Has there ever been a situation where a mob family from one city felt like they could muscle themselves into power in another city without the approval of anyone?

Anyone with any info on this would be highly appreciated.

The only incident that immediately comes to mind is when elements of Pittsburgh's La Rocca Family, specifically Frank Valenti and his brother Stanley, moved in on the City of Rochester, NY and actually started up another entirely new borgata in the mid-late 1950s. "The Frank Valenti Family" became a recognized network within LCN's sphere in the U.S.

But this was a very rare occurrence indeed.

Pittsburgh also went into Youngstown to take over when Cleveland had controlled it for years.
It became a war for years and Youngstown became known as "Bomb City" due the bombings during this time.
This war happened at the same time Cleveland was fighting Danny Green.

Pittsburgh came out on top and Cleveland was out. Partly due to most of Clevelands main members winding up in jail, partly because Pittsburgh took out more Cleveland members. There are some good articles written about those years.

Yes, thats very true Millspgh. I forgot about that. Good save! Lol

The Genoveses used Caponigro for kill Bruno and operate in Atlantic City without Philly mob approval .

I agree this is who was behind the Bruno killing, but Philly continued to run AC for years, maybe decades. Did Genovese ever really take that area over? Scarfo was big in AC.

And is that the reason they had Bruno clipped? To take over AC? Serious querstion because i am not sure I heard that reasoning.

Before the casinos become legal in 1976 AC which had had a frightening decline and had been reduced to being a city of no importance (for this reason Bruno esiliated Scarfo here), had a rebirth but the families of NY for protocol issues would have had to ask permission and pay a share of the earnings to Angelo Bruno, who had lost his his patron Carlo Gambino and had no more friends in the Commission.
The Genoveses made Caponigro believe that he had the Commission's permission to kill Bruno, but it was a trick in order to put a new boss who declared Atlantic City an open city.
Millspgh after the 1980s and the Stanfa/Merlino war the philly mob was send away from AC but returned so there was the Borgata case.

Furio,

Some of the information you posted in the statement above is correct and has merit to it. But there are also a few misstatements as well. The most glaring of which is that once legalized gambling was brought to Atlantic City that the "Philadelphia Family" had control there and the NYC Families had to ask for the permission of Angelo Bruno before they could operate there, and that if permission was granted, they had to pay a portion of their earning to Bruno and the Philly Family...That is incorrect.

The 'fact' is that many years ago (in the 1940s), the Mafia Commission had declared all cities across the U.S., as well as Island nations such as Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Haiti, etc., where gambling is legalized and casinos operate are declared "open cities," that any and ALL borgatas are free to operate within, if they so desire.

Any city or gambling Mecca, regardless of where it may be located, is open territory.

The fact that Atlantic City was always considered part of the general 'geographic' territory of Philadelphia's Bruno Family has nothing to do with that steadfast Commission 'rule.'

The Philly crew might have been more dominate in A/C. After all, thats only natural, right? They had members who lived and operated there for many decades previous. And I'm sure, that even after gambling came to town the Philly guys still dominated the area. NY/NJ guys were generally not gonna move down there just to be near the casinos.

But after legalized gaming came to that town, the Bruno Family was NO LONGER the only family who could operate there. Did some of Philly's members maybe balk to one another about 'out of town' (NYC/NJ) mafiosi coming into 'their' town, Atlantic City, and starting up some action? Maybe? Probably?

But thats only because these types of fellas probably didn't have a solid overall grasp about what Cosa Nostra was really all about, and what the Commission dictates and rules were from decades back (because it never applied to them before), etc.

But that still doesn't change the 'fact' that Commission 'rule' was put in place over three decades before A/C got gambling. Understand what I'm saying here?

Why do you think there's so many guys from varied Families across the country in Las Vegas. The same holds true for why so many families shared the wealth in Cuba, The Bahamas, etc. These are ALL declared "open cities."

During the 1940s the Chicago Outfit tried to takeover Dallas but it ended up differently because they had an internal conflict back home at the time. You can find some info about it in the first part od the Ross Prio video and also in the future second part.

