Ignazio Lupo
Ignazio Lupo | |
---|---|
Counterfeiting (1910) | |
Criminal penalty | 30 years' imprisonment |
Ignazio Lupo (Italian: [iɲˈɲattsjo ˈluːpo]; March 21, 1877 – January 13, 1947), also known as Ignazio Saietta and Lupo the Wolf, was a Sicilian American Black Hand leader in New York City during the early 1900s. His business was centered in Little Italy, Manhattan, where he ran large extortion operations and committed other crimes including robberies, loan-sharking, and murder. By the start of the 20th century, Lupo merged his crew with others in the South Bronx and East Harlem to form the Morello crime family, which became the leading Mafia family in New York City.[2]
Suspected of at least 60 murders, he was not caught by authorities until 1910, when the
Early life
Ignazio Lupo was born in Palermo, Sicily, to parents Rocco Lupo and Onofria Saietta.[4] He has sometimes been referred to, using his mother's maiden name, as Ignazio Saietta, but his actual surname was Lupo.[5]
From age 10, he worked in a dry goods store in Palermo.[6] In October 1898, he shot and killed a business rival named Salvatore Morello, by Lupo's account in self-defense after Morello attacked him with a dagger during an argument in Lupo's store.[4][6] Lupo went into hiding after the killing and, on the advice of his parents, eventually fled Sicily to escape prosecution.[4]
After stops in Liverpool, Montreal, and Buffalo, he arrived in New York in 1898.[4] On March 14, 1899, Lupo was convicted in absentia of 'willful and deliberate murder', reportedly due to the testimony of the clerks who worked in his store.[6] Lupo would never serve out the Sicilian sentence, though he would one day return to Sicily.[7]
Upon settling in New York City, Lupo opened a store at East 72nd Street in Manhattan with his cousin Saitta, but moved his business to Brooklyn after a disagreement.[6] In 1901, he moved his business back to Manhattan and opened a small import store at 9 Prince Street, while also running a saloon across the street at 8 Prince Street.[6] Lupo's father, Rocco, joined him in New York City in 1902 and together they opened a retail grocery store on 39th Street between 9th and 10th avenues.[6] Around this time, Lupo began preying on his fellow Italian immigrants, using the extortion tactics of the Black Hand.[3]
Morello crime family
In 1902, Giuseppe Morello acquired a saloon at 8 Prince Street, at the rear of the premises where Lupo was running his saloon.[6][8] Morello had immigrated to the United States from Sicily in the 1890s and had been joined by his three half brothers Vincenzo Terranova, Ciro Terranova and Nicholas Morello.[9] Lupo became closely associated with the Morello-Terranova faction and eventually married into their immediate family when he wed Salvatrice Terranova on December 23, 1903.[9]
He maintained his leadership over his Little Italy-based interests, but in the early 1900s Lupo merged his Mafia faction with the Morello-Terranova faction, which basically formed what became known as the
Lupo demanded absolute obedience from the members of his crew, killing one of his relatives because he suspected he might be a traitor.
Crimes committed and jail time
Lupo was suspected of at least 60 murders, and may have committed many more. He was a suspect in the killing on July 22, 1902, of Giuseppe "Joe the Grocer" Catania.[10] Catania was suspected of openly talking about a counterfeit operation which he was involved in with Lupo to his neighbors and friends; Catania also testified against several men in Palermo, which resulted in their 20-year prison terms. Catania was stabbed to death and left inside a potato sack on the shore of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.[11]
Lupo was also suspected of the April 14, 1903, barrel murder of Madonia Benedetto.
While serving out the conditions of parole, Lupo wanted to take a trip to Italy, but the Parole Act forbade him from leaving the country. In 1922, President
Harding did, however, attach a condition to the commutation, requiring Lupo to remain "law-abiding" and "not connected with any unlawful undertaking during the period of the sentence". The President himself would be the sole judge of whether the "condition" was ever violated and, if it ever was, he could declare the commutation null and void. In such circumstance, the President would order Lupo arrested and returned to prison to serve out the remainder of the sentence.[16]
Sometime in the early 1930s, the leaders of the emerging
On his own, Lupo formed a
Death
After his release, he returned to Brooklyn, where he died more or less unnoticed in 1947.
In popular culture
- There is a character called "Ignaz the Wolf" in author Damon Runyon's short story "Too Much Pep".[18]
- The character of Don Fanucci in The Godfather Part II is based on Ignazio Lupo.[19][20]
- Australian band Sticky fingers release their new album called "Lekkerboy", which contains a song called "Lupo the wolf", they tell the story of a “sicilian gangster famous for becoming a kingpin and chopping people into taters.” [21]
References
- ^ Warner, Richard; Santino, Angelo; Van't Reit, Lennert (May 2014). "Early New York Mafia: An Alternative Theory". Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement: 35.
- ^ Milliner, Imani. "Preserving a Unique Heritage". The Cooperator. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8160-5694-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-99030-1.
- ^ Critchley, p. 254., note 77
- ^ a b c d e f g "Ignazio Lupo". GangRule.com. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ISBN 978-1-4000-6722-0.
- ^ Critchley, pp. 37-40.
- ^ a b Critchley, pp. 51-54.
- ^ gang Rule
- ]
- ^ Jon Black. "The Barrel Murder". GangRule.com.
- ^ Inmate 2883 at the US National Archive index of inmates of Atlanta prison
- ^ Annual Report of the U.S. Attorney General, 1922, p. 400.
- ^ Capeci, Jerry. The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia "The Mafia's Commission" (pp. 31–46)
- ^ P.S. Ruckman, Jr., "The Mafia, the Murder Stable and Presidential Mercy" Archived February 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, May 6, 2013, Pardon Power.
- ^ Dash, Mike. "Epilogue". p. 27.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Damon Runyon "Damon Runyon Omnibus" (1944) - Book Three, "Take It Easy." Story #12, "Too Much Pep." http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks11/1100651h.html
- ISBN 9781461747697.
- ISBN 9781784043698.
- ^ "BIO".
Further reading
- Critchley, David (2008). The Origin of Organized Crime: The New York City Mafia, 1891–1931. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-99030-1.
- ISBN 978-1-4000-6722-0.
- Sifakis, Carl (2005). The Mafia Encyclopedia. Facts on File.
- Black, Jon (October 2020). Secret Societies. Same old. ISBN 9781527268074.