Secret Bonanno Family Advisor: "Don" Vincenzo (The Old Man) Morsellino

Vincenzo (The Old Man) Morsellino was exposed and labeled a “Super Capo” by the Nassau County D.A., who, at the time, considered the old man to be the number one capodecina in power. Now, even if that was a bit of an overstatement, it still shows the great influence Morsellino must have been wielding to be so named.

Vincenzo (The Old Man) Morsellino -- aka -- "Don” Vincenzo, Charles Adamo, Vincent Adamo, James Morsellino, and Vincent Morsellino -- was born on September 12, 1898 at the town of Calatafimi, Sicily (Trapani Province). Vincenzo was one of five sons born to Giuseppe and Antoinette (nee’ Adamo) Morsellino. His brothers were Ignazio, Pietro, Sebastiano and Giulio.

Vincenzo (The Old Man) Morsellino

It is believed that Vincenzo was the only brother to ever relocate to America. On June 8, 1927, he immigrated to the United States, arriving at Ellis Island in New York Harbor on the freight ship Homeric. His four siblings remained back in Sicily, although several cousins of theirs also immigrated to the U.S. around this same point in time, who were later identified as brothers Rosario and Vito Morsellino and Settimo Accardi.

Initially, Morsellino settled in Lower Manhattan. But he soon moved over the Bridge to Bushwick, Brooklyn, to a neighborhood then heavily populated by his fellow Sicilians from the Province of Trapani.

The Early Years

During his early years in Brooklyn, he resided at several addresses, including 295 Stanhope Street.

On February 15, 1942, he registered with the U.S. Armed Forces at the local draft board office on Myrtle Avenue in his Brooklyn neighborhood. On his registration intake form, he listed the Stanhope address as his current residence. He also listed himself as being self-employed at 116 Suydam Street, which was located in the same neighborhood vicinity.

During these same years, he sometimes listed his employment as a tailor. By 1950, he was describing himself as a ladies' dress contractor.

Although he would always continue to frequent and operate from this same Brooklyn neighborhood, by at least the mid-late 1940s, he had already relocated with his wife out to the suburbs of Long Island.

He and his wife, Anna, moved to Elmont, located in southwestern Nassau County, straddling the New York City line bordering Queens County. They purchased a small, unpretentious Cape Cod-style house at 4 Locustwood Boulevard. Thereafter, well into their later years, this unpretentious residence would serve as the Morsellino family home.

4 Locustwood Blvd., Elmont

Becoming an American, but Not Americanized

Morsellino, who stood 5’-6” tall and weighed approximately 170 pounds, reportedly had a stocky build. He had dark brown hair, grey eyes, and a dark-olive Mediterranean complexion. Old photos show he also typically wore a full mustache. In his later years, Morsellino also regularly wore eyeglasses.

Don Vincenzo had a very typical old-world Sicilian look to him.

By the early 1930s, he had first applied for permanent American citizenship. According to FBI records, on November 16, 1936, at Brooklyn, New York, he finally took his oath and was formally naturalized as a citizen of the United States.

But other, more reliable sources state that the actual day he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen occurred on August 5, 1948, in U.S. District Court in New York City. There is official documentation to support the 1948 date, namely, an IN&S certificate issued under #550967.

FBI #1639120, IN&S #C-6867727

Morsellino’s arrest record dated back to 1931, when he was charged with alcohol bootlegging. He would eventually be arrested three times for bootlegging, which resulted in one jail term of 18 months in prison. A second unlicensed alcohol-tax conviction drew a sentence of 5 years probation.

He was also arrested in New Jersey on a charge of coercion and “labor agitation” in connection with a union racketeering case. The wily mafioso’s police record also listed an arrest for disorderly conduct, and during the 1960s, he was arrested for criminal contempt for refusing to testify before a Nassau County grand jury.

In their internal files, the FBN (Federal Bureau of Narcotics) had him listed as a suspected “top-level” narcotics importer operating at the highest levels internationally. Through the years, agents had tracked Morsellino as he traveled back and forth between Western Sicily, Havana, Cuba, and Montreal, Canada.

