Updated Articles, PDF Links, & A Manifesto of Sorts
Several updates have been made to previous articles and PDF versions are now available.
Due to the sheer size and scope of the “Rime of the Castellammaresi” article, which is in actuality the length of a book, I’ve created raw PDF versions of all “Mafia Bloodlines” articles to improve readability and access. At present time these are simply crude copies of the blog articles as they currently appear on this site but efforts may be made in the future to design clean, properly formatted PDF versions of my work.
What’s important is that select individuals with a deep interest in this topic are able to access these articles and read them with relative ease and these PDFs do break the articles into pages and allow them to be downloaded. The single-page “blog” format is difficult enough given the length of previous articles but becomes downright absurd for a piece as long as “Rime of the Castellammaresi”. That’s way too much scrolling.
A direct link to “Rime of the Ancient Castellammaresi” on PDF can be accessed via Archive.org by clicking on this link.
I’ve also made edits and updates to several of my previous articles.
The most substantial revisions and additions were made to “A Different Set of Gallos”, an article originally written in 2021 that explores the Gallo brothers from Palazzo Adriano and adjacent figures / events related to the Bonanno, Bay Area, and Chicago Families in addition to the 1932 John Bazzano murder and the American mafia’s corresponding governing bodies before and during the “Commission” era.
The original article provided in-depth research into the background of Bonanno member and celebrity boxing champion Tony Canzoneri and outlined extensive circumstantial evidence linking him to his compaesani like the Gallo brothers. A new detail has been found that definitively links San Jose member Geraldo “Joe” Gallo to Tony’s father Giorgio Canzoneri and it relates to Gallo’s alleged participation in the murder of Pittsburgh boss Giuseppe Siragusa in 1931, the latter mentioned in the original version but now made more substantial to the heart of the article.
Among other edits and additions, the Chicago section of the “Gallo” article has been expanded to include more elaboration on the DeJohns’ roots in the Chicago Family and provides more background on Sicilian Chicago figures who surfaced in connection with Nick DeJohn in both Chicago and the Bay Area. Reference to these people and their connections were included in the original article so the core substance of these sections has not changed, they’ve simply been elaborated upon and better contextualized. The article now also includes more context and insight into the Chicago Family itself and its corresponding politics in relation to these figures.
A completely new section has also been added to the article related to a direct marital relation between the Gallo brothers and a well-known Brooklyn Gambino member who engaged in criminal activity in the Gallos’ Bay Area circles in addition to his intermarriage with the clan. This figure’s connection to the Gallos adds to the multitude of mysterious connections already evident among this circle.
Beyond these additions, the article remains unchanged in terms of theme and the majority of its content is virtually the same but now includes more depth and detail. The article complements “Rime of the Castellammaresi” in that it involves the Bonanno Family, is large in scope, and includes vast Sicilian connections, yet it focuses on a compaesani network from Palazzo Adriano in Palermo province that is more peculiar than the well-known Castellammaresi but nonetheless fed into similar Trapanese and Agrigento networks that informed the Bonanno Family and other groups.
The Substack article includes these updates but a direct link to “A Different Set of Gallos” on PDF can be accessed via Archive.org by clicking on this link.
Several other previous articles have also been edited but these changes are far less substantial. In addition to cleaning up the writing and improving readability, small details have indeed been added but are likely unnoticeable even to those who have done a previous read-through. Still, the articles are improved.
These updated articles are as follows:
“The Silinontes: Joe Bonanno’s Secret Cousins”, which details Joe Bonanno’s illegitimate mafioso cousin who maintained a presence in both Brooklyn and the Pittston Family’s Endicott branch. The PDF can be accessed via Archive.org by clicking on this link.
“The Mafia’s Congressman in East Harlem”, about a prominent New York politician who was alleged by a reliable member source to have been inducted into Cosa Nostra and his close relationship to the Lucchese, Genovese, and Chicago Families. He was non-Sicilian and contrasts with some of the other articles but highlights the “Americanization” of the mafia while still mirroring the Sicilian mafia’s history of recruiting politicians into the fold. The PDF can be accessed via Archive.org by clicking on this link.
