italy. The way seemed clear for the surrender of Paretti. It was a plainly confident Paretti who surrendered at the office of District Attorney Dodd. But Paretti and his friends had made one mistake. They talked. For months before his actual surrender, they let it be known that Paretti, "Tony the Shoemaker," was corning back to Brooklyn "to see what it was all about." It was figured that just one man could seal the doom of Paretti, and he was Butch Sgroia. But there was no fear from Sgroia, for had he not been forced back to Italy?

Sgroia Brought Back.

But District Attorney Dodd did get Sgroia back from Europe through District Attorney Arthur Rowland of Westchester County, who went to Italy and persuaded Sgroia to return with him. Sgroia was kept in custody in Westchester County until the trial of Paretti last July. One of the most dramatic moments in a criminal trial in Brooklyn came during the trial of Paretti before Supreme Court Justice Callaghan and a Jury when Sgroia stepped from behind a door to the side of the court room. Paretti, at the sight of Sgroia grew pale. And Sgoria told all. None realized better than Paretti that his doom was sealed. Cittf had played his ace. Twelve hours before Paretti went to the chair on last Thursday night for the murder of Charles Ubriacco at the corner of Johnson and Navy streets in September of 1916, Butch Sgroia was again on his way back to Italy. Paretti has paid the penalty, which Morano and Vollero were fortunate to escape. Lauritano and Notaro are serving terms for the perjury they committed at the trial of Paretti. Andrea Ricci was shot and killed as he was playing cards in a house on President street. Despite the many murders committed by the Navy street gang, Paretti was the only one to pay the death penalty."

I believe that there was a comorra presence in New Orleans and that it outlasted the Brooklyn Camorra

Thanks Hairy, great stuff!

HK that was a GREAT write up.

In 1940 Pellegrino Marano was transferred to the Dannemora Prison State Hospital. That's all I could find on him.

So there were 2 Camorra gangs, Navy St Gang led by Lauritano and Vollero and Coney Island which was lead by Marano.

When researching Marano I found out that he had family in north Jersey. Allegedly, his nephew was part of a gang called the Zopo Prisco Gang.




(I like talking about the old timers, something different for a change)

Actually there were two Camorra groups in the USA. One was the Neapolitan group that was primarily in New York. It was never large and petered out after a while. Vito Genovese was connected to it (we can't prove that he was a member, but he may have been). There were several "Families" in New York, one in Navy Street, another in Coney Island (they merged), another in Harlem under a Dominick DeLucca and another in Little Italy.

The other Camorra group that was far larger was the Calabrian Camorra. It existed all over the USA in many cities, and Rocco Pellegrino was a member. Today the Calabrian Camorra is known as 'Ndrangheta.

Yes, there was also Andrea Ricci who Daniello testified "was one of the bosses in the Navy Street Gang".

There might have been smaller Camorra gangs in East Harlem and further down south, in the Little Italy section. But the gangs in Brooklyn were the dominant Camorra gangs.

Moreno was born in 1877 (I think I read somewhere) so by 1940, when he was transferred to the Dannemora Prison State Hospital, he was pretty old. I would guess that he died in prison but please don´t quote me on that. I think Faithful1 (poster on here) may have more accurate info on him.

Very interesting. I never knew that about the Calabrians Thanks.

So Marano actually did a lot of time. For some reason wikipedia listed him deported after only 2 years, it becomes less trustworthy as a source every day.

A curiosity: Tony Paretti was one of the only 2 executed for the mafia-camorra war, for the Morello-Ubriaco hit. But what was his role, was he one of the shooters, or was he one of those who gave the order?

Also: what was the role of Angelo Giordano in the camorra hierarchy? He was the other one executed, for the Verrazzano murder, but was he an independent boss? I read he even overruled the authority of the boss the hitmen he sent were working for: when they said they couldn't do a killing for Giordano without the boss's authorization, Giordano said they would die too if they didn't do as he said, and they obviously took the threat seriously, as they did the job at the end.

I don´t know the exact role of Parretti but he may have been present at the shooting scene. He was probably one of the "leaders" who planned the ambush. The actual gunmen were (and I think Daniello testified about this) Bartolomeo Pagano, Tom Carillo and Lefty Esposito.

Just for the record, the Angelo Giordano in this trial lived in Mount Vernon and was a baker in Staten Island, and was not the same person as the Calabrian boss. The Giordano who was convicted was executed in 1921. The Calabrian was killed in Brooklyn in 1923.

I had never heard about the Calabrian Giordano before. Was he too involved in the mafia-camorra war? And what was the executed Giordano's role anyway, was he one of the camorra bosses or an independent gangster?

