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Salvatore D'Aquila

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Salvatore D'Aquila
Born(1873-11-07)November 7, 1873
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
DiedOctober 10, 1928(1928-10-10) (aged 54)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Cause of deathGunshot
Resting placeSt. John Cemetery, Queens, New York, U.S.
Other names"Toto"
OccupationsCrime boss, mobster
PredecessorIgnazio Lupo
SuccessorManfredi Mineo
AllegianceD'Aquila crime family

Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila (Italian pronunciation: [salvaˈtoːre ˈdaːkwila]; November 7, 1873 – October 10, 1928) was an early Italian-American Mafia boss in New York City of the D'Aquila crime family, what would later become known as the Gambino crime family.[1][2]

Early life and career

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Salvatore D'Aquila was born on November 7, 1873, in Palermo, Sicily, to Salvatore D'Aquila and his wife Provvidenza Gagliardo.[3] D'Aquila emigrated to the United States in 1906[4] and became an early captain within the Morello crime family in East Harlem.[4] D'Aquila was arrested in 1906 and in 1909; both times the charges were dropped.[5] In 1910, boss of bosses Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello was imprisoned and Salvatore D'Aquila separated from the Morello family.[6] D'Aquila formed his own crime family and was appointed the new capo dei capi.[6] His crime family operated from East Harlem and the Bronx, where he rivaled the Morellos.[6]

D'Aquila expanded his crime family's power into Brooklyn and southern Manhattan's Lower East Side/Little Italy neighborhoods.[5] The most prominent members of the D'Aquila family were Umberto Valenti, Manfredi Mineo, Giuseppe Traina, and Frank Scalise.[4] In 1920, after Giuseppe Morello was released from prison, D'Aquila tried to have him and his closest allies murdered.[5][6] On his orders, Umberto Valenti killed Morello/Terranova crime family boss Vincenzo Terranova and his underboss Silva Tagliagamba. D'Aquila's men also twice tried to kill Joe Masseria, a high ranking member of the gang, but narrowly failed both times. The incidents gained Masseria new respect among gangsters as "the man who can dodge bullets" and his reputation began to rise as D'Aquila's began to wane.[7] Eventually, Masseria and his men struck back and had Valenti killed in August 1922.[8] With Valenti gone, D'Aquila's power began to lose its luster of invulnerability. Masseria became the new boss of the family, with Giuseppe Morello serving as consigliere.[9] In 1925, D'Aquila moved back into the Bronx.[5]

Death

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Salvatore D'Aquila October 1928, after being shot between 5 and 9 times at his car, his body was dragged into a doctor or drug store office, depending on the source.

After losing the gang war and several allies, D'Aquila became vulnerable. On October 10, 1928, D'Aquila was shot dead on Avenue A in Manhattan, aged 54, allegedly on Joe Masseria's orders. After his murder, D'Aquila's family was taken over by Manfredi Mineo.[10][11]

See also

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References

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Citations

  1. ^ Capeci, Jerry (2004). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. New York: Penguin. ISBN 9781440625824.
  2. ^ H. Thomas Milhorn (December 2004). Crime: Computer Viruses to Twin Towers. Universal-Publishers. p. 218. ISBN 9781581124897.
  3. ^ Warner, Santino & Van't Reit 2014, pp. 39–40.
  4. ^ a b c Critchley 2009, pp. 156–157.
  5. ^ a b c d D'Aquila, Salvatore "Toto" (1873–1928) The American "Mafia"
  6. ^ a b c d Mike Dash (2009). The First Family: Terror, Extortion and the Birth of the American Mafia. London: Simon & Schuster. p. 265. ISBN 9781588368638.
  7. ^ Sifakis, Carl (2005). The Mafia Encyclopedia (3. ed.). New York: Facts on File. p. 458. ISBN 978-0-8160-5694-1. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference critchley2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cawthorne, Nigel (June 26, 2012). Mafia: The History of the Mob. Arcturus Publishing. ISBN 9781848589445 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Ferrara, E.; Nash, A. (2011). Manhattan Mafia Guide: Hits, Homes & Headquarters. Arcadia Publishing Incorporated. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-61423-351-0. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  11. ^ Varese, F. (2013). Mafias on the Move: How Organized Crime Conquers New Territories. Princeton University Press. pp. 118 ff. ISBN 978-0-691-15801-3. Retrieved 17 September 2018.

Sources

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