This article's lead section contains information that is not included elsewhere in the article. If the information is appropriate for the lead of the article, this information should also be included in the body of the article.(June 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The Springfield faction of the Genovese crime family is a group of Italian-Americanmobsters who control organized crime activities in the Springfield, Massachusetts area. The Springfield faction is a crew led by a caporegime who oversees illegal activities in racketeering, illegal gambling, loansharking and extortion. Salvatore "Big Nose Sam" Cufari was a Genovese family caporegime who became the most influential leader the Springfield faction in the 1940s.
Springfield, Massachusetts has been a Genovese territory since the family's earliest days. The most influential Genovese leaders from Springfield were Salvatore "Big Nose Sam" Curfari, Francesco "Frankie Skyball" Scibelli, Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno, and Anthony Arillotta (turned informant 2009).[1] In Worcester, Massachusetts, the most influential capos were Frank Iaconi and Carlo Mastrototaro. In Boston, Massachusetts, the New England or Patriarca crime family from Providence, Rhode Island, has long dominated the North End of Boston, but has been aligned with the Genovese family since the Prohibition era. In 2010, the FBI convinced Genovese mobsters Anthony Arillotta and Felix L. Tranghese to become government witnesses.[2][3] They represent only the fourth and fifth Genovese made men to have cooperated with law enforcement.[2] The government used Arillotta and Tranghese to prosecute capo Arthur "Artie" Nigro and his associates for the murder of Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno.[3][4]
History
Carlo Siniscalchi was an immigrant Quindici, Italy who owned a candy store and by 1921 he had become a bootlegging kingpin. Antonio Miranda was a rival bootlegger of Siniscalchi's in Springfield at the time and his brother Mike Miranda was a part of the Luciano crime family. Siniscalchi was gunned down on December 20, 1921, by hitman Giuseppe Parisi. After the murder of Siniscalchi, Antonio Miranda took over all bootlegging operations in Springfield.[5]
Antonio Miranda died of blood poisoning in 1930 after dominating organized crime activities in Western Massachusetts for over 9 years. Miranda's funeral procession included 22 flower cars, 147 limousines and a shower of rose petals dropped overhead by airplane, according to news accounts from the time. After Miranda's death, Salvatore "Big Nose Sam" Cufari took over and was the first recognized leader of the Springfield crew.[6]
In 1933 an associate close to Carlo Siniscalchi was shot to death in a South End barbershop.
Cufari was born January 31, 1901, in Bianco Nuovo, Reggio Calabria, in Italy. Cufari held sway over several underworld operations in parts of Eastern Connecticut and worked hand-in-glove with fellow Calabrian racketeer Francesco Iaconi, who was the reigning Genovese Caporegime in the nearby City of Worcester, Massachusetts. By the late 1930s and early 1940s, Cufari had developed the Springfield faction into one of the largest Cosa Nostra regimes in the American underworld. A local criminal, Francesco Scibelli, would become Cufari's most trusted associate and right-hand man. Scibelli's criminal record dates back to 1932. Among the crimes he went to prison for were extortion, illegally selling liquor—and providing illegal "gaming on the Lord’s Day,” according to law enforcement documents. Sam Cufari was arrested in 1943 for bookmaking. By 1948, he was the officially acknowledged head of Springfield, running his crew from his newly opened restaurant, Ciro's. Cufari's proteges included Adolfo Bruno, Felix Tranghese who was Scibelli's cousin. Francesco “Skyball” Scibelli's brothers Albert “Baba” Scibelli and Anthony Scibelli would also become loyal soldiers of the Springfield faction.[7]
In 1961 Frankie Skyball was turned in to police by a nun, for running a gambling ring from the phone booths at Providence Hospital, a crime for which he served nineteen months in jail.[8]
Victor DeCaro was a hairstylist and son-in-law of a Francesco "Skyball" Scibelli with a manslaughter conviction.He disappeared outside a bar he owned in Agawam, Massachusetts in May, 1972 allegedly about a romantic entanglement with the wife of Salvatore “Big Nose Sam” Cufari. DeCaro's body turned up July 3, 1972, in the Connecticut River in Windsor, Connecticut, wrapped in a tarpaulin.[9]
On September 17, 1983, Salvatore Cufari died at the age of 82 after reigning over Springfield for 53 years. Cufari's right hand man, Francesco "Skyball" Scibelli took over the faction after his death.
In 1984 Adolfo Bruno was one of several individuals arrested in a multi-state gambling ring along with Amedeo Santaniello. In 1987, Bruno was sentenced to five years in prison.[10] Bruno's codefendants included Mario Fiore, Anthony "Turk" Scibelli, Ricky S. Songini, Felix Tranghese, Albert "Baba" Scibelli, and Donald Pepe.
