Timeline spans a century, 1857-1956

The Caged Wolves timeline has grown to three web pages and now includes data spanning a century of history - from the birth of Giuseppe Calicchio in 1857 to the latest possible expiration date of Ignazio Lupo's counterfeiting sentence in March 1956. (Amazing to consider that Lupo might have been imprisoned during the administration of Taft and released during the administration of Eisenhower.)

I've used a bit of color-coding to help visitors track down items not related to the Morello-Lupo counterfeiting operation. Examples: Items about Lieutenant Petrosino's assassination are shown with a light blue background. Events related to the conflict between the Terranova Mafia and the Camorra are shown with a light green background.

Source information is also provided for most items. Sources used repeatedly have been abbreviated in the table. Details on those sources are provided at the bottom of each page.

I made an effort to include many of the details of the gang's imprisonment. Some of the items shed some light on prison procedures of the time. Others are stories showing that the convicted counterfeiters were real people after all. A few of these items: The death of Giuseppe Morello's son Calogero during an April 1912 gunfight; Giuseppe Calicchio's efforts to find funding and support to help him build a perpetual motion machine; painful letters written to Giuseppe Palermo by his nephew Frank Minore.

Caged Wolves Timeline

I have begun funneling data into a Timeline, accessible through the main cagedwolves.com page. There is a lot of information, so this will take some time. As some of the information is contradictory, I intend to indicate sources within the timeline. As always, your feedback is appreciated.

Prison records of Morello mob counterfeiters

Three members of the Morello mob were caught distributing counterfeit bills in Yonkers, New York, early in 1903. They were convicted in U.S Circuit Court, Southern District of New York. On March 17, 1903, Judge E.H. Thomas sentenced Giuseppe Giallombardo to five years, Giuseppe DiPrima to four years and Isidoro Crocevera to three years. The three men were locked away in Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.

Surviving records from Sing Sing indicate:

Giuseppe Giallambardo [sic] - March 17, 1903, No. 54089, sentenced to 5 years plus cash penalty for counterfeiting. He had been held at Ludlow Street Jail. He was 28, born in Italy, dark complexion, brown eyes, dark brown hair, 5-10 tall, 130 pounds. He could read and write. He was single and Catholic. His home at the time of his arrest was 21 First Street, New York City. He was reported to have been friendly with or related to Salvatore Traina, 6 Prince Street, New York City.

Joseph DePriemo [sic] - March 17, 1903, No. 54088, sentenced to 4 years plus cash penalty for counterfeiting. He had been held at Ludlow Street Jail. He was 28, born in Italy, dark complexion, brown eyes and hair, 5-5.5 tall, 182 pounds. He could not read or write. He was single and Catholic. His home at the time of his arrest was 406 Houston Street, New York City. He was reported to have been friendly with or related to Salvatore Macaluso, who lived at the same address.

Isidore Crose [sic] - March 17, 1903, No. 54087, sentenced to 3 years plus cash penalty for counterfeiting. He had been held at Ludlow Street Jail. He was 26, born in Italy, dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair, 5-6 tall, 158 pounds. He could read and write. He was single and Catholic. His home at the time of his arrest was 406 Houston Street, New York City. He was reported to have been friendly with or related to Mariano Carbone, 25 Riving Street, New York City.

Zarcone story gets attention from Newsday

The story of Giovanni Zarcone, the New York City Barrel Murder suspect who was himself shot to death years later at his farm in Danbury, CT, recently received some attention from New York Newsday. Reporter Keiko Morris wrote the story:

Toymaker's new game connects to family past

Morello-Terranova-Lupo family tree

A family tree showing the relationships of the Morellos, Lupos and Terranovas has been added to the CagedWolves website. The tree can be accessed directly through this address: http://mafiahistory.us/cagedwolves/cw-morellotree.html

Isadoro Crocevera (Dec. 23, 1873, - Aug. 8, 1920)

A member of an early Morello counterfeiting gang, Isadoro Crocevera was one of a few gang members arrested for passing counterfeit currency in 1903. He was charged along with Giuseppe DePrima, Giuseppe Giallombardo and Salvatore Romano.

It was neither Crocevera's first involvement with the Mafia underworld nor his last.

In Palermo, Sicily, during the 1890s, Crocevera - likely a Palermo native - was known to have been friendly with Giuseppe DiCarlo, later the crime boss of Buffalo, NY. Immigrants to the U.S., both settled for a while in New York City. DiCarlo moved on to Buffalo, NY. Crocevera, a Brooklyn resident (he is known to have lived with his wife at 63 Duffield Street at least between fall of 1918 and his death), regularly visited him there. DiCarlo and Crocevera's visits were interrupted for a period of about two and a half years before they last got together.

