The Murder Stables

The his­to­ry of the infa­mous East 108th Street sta­bles, and the war between the Neapoli­tan gangs of East Harlem.

History

A col­lec­tion of run-down tim­ber frame struc­tures once stood at the cor­ner of New York’s First Avenue and East 108th Street. A maze built from sheet iron, pack­ing boxes and dis­card­ed house wreck­age. The land housed a board­ing sta­ble encir­cled by a com­bi­na­tion of junk shops and wagon stor­age. Fol­low­ing a series of killings in the loca­tion, they became col­lec­tive­ly known as the “Mur­der Sta­bles”. 1

108th Street and First Avenue
108th Street and First Avenue -1890. (Museum of the City of New York)

In 1898, the Cullen & Dwyer stone and gran­ite com­pa­ny occu­pied the land. Head­ed by quar­ry own­ers, John Cullen and Thomas Dwyer, the busi­ness was involved with numer­ous projects in New York City, includ­ing the con­struc­tion of a new entrance to the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Muse­um of Art. The com­pa­ny erect­ed build­ings and sta­bles in the yard to accom­mo­date its rapid growth. As a per­son­al project, an employ­ee secured part of the land to con­struct a 51ft motor­boat which he later launched in the Harlem River.2

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1914)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1914)

In 1901, Thomas Dwyer left the com­pa­ny, and the stone works were later shut down. John Cullen kept Cullen & Dwyer oper­a­tional as con­tract­ing busi­ness, work­ing from an office on the east side of the block. Cullen later pur­chased the land and passed own­er­ship to his daugh­ters. A 1918 study of their hold­ing showed it yield­ed lit­tle income and stat­ed: “the low frame build­ings are unsight­ly and dan­ger­ous and should be raised. They are a men­ace to the new law ten­e­ments to the west of them.” The esti­mat­ed value of the real estate bare­ly changed over a ten-year peri­od.3

The Stables
The Stables / 1906 Fire / Cullen & Dwyer boat

An Aus­tri­an gov­erness was attacked in June 1905, while mak­ing her way back to her employer’s res­i­dence. She had stopped on East 108th Street to ask for direc­tions when she was dragged inside the sta­bles and robbed of her dia­mond jew­el­ry. Her screams alert­ed the police who arrest­ed Anto­nio Leta­so, a local 22-year-old dri­ver. They also detained the stable’s night­watch­man as a wit­ness. Leta­so received a nine-year sen­tence in Sing Sing prison for the attack.4

In Octo­ber, the entire struc­ture was burnt overnight. Sta­ble man­ag­er, Joseph Barel­la, lost over ten hors­es in the blaze. Occu­pants in neigh­bor­ing build­ings were forced to jump to safe­ty. The total dam­age was esti­mat­ed to be around $5,000.5

In 1906, the sta­bles were destroyed in anoth­er fire that start­ed in a rag shop belong­ing to black­smith Nun­zio Squil­lante. The flames quick­ly spread from East 108th down to East 107th Street. Sev­er­al fire­men were injured try­ing to save the hors­es from the blaze. Once again, the adja­cent res­i­dents were forced to flee and some were injured by fur­ni­ture being urgent­ly tossed from apart­ment win­dows. This time the loss­es were esti­mat­ed at around $10,000.6

The haz­ardous mix of tim­ber shacks, rag stor­age and black­smiths were a clear dan­ger. In April 1909, yet anoth­er fire dam­aged the prop­er­ty. A junk shop and six adjoin­ing rag-filled shacks caught fire. Hun­dreds of rats escaped into the neigh­bor­hood after the fire­men tore up floor­ing to free their Bat­tal­ion Chief who had become trapped. The owner of the destroyed junk shop was Pasqua Musone7, a stocky Neapoli­tan woman who would become a noto­ri­ous fig­ure in East Harlem.

