The Joseph Civello Family...The Lone Star Mobster!

https://thenewyorkmafia.com/vic-maddi-texas-mafia-soldier/

This is the guy?

Lol. Close, Furio, close...but, unfortunately for you, no cigar today!


I think that's a photo of the Sicilian cowboy, "Hop Along Cassidy" --- better known in Italian as "Hop Along Che si dice" LOL

I never realized what a funny guy you are, Furio...Thats interesting. And I'm talking like Ha! Ha! funny! LOL

Yeah NYMafia I'm life and soul of the party.

No doubt. I can tell.

....and now, to get back on track.

I think the Texas borgata, better known as the Joseph Civello Family, is very rarely spoken of. And dating back to their early history (which was quite colorful,) I don't really think they get the recognition they probably deserve.

.....Let's see if we can change that.

I don't have a subscription for your website but is it possible that you could share where you saw Maddi identified as a Dallas member? Is it from one from the 1960s lists?

I know he's in the FBN book but I remember it having the usual vague description re. membership

Through the years he's been listed by a variety of sources, including the FBI, local police in Texas, the Dallas-PD, the Dallas Sheriff's Office, as well as the FBNDD....and, no doubt, through info that was gleaned from several informants as well I'm sure.

Were any of these FBI documents on Mary Ferrell or did you have to FOIA for better info? I've seen Maddi's name pop up on MF in connection to Steve Bruno (I imagine you came across these files as well) but never could find anything specific about his LCN membership

Not FOIA files we sent away for, per se. But through various FBI #302s, MF, and other contributors, a portrait emerges about Maddi, as well as many of the others listed over those early decades.

Remember too, that a lot of what was offered was not all that precise, as in later years. For instance, for some time, investigators actually thought Texas worked for NY, per se. And that Family boss Joe Civello was "subservient to" and "reported to" NY capodecina Mike Clemente.

So, as far as I can remember, there was no Joe Valachi type person clearly identifying Victor Maddi as a "made" man reporting to "so and so" etc. But based upon our knowledge of his closest associates, activities, etc., an educated guess can be made (much the same as the feds did back then.) There was a lot of that going on with many of these fellows. Not only in Texas, but throughout the U.S.

Yeah, I was just curious if you had seen anything more specific because generally the earlier members are just cited as those that Joe Civello talked about with Phil Bosco, later relayed to the FBI by a CI. We know Civello wasn't 100% accurate there as he said that Carlo Campisi died like a year earlier than he actually did and also thought that Ross Interrante died in 1953 when he was alive as late as October 1964

The Clemente confusion was probably due to the other Genovese ties in Dallas, like Biaggio Angelica (IDed by a Chicago associate as an apparent Genovese member) and Peter Pellegrino running a bakery there etc.

Another similar issue is the "New Orleans/Trafficante satellite crew" myth that you can see online, also owing to the close ties between all the Southern families

Pretty interesting family overall, cool to see more coverage

I agree. The fact that Luciano/Genovese capo, Rocco "The Old Man" Pellegrino, a Calabrian by birth and an early NYC power, was closely connected to the Texas crew. So much so that he sent his son down there to collaborate with them, most probably threw the feds for a loop. lol

And as you say, during those early years, LE made plenty of mistakes and they listened to informants that didn't necessarily understand the true landscape and provided wrong info, leading the feds to draw wrong conclusions and made false assessments.

Nonetheless, its still the best info we've got to go on for some of these crews.

The Giuseppe "Joe" Civello Family membership chart

.....All the men known to have served under the auspices of the Texas Mafia's borgata.


https://thenewyorkmafia.com/civello-family-leadership-chart/