West Virginia was the adopted home of thousands of Italian miners and their families... and the Mafia that preyed upon them.
Famiglia Vagabonda of West Virginia
What was the Black Hand?
“Black Hand” became the term of art for “Italian crime” in New York City newspapers after a 1903 Brooklyn case of extortion.
Angelo Marino: Kidnapped for ransom
On the fifth of August, a Saturday, young Angelo was lured away by members of the Nicolosi family. They were his neighbors, people he knew well. It may have taken him some time to realize that he could not go home.
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.
Little Sicily, Chicago: The Saloon on Gault Court
The Nicolosi and Marino families of Chicago's Little Sicily held one of the last neighborhood Mafia gangs before Al Capone's Outfit.
Mafia Genealogy 