Clemenza (Grimaldi) Piranio (1882 - 1959)

Born 17 Dec 1882 in Corleone, Palermo, Sicilia, Italia

Ancestors

Wife of Calogero T Piranio — married about 1900 (to 20 Feb 1930) in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States

Died 31 Mar 1959 at age 76 in Dallas, Texas, United States

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Biography

Clemenza Grimaldi is born and baptized on 17 December 1882 in Corleone, the daughter of Calogero Grimaldi and Antonina d’Anna, who married the previous year. (Her petition for American citizenship gives her birthdate as the sixteenth.) Her godparents are Giuseppe Milone and Gaetana Serra, a married couple.^[1] Clemenza is named after her paternal grandmother, as is traditional for the first born daughter.

On 17 October 1894, the Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm, sailing from Palermo via Naples, arrives in Ellis Island, in New York with at least 65 passengers from Corleone. Among them are Francesco, his mother, his maternal grandmother, and his sisters:

299 Antonina d’Anna, 49 (b. 1845)

300 Rosa Gennaro, 61 (b. 1833)

301 Clemenza Grimaldi, 12 (b. 1882)

302 Francesco Grimaldi, 8 (b. 1886)

303 Rosa Grimaldi, 6 (b. 1888)^[2]

According to her 1941 citizenship petition, Clemenza immigrated in 1895.

Clemenza marries Calogero "Carlo" Piranio, a Corleone native, and the son of Arcangelo Piranio and Orsola Trumbatore, in Shreveport, Louisiana, near the Texas border, when she is 18 years old (around 1900).^[3]

Carlo and Clemenza have three known children: Angelo (1904), a second child whose name is not yet known, and Joe Carlo (1917). Joe Carlo's birth record says he is their third child.

Angelo is born 11 March 1904 in Shreveport, LA.^[4]

In the 1910 federal census of the city of Dallas, taken 15 April, in ED 44, Carlo Piranio, 34 (b. 1876), heads a household at 774 Main St. Living with him is his wife, Clementia, 26 (b. 1884). They have been married 8 years (m. 1902) and have one child, who is living. Both are of Italian birth. Carlo is a grocery storekeeper.

On the next sheet of the census are the rest of the household: Angelo, age 6 (b. 1904), who is Carlo and Clementia’s son, Joe, 35 (b. 1875), Carlo’s brother, and Lena, 19 (b. 1891), Carlo’s sister in law. Joe and Lena have been married for a year. This is their first marriage. Joe is a grocery salesman. He was born in Italy. Lena was born in Louisiana.

Joe Carlo is born 24 April 1917 at his parents' home, 2537 Dawson, in Dallas, Texas. Carlo is in real estate. He is 40, born in Sicily. Joe is their third child. Clemenza is 34 years old (b. 1883), also born in Sicily.^[5]

Carlo begins the Dallas crime family by 1921.^[6]

Carlo dies on 20 February 1930 from a tumor of the spinal cord. He is 52.^[7]

After Carlo's death, his brother Joseph takes over leadership of the Dallas Mafia.^[3]

In 1938 there are these Piranio listings in the Dallas city directory:

Anthony residing at 1247 S. Ewing Av

Clemenza (wid Carl) h 2803 Casey

Joseph student r 2803 Casey

Joseph T (Lena) r 1247 S Ewing Av^[8]

Clemenza petitions for citizenship in Texas in the fall of 1941. The previous summer, the US enacted the Alien Registration Act, which affected all Italian nationals over the age of fourteen. By this time, Italy is thoroughly involved in WWII. The US will join the war in December.

The Northern District of Texas in Dallas hears her request. Clemenza was born in Corleone on 16 December 1882 and is 58 years old. She lives at 2803 Casey, Dallas, TX. She has brown and gray hair, a dark complexion, brown eyes, stands 5’1” and 158#. Her husband, Calogero Piranio, is deceased. (Spelled Carlogero here). Her children are all over 21 years of age. Clemenza immigrated in October 1895 through the port of New Orleans. She does not remember the name of the vessel. She may have entered as Clemenza Grimaldi or as Clemenza Piranio, the record gives both names. Clemenza swears this document is true before the court on 20 October 1941.^[9]

Angelo dies on 2 May 1957 in Dallas, TX. He is an attorney, married, age 53 at death. Angelo dies from heart failure (pulmonary edema, cardiac failure) following a stroke (cerebral embulae). His “pathalogic” obesity is considered a significant condition contributing to his death. The informant is Mrs. Ann Piranio.^[4]

Clemenza dies on 31 March 1959^[3] at 4029 Prescott, in Dallas, where she has lived for 52 years. The cause of death is cardiac decompensation. She is 76. The record of her death calls her mother "Lena Danna."^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ Baptism of Clementia Grimaldi, record no. 671, 17 December 1882, "Italia, Palermo, Diocesi di Monreale, Registri Parrocchiali, 1531-1998," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6LSS-GZW?cc=2046915&wc=MG34-SP8%3A351041801%2C351041802%2C351280701 : 20 May 2014), Corleone > San Martino > Battesimi 1879-1883 > image 268 of 354; Archivio di Arcidiocesi di Palermo (Palermo ArchDiocese Archives, Palermo).
2. ↑ Accessed manifest (lines 296-328) on EllisIsland via Steve Morse on 24 Oct 2018.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Hunt, Thomas. “The Mafia of Dallas: 1910-1970.” Published July 2010 in Informer Journal. Pp. 16+.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K33C-M66 : 5 December 2014), Carlo V Piranio in entry for Angelo Piranio, 02 May 1957; citing certificate number 24591, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,135,701.
5. ↑ "Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-1935," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X2KP-NMX : 4 December 2014), Carlo T Piranio in entry for Joe Carlo Piranio, 24 Apr 1917; citing Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States, certificate 13821, Bureau of Vital Statistics. State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 4,490,919.
6. ↑ Dallas crime family. Accessed 2 September 2017.
7. ↑ Texas State Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Standard Certificate of Death. Certificate No. 2810. Registrar’s No. 536.
8. ↑ Dallas, Texas, City Directory, 1938.
9. ↑ The National Archives at Fort Worth; Fort Worth, Texas; ARC Title: Declarations of Intention for Citizenship, 1906 - 1990;Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009;Record Group Number: 21
10. ↑ "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K34Z-MD3 : 5 December 2014), Clemenza Piranio, 31 Mar 1959; citing certificate number 19896, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,115,909.