In 1990, Bruno was at the center of a controversy that many believe cut short the career of longtime Hampden County District Attorney Matthew Ryan Jr. when a top aide accused the DA of being soft on mobsters like Bruno. Ryan, a frequent racquetball partner of Bruno's, denied the allegations but retired that year.[10]
In 1991, Bruno was charged with attempted murder in a gang-related shooting in Agawam, Massachusetts, but later acquitted in 1994.[10] Prosecutors claimed that Bruno and co-defendant John J. "Jake" Nettis shot convicted bookmaker Joseph Maruca in a barn owned by Bruno's brother Frank. State prosecutors used reformed Philadelphia crime family hitman Phil Leonetti as a government witness. Nettis was convicted and received a nine- to ten-year state prison sentence.
In 1993, Vito Ricciardi, a Springfield barber, shot at Bruno twice, but missing, outside the Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Club in Springfield over an unpaid debt.[10]
In 1996, Bruno and Francesco J. "Skyball" Scibelli were sentenced to 15 months in prison for illegal gambling.[11] Also charged was son Anthony Bruno, a made member of the Genovese crime family. The hit man was sentenced to 10 years for attempted murder, racketeering, money laundering, and intimidating a witness.
On November 23, 2003, after having dinner with his family Adolfo Bruno drove to the Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Club to play the Italian card game briscola. After leaving the club, he was shot five times and killed in the parking lot. After the murder of Bruno, Anthony "Bingy" Arillotta took over the Springfield faction.[12][13][14]
In 2004, Frankie Roche, a fringe player in Springfield rackets, was arrested in Tampa, Florida as the suspected shooter.[15] Roche pled guilty in 2008 and was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison.[16] On February 17, 2010, Manhattan federal court announced a 13-count indictment charging Arthur Nigro and Anthony Arillotta of the Genovese crime family with various racketeering crimes, including the murder of Bruno.[17] On July 23, 2010, Felix Tranghese and Ty Geas were arrested in Springfield; in their capacities associated with the Genovese family, Nigro, Tranghese, Emilio Fusco, Fotios Geas, and Ty Geas conspired to murder and aided and abetted in the murder of Bruno, to maintain and increase their position in the Genovese family, as well as to prevent Bruno from providing information to law enforcement about crimes committed by members and associates of the Genovese family.[18] On May 16, 2011, it was announced that Fusco had been extradited from Italy to the United States, arriving in New York three days prior. Nigro had given the order to murder Bruno; Fusco and others had conspired to carry out the murder.[19] Roche, imprisoned for the murder and hoping that his testimony would speed his release, testified that he had killed Bruno for a promised payment of $10,000.[20] On September 12, 2011, Nigro and Genovese family associates Fotios Geas and Ty Geas, who planned the murder, were each sentenced to life in prison for several crimes in Manhattan federal court. Anthony Arillotta became a government witness and testified against these people.[21]
After Arillotta, the Springfield rackets would be "given" to Eugene "Rooster" Onofrio who was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2018 leaving faction member Albert "The Animal" Calvanese to take over.[22][23]
On October 29, 2018, infamous Boston gangster Whitey Bulger was transferred from the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City to United States Penitentiary, Hazelton, in West Virginia.[24] At 8:20 a.m. on October 30, the 89-year-old Bulger[25] was found unresponsive in the prison. Bulger was in a wheelchair and had been beaten to death by multiple inmates armed with a sock-wrapped padlock and a shiv. His eyes had nearly been gouged out and his tongue almost cut off.[26][27] This was the third homicide at the prison in a 40-day span.[28]
Correctional officers had warned Congress just days before the most recent Hazelton death that facilities were being dangerously understaffed.[29] Fotios Geas was the primary suspect in orchestrating the killing of Bulger.[30][31] In August 2022, he, along with Paul DeCologero and Sean McKinnon, were indicted on first degree murder charges.[32] In September 2023, Geas was transferred to ADX Florence.[33] The trial was scheduled for December 2024.[34] In May 2024, the trio made an undisclosed plea deal with the U.S. attorney's office in the Northern District of West Virginia.[35]
In April, 2024, Ralph Santaniello and his father Amedeo Santaniello seized power leading a mutiny to reclaim the regime back from Albert "The Animal" Calvanese at the Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Social Club by force. Calvanese had filed a police protection order to keep the Santaniellos from stepping foot on the property.[36]
Santaniellos's men changed the locks and evicted the Calvanese camp from the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel club in Springfield's South End. Gerry Daniele, a member of the faction, called a meeting of the club's roster of due payers and called a vote to allow a changeover of club administration and the Santaniellos to be let back in as members; the Santaniellos were unanimously voted back into the club's ranks.[37]
Historical leadership
Caporegimes
1920–1921 – Carlo Siniscalchi – murdered on December 20, 1921
1921–1930 – Antonio Miranda – died in 1930
1930–1983 – Salvatore "Big Nose Sam" Cufari – died on September 17, 1983
1983–1998 – Francesco "Skyball" Scibelli – retired in 1998, died in 2000
