Ignazio Lupo

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Ignazio Lupo bigraphy, stories - American mob boss

Ignazio Lupo : biography

March 19, 1877 – January 13, 1947

Ignazio Lupo (March 19, 1877 – January 13, 1947), also known as Ignazio Saietta and Lupo the Wolf, was a Sicilian-American Black Hand leader in New York City during the early 1900s. His business was centered in Little Italy, Manhattan, where he ran large extortion operations and committed other crimes including robberies, loan-sharking, and murder. By the start of the 20th century, Lupo merged his crew with others in the South Bronx and East Harlem to form the Morello crime family, which became the leading Mafia family in New York City.

Suspected of at least 60 murders he was not caught by authorities until 1910, when the Secret Service arrested him for running a large scale counterfeiting ring in the Catskills. After serving 10 years of a 30 year sentence he was "retired" by the emerging National Crime Syndicate.

Sources

  • Critchley, David. The Origin of Organized Crime: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931. New York, Routledge, 2008.
  • Dash, Mike. The First Family: Terror, Extortion and the Birth of the American Mafia. London, Simon & Schuster, 2009.
  • Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. Facts on File Inc., 2005.

In popular culture

  • There is a character called "Ignaz the Wolf" in author Damon Runyon’s short story "Too Much Pep".

Morello crime family

In 1902, Giuseppe Morello acquired a saloon at 8 Prince Street, at the rear of the premises where Lupo was running his saloon.Critchley, pp. 37-40. Morello had immigrated to the United States from Sicily in the 1890s and had been joined by his three half brothers Vincenzo Terranova, Ciro Terranova and Nicholas Morello.Crtichley, pp. 51-54. Lupo became closely associated with the Morello-Terranova faction and eventually married into their immediate family when he wed Salvatrice Terranova on December 23, 1903.Crtichley, pp. 51-54. He maintained his leadership over his Little Italy based interests, but in the early 1900s Lupo merged his Mafia faction with the Morello-Terranova faction, which basically formed what became known as the Morello crime family, then the leading Mafia family in New York City. Lupo kept his base of operations in Little Italy, but shared the overall leadership of the crime family with Giuseppe Morello from his base in East Harlem, while various members of their group including Morello’s half brothers led the affiliated groups and ran the rackets with soldiers like Giuseppe Fanaro, Giuseppe "Joe" Catania Sr., Charles Ubriaco and Tommaso "The Ox" Petto, a top enforcer and killer within the crime family. Lupo demanded absolute obedience from the members of his crew—for example, he killed one of his relatives just because he merely suspected he was a traitor. His reputation became so fearsome that it was common for Italian immigrants to cross themselves at the mention of his name.

Crimes committed and jail time

Lupo was suspected of at least 60 murders, and may have killed many more. He was a suspect in the killing on July 23, 1903 of Giuseppe "Joseph" Catania and in the April 14, 1903 barrel Murder of Madonia Benedetto. However, he was never caught until 1910, when the Secret Service arrested him for running a large scale counterfeiting ring in the Catskills. He was sentenced to 30 years and imprisoned in Atlanta Prison, at the US National Archive index of inmates of Atlanta prison but was granted parole on June 30, 1920.

While serving out the conditions of parole, Lupo wanted to take a trip to Italy. He claimed it was "highly important" and purposes of "business." He also claimed the trip would be quite "brief." The only problem was that the Parole Act forbade him from leaving the country. So, on October 29, 1921, Warren Harding freed Lupo from the constraints of his parole by granting a conditional commutation of sentence. The Annual Report of the Attorney General for 1922 mentioned Lupo’s desire to return to Italy but also noted that his codefendant, Giuseppe Morello, had received a commutation after just eight years of actual imprisonment. The former Chief of the Selective Service considered the relative guilt of the two men to be, roughly, the same and thus recommended a commutation for Lupo. Annual Report of the U.S. Attorney General, 1922, page 400.