in any case, for the larger purpose of this thread, I think it is safe to say that Tommy Gagliano and Gaetano Gagliano are one and the same person!

^^^ Tommaso is the Italian version of Thomas as well.
Like I mentioned above, when Italians call Gaetano, they usually say, Tano. I think this has mutated into Tom or Tommy. It has a lot to do with dialect, not always making grammatical sense.

Take for instance Calogero and how that becomes Luca (and this is italian to italian lol). Italian nickname for Calogero (which is generally a sicilian name) in which Sicilians will call, Caluzzu, which will become Luzzu, which becomes Luca. It doesn't have to make sense but things happen within different dialects.

Lilo, often used,

I love to talk about the old mafia, and, its origins. but, this can become confusing. yes, mildred reina was valachis wife. daughter of Gaetano reina. as valachi says in his book, if he woulnt have been murdered he would have been the head of the family, which is now known as the luchesse family. the valachi papers lays down some interesting history. im surprised its not used as more of a source.

very hard to get credible info the farther back you go.., you need some old harlem and lower nyc 1st ave.guys grandfathers stories or now great grandfathers.

calogero is a huge name in sicilia after st. calogero,,who came from africa..

I think Valachi is as credible as anyone else. I'm reading Bill Bonanno now. He says that because Valachi was a low level guy, that he had no clue what was going on around him. Then this same Bonanno says that Cosa Nostra formed in America because Sicilians felt discrimination in America. That's not the truth and he should know it because his family as well as the Corleonesi came through Ellis Island mobbed up from head to toe.

I read the Valachi Papers long ago. But isn't it true that the library version is the redacted record and not the whole affidavit he gave to law enforcement. That stuff is top secret, no?

The questions you pose here should keep this thread going a little further.

Very interesting. That Lucchese was a slippery snake wasn't he?

clearly the Castellammerese were more closely knit, a kind of "closed field" to anyone not from the immediate area

the other groups were more of a big tent, seemingly

would the Corleonesi have been just as closed off to "outsiders" as the Castellammerese had the Morello gang leaders not been imprisoned for so long?

perhaps the Corleonesi had to band together with others, and defer to Masseria, out of weakness?

did Masseria have a Trapani power-block supporting him? or were his supporters and allies simply less attached to, less conscious of, their roots, i.e., somehow more "American" than other early groups?

alfa, concerning [ the valachi papers ] the book came out in 1968, and ive never heard about redactions in the original. maybe years later for what reasons I cant quite understand. of course anything is possible with our government. if their were redactions in 68 and withheld from the original book I would most definitely like to see the redactions. another puzzling item is the fact that valachi was there when maranzano set up the five families. not three but five, valachi was there. as to bill bonnanos assertion that valachi was low-level that's always been the rap on him. however he was very close to vito Genovese, vito being the best man at his wedding. also had a strong association with the luchesse faction. he was along with his boss vito Genovese a major drug dealer. with French connections, he may not have been so low level after all.........

Valachi is hands down 10x more reliable than bill b. he may have only been a soldier but he was there from the beginning and had an unbelievable memory. The book was not redacted valachi wrote over 1000 pages and Maas had the task of deciphering it and making it into a readable book. Valachi's info is reliable and w/o it the history of lcn would be 99.9% conjecture instead of the 90% it is

my sense is that anybody who gets made is reasonably well informed about mafia matters and pretty damn competent at what he does for a living (allowing for specialization among muscle work, drug-dealing, and white-collar work)

lots of associates and strivers (at least back then), but only a few get made

now maybe today things are organized differently--certainly the modern-day Genovese appear to keep members in the dark about who is the boss and who does what (and of course 'ndrangheta takes this to an extreme with the Santa)--but i think back then everybody who was initiated into the mafia knew who the other members were ----> indeed, i recall reading somewhere that the entire membership of the NYC mafia (all families, all members) was convened from time to time in great halls, whether by Masseria or Maranzano, I am not sure . . . .

People, there is a treasure trove out there. We don't know the half.

Yes this is wikipedia, but anyone who read Peter Maas book like me and Binnie knows this is the truth...