Pasqua Musone

Pasqua Musone made the jour­ney to the US in 1892 at the age of 36. She like­ly trav­eled from the town of Mar­cianise, Cam­pa­nia, twen­ty miles north of Naples.8 In 1895, her daugh­ter Con­cetta was mar­ried to Michelle Lasco, also from Mar­cianise. He ran his own black­smith shop on East 107th Street next to the Cullen & Dwyer stone yard.9 By 1904, Pasqua had start­ed to build her prop­er­ty port­fo­lio. Togeth­er with her son-in-law, she pur­chased prop­er­ty on First Avenue, con­sist­ing of a one-story tim­ber frame build­ing and the adja­cent vacant lot.10

Her pur­chas­es were con­ve­nient­ly locat­ed just south of her home at 345 East 109th Street. She lived with her sec­ond hus­band Pietro Spinel­li, who worked at a fish store locat­ed on the family’s new prop­er­ty. Her chil­dren Tomas­so and Nicol­i­na Lener, were born to her first hus­band Domeni­co Lener who had passed away in Italy. Tomas­so left home in 1907 after he was mar­ried at St. Lucy’s Church on East 104th Street.11

By April 1909, Pasqua was the owner the junk shops con­nect­ed to the East 108th Street sta­bles. In June, she spent $1,000 extend­ing and remod­el­ing an adja­cent prop­er­ty at 2097 First Avenue. It was an old stone struc­ture hous­ing the 300 seat Elena Cin­e­mato­graph the­atre, with the offices of Cullen & Dwyer locat­ed on the sec­ond floor. Pasqua and her hus­band were both involved in the man­age­ment of the the­atre, and by August the fam­i­ly had relo­cat­ed to accom­mo­da­tion above the audi­to­ri­um.12

East 108th & 109th Streets
Pasqua's properties on First Avenue & East 108th Street
East 108th Street plan
Block #1679 plan

Pasqua earnt the sobri­quet of “The Hetty Green of Harlem” for her wealth and thrifty busi­ness man­ner (The real Hetty Green was a rich, miser­ly busi­ness­woman of the era). She was said to walk the same route each day mak­ing per­son­al inspec­tions of her prop­er­ties, trust­ing their man­age­ment to no one.13

On August 24th, while the the­atre improve­ments were being com­plet­ed, Pasqua’s daugh­ter Nicol­i­na mar­ried Gae­tano Napoli­tano. He ran his own butch­er shop in the Bronx hav­ing arrived from Cam­pa­nia in 1897. The pair were wed in a civil cer­e­mo­ny in the City Hall, wit­nessed by Nicolina’s step­fa­ther. Their choice of a civil cer­e­mo­ny upset Pasqua. She pre­vent­ed the pair from liv­ing togeth­er until they were wed in a reli­gious cer­e­mo­ny and Napoli­tano could prove his finan­cial worth.14

Two days after the wed­ding, Pasqua trans­ferred own­er­ship of her First Avenue real estate to her daugh­ter as a gift. How­ev­er, Napoli­tano ended the rela­tion­ship. The press spec­u­lat­ed his fail­ure to secure a dowry and quar­rels with his new mother-in-law had caused him to leave. Eight months later, cen­sus records list­ed him as being sin­gle.15

Nicolina Lener marriage certificate
Nicolina Lener marriage certificate

There was yet anoth­er fire on Jan­u­ary 30th, 1910, caus­ing an esti­mat­ed $1,500 worth of dam­age to the cen­tral sta­bles. The loss was report­ed under Pasqua’s name, reveal­ing her own­er­ship, or at least part-ownership, of the liv­ery busi­ness as well the junk shops. Her the­atre was also fac­ing prob­lems. Although the venue had been grant­ed an enter­tain­ment license, it was referred to the author­i­ties for breach­ing fire reg­u­la­tions. Just months later, a major fire was nar­row­ly avert­ed after police spot­ted two men flee­ing from the build­ing. The stage had been doused in kerosene, but the flames were quick­ly extin­guished before any seri­ous dam­age was done.16

