Famiglia Vagabonda of West Virginia

In the early 20th Century, Italians found work in the coal mines of West Virginia and stayed to create a pocket of Italian America that few outsiders know. 

In Fairmont, West Virginia in the Twenties, the Famiglia Vagabonda held the reins to every legal and illegal vice. In 1927, Italian entrepreneur Joseph Argiro debuted the pepperoni roll in Fairmont: a kind of pared down stromboli stuffed with another American invention, pepperoni. Like the pepperoni roll, the Famiglia’s offerings were designed to cater to the needs and tastes of Italian coal miners.

Wherever Italian immigrants settled in large numbers, there were Italian criminals preying upon them. In West Virginia’s coal mining counties, predators contrived to coax the dollars from their countrymen’s pockets. They ranged from low pickpockets and confidence men to the owners of large establishments. At this end of the range, the opportunists provided booze and other recreational drugs, and places to consume them; hosted games of chance; and imported sex workers to mingle with the hundreds of lonely men. To keep it all running smoothly there were enforcers, guards, pimps, and for the really hard cases, arsonists, strong arm professionals, and hit men. Organized crime.

Histories of organized crime in the region often begin with Big Bill Lias. Lias was of Greek heritage, and controlled vice in Wheeling, West Virginia, about 70 miles northwest of Fairmont. In a couple of his rackets, Lias was beholden to Mafia bosses from other cities. He reportedly paid Johnny Torrio in Chicago for the wire service that allowed him to take sports bets, and Stefano Maggadino in Buffalo for some other service related to the vice trades.[1] So although not qualified to be a member of an ethnic mafia, he was one of its major customers.

Separate from Lias and his operation were the Famiglia Vagabonda, or Wandering Family, an organized criminal gang with an all-Italian membership. The Famiglia had at least two crews, one in Fairmont, WV, the seat of Marion County, and another in the Harrison County seat of Clarksburg, WV, about twenty miles to the southwest.[2]

Migrants to the coal fields of West Virginia generally arrived via the port of New York, and might move around frequently in search of work. There were thousands of coal miners in the region living far from their families. All of these rootless, friendless men were dollar signs to career criminals like Lias and the Famiglia leadership. Lias in Wheeling and the Famiglia in Clarksburg and Fairmont hosted brothels, saloons, and gambling. The Famiglia also ran classic mafia rackets like kidnapping for ransom and blackmail. 

The Famiglia Vagabonda was reportedly founded by Frank Piscioneri in Marion County, West Virginia in 1908.[3] Piscioneri was found guilty in 1909, along with eight other men, of felonious conspiracy to assault and rob. Ten more men in the same case were convicted of misdemeanor crimes.[4]

The next leader of the Famiglia who appeared in the news was John Torcha. Torcha was born Giovanni Torchia in San Giovanni in Fiore, in Calabria, in 1880. He arrived in the US around 1902 and claimed he was made to pay a membership fee to the Famiglia Vagabonda in Fairmont. But he was not their victim: he was their co-commander. A double murder committed on Christmas Eve of 1914 was painted by attorneys for the defense as having been orchestrated by Torcha and Charley Rando, the leaders of the Famiglia Vagabonda.[5] Facing these charges, Torcha turned state’s witness. His followers, five young men ranging from 18-25, were sentenced to up to ten years in prison. The wife of one of the youths went to prison for a year for taking part in the conspiracy.

Originally Torcha expected to be sent home to Italy with his wife and children when he was done testifying against his fellows, but he changed his mind and the family remained in Marion County.[6] John became a US citizen in April 1922. The prosecuting attorney in the murder trial, Tusca Morris, swore an affidavit for his naturalization petition.[7]

In Clarksburg, the local Famiglia crew was led by “Big Joe” Cenetti. (His name is spelled Cignetti or Cignetto in most records, but not on his death certificate.[8]) Born in Strambino, a comune of Torino, Big Joe was a northern Italian: a Piemontese.[9] He arrived in 1903 and worked in coal mines. According to legend, Cignetti was a physically powerful man who could straighten a horseshoe with his bare hands.

