For years, I assumed Lucia Terranova’s first marriage ended with her husband's murder in 1903. Then I saw this census record.
How did Lucia Terranova’s first Mafia marriage end?
Did the Mafia begin with the Sicilian Vespers?
This golden age for the island of Sicily is the time that Mafia propaganda reaches back to for nostalgia.
The destruction of Antonino Luciano
Salvatore was warned to leave the country or “pay for his assault upon the leader of a secret order of Sicilians who swear by stilettoes.”
Francesco Motisi, alias Genova
Francesco Genova appeared to be an Italian gentleman, the sort the American press found charming and Sicilians rightly regarded as dangerous to cross.
The 800-pound gangster
One of the first men killed in the Macaroni Wars was Vincenzo Vutera, placed in the Luciano’s business to suppress the opposition during a raid led by Santo “Joseph” Calamia.
New Orleans, 1905: Who is Sam Sparo?
In 1902 in New Orleans, Tony Luciano and his family fought a battle to the death against Francesco Genova and his allies. Following months of deadly conflict---called the Macaroni Wars---and two murder trials, Sam Sparo penetrated Luciano’s defenses and killed him in broad daylight. After his execution for murder, it was revealed that Sparo was an alias. Who was Sam Sparo?
Sour grapes: the bitter legacy of the Lemon King
In the unsolved murder of Gaspare Di Cola, there are many suspects and one motive.
This Thing of Ours Is Bananas
The Society of the Banana may not sound threatening. But to the families who were extorted, it was a danger with no defense except to pay.
Finding endogamy through Social Network Analysis
Family trees are like Ore graphs: everyone has two parents, and no one is their own ancestor. In my most recent post here on Mafia Genealogy, about the hierarchy of a Mafia “Family,” or cosca, I briefly demonstrated the utility of network science in understanding how the Mafia is organized. Looking at the hierarchy from... Continue Reading →
How is the Mafia organized?
The FBI’s Mafia Org Chart is the most familiar picture of Mafia organization, but it’s not the model most scholars have used in the past forty years, because it doesn’t do an adequate job of explaining how the Mafia works over time and in a variety of scenarios.
Mafia Genealogy 