Genovese Family Ceremonies (1970s)

Brief descriptions, in chronological order, of known Genovese Family induction ceremonies from the 1970s.

Dates are approximate and usually indicate when news of the induction was first reported to LE, not necessarily when the ceremony itself took place. It's possible some names listed separately were made together and news of their membership got out at different times.

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January 12, 1976

- "[CI] advised that all LCN 'Families' in New York have been given permission to initiate ten (10) new members into each Family. Source stated that Carlo Gambino had been against such a move; however, he has been persuaded to go along with the initiation...Source stated that the initiations could happen any day in the near future. Source advised each Family is receiving an equal number of new members so that the already unequal membership in the Families will not be thrown farther out of proportion."

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c. Late January / Early February 1976

L to R: DeVingo, Mangano, Russo

- Books open. Each Family initially allowed ten new members. Those inducted in Genovese's first wave included:

- Anthony DeVingo (46y) [Died 1989] [Sponsored by J. Russo]
- John DiGilio (43y) [Murdered 1988] [Sponsored by F. Tieri]
- Tino Fiumara (34y) [Died 2010]
- Venero 'Benny Eggs' Mangano (54y) [Died 2017]
- John 'Johnny Mumbles' Russo (60y) [Died] [Sponsored by F. Tieri]

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February 9, 1976

- "..[CI] continued that no party has been held as yet for the new members in LCN but that a party will be held for new members in the near future."

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February 10, 1976

- "[CI] stated that he heard the Genovese Family had their initiation earlier in the week."

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March 8, 1976

- "[CI] advised that in conversation with Joe 'Demus' Covello, Covello advised the Newark LCN has recently admitted 30 new members into their outfit. CI advised Emilio 'The Count' Delio's one time 'gofer', Anthony (LNU) [DeVingo], was supposedly made a member recently, and it is common knowledge that Delio is extremely upset due to Anthony's admittance into the outfit."

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c. Spring 1976

Antonelli
Source: New York Daily News

- Pasquale 'Smudgie' Antonelli (42y) [Died 2007]
- Douglas Rago (53y) [Died 2010]

CW George Barone later noted Rago's induction occurred about one year prior to his own.

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c. May 1976
- Unsub #1 [Sponsored by J. Lapi] [Operated laundromat at Mulberry and Kenmare Sts]
- Unsub #2 [Sponsored by J. Lapi] [Connected to Zito's Butcher Shop at 162 Mott St]

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May 14, 1976
- "[CI] advised the ban on introducing newly made members to members of other Families has been lifted."

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June 8, 1976
- "[CI] advised the LCN membership books continue to be open. He mentioned the original plan was to make only ten new members per Family. However, the larger Families complained this number is too few and favored the smaller Families."

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June 30, 1976
- "[CI] advised he has heard there will be a meeting of representatives of LCN Families in Miami, Florida in the near future to discuss 'opening the books' for further LCN induction. [CI] advised there are an estimated 150 proposed members awaiting induction into the LCN, many having been proposed for a number of years. [CI] noted, however, that no proposed member over age fifty will be inducted. [CI] advised he does not expect the Miami meeting to occur within the next ten days, because he has heard Sam DeCavalcante who will be a representative at that meeting is presently hospitalized in the Miami area."

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July 1, 1976
- "[CI] advised there were no 'geeps' (ie foreign born Italians) made in the recent induction of members into the NY LCN Families."

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July 28, 1976
- "[CI] advised [later] on the same afternoon Eli Zeccardi, Underboss in the Genovese Family, was going to meet with Capo's from the above Family who frequent the Lower East Side. They were to meet at the Cafe Roma which is owned by Zeccardi...[CI] related he had ascertained that the meeting was to discuss new members being made in the Genovese Family of LCN. [CI] related he ascertained that some new members will be made in the LCN in the next few weeks."

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Pre-September 1976

Paladino

- Joseph Celambrino (36y)
- Lawrence 'Fat Larry' Paladino (45y) [Died 1984] [Sponsored by F. Tieri]

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September 14, 1976

- "When new members are 'made' or intra-Family transfers are effected, either the Boss or Underboss must personally oversee such an occasion and make the formal introduction to the respective captains."

