I asked this on another OC forum but didn't get much response. Why didn't Baltimore ever have their own family? It seems like it would have been an ideal place for LCN to thrive. Old city on the east coast, it has a good size port that would have been ripe for picking back when LCN ran the waterfronts in places like NYC and Jersey. There is even a little Italy in Baltimore.

From the little info I can gather on Baltimore LCN it seems the Philly family had some rackets there but otherwise there is not much mob history there.

Gambino's used to have some stuff going on there too I believe.

Was there ever a strong Italian presence in Baltimore?

I have some information on Baltimore LCN in the 50's. These are all US Treasury quotes.

Thomas J. Aversa. 'One of the heads of the Mafia in Baltimore Area, rumored to be a silent partner in several small bars in Baltimore. Finances attorney fees and bail bonds for local Italian racketeers. Born Ragusa, Sicily.

Vincent Caronna. Baltimore LCN drug trafficker, connections to Sicily.

Frank Dabbene. Finances bookmakers and gambling games. Known as 'Don Cheech', 'Don', 'Don Ciccio'.

Louis Morici, also known as Lou Mora. Silent partner in Annello Construction. Ran the Baltimore policy rackets, and was considered the head of the other guys.

Yeah, Frank Carbo and his crew.

yeah I would have thought the Mafia would have some presence in Baltimore since it's a port city...

The Gambino representative in Baltimore was Frank Corbi,
he was the most recent Gambino capo there (that I'm currently aware of). He was involved in starting a chain of pizza restaurants that his descendants continue to run - through his grandson and grandnephew. His older brother Pasquale was the previous capo in charge from the 20s until his death in 1955. Frank Corbi is deceased (I beleive).
I was once told by a semi-retired wiseguy from New Jersey that Baltimore was always too rough (he meant full of african-americans) to be completely taken over by the italians. FWIW

Good post.
Frank Corbi died in 1990 at the age of 86. It looks like the crew was put on the shelf most likely already during Castellano´s reign. The Baltimore crew doesn´t seem to have recruited any younger members so it simply died out. There is no reference of the Baltimore crew in any of the books covering John Gotti and to my memory, Gravano didn´t mention it at all.

I believe different families had certain pieces ! NYC may of had the Porn industry and a few unions. Phila had the street rackets bookmaking,and loan sharking.not sure who had the vending ,but the Sicillians had the Pizza shops ,while the guys from Naples had the restaurants . I also had many Jewish guys controlled things ,so maybe they were protected by Meyer Lanski in Florida ! very interesting town !

Yeah very interesting..thanks to all who contributed... it still shocks me that the city is not even worth a "crew" to work...if for nothing else, the gambling front... But hey, what do i know?

Some additions and a correction to the posts above, particularly BarrettM's.

Louis Morici, who was also call Luigino (not sure how to spell), was probably the lead of this bunch. Very quiet, very tough.

Vincent Caronna was not a drug dealer. He was a bookmaker, horses and numbers, no sports. He had offices (called "spots") in Anne Arundel county south of Baltimore. Off an on, he had four people working the phones in those spots but he went in every day until about 1962.

Frank Dabbene was less engaged later in life when he got married. He actually worked in a liquor store. Nice man.

Deferring any interest in the Baltimore crew to HK's thread.
Frank Corbi, his brothers and his crew

About the Scarfo family:
"he family has been known to hold territory or influence in other nearby areas outside Philadelphia, including Atlantic City, South Jersey, Trenton, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Baltimore, and Newark."

Who in Philly had things going on down in Baltimore?

PS: What connection did Henry Hill have witht he city. Seen it mentioned in passing somewhere.

Any idea where any of these spots were located. I am very interested in this topic. I may know a few of the spots. I know where the annello construction Company was located owned by Mario annello mentioned in an earlier post.

I know Henry Hill spent a night on the famous block or so he said.

Don't know where these spots were. This is late 50's, early 60's. But, they were residences, not businesses. They would get rides there to avoid the cars parked outside.

So is the Philly crime family in Baltimore true? Or just some shit made up on Wikipedia?

I don't think they are in Baltimore anymore ! Let's face it ,they don't even control South Phila ,Joe Vito operated for years in Montgomery county ,and many other people did also! New York has the block in Baltimore .

[quote=Ted]Was there ever a strong Italian presence in Baltimore? [/quote


Yea they have a little italy there.there is/was a good size pop.

seriously? i was in bmore last summer and didnt hear/find any little italy besides a few italian restaurants...

Dapper Don or Dapper John - As long as the Italian Americans are keeping low key and low profile, then good for them. Because you don't hear of The Mob doesn't mean that they arent around. In these days, We haven't heard much of Cali or Crea since their recent position's but I bet we will in a few years.

did some quick research

i didnt come across the neighborhood during my visit since it was situated just east of the inner harbor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Italy,_Baltimore

Search the archives. Cant remember exactly how long ago, but Hairy Knuckles posted some great info on the Corbi's a while back.

EDIT: Just saw AmericanCrime posted the same thing.

EDIT 2: John Stanfa spent some time in Philly after the Bruno hit. IIRC, he was working in a pizzeria.

I'm so sorry to hear that I'm sure you didn't miss anything btw you want to buy a pint of Italian Blood ?

Yeah, I doubt there exists any Philly presence anywhere but Philly these days. I meant more in retrospect, is what the lines on the Bruno crime family wiki suggests.

I think it may be in reference to Harry D'Ascenzo (Frank Sidone's guy) who shylocked in Baltimore.



I assume you meant Baltimore after the Bruno hit considering he was already in Philly. I wonder who Stanfa was hitting the mattresses with? Maybe a contact down there?

EDIT - Just found this other threads substantiating a bunch of pthings people have said in this one: Why not Baltimore it has everything LCN want

Interesting conversation!

Henry Hill mentioned Baltimore quite a few times!!!

good thread this, all new info to me.

Stanfa was working at Luciano's Pizza Parlor in Landover MD when he was on the run after the hit on Bruno. According to articles in the press it was owned by Emanuel Gambino who is the brother in law of John Gambino. Stanfa was being protected by the sicilian zip faction of the Gambino's. They also arranged for Stanfa to be given a pass on any possible involvement in the Bruno hit. Stanfa was related to several high ranking mafioso's back home in sicily who got Paul Castellano to make sure Stanfa wasn't killed. Later it was John Gotti who asked Nicky Scarfo to let Stanfa return to philly after Stanfa was released from prison where he did time for the perjury charge he had after he testified at a grand jury investigating the murder of Angelo Bruno. Years later it was Gotti again who arranged for Stanfa to become the boss of the Philadelphia LCN family after Scarfo got locked up.

I can see that. Makes sense.