I had heard that one of the Sansones was a capo in the fifties. I can't say where I heard that, and I'm not pretending to be in the know--I just simply can't remember where I heard that. It wouldn't shock me either way, if he was or wasn't.

I did know a guy (who, for all I know, might actually post here, so I don't want to use his name) who was a serious researcher, and who was writing as definitive a history of the St L scene as could be done, but he was slapped with threats of libel lawsuits by the Sansone and Bommarito families, and ended up not publishing his book. Which is too bad, because the only books out there about the St. L scene (like that garbage that John Auble wasted time and money on) suck. I don't know what was in that book of his, and I've lost touch with him. Nice guy, though.

My impression was that St L LCN worked very closely with the Syrians (as the number of Italian/Syrian marriages attests to), but that there was always tension with the East Side. They worked together, but the relationship was not nearly as cozy. I also got the impression that there was tension between St. L and Chicago, mostly over Springfield, but for other reasons as well. Does this sound accurate to you?