A week later, the the­atre was host­ing a vaude­ville show for around two-hundred patrons when a small explo­sive device was tossed through a win­dow. Pan­icked cries of “Black Hand” caused the excit­ed crowd to rush for the exits, leav­ing sev­er­al peo­ple seri­ous­ly injured in the result­ing stam­pede. The police dis­missed the inci­dent as a prac­ti­cal joke, as the device was sim­i­lar those thrown dur­ing Ital­ian street cel­e­bra­tions.17 Pasqua con­tin­ued with her prop­er­ty invest­ments and began to pur­chase plots out­side of Harlem. In Octo­ber, she acquired land locat­ed next to an old mar­ble quar­ry in the town of Eastch­ester.18

She had more trou­bles in July 1911. The First Avenue fish store where her hus­band Pietro worked was auc­tioned under fore­clo­sure. The clo­sure was like­ly con­nect­ed to a court judge­ment that had been brought against her just weeks ear­li­er. The court rul­ing had ordered one of her prop­er­ties to be vacat­ed, with her debt list­ed as being owed along with Aniel­lo Prisco.19

Prisco was a noto­ri­ous vio­lent crim­i­nal, who lived at 2133 First Avenue on the block adja­cent to the fish store. He was nick­named ‘Zoppo’ (lame) after a gun­fight with ‘Scar-faced Char­lie’ Pan­dolfi shat­tered his leg and left him with a per­ma­nent limp. His fre­quent ter­ror­ism of the neigh­bor­hood led to his nick­name becom­ing a syn­onym for black­mail or bru­tal crimes in East Harlem. A week after his court judge­ment with Pasqua, he was caught car­ry­ing a con­cealed weapon and sen­tenced to six months impris­on­ment.20

Nicolina & Frank Monaco

Fol­low­ing the trou­bles with the the­atre and the clo­sure of the fish store, the fam­i­ly moved back to East 109th Street. Pasqua’s daugh­ter, Nicol­i­na, had pre­vi­ous­ly been roman­ti­cal­ly involved with the crim­i­nal Frank ‘Tough Chick’ Mona­co. Born in the US, his par­ents had arrived from Cam­pa­nia in the 1880s and set­tled in Harlem close to the sta­bles. He was described as the last of a tri­umvi­rate that held the dis­trict in ter­ror and was said to have been a “for­mer Lieu­tenant of Paul Kelly in Harlem.” Accord­ing to the police, the pair would fre­quent­ly quar­rel. Nicol­i­na had lodged com­plaints against Mona­co on sev­er­al occa­sions, but the police took no action as they con­sid­ered it to be a domes­tic prob­lem.21

On Octo­ber 6th, Mona­co, who had recent­ly com­plet­ed his parole from Elmi­ra refor­ma­to­ry, killed an acquain­tance of Nicol­i­na. He chased Michael Bar­baro, a noto­ri­ous horse thief, after spot­ting him loi­ter­ing in his sta­bles. Later that day, he shot Bar­baro three times after meet­ing him in a First Avenue saloon. Mona­co was arrest­ed and held on $5,000 bail.22

After post­ing bail, Mona­co went to Nicolina’s home on East 109th where he was killed in a bru­tal and sus­tained attack that left him with eigh­teen stab wounds. Nicol­i­na walked to the East 104th police sta­tion and calm­ly con­fessed to the mur­der. The police escort­ed her back to her res­i­dence, which was found in a wild state of dis­or­der with Monaco’s body lying on the floor. She was charged with homi­cide and remand­ed in cus­tody by the coro­ner.23

Nicolina’s story was report­ed in the fol­low­ing day’s head­lines. She claimed that sev­er­al months back she had been assault­ed by Mona­co. He had taken her to Westch­ester to help to locate her estranged hus­band but had instead held her cap­tive in a remote build­ing for sev­er­al days. Nicol­i­na stat­ed that she man­aged to escape and made her way back to Harlem. She added that she had killed Mona­co for attempt­ing to steal her family’s sav­ings.24