“Big Joe” Cignetti was a bootlegger who was killed by unknown rivals in December 1921. Immediately after, five of his friends—Richard “Dapper Dick” Ferri, Philip Connizzaro, Nicholas Salamante, Samuel Muratore, and Pasquale “Patsy” Corbi—began looking for Frank Vesperer and Francesco Napolitano, aka Frank Naples, the two main rivals for Cignetti’s position in the underworld of Clarksburg. Vesperer was shot and seriously injured in February. Naples was lured out of hiding to his death soon after.[10] Vesperer escaped the hospital where he was recovering and ran to Baltimore, where he succumbed to the stress of his flight, and expired.[11]

The Famiglia Vagabonda was considered to be the ultimate power behind the retaliatory shootings. Cignetti’s five friends were charged with murder. Vito Corbi, who was Patsy’s father, and Vincenzo “Jim” Urso, the leader of the Famiglia in Fairmont, were charged as well. Jim Urso fled justice and wasn’t seen for almost twenty years. Ferri, Connizzaro, Salamante, and Muratore were all hanged. Patsy Corbi got a life sentence, later commuted, and was released in 1932.[12]

In 1923, nine of the Famiglia’s members were arrested in connection with a dozen murders and several dynamite bombings in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.[13] One of their victims was a woman. 

Bella Lemon was found dead in the road outside a golf course near Baltimore, with nothing but a hat. The hat’s lining, made from a Fairmont, WV newspaper, enabled her identification. She had taken the train from Fairmont the same day. Police believed she was killed to keep her from exposing the blackmail gang of which she was a member.[14] Her friend, Carmela Malone, got a ride from Frank Corbi after getting out of jail in Baltimore, and disappeared.[15] Patsy and Tony Corbi were identified by three members of the Mafia in Clarksburg as Lemon’s killers, according to a Baltimore paper. Tony went on the run for years, with clues pointing to him hiding out in Mexico, Italy, and somewhere in the western United States. In 1926 it was reported that his arrest was imminent, but nothing came of it.[16]

The father of Patsy, Tony, and Frank was Vito Corbi, an immigrant from Catanzaro, Calabria. He started his family in Boston, Massachusetts, became a naturalized citizen, and moved to Baltimore, Maryland between 1910-1914.[17] In both cities he owned retail groceries. In the 1920s he branched out with his wife, Frances, into confectionery. (I’ve written here before about the relationship between candy production and bootlegging during Prohibition. While sugar was a more popular drug among teetotalers, leading to a rise in legitimate sales of candy in the Twenties, sudden veers into the business among gangsters were more likely to be fronts. “Sugar men” could order the raw ingredients of alcohol production without suspicion, and resell them on the black market.)

In 1939 the fugitive Tony Corbi got married in Youngstown, Ohio, to Katherine Mitolo, the widow of Nick Mallamo. Nick died in a bootleg war in 1927. The Mallamo brothers were born in Ardore, Reggio Calabria, and ran lotteries and other rackets in Youngstown.[18] Nick’s brother, Dominick Mallamo (1904-1987), future boss of the Youngstown Mafia, spent some of the 1930s living in Italy with his wife. Their only child, Giuseppe, was born there.[19]

The Youngstown Family had working ties to Calabrian gangs in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.[20] In the late Fifties, Tony Corbi and Dominick Mallamo jointly owned the Yo Hio social club.[21] In 1960, following founder Paul Romeo, Mallamo became the boss of the “Calabrese Organization” in Youngstown.

The fugitive Vincenzo Urso reappeared around the same time as Corbi, living with his family in Clairton City, a steel town outside of Pittsburgh.[22] Urso was remarkable among his colleagues in that he was a Sicilian deeply embedded in a Calabrian Mafia network.[23] In 1939, his daughter married Nunziato Quattrone, a Calabrian. Quattrone’s sister Laura was married to Antonio Ripepi, whose family had other connections to organized crime. 

