Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello (May 2, 1867 – August 15, 1930), also known as "The Old Fox", was the first boss of the Morello crime familyand later top adviser to Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. He was known as Piddu (Sicilian diminutive form of Giuseppe) and his rivals the Castellammarese knew him as Peter Morello. He was famous for having a one-fingered deformed right hand that resembled a claw.

In the 1890s, Giuseppe founded a gang known as the 107th Street Mob and which would later evolve into the Morello crime family. Today the Morello crime family is known as the Genovese crime family and is the oldest of the Five Families in New York City.

Early life

Giuseppe Morello was born in Corleone, Sicily on May 2, 1867. His father Calogero Morello died in 1872 and his mother Angelina Piazza remarried one year later to Bernardo Terranova who was a member of the CorleoneMafia. Bernardo and Angelina had three sons: Vincenzo (born 1886), Ciro(born 1888) and Nicolò (born 1890); and two daughters, Lucia (born 1877) and Salvatrice Terranova (born 1880). Critchley mentions Maria Morello-Lima (born 1869) as Morello's sister from the Morello-Piazza marriage and a possible third half-sister, Rosalia Terranova-Lomonte (born 1892-died October 14, 1915). The Morello and Terranova children grew up together and Bernardo may have facilitated Giuseppe's early induction into the localcosca, or Mafia clan. Crichley notes that Morello also had an uncle, Giuseppe Battaglia, who was a leader in the Corleonesi Mafia and who may have assisted in his nephew's passage. Giuseppe Morello married Maria Rosa Marvalisi (1867-1898); the couple had one son, Calogero "Charles" Morello (born November 1892 in Corleone-died 1912).

The exact year of Morello's emigration to the United States is not certain. Dash writes that Morello emigrated in 1892 after becoming a suspect in a murder in Corleone and after his counterfeiting ring had been compromised. Despite his departure the Italian government brought a case to court and found him guilty of money counterfeiting. On September 14, 1894, he was sentenced to 6 years and 45 days imprisonment plus fine and deprived of the right to hold public office. It is possible that the sentence was handed down in absentia; according to Critchley it appears that Morello left Sicily for New York around this time.

Morello's three half brothers Nicolò, Vincenzo and Ciro, his stepfather Bernardo, his mother Angelina, his sister Maria, his half sister Rosalia, his wife Maria Rosa Marvalisi and son Calogero would arrive in New York on March 8, 1893. In the mid-1890s, Giuseppe Morello moved to Louisiana in search for employment and was joined by the other members of the Morello-Terranova family. The following year they moved to Texas and farmed cotton.

 After contracting malaria they returned to New York about 1897. Morello tried his hand in different business ventures, including failed investments in asaloon and a date factory. In 1898, Morello's wife Maria Rosa Marvalisi died. Sometime in the early 1900s Morello married Nicolina "Lena" Salemi (1884-1967), she stayed with him for the rest of his life. In 1902, he acquired a saloon at 8 Prince Street in Manhattan which was to become a meeting place for members of his gang.

Morello crime family

In the 1890s, Giuseppe founded the 107th Street Mob which would later evolve into the Morello crime family. In 1903, Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo, the Sicilian Mafia boss in Little Italy, Manhattan married Morello's half sister Salvatrice.

Morello built his empire based on his merciless ordering of death sentences against everyone who dared to face him. Lupo, his main enforcer, was responsible for more than sixty murders in a 10-year period. The Morello family would frequently employ the notoriousbarrel murder system, dumping dismembered corpses into large wood barrels. The barrels would then be thrown into the sea, left on a random street corner, abandoned in a back alley or shipped to nonexistent addresses in another city.

Family business included extortion, loan sharking, Italian lottery, robbery and counterfeiting. Illegally earned money was then legitimized by legal businesses such as stores or restaurants owned by the family, making them the first crime family in town to organize this kind of money laundering. They also introduced revolutionary ways of extorting small amounts of money every week from business owners in exchange for "protection", as opposed to the theft of large amounts which might bankrupt them. This technique was adopted from Black Hand gangsters and it led to increased profits for the gang.

