Because family is at the heart of the Mafia
Several families of Prohibition-era bootleggers in Rockford, Illinois were related through marriage and their Sicilian origins. When a suitor to one of the Domino girls wouldn't take no for an answer, he resorted to an Old World practice: kidnapping.
One article on the shooting claimed that Katherine Domino, 29-year old wife and mother of two, was a native Italian with a “fiery Latin temperament” who only spoke broken English.
At the height of their power, mafiosi Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Lupo were suspected of masterminding the assassination of New York City Police detective Joseph Petrosino.
A Morello-era gangster from Corleone gets tangled up in New Orleans and Chicago Mafia plots before making his escape. "What comes across clearly is that Morello is aggravated that Constantino is still in Bogalusa, but whether he wanted him dead or alive is unclear. He seems equally incensed about Constantino’s coordinates as his 'severely good health.'”
According to local police, a war for domination of the coin-operated vending and gaming machine business in Tucson led to a series of bombings.
Just outside of the Tucson city limits, developers found few restrictions and a tremendous demand for new, single-family homes. Among the new neighbors in the Old Pueblo were powerful gangsters.
Before Mario Puzo wrote The Godfather, a real Tom Hagen was orphaned and raised by bootleggers into a life of crime.
The father of two notorious gangsters from West Springfield, Massachusetts, was a co-founder of the Monte Carlo Cafe, and a prolific Prohibition-era bootlegger.
The DiGiovanni brothers of Kansas City, MO got their introduction to the black market in sugar before Prohibition began.
Join me at Forbes Library (Northampton, MA) on January 15, 2026 6:30-7:30 PM for an author event celebrating Pasqualina.