The author­i­ties were doubt­ful of her story. After per­form­ing the autop­sy at Belle­vue Hos­pi­tal, the coroner’s physi­cian said, “I can­not see how it was pos­si­ble for this girl to find the strength to make the pro­longed fight evi­denced by the man’s con­di­tion … in my opin­ion, no woman of her slight strength could carry through such a fero­cious attack.” An inspec­tion of her cloth­ing revealed they were only light­ly marked, but some­body involved in such a fight should have been heav­i­ly blood stained.25 She also claimed that she had required help locat­ing her estranged hus­band in Westch­ester, but his fam­i­ly address was record­ed on her mar­riage certificate.

There were also prob­lems with her state­ment that she acted alone. Monaco’s body was found pinned under a 400lb safe that she could not have moved by her­self. A wit­ness who passed the apart­ment before the mur­der recalled see­ing four hats placed on a table, but they had all later van­ished. The police thought Nicol­i­na was shield­ing the real killers. They sus­pect­ed she had lured Mona­co to her apart­ment where he was mur­dered in revenge for shoot­ing Bar­baro the horse thief. Despite their con­cerns, the coroner’s court acquit­ted Nicol­i­na and she returned home.26

The police­man who had taken Nicolina’s state­ment re-told the story in 1951.  Describ­ing Nicol­i­na as a pleas­ant and mild-mannered daugh­ter of fish-store owner, he claimed she had lured Mona­co to her home using “coo­ing words” where he was killed for attempt­ing to extort her moth­er.27

Pasqua and her fam­i­ly moved to 335 East 108th Street, direct­ly across from the stable’s entrance. Five rel­a­tives kept the apart­ment under close guard. They received let­ters warn­ing that Monaco’s mur­der would be avenged and threat­ened them with death if they dared to ven­ture out­side. Var­i­ous sta­bles with con­nec­tions to Pasqua were set ablaze. She had want­ed to attend Harlem’s thanks­giv­ing cel­e­bra­tions, but friends advised her it would be too dan­ger­ous. Her iso­la­tion began to make her para­noid and she would often wake at night think­ing some­one had bro­ken into her home.28

In Decem­ber 1911, the Secret Ser­vice were informed that the Ter­ra­no­va broth­ers had opened a black­smith shop “in a shan­ty in 107th Street near 1st Avenue.29 It was most like­ly locat­ed in the same yard as Pasqua’s sta­bles. The Ter­ra­no­va broth­ers were Nico­lo, Vin­cent and Ciro, half-brothers of Giuseppe Morel­lo the recent­ly incar­cer­at­ed ‘boss-of-bosses’ of the US Mafia.

Murder in the Stables

Pasqua felt that her death was inevitable and told her daugh­ter they would both even­tu­al­ly be killed. On March 9th, 1912, she trans­ferred own­er­ship of her land in Eastch­ester to her son Tomas­so.30 Eleven days later she ven­tured out­doors. She made her way over to the sta­bles, reas­sured by the knowl­edge that her hus­band was already on the premis­es. Nicol­i­na was keep­ing watch from her apart­ment win­dow when she spot­ted two men fol­low­ing her moth­er. It was too late to warn her, they shot Pasqua killing her instant­ly and made their escape towards Sec­ond Avenue.31

A large crowd of excit­ed locals tried to force their way into the sta­bles before being dis­persed by the police. Nicol­i­na and her step­fa­ther were taken to the East 104th police sta­tion. A dis­traught Nicol­i­na described the two killers to the police, who rec­og­nized them as being close asso­ciates of the late Frank Mona­co. Twenty-five detec­tives were sent out in search of the killers.32

Two days later the police arrest­ed Luigi Laz­za­zara, a middle-aged horse deal­er and part-owner of the sta­bles. