Alfred Mineo
| Manfredi Mineo | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1880 Palermo, Sicily, Italy |
| Died | November 5, 1930 (aged 49–50) Bronx, New York, United States |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Other names | Alfred or Al Mineo |
| Occupation | Crime boss, mobster |
| Allegiance | Mineo Crime Family |
Manfredi "Al" or "Alfred" Mineo (pronounced "mee-NAY-oh") (1880 – November 5, 1930) was a Brooklyn-based New York mobster, who headed a strong American Mafia crime family during the Castellammarese War. Mineo's organization would eventually become the present-day Gambino crime family.
In the early part of the 20th century, New York had five Sicilian crime families. With the imprisonment of powerful Sicilian Mafia boss Giuseppe Morello in 1910, Salvatore D'Aquila, one of Morello's chief captains, immediately emerged as the new chief Mafia power in New York City, mostly in East Harlem and Little Italy (in southern Manhattan), but he also led a faction in Brooklyn that was headed locally by Mineo. D'Aquila had assumed the title from Morello of Capo di tutti capi or Boss of Bosses. D'Aquila's family, with Mineo's Brooklyn faction included, reigned supreme through the 1910s. However, upon the advent of prohibition other Mafia crime families and also non-mafia operations began to gain power and influence and cemented their positions around the city. One of these crime families was the former Morello crime family, which had been taken over by Joseph "Joe the Boss" Masseria around 1920. Former boss Giuseppe Morello was released from prison approximately the same time and quickly aligned himself with Joe Masseria against boss Toto D'Aquila and his underbosses, including Mineo.
Manfredi Mineo would continue his rise within the New York Mafia and eventually become D'Aquila's second in command or underboss of all his operations while still leading his own family in Brooklyn as a D'Aquila faction. As rivalries and animosity grew between the D'Aquila and Masseria families, Mineo would eventually find himself in a precarious position. D'Aquila had previously sentenced Morello to death upon his release from prison, along with his ally Umberto Valenti, but through the intervention of Pittsburgh Mafia leader, Nicola Gentile, the death sentence on Morello and Valenti was revoked. With Valenti now in his debt, D'Aquila used this opportunity to recruit the feared Mafia leader in order to oppose the new Masseria-Morello alliance. Al Mineo faced the chance of losing power and influence within the D'Aquila crime family to Valenti, but in 1922 Valenti was murdered by Masseria-Morello forces. By the mid-1920s Mineo and his top lieutenant Steve Ferrigno began to assess their position within the D'Aquila organization, and understood at this time that the new power in New York was Joe Masseria, so Mineo secretly began to align himself with Masseria.
...
Wikipedia