Vincent Terranova

Vincenzo "Vincent the Tiger" Terranova (born May 1896 in Corleone , Sicily , † May 8, 1922 in New York City ) was an Italian-American mafioso of the Morello family , who can be considered the forerunner of the Genovese family .

Family relationships

Vincent Terranova was either a younger half-brother or a younger step-brother of Giuseppe Morello . 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 Terranova and Vincent. 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 Terranova also contributed to the confusion when he identified "Nick" as Nicholas Terranova after his murder.

Vincent thus belonged to the Morello family , which can be considered the forerunner of the Genovese family . He himself also laid the foundations for this with his 107th Street Gang.

biography

Giuseppe "Peter" Morello had moved from Corleone to New York City in 1892 and Ciro followed six months later with the rest of the family: d. H. Father and mother, sister Salvatrese (possibly four other sisters), his older half-brother Nicolo "Coco" "Nick" Morello , and his brother Ciro Terranova .

They had been in New York City for over a year, but the family made no progress in their careers. Giuseppe Morello went to Louisiana to live with a cousin of the family, and here too the entire family followed him with Ciro two months later. Giuseppe and his father worked there on a sugar cane plantation for about a year , but then went to Bryan (Texas) as a cotton picker, but gave up the job when family members fell ill with malaria .

In 1896 the family was back in New York City, again it was Giuseppe and his father who initially worked as pavers, they may also run a small coal shop, but then opened a pub on 13th Street in 1898 and soon afterwards a second on Stanton Street . Like his brother Ciro, Vincent grew up in the gang milieu of East Harlem; In 1900 his older (step-) brother Antonio and his (step-) father were killed in a shootout. By then, he was already the boss of a street gang roaming around 107th Street. After Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Saietta were imprisoned for spreading counterfeit money in 1910, Vincent and Ciro Terranova filled the void and were accepted into leading positions by Giousue Gallucci in his organization.

While his brother Ciro gained the monopoly on artichokes , Vincent became quite wealthy in the 1920s thanks to alcohol smuggling prohibition . On May 8, 1922, he was the victim of a drive-by shooting at 116th Street / 2nd Avenue . Presumably this was an attack from Umberto Valenti's circle .

An attack by Joe Masseria can be ruled out because the Morello Terranova clan was one of its most important pillars. With the murder of Nicholas "Nick" Morello and Giuseppe Morello , Masseria lost important props and was itself the last victim in the so-called War of Castellammare .

swell

1. ^ ^{A b} 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. ↑ History of the Mafia Section III ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (1920–1931) on www.onewal.com (English) 

Web links

• Ciro and Vincent Terranova at www.onewal.com (English)
• Vincent Terranova in the database of Find a Grave (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Nicholas Morello	Head of the " Genovese family " of La Cosa Nostra 1916 - 1922	Joe Masseria