Try these links:

http://books.google.com/books?id=h2NOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA62&dq=%22angelo+giordano%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6Wn9U9qdNYG2ogSOtID4DA&ved=0CJUBEOgBMBU#v=onepage&q=%22angelo%20giordano%22&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=5UkLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA366&dq=%22angelo+giordano%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6Wn9U9qdNYG2ogSOtID4DA&ved=0CHsQ6AEwEQ#v=onepage&q=%22angelo%20giordano%22&f=false

I was doing a bit of research on Tony Paretti and one source mentions him as being the "underboss" to Marano.

The next gangster on my list to research is Buonomo. I believe he is a relative of Marano. There seems to be a MISSING LINK in the camorra with either the Luciano crew or the napolitans in that crew; like you mentioned before about Genovese may have been a member of the camorra. I want to find out if there were any business dealings between the napolitans of cosa nostra and this guy Buonomo and/or his crew which I believe were living and operating in Orange, NJ or around that area. (and Brooklyn)
Maybe even Adonis had something to do with them since he was from Avellino which is the next province over from Napoli. There must have been a go-between guy cuz back then you stuck with your own people. Sicilians didn't trust Napolitans and visa versa.
What do you think?

Also for the record, Pellegrino Marano was an inmate in the Dannemora State Prison Hospital according to the 1940 Census Report.
I wrote that he was transferred in 1940. Not sure of the year he was actually transferred.

I tend to agree that they likely merged. It's the only way to explain the ability of Guiseppe Masseria to dominate the Corleonesi Morello clan.

Also Masseria was assassinated in Coney Island, a former Camorra stronghold. Is it possible that his former Camorristi-turned-Cosa-Nostra-mafiosi collaborated in the plot against Joe the Boss?

Where exactly in Coney Island was Pellegrino Marano's restaurant Santa Lucia located? Does anyone know the address?

I was hoping to find the location ^^^ for one of the chaps on ganginc

So did the Marano and/or Buonomo name ever come up in the real deal forum... Probably back in 2012 that's when the Camorra was being discussed but I never had a chance to follow up.

Coney Island has changed over the years. A lot of places that existed in the early 20th century are now parking lots. The address was 1313 Surf Avenue.

Very NICE. Thank you so much.

Isn't that something? And if you Google it, that address puts you right in front of the main entrance to the Coney Island amusement park area. Nathan's is right there.

Somewhere around there was not only the Santa Lucia Hotel and Restaurant, but Stauch's and The Harvard Inn. It was all in that area where Nathan's now is. There have been a lot of changes since those days, so the early places of interest are hard to locate. The Harvard Inn was destroyed by a fire around 1926, and the streets were widened around 1930.

The Camorra are more destructive than the Mafia they wouldn't last long enough here anyway cause there not like really organized and would draw to much attention.

I found my notes on Marano. While reading about Coney Island I did read about how George C. Tilyou was being threatened and men muscled in on his properties. One of his properties was called Tilyou's Surf House. Have you ever heard anything about this? Maybe it is common knowledge among researchers like yourself but I figured I'd ask.

This is what I have on Marano. It's ancient history so that's the only reason why I'm posting the addresses. I'm sure the family is long gone by now.

On June 1,1892 he arrived in the port of NY through Castle Gardens.
He was 14 and stated his occupation as a barber.
(He came over with Francesco Marano Male Age 12 &
Giuseppe Marano Male Age 46)

According to the Ellis Island website Pellegrino Marano
was 5'8 with chestnut colored hair.

His destination was his home 56 Cove Street Orange, NJ
It appears he was traveling with 3 others who also had the same destination in Orange, NJ.

Amodio Bonoma Male Age 16 From Protolaserra
possible nephew of Pellegrino Marano

Raffaela D'Amore F 35 M destination Orange, NJ
Carmine D'Amore M 7 son

Filippo Fredo M 27

I believe that Gaetano Buonomo is a possible relative, probably the father or uncle of Amodio.

Amodio Bonoma not sure if that name is spelled correct maybe Amedeo Buonoma?? And I cannot remember who the others are. I was helping research this stuff for a writer on gangsinc back in 2012. Do any of their names ring a bell?

I'm not sure about the threats on Tilyou. The McKane gang threatened the Tilyou family back in 1887, but you're probably thinking of something from the 1910s or 20s. If you have more info then I can try to see what I have. EDIT: I saw that he had some Black Hand letters sent to him in 1907. There were some fires on his properties later that year, but he denied the Black Hand was involved. The second fire, in Connecticut, was caused by a cigarette, same as the first fire in Coney Island.

http://www.westland.net/coneyisland/articles/steeplechase1.htm

Pelligrino Morano was the self-identified Camorra boss of the Coney Island gang. He was involved in killing Harlem boss Giosue Gallucci in 1915 and Nick Morello in 1916.
Amadeo (or Amodeo) Buonomo was the nephew of Pellegrino Morano, and he was killed on April 7, 1913, allegedly by people connected with Giosue Gallucci.

http://www.gangrule.com/biographies/pelligrino-morano

http://www.gangrule.com/biographies/john-russomano

http://www.gangrule.com/events/struggle-for-control-1914-1918