I’m Just a Cook

Agents reported that his main base of operations was along the Wilson Avenue section of Bushwick and the adjoining neighborhood of Ridgewood, both of which were located in North Brooklyn.

Because Morsellino ran several legitimate businesses there -- and controlled several illegitimate rackets based there as well -- Morsellino could usually be found around the neighborhood nearly every day.

This particular section of Kings County was known to be a longtime Bonanno Family stronghold, and Morsellino reportedly held a hidden ownership interest in the Grand Street Bar, located at 573 Grand Street.

He also owned and operated the Capri Italian Kitchen at 576 Grand Street, which was right next door to the bar.

The location of Morsellino’s old restaurant, located at 576 Grand St., Brooklyn

It was said that Don Vincenzo enjoyed working as a chef in his restaurant’s kitchen, where he could regularly be found preparing delicious Sicilian specialties for neighborhood customers and his personal friends.

But in-between honing his skills as a chef, on occasion, the FBI and Federal Bureau of Narcotics both alleged that Morsellino would organize the occasional multi-kilo heroin shipment for importation and redistribution throughout the New York area by a “crew” of his Sicilian subordinates.

During this time, when Morsellino was believed to be active in the narcotics trade, among his known subordinates included mafioso Pietro Licata, another low-key Sicilian import who would one day become the reigning capodecina over the Knickerbocker Avenue section of Brooklyn.

That is before he was assassinated during another one of the Bonanno Family’s internal conflicts and reorganization periods, which took place in the mid-late 1970s during Carmine Galante’s reign.

Several other crew members who were viewed as heroin distributors for Morsellino’s heroin shipments included Charles LaCascia, Joseph Clemente, and a shadowy Virginia-based mafioso who was later outed as a major heroin importer by the name of Vincenzo (Jimmy)Todaro.

A Deceptively Important Character

Morsellino was long considered by law enforcement to be one of the most respected and powerful -- if least known -- members of New York’s old Joe Bonanno Family.

For many decades, he successfully operated under the radar and remained a shadow to both law enforcement authorities and many local underworld figures alike.

He was like a ghost who effortlessly floated around the New York underworld in plain view yet remained largely invisible.

Technically speaking, dating as far back as the 1930s, Morsellino was known to operate as an influential alcohol bootlegger. And in later years, federal law enforcement agents came to suspect that he was also a high-level heroin smuggler.

Yet, he largely evaded detection, staying above the fray. Aside from liquor bootlegging, the police could never directly tie him into drug trafficking or any other major rackets.

As time passed, he also rose to the highest ranks of his borgata, becoming a key capodecina. But regardless of whatever ‘official rank’ he may have held at any given moment, Morsellino came to be viewed as a very respected mafioso. In his later years, he was considered a senior advisor within the Bonanno Family hierarchical structure. By the late 1960s, he was considered the most senior advisor.

Friends in High Places

Despite his suspected deep involvement in the drug trade, throughout the years, Morsellino was able to largely remain as an “unknown” to mob investigators until the advent of the Bonanno conflict.

At that time, various police informants started reporting back to their law enforcement handlers that old man Morsellino was much more than meets the eye.

Subsequently, local and federal surveillance teams started keeping close track of Morsellino and various other members of the warring factions. That's when they began to notice various top-level Bonanno mob figures regularly meeting with Morsellino at his Elmont residence and the Brooklyn cafe he operated.

During the intermittent surveillance of his residence conducted by the FBI, many key Bonanno Family members visited him. These visitors included such heavyweights as the legendary Natale (Joe Diamond) Evola, as well as capos Salvatore (Sally Fruits) Ferrugia, Michael (Mikey Adams) Adamo , Giovanni (The Ambassador) Petrone , and Michael (The Sailor) Casale .

At one time or another, all of these men, and others, converged upon his home and business for advice. Even Joe Bonanno’s notorious longtime underboss Carmine Galante was said to have communicated with Morsellino from behind prison walls through the use of several proxies.

