Originally Posted by Havana
Originally Posted by NYMafia
Originally Posted by Havana
The story is so full of information that there are many issues and questions that over time could be subjects on their own

A) First of all, what sticks out is the fact that Magaddino, Bonnano,and Barbara were all Castellamarese, and either related by blood or very close to each other ,perhaps going back to the days of Marsanzano

So one question is were they in effect one big Mafia Family that at least attempted to rule all of Upstate NY, Niagara Falls and other areas outside of the Buffalo area,as well as into Barbara Territory in Pennsylvania and Castellamarese control probably as far East in NYS up to the Capital District of Albany,Schenectedy ,Saratoga where it seems that Genovese Family was in control
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And yet you have mentioned in the past they did not control all of that Upstate Section because ties some crews of mostly Camorra gangsters had with Genovese-Luciano ,possibly some with Profaci guys, and by extention possibly their allies as far away as Chicago


B) The next thing that sticks out is the way they carefully and seemingly deliberately weaved together alliances and relationships by what seems like arranged marriages between them

There are many more questions to be asked from this story.Hope you have patience to answer at least most of them



A) The Castellammarese "branch" of the Mafia viewed themselves as being nationwide in the sense that they were one massive entity, regardless of where they may have settled after immigrating to the U.S. They were a very insular bunch, very tightly knit, with a very strong sense of themselves and loyalty to one-another.

And I don't know that they 'conspired' (for lack of a better word) or meticulously orchestrated a 'takeover' of NYS, but they certainly were a dominant force there -- be it NYC, Binghamton, Buffalo or elsewhere, i.e.; Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittston, out on the west coast of California, etc. Despite relocating to the far reaches of the nation, they always maintained their 'ties' back to NYC and Trapani province, Sicily.

And these ties transcended and dated back way before Maranzano.
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B) When you mention "they carefully and seemingly deliberately weaved together alliances and relationships by" designing "arranged marriages" you are absolutely correct.

Those traits and habits follow suit regarding their instinctive tendency to remain "tight knit" as an organization, and even more importantly, as a "people."

Havana, I hope that these answers have satisfied the questions you posed above.




From your answer I get that the Castellamarese did see themselves as one entity. Did any single one of them have more power over the other branches?
And also they seemed to connected in that life and through marriage with other Sicilians not from Castellamare or even Trapani,such as Falcone and others
And yet in the Castellamarese war Masseria's group of Sicilians seem to especially detest the Castellamarese




Aside from Salvatore Maranzano, and Giovanni and Vito Bonventre -- dating way back to the 1910s-1920s era, I'd have to say that Stefano Magaddino was most powerful and respected Castellammarese boss. He was recognized throughout the U.S. by ALL Castellammarese.

As the years passed and his younger cousin Joe Bonanno gained traction in that world, from that point forward, I'd say it became a tossup between them.

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