By 1905, Morello had created the largest, most influential Sicilian crime family in New York City, and was recognized ascapo di tutti capi (boss of bosses) by Mafia leaders in other U.S. cities, according to Nicola Gentile.

Fall and return

Morello was found guilty of counterfeiting again in 1909 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Morello maintained his position as the head of his crime family for approximately the first year of his sentence, during which time he hoped his sentence would be overturned on appeal. His appeals were not immediately successful and Morello became depressed as he lost his official position as boss of New York and all the influence he once held. He was not released from prison until 1920.

The youngest of this three half brothers, Nicolo Terranova took over control until 1916 when he was killed by the NapolitanCamorra boss in Brooklyn, Pellegrino Morano. Morello's remaining two half brothers Vincenzo Terranova and Ciro Terranova took over as boss and underboss and ran the family until Morello's release from prison.

Newly released from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1920 and trying to retake control of his empire, Morello, found himself to be considered a threat to his former captain, now turned Mafia boss, Salvatore D'Aquila who within a year of Morello's release, ordered Morello killed.

Morello, along with a number of others now under orders of death by D'Aquila, fled to Sicily for a spell. One of these men, a former D'Aquila gunman, Umberto Valenti, in order to regain the favor of D'Aquila, went after Morello and his chief protector and ally, Giuseppe Masseria. Now a war ensued and after much violence and some prominent deaths among the mafiosi involved, on August 1922, Valenti was killed by Masseria gunmen (some say including or solely Charles Luciano). With Valenti gone, D'Aquila's power began to lose its luster of invulnerability. Morello, sensing his time to rule had passed and the power of Masseria was on the rise, became consiglieri to Masseria and prospered under him throughout the Prohibition years of the 1920s.

Castellammarese War and death

During the Castellammarese War, roughly between 1929–31, Masseria and Morello fought against a rival group based in Brooklyn, led by Salvatore Maranzano and Joseph Bonanno. Morello, an old hand in the killing game, became Masseria's "war chief" and strategic adviser.

One of the first victims of the war, Giuseppe Morello was killed along with associate Joseph Perriano on August 15, 1930 while collecting cash receipts in his East Harlem office. Joseph Valachi, the first made man in the American Mafia to turn state's evidence, identified Morello's killer as a Castellammarese gunman he knew as "Buster from Chicago" a character some people believed was invented by Valachi to hide the fact that he was the real killer.

Filmmaker Martin A. Gosch's The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, a purported autobiographical account of Charles Luciano of disputed authenticity, claims that Luciano orchestrated Morello's murder himself.

With Morello gone and two of his half brothers (Nicolo and Vincenzo) now dead, only Ciro Terranova, the Artichoke King, remained of the old dynasty. He died in Under World obscurity, his once mighty power and influence, along with that of his family, faded into nothingness.

The Morello crime family was one of the earliest crime families to be established in the United States and New York City. The Morellos were based in Manhattan's Italian Harlem and would eventually gained dominance in the Italian underworld by defeating the rival Neapolitan Camorra of Brooklyn.

History

From Corleone to America

The Morello family traces back to Corleone, Sicily. In 1865, Calogero Morello married Angelina Piazza who gave birth to two children: Giuseppe Morello (born May 2, 1867) and Maria Morello-Lima (née Morello, born c1869). Calogero Morello died in 1872, and one year later Piazza remarried to Bernardo Terranova. The new marriage produced five children: three sons, Vincenzo (born 1886), Ciro (born 1888), and Nicolo (born 1890), and two daughters, Lucia (born 1877) and Salvatrice (born 1880). Critchley mentions a possible third sister of the Terranovas, Rosalia Lomonte (born 1892 - died October 14, 1915).

In 1892, Giuseppe Morello emigrated to the United States. On March 8, 1893, Giuseppe's family arrived in New York: his wife Maria Rosa Marvalisi, his mother Angelina Piazza, his stepfather Bernardo Terranova, his half-brothers Ciro, Nicolo, and Vincenzo, and his half-sister Rosalia. The Morello-Terranova family lived in New York for a while before moving to Louisiana, then Texas, and by 1896 the family was back in New York City.

