A former mob boss is enought?
http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/sanfranlima.html"Honor is stressed as the most sacred thing in the world. To destroy another person must be for honor and not money alone..." - Anthony Lima
It was generally accepted, until recently, that only a small number of La Cosa Nostra's 1960s-era inducted members shared confidential information with the FBI. Anthony Villano, former FBI agent and organized crime expert, wrote in his memoir that there were no more than a dozen informants in the entire LCN at the time. It has since come to light, through the release of declassified FBI reports, that many more LCN members secretly cooperated. And at least one of those informants had been an LCN boss. Anthony Lima Lima In 1965, Anthony Lima, former boss of the San Francisco Crime Family, began to secretly share confidential information with federal law enforcement. [1] The veteran LCN member provided an insider's view of organized crime from the highest levels. Lima told federal agents about his induction ceremony, provided details about the history of the Pittsburgh Crime Family, and identified LCN members, many for the first time, in Pittsburgh and the San Francisco Bay Area. He kept the FBI up-to-date on the activities of LCN members and helped shape the Bureau's organized crime investigations across the country.
Anthony Lima told federal agents that he was inducted into the Pittsburgh LCN family in 1927. [3] He said the boss at the time was Stefano Monastero and the underboss was Nicasio Landolina. He would have been about twenty-two at that time. Lima told federal agents that the Pittsburgh Crime Family, or "Burgata" as he called it, was established about 1905. Before that, the Italian-Sicilian underworld was more fragmented. An early extortion group known as the "Black Hand" was comprised of Italians from Calabria. The Black Hand became associated with a regional Neapolitan Camorra organization, and they subsequently merged with the Sicilian Mafia. (In Italy, the Neapolitan Camorra network is distinct from the Calabrian criminal societies, now collectively known as 'Ndrangeta, and the Sicilian Mafia. Transplanted into the U.S., these organizations eventually blended into an Italian-Sicilian crime syndicate the FBI labeled, "La Cosa Nostra.")
Lima explained the significance of the induction ceremony and broke down the membership rules. He said the sponsor of the proposed member would take a knife or pin and draw blood by pricking his finger. The blood of the proposed member was then smeared on a holy card. The card was lit on fire and placed in the cupped hands of the proposed member. The sponsor would then "affirm" that the proposed member would uphold the rules and code of the organization. [4] According to Lima, "Honor is stressed as the most sacred thing in the world. To destroy another person must be for honor and not money alone. A member is warned never to engage in an affair with the wives of other members. A member must never engage in white slavery or narcotics, both crimes which are degrading to the name of the organization. A member must obey the complaints and instructions of his superior and is never to take the life of a fellow member before presenting his grievance to the Commission. A member must do nothing which would affect the organization without first receiving permission from a superior." The proposed member was warned that, if he ever betrayed the organization, he would be "destroyed" just like the burning holy card. Afterward, all the members embraced the new initiate and kissed him on both cheeks. Lima never indicated what role the boss or capodecina played in the ceremony.
The inclusion of a burning holy card in Lima's description differs from the experience of Samuel Mannarino, another member of the Pittsburgh Crime Family. Mannarino told federal agents that his finger was pricked during his induction ceremony but no holy card was used or lit on fire. Mannarino couldn't say if holy cards were used in other induction ceremonies but he personally "never got no burns on my hands that way." [5] Mannarino's precise initiation date is unknown - he refused to say - but he did imply he was inducted by John LaRocca in the 1940s. The different rituals experienced by Lima and Mannarino suggest the Pittsburgh Crime Family induction ceremony may have evolved over time as the separate Mafia groups in the area were united into the LCN. Lima bio Anthony Lima was born in 1905 at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, an industrial city east of Pittsburgh. His family had traveled to the area from Sicily looking for work. Western Pennsylvania was known for its steel, iron and coal production, as well as for its reliance on immigrant labor. Lima came from a family connected to organized crime. Evidence suggests his uncle and cousin were, like Lima himself, early members of the Pittsburgh Crime Family. There is no indication that Lima's father was an LCN member (although he might have been) but he was on good terms with Mafia members in Sicily and in the United States. In 1928, Anthony Lima was charged with murder while he was living in the Pittsburgh-area. Acquitted at trial, he soon relocated to San Francisco and began to associate with the local Italian underworld. His uncle and cousin also relocated to California and became affiliated with the San Francisco Crime Family. [C] Lima married his uncle's daughter; they later divorced. In California, Lima had a financial interest in a fruit farm and he operated an olive oil business with future San Francisco Crime Family boss Michael Abati. Lima was described by law enforcement at the time as "Mafia killer who is greatly feared by the Italian residents of the Stockton-Lodi, California, area. He specializes in extortion and fraud." [D] Lima became boss of the San Francisco Crime Family in 1937. He replaced Francesco Lanza who had formally established the LCN family in the early 1930s. Lima was boss for sixteen years. He lost power in 1953, when he was convicted of theft and sentenced to four years imprisonment. [E] While he was incarcerated, Lima was replaced as boss by his former business partner and underboss, Michael Abati. After he was released from prison, Lima continued to operate as a soldier although the FBI no longer saw him as a top priority. He was dropped from FBI's "Top Hoodlum" investigations into Mafia leaders. His investigative file was marked "closed". [F] Lima died in 1986. John LaRocca and Pittsburgh Anthony Lima told federal agents that John LaRocca was the boss of the Pittsburgh Crime Family. He said they used to be close associates. He called LaRocca an "extremely fine individual" who had conducted himself "fairly and well during the past 20 years." [6] Lima's statement implies that LaRocca became boss in the Pittsburgh-area sometime in the mid-to-late 1940s. Lima claimed LaRocca "decided" to semi-retire in the 1960s and handed control to his underling Michael Genovese. Since that time, Lima said, Genovese had "completely taken over" from LaRocca. Michael Genovese Michael Genovese According to Lima, Michael Genovese was a "high-type" individual who was "fearless" and "honorable." He thought Genovese would make an excellent leader and was a better choice than capodecina Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino. Lima said Mannarino was also considered for the role but "because of his intelligence in some fields, consideration of him was withdrawn by organization members." Lima said Joseph Regino was the boss of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Regino was a close associate of LaRocca and one of the "principal leaders" of LCN in the region. Lima said Regino was an "extremely fine man" and was well-regarded by other members. Lima and Regino were longtime friends.
