Looking for anyone that has any info on the Naples Crime Family out of Youngstown Ohio. Santino (Sandy), James (Agidio), William (Billy), Joseph (Joey, Little Joey). Anyone with any information or stories about these me please contact me. Also if anyone has any pictures of these men it would be appreciated.

There was no "Crime Family" named the Naples Crime family EVER in Youngstown. Youngstown never had its own crime family. Youngstown had factions, and the Naples faction was one of several. Youngstown was run by Paul Romeo Sr. and Dominic Mallamo from the 1930's through the 1970's. I have explained this in the Pittsburgh thread. After Mallamo retired, his nephew, Jimmy Prato called the shots (who was aligned with Pittsburgh) by that time. The Naples faction, the Deniro Faction and the Mallamo/Romeo organization were the true powerhouses. The Naples brothers were major players from the Youngstown area, but 3/4 brothers died young as you know. Mallamo was and is the most powerful and influential true mafioso to ever come out of Youngstown. Plus, after Prato died, Lenny Strollo and Joey were "Co-bosses" in Youngstown. Joey was never made a Capo by Mike Genovese, he was a soldier who helped Lenny run the rackets by 1988. Prato died in 1988 and Joey slid into his spot with Prato's nephew, Lenny Strollo. While the Naples brothers were "popular" around town, guys like Genovese, Romeo and Mallamo preferred "non popular" guys in their outfit. Sandy was affiliated with Buffalo in their heyday through Joe DiCarlo. Billy was a muscleman and Joey died not long after he became co-boss. I would have to say that Youngstown by the 1990's would have been better off with Joey if Lenny was out of the picture...but it didn't happen that way Jimmy.

There's a naples family from Sicily when I go over I always bring "nutella Nutella Nutella!!!

Here are some Youngstown links with good intelligence about the landscape of Youngstown:

1. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=90182&relPageId=3

2. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=90179&relPageId=2

3. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=90180&relPageId=6

4. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=90182&relPageId=3

5. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=90263&relPageId=5

6. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=69819&relPageId=18

7. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=69818&relPageId=9

8. http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=95204&relPageId=4



Chew on these for a bit. FYI- Keep in mind that the Carabbia brothers were also very prominent in the Youngstown/Warren area. Ronnie Carabbia held power in Youngstown even after he went to prison. He survived many assasination attempts and did over 25 years in the can and has been living the high life in Sarasota since his release. And all the time he was in prison, he still had his people collecting weekly envelopes for his wife at LaVilla Sports Bar.

Article from the Youngstown Vindicator from an FBI Affadavit involving Vic Calautti and money laundering for Naples and several other OC figures.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=32RcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3FYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5523,3669785&dq=william+d-elia+and+youngstown&hl=en


http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NSRAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=llgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4322,4263953&dq=paul+clautti&hl=en

Copy and paste into your browser

The Joseph Naples FBI file has cocaine distribution in over 50% of the file in connection with the Pittsburgh family. If Joey didn't suddenly die, he was going to be indicted for narcotics distribution after Chucky Porter began talking to the Feds from his prison cell. Undercover agents purchased large quantities of cocaine from Naples' dealers. Chucky Porter was Mike Genovese's underboss and really the street boss of the day to day activities. Because of Chucky's information while he was in prison, he brought down the entire Youngstown operation and Lenny Strollo's criminal network. If you submit a FOIPA request to the FBI, you could obtain Joey's FBI file. You'll have to pay for it, but if you're really that interested, you could get it. I'm reading it as I type, so the drug dealing started the minute Jimmy Prato died because he was dead set against having anything to do with drugs. By 1988-1989, it became prevalent all over America and was one of the primary reasons for the condition of LCN's later years. Not that drug dealing never went on in the old days, but it wasn't as widespread as it was in the 1980's.

Joey Naples was close associates with Cleveland Capo Joseph Gallo who ran a multi million dollar cocaine operation. Most drug purchases were coming from Eugene Gesuale from Pittsburgh, close associate of Chucky Porter. Gesuale was getting his drugs from Miami Cuban National Ramon Sosa.

