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 (after an accord, c. 1913) |
| Successor(s) | Mineo-led organization Mangano crime family (after later wartime succession) |
| Profile | |
| Structure | Mafia borgata with Palermitani leadership |
| Activities | Extortion and protection rackets Gambling Counterfeiting associations Murder and violent enforcement |
| Politics | |
| Leader | Salvatore D'Aquila |
| Notable Members | Giuseppe Traina (D'Aquila's reported substitute) Frank Scalise Manfredi Mineo (later member and successor) |
| Activity | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Years Active | c. 1910–1928 |
| 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 as federal counterfeiting convictions imprisoned Giuseppe Morello, Ignazio Lupo and associates in 1910. Their removal weakened the Corleonesi-centered Morello formation and the Palermitan connections around Lupo, creating the opening from which D'Aquila became the chief beneficiary. 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 incarceration was therefore an important condition in D'Aquila's rise, but the evidence does not establish one meeting or date at which D'Aquila formally “split” from a still-unified Morello family.
Palermitani origin and consolidation
D'Aquila's leadership circle was frequently Palermitani in origin. Critchley identifies Manfredi Mineo, Giuseppe Traina and Frank Scalise among the Palermitan figures later connected to the borgata.[3] Palermitani here denotes regional origin and coalition-building, not 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 around 1913, and Nicolo Gentile later placed him inside the D'Aquila borgata.[3] This supports incorporation of the Mineo faction, but not a precisely dated hostile takeover.
Brooklyn Camorra relationship
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. Some surviving individuals and operations entered later Mafia coalitions. Available evidence should be used to identify particular integrations; it does not establish that D'Aquila acquired the Navy Street and Coney Island gangs intact as subordinate branches.
Later history
D'Aquila competed with returning Morello figures and Giuseppe Masseria during the 1920s. Giuseppe Traina reportedly acted 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
- ↑ 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.