/quote]

Before the casinos become legal in 1976 AC which had had a frightening decline and had been reduced to being a city of no importance (for this reason Bruno esiliated Scarfo here), had a rebirth but the families of NY for protocol issues would have had to ask permission and pay a share of the earnings to Angelo Bruno, who had lost his his patron Carlo Gambino and had no more friends in the Commission.
The Genoveses made Caponigro believe that he had the Commission's permission to kill Bruno, but it was a trick in order to put a new boss who declared Atlantic City an open city.
Millspgh after the 1980s and the Stanfa/Merlino war the philly mob was send away from AC but returned so there was the Borgata case.
[/quote]


Thank you Furio.

So why kill Bruno? If they doesnt have to ask to put a flag in AC? Was years that Caponigro blaming Bruno because his ban on narcotics but 4 years after lost his friend Gambino and the gambling become legal he was killed?
I think there are too many coincidences, you can't kill a boss without preparation. Maybe NY wanted a non-Sicilian boss or maybe Bobby Manna wanted to put his partner in yardville Scarfo as a boss and then pass the Philadelphia mafia under the protection of the Genovese, for me there was something under it.

Youngstown's " Bomb City" moniker also known as a "Youngstown Tune-up"

Furio, I'm in the middle of a major biography right now. But at some point, after I get done and I get the chance, I'll provide you with some alternate theories for Bruno's assassination, and give you my personal feelings on the subject you're asking about, ok?

A lot of the reasoning behind killing Bruno, was also wanting to have a "legit" reason to kill Caponigro. Many years prior there was a dispute between Caponigro and Tieri over bookmaking in North Jersey, in which the Commission ruled in favor of Caponigro. Also remember that at the time with Bruno, Philly was 'under' the Gambino's which gave the Gambino's an extra commission vote on any Commission matters. Killing Bruno, and installing anyone else would essentially shift the proxy vote of Philadelphia to the Genovese family. So with Bruno AND Caponigro out of the way, the Genovese grabbed a larger share of North Jersey rackets, shifted the Philly proxy vote to Genovese in all Commission matters and were able to make further uninterrupted in-roads into Atlantic City.

My compliments Irishkaos, I just jumped on here for a minute to see what was doing and read what you wrote. Very well put, and IMO, you're quite correct. The reasons you mentioned are not the only reasons why Bruno got clipped. But they are definitely among the 'group' of reasons why he went bye-bye.

As I mentioned to Furio earlier. I don't have my head on this now while I'm trying to finish up a big bio I'm doing. But afterwards, when I clear my head, I'll add my two cents worth. ok

Ok,NYMafia.

The Corleonesi invaded Palermo in the early 1980s to take control of heroin smuggling.

@NYMafia and Irishkaos

Angelo Bruno was done after he allowed the Cherry Hill Gambino’s to deal drugs in Philly and NJ…

Right?

https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-angelo-bruno

Right from the start of his reign as Boss Bruno opposed the Family's involvement in drug trafficking. Bruno didn't want to attract any attention from the D.E.A. or even more attention from the F.B.I. By this time Bruno had been arrested 13 times in his long career. He had been subpoenaed and indicted by grand juries regularly, his only jail term lasted two and a half years for refusing to testify in an investigation of official corruption in Atlantic City. The ban on getting involved with drugs angered several Philadelphia mobsters who saw the money that could be made with drugs. They were even angrier to see that Bruno, although he had decreed a ban on dealing drugs, associated, and took money from several drugdealers, among them the Cherry Hill Gambinos.

https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-angelo-bruno


In 1977 the gambling act in New Jersey was altered and Philly mobsters had dollar signs in their eyes just thinking of all the money they could make. However Bruno declared Atlantic City open territory, this meant other Mafia Families could come in and operate criminal businesses there. Bruno felt that if he didn't declare Atlantic City open territory he could get his Family into a war with the bigger and more powerful New York Families, declaring open territory made sure that there would be no war. He also told his Family there would be enough for everyone. His Family however felt he was selling out to the New York Families. This along with the ban on drug trafficking would be the reason of Bruno's demise.