Out of the 4 brothers, Jinx was the smartest and stayed behind the scenes. He ran his numbers operation and handled the books. He survived the bombing wars, did minimal time in the can and was stand up. Plus, he was a good guy.

More files on Youngstown:

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=90172&relPageId=2

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=90179&relPageId=2

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=92768&relPageId=3

***IF you read this file directly, the answers for the Naples brothers are in here. In a nutshell, there were two groups who controlled Youngstown in the 1930's through the 1960's and into the early 1970's: The Calabrese Organization and the Sicilian Organization. Both groups were their own organization and for the most part, operated without alot of bodies dropping. If you were doing anything illegal in Youngstown, you had to kick up to one or both of these organizations. Paul Romeo and Dominic Mallamo r4an the Calabrese Group and Vince DeNiro and Charlie Cavallaro ran the Sicilian group. Romeo and Mallamo reported to one of the most powerful mobsters in America, Anthony "Old Man Tony" Milano on Murray Hill but also reported to Antonio Ripepi/John Bazzano Jr in Pittsburgh. The Sicilian group, DeNiro and Cavallaro reported to Scalish/Licavoli in Cleveland.

The Naples brothers had their own numbers lottery and other gambling ventures but refused to kick up to Mallamo/Romeo as well as DeNiro & Cavallaro. The only ones left standing through that war was Dominic "Big Dom" Mallamo and Paul Romeo Sr. Deniro, Cavallaro, both Naples brothers (Sandy & Billy) were all killed in high profile fashion, especially Cavallaro. It has been widely reported that the Naples brothers and DeNiro were arch enemies, however, DeNiro was very powerful and connected to casinos in Havana and Las Vegas. DeNiro built an empire. According to the FBI, Naples had DeNiro and Cavallaro murdered by Dominic Moio. When Cleveland caught wind that DeNiro got blown up, John Scalish was not happy because DeNiro was one of his top earners. On orders from Anthony Milano (who was Calabrese and his family went back to Calabria with mallamo and Romeo), he wanted the Naples brothers taken out of the picture...especially since Cavallaro's son was in the car that exploded. He gave the orders to Mallamo/Romeo to take care of the problem. Three days before Sandy died, they had that meeting at Romeo's house to plan the execution of Sandy & Billy for refusing to pay the two groups who were in charge of all Youngstown rackets.

After Romeo died in 1976, Mallamo was in semi retirement and passed the power to his oldest sister's son, Vincenzo "Brier Hill Jimmy" Prato who was only a few years younger than Big Dom. Big Dom still collected envelopes until he died in April of 1987. It was decided by Mallamo that Joey & Jimmy were not Sandy & Billy and Prato took Joey under his wing. After the Cleveland-Pittsburgh mob war that started in 1978 and ended in 1982, Pittsburgh emerged as the true power and Joey Naples aligned himself with the Pittsburgh group. Joey was made in 1987 along with Lenny Strollo by Mike Genovese in the basement of Antonio Ripepi's house.

***IF you read closely, Charles "Charlie Murgie" Imburgia, who was originally from Pittsburgh and close to the upper echelon of Pittsburgh, was sent to Warren, OH to keep an eye on John & Mike Farah who operated the Jungle Inn Casino. Charlie settled in Warren in the Avalon Country Club neighborhood and was the eyes and ears of Frank Amato Sr., John LaRocca and Michael Genovese. If you read the obituaries for Charlie, Dominic Mallamo and Paul Romeo, they are very short and inconspicuous...which is exactly how they wanted it. No flash, no notoriety, everything was quiet and low key. Jimmy Naples was never made into a family as he handled the books for his brother Joey. Jimmy operated quietly (the way it was supposed to be) which is why he survived one of the tumultuous gang wars in Youngstown history. If Mallamo/Romeo wanted the Naples brothers dead, they would have been.