"In 1964 the US Department of Justice urged Valachi to write down his personal history of his underworld career. Although Valachi was only expected to fill in the gaps in his formal questioning, the resulting account of his thirty-year criminal career was a rambling 1,180-page manuscript titled The Real Thing.[3][4][5]

Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach authorized the public release of Valachi’s manuscript. He hoped that publication of Valachi’s story would aid law enforcement and possibly encourage other criminal informers to step forward. Author Peter Maas, who broke Valachi’s story in The Saturday Evening Post, was assigned the job of editing the manuscript and permitted to interview Valachi in his Washington, D.C., jail cell.[3][4]

The American Italian Anti-Defamation League promoted a national campaign against the book on the grounds that it would reinforce negative ethnic stereotypes. If the book’s publication was not stopped they would appeal directly to the White House. Katzenbach reversed his decision to publish the book after a meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson, an action that embarrassed the Justice Department.[3][4]

In May 1966, Katzenbach asked a district court to stop Maas from publishing the book—the first time that a U.S. Attorney General had ever tried to ban a book. Maas was never permitted to publish his edition of Valachi’s original memoirs, but he was allowed to publish a third-person account based upon interviews he himself had conducted with Valachi. These formed the basis of the book The Valachi Papers, which was published in 1968 by Putnam.[3][4]"

So there you have it. The real "Valachi Papers" is not called that, but is called "The Real Thing". Peter Maas' Valachi Papers is only 285 pages long. "The Real Thing" from Valachi himself is 1,180 pages.

To put that in perspective, that is 895 missing pages if Maas' version was the edited version, but it's not even the edited version. Even the edited version was banned. We just got some interviews and that's it.

ill take valachi word over bill bonnanos any day, and Christy tic, you are so right, valachi opened the door as to give the country a enlighted view of the inner workings, as the initation ceremony, how it was set up, capos, soldiers, and the bosses. he was of tremendous value. and dominic calabrese. why, some keep on insisting valachi was low-level confuses me.

the more relevant comparison would be between Maas' originally intended edition and the 285-page edition

plus if Valachi wrote the manuscript by hand, probably less words per page

even so, it would appear that certain information was censored -- why?

alfa. ive never known that. now im wondering what the missing papers contain, no doubt, the g is protecting elected officals whom valachi squawked on. for gods sakes why all the secrecy for over 46 years. he went in front of congress, what more could he have withheld. and katzenbach wanting to suppress it. ok, one theory Johnson... valachi may have known about the hit in dallas and it involved Johnson. or maybe he mentioned old man joe kennedy. harry Truman, who was deep with pendergast in k c. this is a big fish. how do we get the original version.

again, i think it is because people imagine that "soldiers" are at the bottom of the hierarchy. but when you factor in all the associates, strivers, wannabe's, the soldiers are fairly highly placed in the criminal world ----> especially back then when the mafia had a much deeper pool of talent to recruit from

in reading your post a second time I am convinced Johnson put the brakes on it. [ katezbach wanted to give the ok to publish, but, after a meeting with Johnson decided not to ] whats with that!!

dominic calabrese, you are exactly right. and also by dismissing him as low level, take away his credibility also.

San Calogero is the patrone of my husbands town, Porto Empedocle in Agrigento. Yes he was from Africa and exiled.

getting back to the question of regional affiliation . . . .

Valachi was born in East Harlem, but his parents were from Naples

He married the daughter of Reina the Corleonesi

but after the defeat of the Masseria side, he became the bodyguard of Marranzano -- which seems to contradict the notion that the Castellammarese were closed to outsiders (especially non-Sicilians)

and then he was eventually assigned to the Luciano family, which as we see from the Informer diagram descended from the Morello gang (Corleonesi)

however, Luciano was born in Lecara Friddi (relatively close to Corleone)

Genovese, like Valachi, was Neapolitan (Tufino) by birth

Costello was Calabrese

also worth noting that Luciano seems to have had little love for Lercara Friddi, and not much more for Palermo ----> it was Naples where he chose to live after being deported to Italy

Bonanno, Galante (even though US-born), etc -- they all seem to have identified very closely with Castellammare del Golfo

that's very clear to me. thank you for that post. dominic.

Maybe I got beyond myself. Maybe Maranzano was opposed to dealing with non Italians, not non Sicilians.

Ok, no one get excited. This might be too good to be true. I found a link. Check this out...


The Real Thing

In the upper left, there are two tabs. One is called Overview. The other is called Finding Aid.

If you click Finding Aid, a page opens up that describes the contents of what is apparently TWO boxes of information.

alfa cant bring anything up ive clicked on the box oo1 where it says joe valachi papers 801 but cant bring up anything.

Let me try to help out Binnie, you gotta see this...

Try This Link

i'm no expert but , dont think maranzano a staunch sicilian would have had valachi a neapolitan as a bodyguard

no, tried clicking on the real thing. box oo1 pp 1-810 [ 1 of 14 folders ] nothing comes up am I on the right page?

Binnie, thats what i get too. Is there a link to the actual files/material?