Vito Cascio Ferro (1862 - 1943)

Born 22 Jan 1862 in Palermo, Palermo, Sicilia, Italia

Ancestors

Died 20 Sep 1943 at age 81 in Procida, Salerno, Italia

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Biography

Vito Cascio Ferro, aka Vito Cascioferro, aka Vito Cascio, is born 25 June1862 in the city of Palermo, the son of Accursio Cascioferro and Santa Ippolito.^[1] The record of his marriage confirms his birth in Palermo and the names of his parents, reported in most sources on Cascioferro.

Vito's father is from Siculiana, in Agrigento province.^[2] His older sisters, Calogera (1856) ^[3] and Cosma (1859)^[4] are born in Burgio, also in Agrigento. His mother's birth record, and his parents' marriage record, have not yet been found.

A few years after Vito's birth, the family relocates to Bisacquino, a small village in the same district as Corleone. Accursio is a campiere, a field guard: a profession closely associated with the Mafia. According to Critchley, cited on Wikipedia, Vito's family spends most of his youth in Sambuca Zabat.^[5]

Vito Cascio, from Palermo, unmarried son of Accurso Cascio and Santa Ippolito, marries Brigitta Giaccone, unmarried daughter of the late Gioachino Giaccone and the living Rosalia Perricone, on 15 November 1886 in Bisacquino.^[6] Brigitta is a schoolteacher, who teaches Vito to read and write.

Vito and Brigitta have at least one child, a son who is pictured with his father in an undated photo on Wikipedia.^[7]

As a young man, Vito works as a tax collector, a route that conceals his protection racket.^[7]

He kidnaps the 19-year-old Baroness Clorinda Peritelli di Valpetrosa in June 1898. He is sentenced the same year and imprisoned until 1900.^[7]

Vito Cascioferro appears in Line 23 of the passenger manifest of La Champagne, arriving in New York on 30 September 1901. He is 39 years old (b. 1862), a dealer by profession, who last lived in Havre. He is going to New York. It’s not clear from the manifest if he is meeting someone, but his destination address is 345 E. 21st St.^[8]

Soon after arriving in New York, Vito is invited to dine with Giuseppe Morello and other men of respect. Dash claims Don Vito Cascio Ferro brought the pizzo to New York.^[9]

He moves in with his sister Francesca and brother-in-law Salvatore Armato in an apartment on 103rd St.^[10] Vito lives for about 2 1⁄2 years in New York, acting as an importer of fruits and foods.^[5]

He is arrested in 1902 in connection with a New Jersey counterfeiting operation led by Antonio Franto (or "Frauto") and including Salvatore Clemente and Giuseppe Morello. Vito evades prosecution with an alibi, a job in a paper mill. In 1904 a warrant is issued in connection with the murder of Benedetto Madonia, aka the "Barrel Murder." The morning after the murder, Vito goes to New Orleans to evade arrest.^[11]

In Sicily, Vito becomes mayor of Burgio, and a Parliamentary representative of Bivona. (Bivona is the hometown of Vassolona, an infamous bandit, and is also said to be the birthplace of two of Giuseppe Morello's 1910 counterfeiting partners.^[12]) He has influence over a number of local Mafia cosche: in Bisacquino, Burgio, Campofiorito, Chiusa Sclafani, Contessa Entellina, Corleone, and Villafranca Sicula, as well as some districts in the city of Palermo.^[7]

In February 1909, New York City police detective Joseph Petrosino travels to Italy to collect penal certificates on Italian criminals in the United States. He goes to Rome, then Palermo. Two of Giuseppe Morello's associates are dispatched to kill Petrosino in Palermo. They visit Don Vito Cascio Ferro for assistance in planning the assassination. The day Petrosino is killed, he makes a note of Cascio Ferro's vital info.^[13]

He is considered the mastermind behind the assassination of Italian-born New York City police detective Joseph Petrosino, in Palermo, on 12 March 1909.^[7] He is arrested three weeks later in Bisacquino. His new employer, a member of Italian parliament, Domenico De Michele Ferrantelli, provides an alibi.^[14]

The seventieth time Cascio Ferro is arrested is in Sicily in May 1926.^[15] The Fascists are in power and Vito can no longer rely on the support of local politicians. He is indicted for participation in 20 murders, eight attempted murders, five robberies with violence, 37 acts of extortion, and 53 other offenses including physical violence and threats. He is sentenced to life in prison in 1930.^[16]

According to La Stampa, Cascioferro dies on 20 September 1943 in prison on the island of Procida. He is 81.^[17]

Sources

1. ↑ Vol. 835, no. 3925. https://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/ark:/12657/an_ua877228/wr71D6p/ Retrieved 21 June 2021.
2. ↑ "Italia Nati e Battesimi, 1806-1900," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XVY7-Y52 : 8 December 2014), Accursio Cascio Ferro, 27 Sep 1822; citing Siculiana, Agrigento, Italy, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,603,737.
3. ↑ "Italia Nati e Battesimi, 1806-1900," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XVBP-17F : 8 December 2014), Accursio Cascio in entry for Calogera Cascio, 27 Feb 1856; citing , reference yr 1856 rn 35; FHL microfilm 1,466,393.
4. ↑ "Italia Nati e Battesimi, 1806-1900," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XVB5-S2H : 8 December 2014), Accurzio Cascio Ferro in entry for Cosma Cascio Ferro, 22 May 1859; citing , reference yr 1859 rn 102; FHL microfilm 1,466,411.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Vito Cascioferro on Wikipedia citing Critchley, The Origin of Organized Crime in America, pp. 39-41.
6. ↑ Marriage of Vitus Cascio, record no. 84, 15 November 1886, "Italia, Palermo, Diocesi di Monreale, Registri Parrocchiali, 1531-1998," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11393-63335-8?cc=2046915 : accessed 29 May 2016), Bisacquino > San Giovanni Battista > Matrimoni 1860-1888 > image 386 of 408; Archivio di Arcidiocesi di Palermo (Palermo ArchDiocese Archives, Palermo).
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} Vito Cascioferro on Wikipedia. Accessed 28 October 2017.
8. ↑ via SteveMorse Accessed 29 October 2017.
9. ↑ Dash, M. (2009). The first family: Terror, extortion, revenge, murder, and the birth of the American Mafia. Random House, pp. 157, 219-220.
10. ↑ Vito Cascio Ferro. http://www.lacndb.com/Si_Info.php?name=Vito%20Cascio%20Ferro Accessed 28 October 2017.
11. ↑ Dash, M. (2009). The first family: Terror, extortion, revenge, murder, and the birth of the American Mafia. Random House, pp. 277-280.
12. ↑ Critchley. The Origin of Organized Crime in America. P. 69.
13. ↑ Dash, 2009, pp. 277-285.
14. ↑ Dash, M. (2009). The first family: Terror, extortion, revenge, murder, and the birth of the American Mafia. Random House, p. 285.
15. ↑ Dash, M. (2009). The first family: Terror, extortion, revenge, murder, and the birth of the American Mafia. Random House, p. 463.
16. ↑ Vito Cascioferro on Wikipedia citing Hess, Mafia & Mafiosi, p. 48. Accessed 28 October 2017.
17. ↑ Vito Cascioferro on Wikipedia citing "Joe Petrosino ha offeso l'onore del padre mio", La Stampa, January 30, 1973.