D'Aquila crime family
| Origins | |
|---|---|
| Founding Location | New York City |
| Territory | Lower East Side, Manhattan East Harlem Brooklyn |
| Lineage | |
| Predecessor(s) | Morello crime family (Palermitan strand around Ignazio Lupo) Palermitani network |
| Absorbed | Mineo Gang (eventual accord and incorporation; date uncertain) |
| Successor(s) | Mineo-led organization Mangano crime family (after later wartime succession) |
| Profile | |
| Structure | Sicilian Mafia borgata with a prominent Palermitani leadership bloc |
| Activities | Mafia governance and territorial competition Factional violence and murder Business and political connections |
| Politics | |
| Leader | Salvatore D'Aquila |
| Notable Members | Giuseppe Traina (underboss and D'Aquila's reported substitute) Joseph Biondo Frank Scalise Manfredi Mineo (later member and successor) |
| Activity | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Years Active | c. 1910–1928 (independently documented by 1912) |
| Dissolved Date | October 10, 1928 |
| Dissolution Cause | Murder of Salvatore D'Aquila Leadership succession |
The D'Aquila crime family, more cautiously called the D'Aquila organization, family or borgata, was an early New York Mafia organization led by Salvatore D'Aquila. Historian David Critchley calls it an “outgrowth” of Giuseppe Morello's organization rather than documenting a formally declared secession.[1]
The organization emerged after federal counterfeiting convictions imprisoned Giuseppe Morello, Ignazio Lupo and associates in 1910. Their removal weakened the old leadership. Critchley specifically attributes D'Aquila's acquisition of authority to Morello's incarceration, calling D'Aquila the chief beneficiary who stepped into Morello's shoes.[1] Specialist archival research based on Secret Service reports says new family heads were chosen after attempts to free Morello and Lupo failed and describes D'Aquila's group as a new Palermitani faction.[2] Lupo's simultaneous removal contributed to the leadership collapse, but the evidence does not establish that his imprisonment alone caused a formally declared split.
Palermitani origin and consolidation
[edit]D'Aquila was born in Palermo, and his leadership circle included a prominent Palermitani bloc. Critchley identifies Manfredi Mineo, Giuseppe Traina and Frank Scalise among its Palermitan figures.[3] The organization was not exclusively Palermitan: Critchley also identifies an Agrigento-linked Manhattan element. Regional origin shaped coalitions but did not create a command chain headquartered in Palermo.
D'Aquila's influence grew gradually and faced resistance from Morello–Terranova remnants and other factions. Secret Service informant Salvatore Clemente reported four New York Mafia families in 1912, including a Harlem D'Aquila gang and a separately led Brooklyn Manfredi gang.[2] Later testimony portrayed D'Aquila as a national figurehead around whom other leaders aligned rather than an all-powerful commander.[3]
Manfredi Mineo arrived in 1911 and was initially described as commanding a separate third faction. Critchley concludes that Mineo appears to have reached an accord with D'Aquila, and Nicolo Gentile later placed him inside the D'Aquila borgata.[3] This supports eventual incorporation of the Mineo faction, but no source reviewed gives a secure merger date or mechanism.
Brooklyn Camorra relationship
[edit]The collapse of the Brooklyn Camorra after the Mafia–Camorra conflict and the 1917–1918 prosecutions left Neapolitan offenders and neighborhood rackets without their former leadership. During the 1920s, non-Sicilian individuals gradually entered several formerly Sicilian Mafia organizations. The strong sources reviewed do not identify D'Aquila as the formal recipient of the Brooklyn Camorra or either constituent gang; later alignments included Masseria- and Profaci-associated organizations. Geographic overlap therefore does not establish a D'Aquila absorption.
Later history
[edit]D'Aquila competed with returning Morello figures and Giuseppe Masseria during the 1920s. Critchley identifies Giuseppe Traina as D'Aquila's underboss; another account describes Traina as D'Aquila's “substitute,” speaking for him when he was unavailable.[3] D'Aquila was shot to death beside his automobile on Avenue A in Manhattan on October 10, 1928.[4]
Mineo subsequently headed the former D'Aquila organization. After Mineo's death during the Castellammarese War, Frank Scalise briefly led the fragmented family before Vincent Mangano succeeded him in 1931. The later Mangano organization was primarily Palermitani but represented another stage of coalition and leadership—not a simple unchanged D'Aquila family under a new surname.[5]
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 David Critchley, The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891–1931 (New York: Routledge, 2009), pp. 36, 49.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 “The Struggle for Control, 1910–1918”, Gang Rule, citing National Archives Secret Service daily reports.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Critchley, Origin of Organized Crime, pp. 156–161.
- ↑ Critchley, Origin of Organized Crime, p. 157.
- ↑ Critchley, Origin of Organized Crime, pp. 136, 184–187.