107th Street Mob

The brothers returned to New York and became known as the 107th Street Mob (sometimes called the Morello Gang) dominating East Harlem, Manhattan, and parts of the Bronx. Giuseppe Morello's strongest ally was Ignazio Lupo, a mobster who controlled Little Italy, Manhattan. On December 23, 1903, Lupo married Morello's half sister, Salvatrice Terranova.

The Morello-Lupo alliance continued to prosper in 1903, when the group began a major counterfeiting ring with powerful Sicilian mafioso Don Vito Cascio Ferro, printing $5 bills in Sicily and smuggling them into the United States. Many of the later "barrel murders", particularly that of Giuseppe "Joe" Catania, Sr. (whose body was found in July 1902), were thought to have been committed by the Morellos, who employed a numerous members of the counterfeiting operation.

On April 13, 1903, the body of Benedetto Madonia, brother-in-law to police informant Giuseppe DiPrimo (de Priemo), was found in a barrel after being brutally tortured. A United States Secret Service detective, who had been investigating the counterfeiting ring, traced the man to a restaurant where he was seen with Morello crime family Boss, Ignazio Lupo, along with associate and hitman, Tommaso "The Ox" Petto. New York detective Joseph Petrosino later confirmed Madonia's identity after visiting DiPrimo at Sing Sing Prison. A letter by Madonia seeking to leave the organization was found in a search of Madonia's house. With this evidence several mafiosi were arrested including Morello, Lupo, Petto, and restaurant owner Pietro Inzarillo, as well as several other members. However the charges are later dropped after witnesses changed their statements.

The Morello family had consolidated their hold on Upper Manhattan. Additionally, on November 15, 1909 New York police raided a building the Morellos were using in Highland, New York[disambiguation needed] as a front for their counterfeiting operation and recovered a large amount of American and Canadian counterfeit bills. After letters were found by Black Hand victims from New Orleans, fifteen members of the Morellos were arrested, including bosses Giuseppe Morello andIgnazio Lupo and member Pasquale Vassi, who possessed $1,200 worth of counterfeit money.

The trials began on January 26, 1910 and ended on February 19 with all members involved convicted, including Morello and Lupo, who were sentenced to 30 and 25 years, respectively, at Atlanta Federal Prison.

Mafia–Camorra War With Giuseppe Morello's and Lupo's conviction, Nicholas "Nick" Terranova, the youngest of the three Terranova brothers, took over the family with the aid of his older brothers, Vincenzo and Ciro. At this time the Morellos' power was waning without Joseph Morello and Lupo th e Wolf at the helm. It was involved in many criminal activities from East Harlem toGreenwich Village. Soon after opening the Venezia Restaurant, the club became a popular hangout for the city's underworld.

During this time, Gaetano Reina, and Salvatore D'Aquila, both captains within the family, took advantage of its weakened status and broke off, each forming their own separate Mafia famiglias.

Despite their weakened state, Nick Terranova made an effort to unify much of the Italian Under World. His efforts to unify the Sicilian Mafiosi and the Neapolitan Camorristi, during the early 1910s were unsuccessful despite his best efforts.

During this time the Morellos had allied with Giosue Gallucci, a prominent East Harlem businessman and Camorrista with local political connections and the Lamonti Brothers who were also powerful East Harlem businessmen and Camorristi. Gaetano "Thomas" Lamonti and brother Fortunato "Charles" Lamonti were known as friends of the Morellos who owned a feed store down the street from the famous Murder Stable owned by Ignazio Lupo. After the 1914 murder of Lamonti brother Charles and the 1915 murder of Gallucci, the alliance between the Morellos and the East Harlem Camorristi ended as the Brooklyn Camorristi planned to eliminate the Mafiosi from Manhattan.