**I know for a fact that every single week, Joey Naples would go with Jimmy Prato to pay his respects to Big Dom Mallamo either at his house on Medford Ave off of Youngstown-Poland Rd in the Brownlee Woods neighborhood or at Lord Chesterfield Menswear, Nicky Polito's business where Joey bought all of his clothes. Mallamo and Polito were first cousins and Big Dom would hang around in Polito's office which was equipped with a large bar, leather sofa's and quite a bit of homeade wine. I know that because I spent alot of time at Nicky's business and quite a bit of time at Big Dom's house, which was a small, unassuming home. In fact, Mallamo would not let any of his guys drive new cars or anything expensive, he felt it brought too much attention. Romeo was the same way who lived in Campbell and later in Coitsville.

**By the time Joey and Lenny took over as Co-boss in late 1988, organized crime in Youngstown wasn't the same. They took over on the tail end of things and Joey was only in power for less than 3 years before he was shot. By December of 1997...it was all over.

Another thing to understand jnaples3 is that Youngstown answered to people. While Joey may have called half the shots in Youngstown for a few years, he had to answer to his boss in Pittsburgh which was Henry "Zebo" Zottola by 1987. If Henry told him jump, his response should have been "how high!" If Charlie Imburgia told him to go shit in the woods, he probably went and shit in the woods. The same with Lenny. Like their predecessors, Mallamo/Romeo answered to Frank & Tony Milano from Cleveland as well as Tony Ripepi and John Bazzano in Pittsburgh. Youngstown never had a crime family, they were a faction of both Cleveland & Pittsburgh. I don't know where you got "The Naples Crime Family" because that never existed.

Another strong faction of Youngstown was the Carabbia brothers, Charlie, Ronnie & Orlie. If Ronnie didn't get sent to prison for the Danny Greene murder, he was chosen to assume control of Cleveland's Trumbull County rackets for longtime Capo/Consigliere Anthony "Tony Dope" DelSanter who died around 1976. Ronnie Carabbia had extensive ties to Detroit and was very well liked by other members. I can't say the same thing for Charlie, as is evident by his constant bad mouthing of Prato/Naples which is why he needed to go. Ronnie was equal to Joey while in Youngstown only he represented the Cleveland side. His mentor was Tony DelSanter as Joey's mentor was Jimmy Prato/Dominic Mallamo. If Ronnie didn't go to prison and Joey didn't get killed, I think it would have been an even more violent street war with those two going head to head.

So Ronnie Carabbia was an important guy in the mafia? But why did he participate in the Greene murder personally then? Aren't the hitmen usually chosen from the lowest links of the chain?

If the above scenario, RC and Joey, played out it would have been very interesting to see how Charlie would have dealt with them. I know for a fact that Tony had a great deal of respect for Charlie and would never done anything without Charlie's approval. I also know that Joey clearly understood that Charlie was in charge. In addition to the respect Charlie demanded, he was also feared. I can't imagine he would allow another blood bath and all the heat it would surely bring.

Ronnie Carabbia got his start in the late 50's and 60's with burglary, arson and hits. The Cleveland mob botched many attempts on Danny Greene and Carabbia was recommended by Jimmy Fratianno to wire the bomb as it was "alleged" that he participated in over a dozen bombing deaths in the 1960's. He was already the guy in Mahoning County representing Cleveland's interests and felt confident that he wouldn't screw it up...which he didn't. Keep in mind that families like Cleveland & Pittsburgh didn't have hundreds upon hundreds of associates and Licavoli was a guy who didn't trust anybody except those closest to him. A meeting was held a month before the Danny Greene hit at Mosquito Lake on a boat where Carabbia told Licavoli, give it to me and I'll ensure it is done. That meeting has been documented through informants, FBI surveillance and in other publications. Licavoli told Carabbia; "If youu get this done, you have all of Truumbull County and will be promoted to DelSanter's position." Licavoli was in hiding because he knew Greene and his cohorts were looking for him, so he wanted it done ASAP.

I agree with you wholeheartedly FriendofHenry, but I think Ronnie and Joey's "past history" would have sparked an all out war and Charlie would have diffused it for as long as he could, but both of their egos were too big. I could be totally off, but Charlie had a very good relationship with Cleveland but Ronnie would have NEVER gotten over the fact that Naples/Prato/Strollo had his brother whacked. On top of that, Naples/Prato also ordered the shotgun murder of Carabbia's first cousin, Junior Senzarino. Two close family members dead by Naples/Prato/Strollo? Sooner or later, Ronnie would have struck back. Joey on the other hand would have never been able to see past the fact that Carabbia was just as strong if not stronger than him...a recipe for disaster.

