Nicholas Morello

Nicholas "Coco" Morello b. Nico Morello (born January 6, 1890 Corleone , Sicily , † September 7, 1916 Brooklyn , New York City ) was an Italian gangster working in the USA, who can be considered the leader of the Morello family , forerunners of the Genovese family .

Family relationships

Nicholas Morello was either an older half-brother or older step-brother of Ciro and Vincent Terranova . According to the first half-brother variant, Giuseppe and Nicolo ("Nick") would be the eldest sons of Angela Piazza , who then had two more sons with Ciro and Vincent Terranova. After the second step-brother variant, Vincent and Ciro followed their mother Rosalia Terranova into the Morello family, where there was also the older brother Antonio Morello . In general there is confusion about the number of brothers, as there is supposed to be another Peter Morello , who is now considered identical to Giuseppe, who in turn was also known as Joe Morello . Ciro himself added to the confusion when he identified Nicholas as Nicholas Terranova after his murder .

biography

Nicholas grew up in the "gangland" of East Harlem and was arrested for extortion before his 19th birthday . When Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Saietta were arrested by the Black Hand Gang for their counterfeiting activities, Nicholas tried to warn other members and was therefore arrested on November 15, 1909. At the time, there was a conflict in New York City between the Neapolitan Camorra and the Sicilian Mafia.

After his release, he succeeded the Morello family , whose territory was soon attacked by the American Camorra . The conflict began in 1915 with the murder in East Harlem of Goisue Gallucci , a Neapolitan who was allied with the Sicilian Morellos family. In response, Nick Del Guido was murdered in 1916 . The clashes escalated into a bloody conflict later known as the Mafia Camorra War .

On September 7, 1916, Camorra leader Pellegrino Morano invited to a peace conference in Vollero's Cafe on "Navy Street", the headquarters of Alessandro Vollero, the leader of the Navy Street gang . In addition to the Sicilian Morello family, the Neapolitan Coney Island gang was also invited. Before the actual meeting, Nicholas Morello and his bodyguard Charles Ubriaco had a few drinks with Ralph Danielo to bridge the time until Pagano arrived, who was supposed to lead the men to the café, where the Neapolitan Leopoldo Lauritano and Morano were supposed to be waiting. The group then walked down Myrtle Avenue together ; at the intersection of Johnson St. and Hudson Avenue , Morello and Ubriaco were attacked by five men, including their companion Tom Pagano , who shot Nicholas Morello; Ubriaco was murdered by Thomas Carillo and Lefty Esposito .

When police searched the bodies, they found a NY Produce Exchange Bank account book in Harlem with Nicholas Morello with an account balance of $ 1,865. Ciro Terranova was brought in to finally identify Nicholas' body.

consequences

The police succeeded in arresting “Torpedo” Tony Notaro and Ralph Daniello and Daniello made a testimony that also led to the arrest of Vollero and Morano. Morano was convicted in 1917 and deported to Italy in 1919. On June 20, 1918 Vollero was sentenced to death; while incarcerated in Sing Sing , the death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment . Furthermore, it was Alphonso Sgroia convicted of murder to 12 years imprisonment. After a short imprisonment, he was also deported to Italy.

The death ultimately paved the way for Joe Masseria to rise to the top of the clan that would later be classified as the Genovese family . The organization of Morrano was taken over by the Sicilian Salvatore D'Aquila and later classified as the Gambino family .

Web links

• Biography: Nicolo Morello on www.gangrule.com (English)
• Biography: The Camorra War on www.gangrule.com (English)
• American Organized Crime: New York's Black Hand at www.mobsters.8m.com (English)
• Nicholas Morello in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Hunt: "Clutch Hand" Confusion. 2002 on archived copy ( memento of the original from January 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ PoliceCourt 1918 (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Giuseppe Morello	Head of the " Genovese family " of the Mafia 1910 - 1916	Vincent Terranova