Born May 18, 1917 in Bath Beach, Brooklyn to Joseph SanFilippo (24y) and Jennie Abrams SanFilippo (23y).
His father, a shoemaker from Sciacca in Agrigento, was also a made member with the Gambinos. Many years later an FBI CI reported the following: "[Paul SanFilippo] is the son of an old Italian don of the original Mafia group in the US and a 'Consulieri of Judgement' and was considered to be a very fair and honorable man." Wording suggests the elder SanFilippo may have held an administrative spot at one point, or was at least a member of some influence.
Paul grew up in the neighborhoods of Bath Beach and New Utrecht, and by the 1940s operated Whitey's Cafe at 1183 49th St in Borough Park. This business would last until shortly before his father's death in 1960.
On August 27, 1955 his sister Lillian married Mario 'Red' Traina in Bensonhurst. A Gambino Soldier and son to Captain Giuseppe Traina, Mario sponsored his brother-in-law for membership into the Gambino Family around the same year.
As an FBI member source noted later, SanFilippo was unique in that only his father was Italian. One of the conditions for LCN membership, particularly in the pre-1970s era, was that both the father and the mother must be Italian. For some reason, possibly the Traina connection, this requirement was waived for SanFilippo. The member source noted this was the only exception to the rule that he knew of.
By Spring 1959 SanFilippo opened the Intermission Cafe at 5108 New Utrecht Ave. This location served as a meeting place for LCN members from multiple Families through the next decade.
Both Paul SanFilippo and Mario Traina first came to the attention of the FBI around January 1963. CI Alfred Santantonio, also a Gambino Soldier, identified Mario's father as a Captain with approximately forty men underneath him, among them Mario and someone initially described only as 'Whitey'. Neither man had a criminal record and they remained fairly obscure even after being identified.
All of the known Traina crew members from the time period were Sicilian. The majority traced their origins to Palermo, either the city itself (Amato) or neighboring communes Marineo (the LiCastris), Torretta (the Manninos) or, like Traina, Belmonte Mezzagno (Giallombardo).
Non-Palermitani who reported to Traina included the Giardinas from Mussomeli in Caltanissetta, the SanFilippos from Sciacca and Vincent 'Jimmy' Sarullo, as yet the only known New York based member from Ribera not with the DeCavalcantes.
Through the 1960s Paul SanFilippo continued to operate the Intermission Cafe. He was never arrested, nor was any solid information received linking him to specific criminal activity. He died of natural causes March 23, 1969 in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Wake held at the Gambino-linked Cusimano and Russo Funeral Home in Gravesend, after which he was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens.
Mario Traina had more or less succeeded his ailing father as Captain by the time of SanFilippo's death. The following year, along with crew member Vincent Sarullo, Traina was reportedly maneuvering to gain control of his former brother-in-law's cafe.