Oscar: Do you think what I had to say about the scenario you outlined would have been prevented by Charlie?

I've always said it would have been interesting to see how the landscape of OC in the Mahoning Valley would have played out if Joey didn't get killed. He was more well liked, more courteous and more generous than Lenny ever was. But the narcotics trafficking that spelled doom for the Pittsburgh contingent and I believe that Charlie would have removed himself from even meeting with anybody locally who was being watched for narcotics. Charlie was semi retired by 1994, but still weighed in on many matters when asked by Michael Genovese. Most of his time was spent in Florida by the late 1980's and early 1990's, so when the cat's away...the mice will play.

Sure, I think Charlie would have sat down with both of them, but with him spending so much time down in Florida, the bottom line is that Joey & Ronnie were career criminals and professional liars and somebody would have gotten clipped and concocted an elaborate lie to protect themselves. Jimmy Prato wanted Charlie Carabbia dead back in the 1960's. When they finally got the permission to whack him by Angelo Lonardo and Jack White, they had said he was still going into bars bad mouthing the Pittsburgh contingent to anybody who would listen...which was a bold faced lie. According to Ronnie Carabbia, after he spoke to his brother, his brother dropped it and Ronnie sent him to the Akron area to run a few things for him up there, so Charlie wasn't even spending time in Youngstown for a few years prior to his disappearance. Ironically, they found his car in Cleveland where he was spending more time to get out of the microscope in Youngstown.

Will we ever know the "exact" details? Probably not. But strong evidence points to this scenario. You knew Jimmy Prato, and I don't have to tell you that his solution for any problem was to "kill." He was trigger happy and felt if you wiped out all your enemies, there was more to eat.

Point well taken. As we have discussed, from my own personal experiences, I agree with the differences you outlined between Joey and Lenny.I believe that Zebo more or less took over Charlie's roll to some extent when he spent most of his time in Florida. I'm also beginning to understand that because of his illness, Henry may have gone along with the Michael imposed drug program. As they say: "Money is the root of all evil"! Maybe back to the good old shootem' up/blowem' up days ;-(

Henry was Michael Genovese's right hand man by 1991 after Porter got sent away. Think about it. Even though Henry came to Youngstown every week, Lenny Strollo took a shot at an elected official (Prosecutor Paul Gains), sent in Mark Batcho to shoot Attorney Gary Van Brocklin in broad daylight at his law office to boot, used four african american drug dealers to whack Ernie Biondillo...Lenny wreaked so much havoc on Mahoning County and even Henry couldn't stop him. What do you think would have happened had Ronnie Carabbia and Joey Naples/Lenny Strollo been running the rackets? Three men who were deadly and wouldn't hesitate to kill you on the spot. My two cents.

Sad but true..."Back to the shootem'up/blowem'up days.

Here is a good FBI report on the conditions of Youngstown in the 1960's, which was not under the control of any one mafia family.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=133566&relPageId=8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZgrXAzH4t0 not a bad documentary about it all.Theres Al Bundy in it LOL

Ed O'Neil is a big Youngstown guy. This was done with Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, another Youngstown guy. I saw this when it came out.

jnaples3, do you have any responses from any of this information? Are you looking for any other specific information? Feel free to pm me if you agree or disagree with any of this info. I'm open to discussing.

Oscar: Do you know who was the Grandfather of the two brothers interviewed sitting a the bar in the Youngstown Club?

Yes Ed O neil,one of favorite actors acctually.The first show i ever watched as a kid was Married with children,loved that show very much.Loved that actor,always played a tough guy,a mans man.Plus,he was hilarious.
You from Youngstown?

I am

Ed O'Neil was a YSU football star so much that he got a try-out with the Steelers. Decades ago he dated a friend of my wife and came to our house for dinner. Years later, when he became a star, he would come to my neighborhood tavern whenever he was in town. He's even a better guy than you might think he is.

For sure,im watching the docu now.He seems like a great guy.