The Sicilian Mafia & A Hit on The Fruit King Gone Sour
Although Sicily is governed by valid, permissible authority, the Mafia is a persistent and dangerous governing body that has had a hold over the region for centuries. “It gives certain parts of the island virtually a dual government, standard of conduct, and system of enforcement—one is the legitimate regime and the other a shadow, but a pervasive social, economic, and political network maintaining its powers through violence.” Mussolini’s attempt to eradicate organized crime in an attempt to extinguish the threat mobsers held over his Fascist system in the 1920s to 1940s only set the stage for a stronger, more united Mafia to be born out of the ruins of a post-WW2, worn torn Sicily in the 1950s.(85)
The Mafia went from national alarm to international consternation as the American Mafia was making its mark during the Prohibition era in the United States. Italian-American neighborhoods were littered with organized crime, and “by the 1950s, the Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra, Italian for “Our Thing”) had become the preeminent organized-crime network in the United States.(86) It was involved in a range of underworld activities, from loan-sharking to prostitution, while also infiltrating labor unions and legitimate industries such as construction and New York’s garment industry.”(87) Both the Sicilian and American Mafia families continued to stealthily gain influence in their communities as they were skilled at bribing and manipulating governmental leaders --all while maintaining their secrecy.(88)
Word of Joseph DiGiorgio’s extreme wealth and success made international news that traveled to the ears of Sicilian Mafia who became set on vanquishing his fruit empire. Elliot Thomas Grant, Joseph’s great-great-great nephew, spoke with Carmella “CeCe” Brooks DiGiorgio in 2015 about a 2006 Baltimore City Paper article (no longer available online) that recounts Joseph’s ability to outsmart the cleverest mobsters: “Reporter Brennan Jensen spoke with the descendants of local importing and shipping giants Antonio Lanasa and Alfred Constantine Goffe,” Elliot said. “Sicilian Lanasa and Jamaican Goffe were accused of masterminding a Black Hand assassination plot against rival Sicilian banana importer Joseph Di Giorgio in December 1907.”(89)
DiGiorgio, Lanasa and Goffe, the once business partners and allies turned enemies, went from a partnership in Atlantic Fruit Co. to shipping firm rivals after DiGiorgio made a deal with United Fruit Co. behind their backs.(90) However, it was DiGiorgio’s alleged involvement in the death of Pittsburgh black-hand leader “Felipi” “Rea” or “Rei” that put the target on his back.(91) “DiGiorgio might have had underworld connections,” Elliot said. “His willingness to go toe-to-toe with mafiosi speaks either for his connections or for his great personal courage.”(92) Allegedly Salvatore Lupo revealed that Antonio Lanasa had Rea send extortion letters to DiGiorgio.(93) Shortly after, Rea was murdered by hitman Joseph Sunseri; however, it was believed at the time that DiGiorgio ordered the hit.(94)
However, allegedly the tables had turned as again Joseph Sunseri and another Pittsburgh-based Mafia hitman Nunzio Battaglia were promised $30,000 in exchange for the death of DiGiorgio.(95) “It was widely believed that Lanasa instigated the hit, deciding, ‘If we kill DiGiorgio, I will be the banana king of Baltimore’” Elliot said.(96)
Fortunately, the hit on the fruit king proved fruitless as a dynamite bomb detonated in DiGiorgio’s kitchen when no one was home causing only property damage.(97) Police were able to track down the mob-men involved with arrest of Salvatore Lupo of Buffalo, Antonio Lanasa, Alfred Constantin Goffe, Joseph Tamburo, John Scarletta of Cleveland (known as “Schiatta” or “Scarietta”), Rosarto Romeo, Ignazio Castalano, Frank Porcelli, Joseph Sinseri and niunzio Battaglia (“Battaglonia”).(98) Lupo confessed and his testimony created a domino effect of arrests and bizarre court appearances. Elliott recounted the movie-like court scenes:
“Lanasa and Goffe were both arrested and indicted, largely because of Lupo’s testimony. Lupo said Lanasa ordered the hits but Goffe was responsible for delivering the payment and discussed providing legal fees if the assassins were caught. Goffe unluckily had arrived in Baltimore from Jamaica just hours before the explosion at the Di Giorgio residence. Some Lanasa supporters suggested that the indictments might have been due to the fact that Thornton Rollins, vice president of Di Giorgio’s Atlantic Fruit, served as foreman of the grand jury.
Goffe was indignant at the time of his arrest and threatened that he would have the English fleet sail into Baltimore harbor if he wasn’t released.
The defense was represented by one of those legal dream teams that seem to come together for mob cases. Lanasa was defended by Senator William Pinkney Whyte (Whyte had also been Maryland governor, mayor of Baltimore, comptroller of Maryland, and the state’s attorney general). Goffe was represented by George Dobbin Penniman, hired by the British consul Gilbert Frazier (Penniman’s family roots in Maryland went back to the 1630s). The case against Goffe was later dropped because Lupo had stated that all conversations relating to the hit were conducted in Italian. Goffe didn’t understand Italian.
During the trial, the Black Hand connections of Lanasa employees [were] discussed. In a number of instances, the prosecution referred to a Black Hand supreme boss who lived in Brooklyn. Whenever a Baltimore Black Hander would offer to help out a Black Hand victim, he would note that he had to travel to Brooklyn to get the boss’s OK. The boss’s actual name was not revealed, but an alias something like Camelia la Rosa was used. It was later decided, but never confirmed, that a New York barber named Tony Calcagno was actually Camelia la Rosa. Calcagno was found shot to death in New York in early February 1908. A Baltimore detective went to New York to view the body and made a probably baseless announcement that the leader of the Italian-American Black Hand underworld was dead.
Lanasa was eventually convicted, not of attempting to murder Di Giorgio, but only of damaging his property. Even that conviction was subsequently thrown out because it was based almost entirely on the testimony of indicted co-conspirator Lupo. Also a factor was Lupo’s insistence late in the trial that his confession had been coerced by detectives.
Goffe returned home to Jamaica and became a wealthy landowner there. Lanasa continued to earn a fine living in various fruit businesses. The two men died in the early 1950s.”(99)
Although the Italian-American Mafia’s power has been diluted in the 21 century, their reign was never fully eradicated meaning organized crime still lurks in the shadows of Italy and America today.(100)
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85. “Sicily,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 2020), https://www.britannica.com/place/Sicily.
86. History.com Editors, “Origins of the Mafia,” History.com (A&E Television Networks, May 28, 2019), https://www.history.com/topics/crime/origins-of-the-mafia.
87. Editors, “Origins”
88. Editors, “Origins”
89. Elliot Grant, “The Mafia’s Attempt to Blow Up Joseph Di Giorgio,” March 7, 2013. https://etgdesign.com/family/digiorgio/joseph/mafia-assassination-attempt
90. Grant, “Mafia’s”
91. Grant, “Mafia’s”
92. Grant, “Mafia’s”
93. Grant, “Mafia’s”
94. “Gangster BB Forum,” 2013, http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=756752.
95. Grant, “Mafia’s”
96. Grant, “Mafia’s”
97. Grant, “Mafia’s”
98. Gangster BB”
99. Grant, “Mafia’s”
100. Editors, “Origins”
