Lucia (Deprimo) Madonia (1863 - 1913)

Born 27 Jan 1863 in Lercara Friddi, Palermo, Sicilia

Wife of Benedetto Salvatore Madonia — married 10 Jan 1891 (to 14 Apr 1903) in Lercara Friddi, Palermo, Sicilia, Italia

Died 27 Mar 1913 at age 50 in Buffalo, Erie, New York, United States

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Biography

Lucia Diprimo is born 27 January 1863^[1] in Lercara Friddi, in the province of Palermo, in Sicily. She is the daughter of Domenico Diprima and Nunzia Eposta.^[2]

Lucia marries at least twice, first to Giuseppe Sagliabene. Lucia and Giuseppe have at least two children, Salvatore (c. 1882) and Angela (1883)

Giuseppe Sagliabeni, age 24 (b. 1859), lavorante (worker), reports the birth of his daughter, Angela Sagliabeni, on 29 July 1883 to his wife, Lucia Diprima, in their home at via Rotolo, #45, in Lercara.^[3]

Lucia is 27 (b. 1863), civile (a citizen; denotes the landowning class) when she remarries to Benedetto Madonia, a 30 year old (b. 1860) sulfur miner, on 10 January 1891. The witnesses are Filippo Lucania, 55 (b. 1835), possidente (similar meaning to civile), and Francesco Giordano, 40 (b. 1850), possidente.^[2] This marriage announcement does not mention Lucia's previous marriage.

Benedetto and Lucia have three children: Antonina (c. 1892), Filippa (c. 1897), and Pietro (c. 1900).

Pietro is born 28 January 1900 in Italy, according to his registration for the WWI draft.^[4]

Benedetto immigrates in December 1900.

Two years later, Lucia and the children join him in Buffalo, New York. Lucia di Primo, 39 (b. 1863), appears on the manifest of the Trojan Prince, arriving 12 August 1902 in Ellis Island, with a bracket connecting her to her five children: the two oldest are Angela, 19 (b. 1883), and Salvatore, 20 (b. 1882), who share a surname that is hard to make out (Sagliabene). The other children are Antonina, 10 (b. 1892), Filippa, 5 (b. 1897), and Pietro, 2 (b. 1900), all of the surname Madonia. They are from Lercara, going to New York, with a final destination of Buffalo. There, they are joining Lucia’s husband, and the father of her children, Benedetto Madonia at 16 Morgan St.^[5]

According to Lucy, Benedetto is a member of a "secret society" of which Giuseppe Morello is an acknowledged leader.^[6] He is part of Morello's counterfeiting operations.^[7][8]

Madonia compounds his problems with Morello after Lucy's brother, Joseph, is arrested for counterfeiting. Madonia, who lives in Buffalo, sends money to Morello for a lawyer for his brother-in-law, via Salvatore Macaluso, a barber Madonia visited in his shop, at 48 East Houston St, the day before he is killed.^[9] The money disappears and no lawyer is hired, nor is any other assistance dispatched for Deprimo's defense.

The weekend of Easter, Madonia travels to New York. He sees Morello and demands an accounting of the money sent. On the Saturday before Easter, 11 April, he visits Joseph in Sing Sing.^[9]

In a working man's dining establishment in Little Italy, in the early hours of 14 April 1903, a Tuesday, just after Easter, Benedetto Madonia eats dinner, and then is set upon by two men, one of them Tommaso Petto, called "the Ox," and known to Madonia. His assailants are directed by Giuseppe Morello. The men stab and slash Madonia's throat and put his body into a barrel formerly used to hold sugar. The barrel is left in the street to be found by neighbors early that morning.^[10][11][6]

Joseph identifies Benedetto from a photograph of his face, taken post mortem. He gives Madonia's address as 47 Trenton Av., in Buffalo.^[6] The family has lived here for about eight months. Neighbors were suspicious of the self-professed stonemason who did not appear to do any work in his field.^[12]

Benedetto dies on 14 April 1903 in Manhattan. He is buried 24 April 1903 in Buffalo, NY.^[13]

Death of Lucia

Lucia DiPrima Madonia, born 27 January 1863, dies 27 March 1913. She is buried in Cheektowaga, Erie, New York.^[14]

Benjamin dies at age 84 on 9 December 1984 and is buried in Cheektowaga, Erie, NY’s Mount Calvary Cemetery.^[15]

Sources

1. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK1G-899M : 15 December 2015), Lucia DiPrima Madonia, 1913; Burial, Cheektowaga, Erie, New York, United States of America, United German and French Cemetery; citing record ID 147116780, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Atti di matrimonio, Benedetto Salvatore Madonia and Lucia Diprima, record no. 2, 10 January 1891, "Italia, Palermo, Termini Imerese, Stato Civile (Tribunale), 1862-1910," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MZ-HL6J?cc=1947613&wc=MDB6-CNL%3A245878301%2C248194701 : 20 May 2014), Lercara Friddi > Matrimoni e Pubblicazioni 1890-1910 > image 48 of 2987; Tribunale di Termini Imerese (Termini Imerese Court, Termini Imerese).
3. ↑ Atti di nascita, Angela Sagliabeni, record no. 438, 30 July 1883, "Italia, Palermo, Termini Imerese, Stato Civile (Tribunale), 1862-1910," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MZ-83K2?cc=1947613&wc=MDB6-NTL%3A245878301%2C249306101 : 20 May 2014), Lercara Friddi > Nati 1872-1884 > image 2660 of 3042; Tribunale di Termini Imerese (Termini Imerese Court, Termini Imerese).
4. ↑ "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXTV-48P : 12 December 2014), Benjamin Peter Madonia, 1917-1918; citing Buffalo City no 14, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,712,240.
5. ↑ "New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JF2Z-LM9 : 30 January 2018), Lucia Di Primo, 1902.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Black, Jon. “The Barrel Murder.” https://www.gangrule.com/events/the-barrel-murder-1903 Accessed 10 February 2018.
7. ↑ "On Murderer's Trail." 23 April 1903. Buffalo Express (Buffalo, NY). Accessed FultonHistory.com 16 March 2016.
8. ↑ "Killed to Silence Him." Buffalo Express (Buffalo, NY) 21 April 1903. Accessed FultonHistory.com 16 March 2016.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} "Killed to Silence Him." Buffalo Express (Buffalo, NY) 21 April 1903. Accessed FultonHistory.com 16 March 2016.
10. ↑ Dash, Mike. The First Family, Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia. Random House, 2009.
11. ↑ Flynn, William James. The Barrel Mystery. 1919: James A. McCann Company.
12. ↑ "Victims Wife Here." Buffalo Express (Buffalo, NY) 21 April 1903. Accessed FultonHistory.com 16 March 2016.
13. ↑ "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WXN-CG5 : 10 February 2018), Benedetto Madonia, 14 Apr 1903; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,323,021.
14. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK1G-899M : 15 December 2015), Lucia DiPrima Madonia, 1913; Burial, Cheektowaga, Erie, New York, United States of America, United German and French Cemetery; citing record ID 147116780, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
15. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVG6-CY7F : 13 December 2015), Benjamin Madonia, 1984; Burial, Cheektowaga, Erie, New York, United States of America, Mount Calvary Cemetery; citing record ID 118013093, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.