Where did you hear that Giuseppe Alioto served as underboss to Frank Lanza? I had not heard that claim before, and it’s a pretty big one. And about Ingrassia being a gangster? I haven’t even been able to verify that Alioto was made… According to Tony Lima and Nicola Gentile, the first recognized underboss was Joseph Piazza, around 1919. Also, Giuseppe Alioto and Giovanni Alioto were not brothers but cousins. Giuseppe had six brothers, all in SF, one of which was Mariano.

Here’s a little blurb I put together on Piazza based on the info provided by Lima and Gentile: Joseph Piazza was the first recognized underboss of the San Francisco family. A mysterious character, Piazza was referred to as the number two man under Francesco “Don Cicciu” Lanza as early as 1919. He was active with his own group of black handers who opposed Lanza’s leadership. Piazza plotted to extort Giuseppe Alioto, a pioneer in the fishing industry and Lanza’s partner in the Exposition Fish Grotto, one of the first restaurants on Fisherman’s Wharf. When consigliere Salvatore “Sam” Lima disagreed with the extortion plot, Piazza attempted to kill him. In response to his behavior, Joseph Piazza was murdered in the early 1930s in Lodi, CA. Sam Lima’s nephew, Antonio “Tony” Lima, took credit for the hit.