“Philadelphia’s Own Florida Man” covers a Miami-based Philadelphia member who never lived in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, rather he came up in New York City as an associate of Genovese, Gambino, and Lucchese figures but he nonetheless became a member of the Philadelphia Family closely affiliated with the group’s Trenton crew while living in Florida. The member himself was non-Sicilian and again illustrates “Americanization” but the article delves into the Trenton decina’s deep heritage in Caltanissetta and their direct ties to Sicilian mafia leaders. The PDF can be accessed via Archive.org by clicking on this link.
The remaining three articles that were previously published will also be reviewed and potentially improved in the near future. I made an attempt to clean up “The Mafia’s Senator In Wyoming” but would like to make more substantial edits to a couple of the sections to better improve the content, make additions, and provide more depth. “Fiction Meets Reality in the Gambino Family’s Garafalo Crew” was a high point for this blog thanks to the generous information provided by Michael DiLeonardo so I don’t intend to make any substantial changes but will potentially improve the readability at some point. The “Alabama” article may warrant more attention but it remains to be seen, that being a particularly daunting project to begin with that took immense effort to pull together. Still, I know it can be improved.
PDFs of all articles are nonetheless available on Archive.org and can be accessed by clicking here.
I write all of my articles “by hand” in Windows Notepad and edit them entirely by myself so there may still be typographical errors or inconsistensies in some of the articles. In the age of AI-produced writing, hopefully this brings with it a certain charm and reflects the organic nature of the writing. I have however put substantial effort into cleaning the articles up and editing them for improved readability. My approach to writing about this subject is far more “stiff” (and at times redundant) than the way I speak or write outside of this subject (as is evident on the audio episodes) but my specific interest in the Cosa Nostra phenomenon requires precise, analytical language (even while speculating) that leaves little room for “creative writing”. I do see these articles as “living” documents and though I hestitate to make substantial changes, one of the benefits of self-publishing online is that tweaks or additions can be made so long as they improve the content, correct mistakes, and expand on what is already documented.
I do pride myself on exclusive research and analysis of my own but I also see my work as representantive of a network of individuals I’ve corresponded and collaborated with over the last twenty years who have greatly assisted my own understanding and knowledge of the subject, these articles not simply the result of my own dedication to the subject but also a synthesis of the collective knowledge we’ve accumulated. The circle of researchers I correspond with are the polar opposite of mafia “fanboys”, but ironically we mirror the mafia in that we are a small, somewhat insular network of niche researchers with a highly-specific understanding of the subject and rather than credentials we rest on our reputation among one another to refine our approach and establish standards for evaluating information and intelligence.
Our understanding has been shaped heavily by the accounts of mafiosi themselves in the United States and Sicily via memoirs, FBI member informants / wiretaps, court testimony, direct conversation with former members / associates, and cross-analysis of these numerous inside sources that cumulatively provide a thorough and accurate perspective of Cosa Nostra’s actual rules, structure, political processes, and formalities in addition to their criminal, business, social, and familial connections. Genealogical research, general insight into Sicilian and Italian geography and culture, as well as other overlooked elements of this phenomenon have also shaped our understanding of this “society unto themselves.” This framework can be applied to both current and historic mafia organizations and the individuals who represent them to better place their lives and activities in a proper context.
The goal is not perfection nor academic or public accolades but simply thorough exploration of a subject that attracted us for reasons we can’t necessarily explain. I’m grateful for anyone who takes an interest in this niche approach and believe it can be expanded upon further with time and the appropriate resources. I hestitate to make announcements before the substance of a plan is realized, but there are already plans for another “Mafia Bloodlines” article and in addition to this piece revealing exclusive insight into American mafia history, it will be a full-on collaborative effort between myself and one of my closest collaborators. It will be nowhere near the length of “Rime of the Ancient Castellammaresi” but it will have comparable depth and analysis, many years of research having already fed into its creation even though it has yet to be written.
Well, looks like I have a lot of reading to catch up on :)