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1976

Palumbo

- Dominick 'Quiet Dom' Cirillo (47y) [Died 2024]
- Anthony 'Tough Tony' Federici (36y) [Died 2022]
- Arthur 'Bam' Palumbo (70y) [Died 1978]
- Joseph Zito (40y) [Died 2020] [Sponsored by R. Palmieri]

An FBI membership list compiled in 1/77 indicates that Arthur Palumbo was a recently inducted member, and his name is absent from earlier Federal charts. However, at least one CI identified him as a 'button man' in the 1960s.

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c. 1976

Cafaro

Location: Il Cortile Ristorante at 125 Mulberry St (Little Italy, Manhattan)

Attendees:

- Frank 'Funzi' Tieri (72y) (Boss) [Died 1981]
- Anthony 'Fat Tony' Salerno (65y) (Consigliere) [Died 1992]

- Antonio 'Buckaloo' Ferro (58y) (Capodecina) [Died 1978]

Members Inducted:

- Vincent 'Fish' Cafaro (43y) [Flipped 1986] [Died 2004] [Sponsored by A. Salerno]

Cafaro: "...Funzi asked me if I wanted to become a member of the family. He said I could accept or not accept, and there would be no hard feelings. But he also said 'once you accept you belong to us. We come first. Your family and home come second. We come first, no matter what'. And I accepted.

Funzi then showed me the gun and the knife, and says 'This is the gun and the knife, you live with the gun and you die by the knife'. He told me that Fat Tony had sponsored me, and gave me a piece of paper to let burn in my hand while I took the oath. 'If I betray the Cosa Nostra, I shall burn like this paper.'
He then pricked my finger with the pin and told me, 'Now you are amico nostra, you have been born over again. Now you are a man; you belong to us'. From that point on, I was amico nostra, a soldier in the Genovese family, the most powerful mob or 'brugad' in New York City and, for that matter, in the United States.

There were certain rules that all amico nostra lived by: no fooling around with another amico nostra's wife; no 'junk'; no dealing with pornography or Government bonds; and never talking about 'this thing' to anyone but other amico nostra."

The above testimony was delivered before the Permanent Subcommittee of Investigations in April 1988.

During the same testimony Cafaro cited 1974 as his year of induction.

Contemporary reports from informants all agree that 1976 is when the books were re-opened in New York. Sources included made members in at least two of the New York Families.

A signed affidavit from Cafaro entered into the record during the same proceedings noted: "I later learned that Patty Jerome was also 'straightened out' that day'."

This is possibly referring to Pasquale Genese (1910-1995), a close associate of Antonio Ferro and other Harlem crew members.

Genese is present in FBI membership lists going back to the 1960s, although CW Joseph Valachi told Federal agents in 1962 that he was 'doubtful' Genese was a member at the time.

 

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Pre-March 1977

- Thomas Principe (45y) (Murdered 1979) [Sponsored by P. LaPlaca?]
 

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March 3, 1977

- "[CI] advised each of the five NY LCN Families have been given authorization to initiate ten new members, and each of the NY Families have already prepared a list of those individuals to be 'made' in the immediate future."

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c. Spring 1977

Location: Apartment (East Harlem)

Attendees:
- Frank 'Funzi' Tieri (Boss) (73y) [Died 1981]
- Eli Zeccardi (67y) (Underboss) [Murdered 1977]

Members Inducted:

- George Barone (53y) [Flipped 2001] [Died 2010] [Sponsored by A. Salerno]
- Multiple others

Prior to induction Barone summoned to New York by Douglas Rago for a meeting with Anthony Salerno.

Barone: "[Salerno] told me to go to a certain place [and he said] that I was going to receive what he termed a reward for my services through the outfit."

Prior to induction Barone was informed by Zeccardi that the ceremony would be 'abbreviated' and that 'we're going to make it fast'.

Barone: "I was brought in. It was very brief. [Tieri] was very old. The ceremony that normally took place had to be shortened because the man was not as capable in his old age to carry on a big ceremony."

"I was told that I had to abide by the rules of whatever captain I was assigned to. I was told that we didn't deal in drugs. They didn't deal. They respected the wives of the other soldiers, and never, never betray the New York Mafia on fear of death."

Following the ceremony the inductees gathered at a social club: "There was a breakfast held nearby, and there were all of the members in our group, the Harlem group were there having breakfast to welcome in the new inductees. [Harlem group numbered] 50 or 55."

