![]() In last year’s federal indictment, Ralph Santaniello, Francesco Depergola, Giovanni “Johnny Cal” Calabrese, and Richard Valentini, are accused of taking part in Morel’s extortion. (Arillotta went to prison in 2011 for Bruno’s murder.)Īlong with Arillotta, Santaniello and Calabrese considered themselves the heirs to Al Bruno’s extortion rackets, which towing company owner and city contractor Craig Morel had formerly paid to the slain boss. After Bruno’s murder, one of the soldiers from his generation, Felix Tranghese, a first cousin, once removed, of Skyball’s, testified that he was “‘shelved’ by a group of young upstarts in 2006,” when Anthony Arillotta ran the Crew. The competitive trend for control of the Springfield Crew accelerated after this. A couple years before his death, he handed over leadership to Anthony Delevo, skipping his longtime second in command, Al Bruno. ![]() Skyball (whose family was from Quindici) succeeded him and like Cufari, died an old man, of natural causes. Sam Cufari (a Calabrian by birth), Springfield boss since the 1940s, continued to captain the Springfield Crew even after suffering a stroke, and remained its captain until his death at 82. His ancestors on his father’s side are also from Bracigliano. Albert Calvanese (left) is Amedeo and Anna Santaniello’s nephew, and Ralph’s cousin, on his mother’s side. The current boss continues this tradition. The history of Mafia leadership in Springfield, Massachusetts, is full of immigrants from these two towns. Together, they constitute a ground zero of the Camorra, where families have been waging bloody feuds for generations. ![]() The Santaniello and DeCaro families are from the neighboring town of Bracigliano. ![]() The Scibelli family are from Quindici, in Naples. Victor’s body was pulled from the Connecticut River on the third of July, 1972. According to the police, DeCaro was having an affair with the most recent wife of their boss, “Big Nose Sam” Cufari, and had not heeded verbal warnings from Skyball. His father in law dropped him off at work one day, and he was never seen alive again. After he was released on parole in 1971, he managed a lounge in Agawam. Soon after their wedding, Victor was found guilty of manslaughter and served three years. Victor was married to Adele Scibelli, the daughter of Francesco “Frankie Skyball” Scibelli. The Santaniello family returned to Springfield after Bruno’s death.Īnna Santaniello, Amadeo’s wife, is the sister of Victor DeCaro. Amadeo and Al had what Barry calls a “nuclear falling out” a few years after this, and Amadeo moved his family to Florida. Amadeo, his brother, Italo, and their wives pleaded guilty to conducting an illegal interstate gambling business under Big Al’s leadership, in 1988. Ralph is the son of Amedeo Santaniello, who was a long time second in command to Al Bruno. Calvanese remains untouched by the federal investigation that has resulted in the arrests of five Springfield area men, last year, on charges of loansharking and extortion.Ĭhief among them is Ralph Santaniello (right), identified at the time of the arrests as the ad hoc leader of the Springfield Crew. Instead, Barry has identified Albert Calvanese as the Crew’s most recent captain. Republican reporter Stephanie Barry wrote in May of this year: "Street sources say the city's so-called ‘new regime’ has reconciled his potential return because Arillotta's testimony didn't cause trouble for any of them, and that Arillotta was backed into a corner by federal investigators."īut the man who killed Big Al Bruno (photo above) and took control of the Springfield Crew in 2003 has not returned to leadership. Not among those charged: the Crew’s current reputed leader, Albert Calvanese.Īs unusual as it was when Springfield Crew captain Anthony Arillotta turned government’s witness, it was stranger still when he ended Witness Protection with his release from prison, and returned to Springfield. Five associates and members of the Springfield Crew, including its former captain, Ralph Santaniello, are facing federal charges following last year’s arrests. Its ties to the Neapolitan Camorra may be equally old. The city of Springfield, Massachusetts, has a hundred-year long relationship with the Genovese Crime Family of New York.
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