Vita La Sala (1888)

Born 12 Aug 1888 in Corleone, Palermo, Sicilia, Italia

Ancestors

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Biography

Vita la Sala is baptized 12 August 1888 in Corleone, the daughter of Francesco la Sala and Domenica Guidera.^[1]

Vita's family has ties to Corleone on her father's side. Vita and her older siblings are born in Corleone. The family moves to Marineo, which is likely where her mother was born, and where one of Vita's brothers is born in 1895, the approximate year the family immigrates to the United States.

Immigration records for the La Sala family have not yet been found. Based on answers in the 1910 federal census, most of the family immigrated together in 1895.

Vita has a brother, Stefano, who appears to have immigrated separately. Richard Wagner and his co-authors have identified Stefano (aka Steve LaSalle) as a native of Corleone, and a member of Giuseppe Morello's gang in New York City.^[2]

Vita does not appear with her family in the 1910 census, when she is 22. In 1910, Francesco, 60, his wife Domenica, 49, and their children live in the Bronx. According to this census, they have been married for 30 years (m. 1880). The children at home are Domenico, 25, Joseph, 20, Frances, 17, Isidore, 14, Anthony, 12, Jerome, 10, and Peter, 8. The three youngest children were born in New York. The older children and parents immigrated in 1895. Francesco is a builder, and his oldest son, Domenico, son is a masonry contractor.

Next door to the La Sala family are the Guidera household, headed by Rosile (Rosalia), a 70 year old widow, with her children Rose, 15, Angelina, 10, Rose, 9 (yes, two Roses), and Jacob, 11. Her children were all born in New York. The oldest daughter is an embroiderer. None of the others have employment.^[3] Rosalia is Domenica's mother.

Vita marries Salvatore Occhipinto on 5 December 1914 in the Bronx. She is reportedly 23 (b. 1891---Vita is 26), born in Italy, and so is her groom. Salvatore is the son of Antonino Occhipinto (his last name appears as "Occhipirata" in this record) and Lucia di Stefani.^[4]

In 1930, Vita lives near her parents and her brother. Frank, 82, and his wife Domenica, 69, live next door to Vita and Anthony, who has also married by this time.

According to this census, Salvatore Occhipinti, age 38, and his wife Vita, also 38, married when they were both 24. They have two daughters at home: Rosalie, 12, and Erminia, 14. Salvatore is a proprietor/contractor who immigrated in 1906. Vita and her parents immigrated in 1894.

Anthony, age 32, born in New York, is also a proprietor/contractor. His wife, Mary, is 27. They married about six years before this census was taken.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ #403, Index. "Italia, Palermo, Diocesi di Monreale, Registri Parrocchiali, 1531-1998," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DT77-4VY?cc=2046915&wc=MG37-DPX%3A351041801%2C351041802%2C351551801 : 20 May 2014), Corleone > San Martino > image 63 of 95; Archivio di Arcidiocesi di Palermo (Palermo ArchDiocese Archives, Palermo).
2. ↑ Wagner, Richard, Angelo Santino, and Lennert Van 't Riet. "The Early New York Mafia: An Alternative Theory." The Informer: May 2014. Accessed online 11 January 2016.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X39X-71L : accessed 18 February 2017), Francesco La Sala, Bronx Assembly District 34, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1578, sheet 21A, family 334, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1002; FHL microfilm 1,375,015.
4. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2446-78Q : 20 March 2015), Domenica Guidera in entry for Salvatore Occhipirata and Vita La Sala, 05 Dec 1914; citing Marriage, Bronx, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,940,568.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X764-5NK : accessed 19 February 2017), Frank Lasala, Bronx (Districts 251-500), Bronx, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 495, sheet 3A, line 33, family 56, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1482; FHL microfilm 2,341,217.