The Ripepi brothers were from Cervasi, in Reggio Calabria. Antonio’s older brother, Angelo, also married a Quattrone sister, making a double in-law marriage. Antonio Ripepi was active in the Pittsburgh Mafia through the 1980s. In one anecdote told about him, he shot Frank Corbi in the leg over a gambling debt.[24] 

Ripepi’s daughter Frances married John Bazzano, Jr. John Sr. was a bootleg sugar supplier and became the boss of the Pittsburgh Mafia in 1931 after the assassination of Giuseppe Siragusa. Bazzano Sr. fought the Volpe family, whose base southeast of Pittsburgh was the small town of Wilmerding, and was implicated in at least three of their deaths. The Volpes were believed to be behind John Bazzano Sr.’s murder in 1932.[25]

In the 1930s and 40s, Patsy and Frank Corbi of Baltimore worked with Calabrian gangsters in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. By 1950, they were part of Lou Morici’s crew, made members of the Gambino crime family. 

The Baltimore crew of the Gambino Family is a whole other story. To read more of this chapter in Mafia history, and support original Mafia scholarship, become a paid subscriber to Mafia Genealogy on Patreon at the Member level ($3/month).

Sources

1. Big Bill – Wheeling’s Gangster Era – A Spoken Word Project – Wheeling WV History. (2022, December 15). Wheeling History [YouTube Channel]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZPfmwL4W1o
2. Foster, G. (2023, January 3). Back in the day, this quiet West Virginia town was a mafia mecca. Only In West Virginia [Website]. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/trip-ideas/west-virginia/mafia-town-wv 
3. Ibid.
4. Biennial report and official opinions of the Attorney General of the State of West Virginia. Office of the Attorney General. P. 328. Google Books
5. Samuel Palma on the Stand. (1915, March 20). The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.), Pp. 1, 8. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86072054/1915-03-20/ed-1/seq-1/>; Five plead guilty of second degree murder. (1915, March 22).  The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.). P. 1. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86072054/1915-03-22/ed-1/seq-1/>
6. Torcha’s story is again told before a jury. (1915, March 31).  The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.), P. 1. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86072054/1915-03-31/ed-1/seq-1/>, <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86072054/1915-03-20/ed-1/seq-8/>
7. Arrest 2 more of alleged ‘mafia.’ (1915, February 19). The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.), p. 10. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86072054/1915-02-19/ed-1/seq-10/>; “West Virginia, Naturalization Records, 1814-1991,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-HX9S-K2?cc=1909003&wc=M6LB-MZ9%3A179597001%2C179649501 : 1 July 2016), Marion > Naturalization Records, 1920-1921, v. 5 > image 255 of 256; West Virginia State Archives, Charleston.
8. Joseph Cignetti household. (1920). “United States, Census, 1920,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRJR-CSX?cc=1488411&wc=QZJB-SHD%3A1036473501%2C1039390001%2C1036476301%2C1589333117 : 13 September 2019), Pennsylvania > Westmoreland > Washington > ED 234 > image 13 of 28; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).; Death of Joseph Cenete. (1921, December 28). Cert. no. 8578. West Virginia State Department of Health.
9. Atto di nascita, Giuseppe Cignette di Lorenzo. (1874, March 12). Record no. 25. “Italia, Torino, Ivrea, Stato Civile, 1865-1937 (Tribunale),” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-L1G3-D19?cc=1475996&wc=SG14-N38%3A1292372903%2C1292374602%2C1292392302 : 11 August 2014), Torino > Strambino > Nati 1872-1875 > image 94 of 192; Tribunale di Ivrea, Ivrea (Ivrea Court, Ivrea).; “United States, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G1VJ-FNS?cc=1968530&wc=9F8F-RM9%3A928312701%2C929078801 : 26 August 2019), Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County no 4; A-E > image 1162 of 1904; citing NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
10.  “West Virginia, Deaths, 1804-1999”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F1L9-ZYS : Sat Aug 31 03:59:41 UTC 2024), Entry for Frank Napolatono, 16 Feb 1922.
