Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila (; November 7, 1873 – October 10, 1928) was an early

Italian-American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society and organized crime group. The terms Italian Mafia and Italian Mob apply t ...

boss in

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of the D'Aquila crime family, what would later become known as the

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. ...

Early life and career

Salvatore D'Aquila was born on November 7, 1873, in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

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, to Salvatore D'Aquila and his wife Provvidenza Gagliardo. D'Aquila emigrated to the

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in 1906 and became an early captain within the Morello crime family in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

. D'Aquila was arrested in 1906 and in 1909; both times the charges were dropped.D'Aquila, Salvatore "Toto" (1873–1928)

The American "Mafia"
' In 1910, boss of bosses Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello was imprisoned and Salvatore D'Aquila separated from the Morello family. D'Aquila formed his own crime family and was appointed the new '' capo dei capi''. His crime family operated from East Harlem and the Bronx, where he rivaled the Morellos. D'Aquila expanded his crime family's power into

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and southern Manhattan's

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

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neighborhoods. The most prominent members of the D'Aquila family were Umberto Valenti, Manfredi Mineo, Giuseppe Traina, and Frank Scalise. In 1920, after Giuseppe Morello was released from prison, D'Aquila tried to have him and his closest allies murdered. In 1925, D'Aquila moved back into the Bronx.

Death

On October 10, 1928, D'Aquila was shot dead on Avenue A in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, aged 54. After his murder, D'Aquila's family was taken over by Manfredi Mineo.

References

Citations Sources * * * *

External links

D'Aquila biography on ''The American Mafia'' website

La Cosa Nostra Database "Salvatore D'Aquila"
*
''Struggle for Control'' – The Gangs of New York
article by Jon Black at ''GangRule.com''
1928 D'Aquila photos
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Aquila, Salvatore 1873 births 1928 deaths Bosses of the Gambino crime family Burials at St. John's Cemetery (Queens) Capo dei capi Deaths by firearm in Manhattan Gambino crime family Murdered American gangsters of Italian descent Murdered Gambino crime family members People of Sicilian descent Gangsters from Palermo People murdered in New York City American gangsters of the interwar period People murdered in 1928 Italian emigrants to the United States

Early life and career

Death

See also

References

External links