In early 1916 Camorra Boss Pellegrino Morano, with lieutenant Vincenzo Paragallo, began moving into the Morello crime family's territory. After six months of fighting, however, Morano offered a truce to end the stalemate. Mafia Boss, Nick Morello agreed as a meeting was arranged at a Navy Street café owned by Camorrista, Alessandro Vollero. However upon arriving, Morello was ambushed by five members of the Brooklyn Camorra group and killed along with bodyguard,Charles Ubriaco on September 7, 1916.

 While the loss of the Morello crime family's senior leader was a blow to the Mafia, Camorra Boss, Pellegrino Morano was quickly charged with Nick Morello's murder after two members of the Camorra group, Tony Notoro and Ralph Daniello, contacted New York police implicating Pellegrino Morano and Alessandro Vollero, revealing the war between the Sicilian and Neapolitan gangs. Both Morano and Vollero, after being denied help from New York detective Michael Mealli, were convicted of murder and imprisoned, as were the remaining leaders of the Camorristi, effectively ending the Mafia-Camorra War.

Morello family war

The Mafia-Camorra war ended in 1917, and Terranova brothers Vincenzo and Ciro kept control of family. Many former Brooklyn Camorra members joined the Morello family, Umberto Valenti was one of new members. One year early in 1916,Giuseppe Masseria was released from prison after serving 3 years for burglary of a Bowery pawnshop and became a top members in the family. In 1918, Ciro Terranova was tried for the murders of gambling bosses, Charles Lombardi and Joe DiMarco, the case was later dismissed. In 1920, both Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Lupo were released from prison so their former captain, now Manhattan Mafia Boss, Salvatore D'Aquila, sensing his power to be threatened by their return, ordered their murders.

One of D'Aquila's men, Umberto Valenti had also run afoul of his boss and was under threat of death. To re ingratiate himself with D'Aquila, Valenti would take out the rising power, the former captain and current ally of the Morello's, Giuseppe Masseria. First attempts failed and a war was on. On December 29, 1921 Masseria's men murderd Valenti's ally, Salvatore Muaro on Christie Street. Then Valenti had Vincent Terranova murdered effectively taking out the head of the Morello family. On May 8, 1922, while Terranova was in front of his home at 116th Street and 2nd Avenue he was shot by a gunmen from a moving car. Masseria ordered his men to murder Valenti and his bodyguard Silva Tagliagamba, they ambushed Valenti and Tagliabamba at Grande and Mulberry Streets in Manhattan shooting Tagliabamba but Valenti escaped. On August 11, 1922, Masseria's men (supposedly including a young Charlie Luciano) murdered Valenti ending the conflict. Masseria became the boss of the Morello family, and Giuseppe Morello became his underboss.

Historical leadership

Boss

• 1890s–1909 — Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello — founded the 107th Street Mob; imprisoned 1909
• 1909–1916 — Nicholas "Nick Morello" Terranova — killed in Mafia-Camorra war on September 7, 1916
• 1916–1920 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — stepped down becoming underboss
• 1920–1922 — Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello — stepped down becoming underboss
• 1922–1931 — Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria — paroled in 1920, became boss in 1922

Underboss

• 1903–1909 — Ignazio "Lupo the Wolf" Lupo — imprisoned 1910
• 1909–1916 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — became boss
• 1916–1920 — Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova — stepped down
• 1920–1922 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — murdered on May 8, 1922
• 1922–1930 — Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello — murdered on August 15, 1930

Former members

• Giuseppe Fanaro - was a member of the Morello family, who was involved in the Barrel murder of 1903. In November 1913, Fanaro was murdered by members of the Lomonte and Alfred Mineo's gangs.
• Eugene "Charles" Ubriaco - was a member of the Morello family, he lived on East 114th Street.[4] Ubriaco was arrested in June 1915 for carrying a revolver and was released on bail. On September 7, 1916 Ubriaco along withNicholas Morello meet with the Navy Street gang in Brooklyn and they both were shot to death on Johson Street in Brooklyn.

• Tommaso "The Ox" Petto