11. Gollomb, J. (1942, July 12). The case of the faceless girl. The American Weekly. Pp. 10-11.
    https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/mimtptc/batch_mimtptc_fraser_ver01/data/sn88063294/00414187675/1942071201/0897.pdf 
12. Foster, 2023. (See footnote 2.)
13. February 11, 1923: Eight Members of the Black Hand Arrested in Harrison County. (2020, February 11). WVPB Education [Website]. https://wvpublic.org/february-11-1923-eight-members-of-the-black-hand-arrested-in-harrison-county/ 
14. Arrest of slayer likely is claim. (1926, February 22). The Daily Times (Salisbury, MD). P. 1. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-times-arrest-of-slayer-likely/52160333/ 
15. Malone woman believed likely to appear today. (1923, February 14). The Evening Sun (Baltimore, MD). P. 26. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-sun/159825461/
16. Arrest of slayer likely is claim. (1926, February 22). The Daily Times (Salisbury, MD). P. 1. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-times-arrest-of-slayer-likely/52160333/  
17.  “United States, Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DTJW-61N?cc=1325221&wc=9BQG-W3J%3A1030549901%2C1034570401%2C1034824301 : 5 August 2014), Massachusetts > Suffolk > ED 1225 Precinct 3 Boston city Ward 6 > image 11 of 22; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).; “United States, Census, 1910,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRK3-HLB?cc=1727033&wc=QZZ4-5XG%3A133638101%2C141688201%2C141796001%2C1589219009 : 24 June 2017), Massachusetts > Suffolk > Boston Ward 6 > ED 1329 > image 13 of 40; citing NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
18. Atto di nascita, Domenico Santo Mallamo. (1904, August 22). Record no. 103. Archivio di Stato di Reggio Calabria > Stato civile italiano > Ardore > 1904 > Nati https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12657/an_ua16369388/Lo4ok8j Img 36 of 86; Atto di nascita, Nicola Antonio Mallamo. (1900, April 26). Record no. 72. Archivio di Stato di Reggio Calabria > Stato civile italiano > Ardore > 1900 > Nati https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12657/an_ua16369384/wXq7my3 Img 26 of 76
19. Dominic Mallomo household. (1940, April 10). “United States Census, 1940,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9M1-93XT?cc=2000219&wc=QZXY-82F%3A790106001%2C794512701%2C795035401%2C795130101 : accessed 18 October 2021), Ohio > Mahoning > Youngstown City, Youngstown City, Ward 7 > 96-144 Youngstown City Ward 7 (Area C – part) > image 15 of 32; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 – 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
20. FBI Rec no. 124-10287-10209, Rec. Series HQ, Agency File no. 92-6954-651, from J. Edward Burke to the Director of the FBI. Orig. 69 pp. Unclassified. 15 June 1964. Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32305079.pdf on 7 October 2021.
21. Critchley, D. (2009). The origin of organized crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931. Routledge, p. 248, Note 90.
22. James Urso household. (1940). “United States, Census, 1940,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9MT-VQPH?cc=2000219&wc=QZX5-QBJ%3A790227701%2C790433501%2C790862101%2C951016901 : accessed 17 January 2025), Pennsylvania > Allegheny > Clairton City, Clairton, Ward 2 > 2-89 Clairton City Ward 2 (Tract 45 – part) bounded by (N) Shaw Av, State, Maple Av; (E) Monongahela River; (S) city limits; State, St. Clair Av, Reed > image 6 of 28; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 – 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
23.  “West Virginia, Naturalization Records, 1814-1991,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-4P6B-6?cc=1909003&wc=M6LY-B3D%3A179597001%2C179646001 : 1 July 2016), Marion > Naturalization Records, 1914-1917, v. 3 > image 158 of 255; West Virginia State Archives, Charleston.
24. HairyKnuckles. (2012, July 17). Frank Corbi, his brothers and his crew. Gangster BB [Bulletin board]. http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=656239
25. Hunt, T. (2021). John Bazzano (1889-1932). The American Mafia [Website].
    https://mob-who.blogspot.com/2011/04/bazzano-john-1889-1932.html