People often forget that although there was never in-fighting up to that point between the two, that Philly under Bruno was often divided 'politically' between the Calabrians and Sicilians. So much so that for a time in Bruno's reign (1960s-early 70s), Joe Rugnetta (Consigliere), a Calabrian was still looked upon as a major authority figure for the Calabrian sects' of the family. Upon Rugnetta's death in 1977, Caponigro was chosen because he too, another Calabrian could fulfill the similar role. So I'll lay out some points:

1. There was 'jealously' that Bruno allowed the Cherry Hill Gambino's, fellow Sicilians to operate in Bruno family territory, this was mainly from Calabrian members of the family. But regardless, nobody in Philly at the time had the pipeline that the Cherry Hill Gambino's had which lead right back to Sicily. And if they themselves wanted to deal heroin, they'd be getting it from the Gambino brothers'.

2. If Bruno despised drug dealing so badly and supposedly wanted to be nowhere near it, why was his primary driver for so many years - Raymond "Long John" Martorano, who was not only Philadelphia's biggest meth supplier but the ENTIRE country's largest supplier at the time? The man was the Meth Kingpin, and we're not talking about simply financing it as you'd see many guys be permitted to do off the cuff, he was an importer. People might claim he wasn't made at that time, but he surely had heat on him, regardless. I think a lot of members also were jealous/angry that Martorano who was extremely wealthy was able to operate with such impunity.

3. The Harry Riccobene Crew dealt in Narcotics, based out of Southwest Philly for 25+ years. Harry (Sicilian) was a made guy, and several members in the crew were made - all dealing drugs. Pete Casella (Sicilian), made guy and subsequent future Underboss under Phil Testa (also Sicilian) had a lengthy sheet and prison record for Narcotics.

4. One of the theories that often doesn't get brought up enough is that Bruno often himself worked direct with associates on very lucrative business interests, which were off-limits to anybody else. For example, Frankie Flowers had major CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) interests all over the country to broadcast boxing, which Bruno got a cut from alongside Flowers massive book - probably the largest in the city at the time. The aforementioned access to Martorano's meth empire, his close relationship with Roofers Union Boss John McCullough, the Kray Brothers in overseas Casino's, etc.

5. Carlo Gambino was gone. He was essentially Bruno's protector. I think this is the major contributing factor - he was vulnerable. I also think its a bit overstated as far as if Bruno was truly as well liked by his family as we're lead onto believe at times and that in the mid-late 70s he was more often found in the company of associates like Long John and Frankie Flowers. Caponigro also had very strong connections to New York, and the NY family crews operating in the North Jersey area. So while the drug dealing "ban" as a whole was probably a factor (Cherry Hill's, Long John, Riccobenes all being permitted), I can't say it was the only factor. As NYMafia stated, AC was also always an 'open city.' I believe any lead way that Bruno supposedly had telling families to stay out was gone once Carlo had passed. IF it was ever brought up via the Commission - how would he have effectively won any vote? He wouldn't have.

Opportunity begets opportunity, Caponigro saw one, and the Genovese saw an opportunity for the double-cross. It really is one of the finest Machiavellian examples in LCN history. What we don't know for sure is what Caponigro brought to Tieri as the primary reasoning for wanting to hit Bruno, but he certainly wouldn't have mentioned a peep about drugs given Gigante/Salerno/Lombardo's stance on it.

Didn’t the Bonannos under joe try to take over Vegas?

I think you meant Arizona...but the Chicago mob was huge obstacle in Bonannos plan which never came out as planned.

Yes after was exiled in Arizona,Joe Bonanno with other made men that folkowed him try to take Arizona and create a mob family here but failed.
There was an attempt to unite all California families in one but I dont remember who tryied to do it?

Do you have a inclination how when why where Youngstown
Was divided up by Scalish and LaRocca?
Alot has been documented after the Greene bombing
When it was Trafficant playing both sides of the fence.
He took 100,000 from Cleveland in bribes than he took
The 60,000 from Pittsburgh
But not much is known how both John's worked out Youngstown
I do know that Vince DeNiro was rising up the Cleveland
Ladder as Scalish liked him alot. Then he got blown
To bits in 61 I think.
Then in the mid 70s Pittsburgh was getting 75% of
The Youngstown rackets and Cleveland 25.
But you would think at some point it was 50/50 preceding
That. What is overlooked is Tony Delsanter dying unexpectedly
In 1976. Tony Dope was a feared and well respected
Solider in the Cleveland Family who Licavoli made
Consigilere after telling Milano to step down
Delsanter was that important piece of the Youngstown
Puzzle that helped broker the peace

Philly with the “Boston crew” in the Merlino era