During Crocevera's final visit to Buffalo, he became involved in a gunfight in front of DiCarlo's saloon, 166 Front Ave., Buffalo. In the Aug. 8, 1920, shooting, Buffalo resident Vincent Vaccaro was wounded in the leg; Crocevera was shot in the back and killed.

Police decided that Joseph DiCarlo Jr. and Crocevera argued with Vincent and Anthony Vaccaro. DiCarlo was charged with causing Vincent Vaccaro's injury. Vincent Vaccaro accepted responsibility for killing Crocevera, but there was some suspicion that he was shielding his brother.

Not surprisingly, Crocevera worked at the Brooklyn docks. He was a stevedore foreman for the Pierce Brothers firm. Many Sicilian and Italian immigrants found employment at the docks, and stevedoring was often a cover for organized criminals.

Crocevera left behind a large family. The 1920 U.S. Census shows Isidoro, his wife Marianna and their seven children living at 63 Duffield Street, Brooklyn. The 1930 U.S. Census shows six Croceveras still living at that address.

The head of the household in 1930 was Anna, then 43. As he registered for the World War I draft, also while living at Duffield Street, Crocevera indicated that his wife's name was Mary. The 1920 census also calls her Mary. Immigration records explain the reason for the inconsistency. On Sept. 1, 1909, Marianna Carbone arrived in New York with three children to be with her husband Isidoro Crocevera.

The identities of the children are a bit of a problem. At the time of Marianna's 1909 immigration, she had with her:

• daughter Sara, 7;
• son Giovanni, 3,
• daughter Francesca, whose age is illegible.

In 1920, some of the children reportedly changed gender. They were:

• son Samuel (Salvatore), 18, age match for daughter Sara above;
• son John (Giovanni), 13, a match for Giovanni above;
• son Frank, 11, probable match for daughter Francesca above;
• daughter Frances, 10;
• son Solarto, 7;
• son Joseph (Giuseppe), 4;
• daughter Theresa, 2.

In 1930, there were three sons and two daughters:

• son Frank, 22;
• son Salvatore, 17, probably the Solarto above;
• son Joseph, 15;
• daughter Frances, 20;
• daughter Teresa, 13.

Those remaining children in 1930 were unmarried. The house was shared with three other families, McClean, Vannon and Cuchio.

Just months before his Crocevera's death, he was visited by a relative from Palermo, Sicily. On Jan. 5, 1920, his 41-year-old brother-in-law Giorgio Mazza entered the port of Boston, heading to Crocevera's residence in Brooklyn.

Giovanni Zarcone (c. 1864 - July 27, 1909)

I've been gathering information on one of the lesser known characters to become involved with the Morello Mob.

Giovanni Zarcone (right), a Brooklyn resident, was arrested in connection with the 1903 "Barrel Murder." His arrest seems to have been due to his ownership of a Manhattan butcher shop used by the Morello gang as a meeting place. Authorities also believed Zarcone's wagon was used to haul the barrel containing the remains of Benedetto Madonia. (New York Times, May 9, 1903, p. 6, and July 29, 1909, p. 2.)

Zarcone was released on $5,000 bail. Charges against him were later dropped. (NYT July 29, 1909, p. 2.)

There was no mention of Zarcone for several years. His son Pietro made the papers in September 1906, when he was arrested for a Connecticut "blue law" violation. Pietro shot at a snake one Sunday on his father's farm near Danbury, CT. The law prohibited even the carrying of a firearm on Sunday. Pietro was fined $10 plus court costs. The story was so unusual that it drew the attention of newspapers around the country. If the Zarcones had moved to Danbury to hide out from the Morello Mob, their plan was foiled. (Statesville NC Landmark, Sept. 25, 1906; Oakland CA Tribune, Sept. 27, 1906, p. 7.)

Giovanni Zarcone was found shot to death outside his Danbury home on July 27, 1909. The killing was apparently performed along the road a short distance from the home, with Zarcone's remains dragged and left at his doorstep. Authorities immediately identified him as one of the accused in the Barrel Murder case and decided that he was killed to keep him quiet about the details of that case. Zarcone's son claimed he saw a gang of seven men flee from the scene. (Fitchburg MA Daily Sentinel, July 28, 1909, p. 7; Reno NV Evening Gazette, July 28, 1909, p. 1; NYT, July 29, 1909, p. 2; Nebraska State Journal, July 29, 1909, p. 1.)

Zarcone had come to the U.S. from Bagheria, Sicily.