Other close associates of the old man included such mafiosi as Bonanno soldiers Francesco Crociata and Giuseppe (Joe Chick) DiGiovanna; and Joseph (Joe Reese) Schiavo , an old-timer with the Lucchese Family who Morsellino was partners with in a Brooklyn-based dress factory.

Another important contact was Giovanni (John) DiBella, an old friend from Sicily with whom Morsellino had first traveled to America. John DiBella would later gain some prominence as a dominant figure in the mozzarella manufacturing industry when he partnered with boss Joe Bonanno in the famous Grande Cheese Company of Wisconsin.

Side Note: During their 1960s surveillance of the old man, police also discovered that Morsellino generally utilized his nephew Joseph to serve as his daily chauffeur and bodyguard. Better known by his underworld moniker of “Joe Parker” -- Joseph Morsellino was described by the Nassau County Police Department’s Racket Squad as a Bonanno Family associate. He had one arrest for attempting to bribe a policeman.

The Old Wise Man

As mentioned, Morsellino’s standing and value to the borgata became clearly evident during the mid-1960s, when the so-called “Banana War” raged on the streets of New York City and Long Island.

Through constant physical surveillance, strategically placed eavesdropping devices, and several key informants, the FBI eventually discovered that this seemingly innocuous old Sicilian immigrant who resided quietly on Long Island was, in fact, being sorted out by the most important members of the Bonanno borgata for his advice and consultation.

Apparently, Don Vincenzo’s word carried a lot of weight.

Morsellino was so respected that during the height of the Bonanno Family's internal conflict, which waged between opposing factions, top members on both sides -- from rebel faction leaders Gaspare DiGregorio and Paul Sciacca to the official Family boss himself, Joseph Bonanno -- all sought his counsel for help in mediating this bloody conflict that had taken the lives of so many Mafiosi thus far.

Side Note: Morsellino’s cousin was the aforementioned Settimo (Big Sam) Accardi, a notorious narcotics importer and New Jersey-based Genovese Family power until he was later deported back to his native Sicily. Morsellino was also suspected of being related by blood to fellow Bonanno member and future consigliere Michael (Mikey Adams) Adamo.

Banana War Counsel

Investigators eventually came to realize that, in actuality, this 71-year-old nobody was a very important “somebody” indeed.

Morsellino was finally exposed as a “Super Capo” by the Nassau County DA William Cahn who publicly labeled him, “The number one capo in power.”

The aging mafioso, photographed shortly before returning to his native Sicily.

Now, even if that was a bit of an overstatement on the part of the district attorney, it still shows the tremendous influence Morsellino must have wielded at the time to be so named.

Federal agents also believed Morsellino was helping with the transition of power within the Family, while trying to keep the borgata’s continuity and racket operations running smoothly.

In the first week of November, 1969, Morsellino was among several dozen top mobsters -- and described as the highest ranking mafiosi of the Banana bunch -- to be called to testify before a newly empaneled Nassau County Grand Jury formed to investigate the ongoing Bonanno War conflict which had so far taken the lives of five men and had resulted in the disappearance and suspected murder of two more top Family members, Frank (Frankie T) Mari, and Morsellino’s own cousin, Michael (Mikey Adams) Adamo, who investigators described as Mari’s partner.

Back to Sicilia

In time, as the Family stabilized somewhat, Morsellino faded back into the background, retiring to Sicily, where he died in 1986.

In retrospect, Morsellino, like so many other “original” members of the Bonanno Family’s rank and file -- maybe more so than New York’s four other borgata -- seemed to operate off the grid, with a very low-key conservative mindset and operating style.

In fact, most Bonanno Family members were never even identified as such, as clearly indicated by the scant membership list provided by Joe Valachi during the 1963 Senate Hearing.

Their borgata’s operating style was truly an example of Omerta being practiced in its purest form.

Until next time… “The Other Guy”

Secret Bonanno Family Advisor: “Don” Vincenzo (The Old Man) Morsellino

Dive Deeper into the Underworld

Dominick Trinchera and the Three Capos Murder

Sereno (Bobby T) Tartamella

Matteo (Matty) Valvo

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