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c. April 1977

Napoli

- Albert 'Blast' Gallo (46y) [Sponsored by D. Alongi]
- James 'Jimmy Nap' Napoli (65y) [Died 1992]
- Unsub [Sponsored by V. Gigante]
- Unsub [Sponsored by T. Maiorana]

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May 20, 1977

- "CI advised despite popular belief that only full-blooded Italians are admitted to LCN membership, many members have mothers who may be only part Italian. He noted, however, if a proposed member's father is not Italian, he would be barred from membership, since an Italian name is an absolute requirement."

 

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c. Mid-July 1977

- Michael Coppola (31y)

Coppola's induction was reported to the FBI's Newark Field Office by a (Member?) source on July 21.

 

Three months prior he acted as shooter in the murder of Genovese Soldier John Lardiere.

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July 1977

Napurano

- Salvatore 'Red Light' Napurano (44y) [Died 1998] [Sponsored by R. Boiardo]

Possibly made at the same ceremony as Michael Coppola (above).

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c. Early October 1977

Illiano

- Frank 'Punchy' Illiano (49y) [Died 2014] [Sponsored by V. Gigante]
- Unsub #1 [Sponsored by V. Gigante]
- Unsub #2 [Sponsored by V. Gigante]

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October 1977
- Salvatore 'Zookie' Esposito (42y) [Sponsored by M. Ianniello]
- Alexander 'Alex Russo' Morelli (40y) [Died 2003] [Sponsored by P. DeFeo]
- Unsub [Sponsored by G. Filippone]

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c. October 1977
- Frank 'Frankie The Eye' Vispisiano (38y) [Died 2011] [Sponsored by G. Filippone]
- Three Unsubs

Vispisiano may be identical to the Unsub listed above as part of the Esposito / Morelli ceremony.

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c. Fall 1977
- Peter 'Petey Red' DiChiara (45y) [Died 2018] [Sponsored by G. Filippone?]
- Anthony 'Figgy' Ficarotta (49y) [Died 2016] [Sponsored by J. Lapadura]
- Joseph Pata (39y) [Died 2002] [Sponsored by J. Pagano?]
- Columbo Saggese (50y) [Died 2011] [Sponsored by R. Palmieri]

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c. 1977
- Liborio 'Barney' Bellomo (20y) [Sponsored by V. Cafaro]
- Alfred Vigorito (55y) [Died 2010]

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c. Early 1978
- Anthony Giacalone (41y)

- Vincent 'Jimo' Calabrese (69y) [Died 1994] [Sponsored by R. Boiardo]

An FBI Member Source identified Vincent J. Calabrese as a 'recently made' Genovese member on February 5, 1978.

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April 6, 1978

- "[CI] advised that there has been a delay in new LCN members being made in the NYC area because of the ill health of Joe N. Gallo and 'Vinnie Beans' Foceri, the Consiglieri's of the Gambino and Lucchese Families of LCN."

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c. May 1978
- Louis 'Gigi' Arminante (49y)
- James Vito Montemarano (36y) [Died 1995] [Sponsored by R. Boiardo]

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c. Mid-1978

Lapi

- Angelo 'Vic' Lapi (46y) [Died 2011] [Sponsored by J. Lapi]

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c. 1978
- Gerard 'Jerry' Papa (44y) [Murdered 1980]

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c. 1978

- Angelo Prisco (39y) [Died 2017] [Sponsored by M. Gigante]
- Unsub

Michael Visconti, an associate in Prisco's crew who became a cooperating witness in 2006, stated the following on the above Unsub: "It was a running joke that a friend of [Prisco's], he used to say, I got straightened before you, Angelo told me, like 30 seconds before he did. He went in the room first."

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c. Summer 1979

- Joseph 'Pepe' LaScala (37y) [Died 2019]

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Late 1970s (Confirmed Inducted by 1980)
- James Vincent Delio (55y) [Murdered 1980]

- Joseph Dente (40y) [Died 1996]
- Vincent DiNapoli (42y) [Died 2005] [Sponsored by V. Cafaro]
- Nicholas 'Nicky the Blond' Frustaci (48y) [Died 2017]
- Salvatore 'Sally Dogs' Lombardi (40y) [Died 2009]

- Alphonse 'Allie Shades' Malangone (42y)
- Joseph 'Jo Jo' Russo (50y?)
- Saverio 'Sammy Black' Santora (40y) [Died 1987] [Likely 1976]
- Many others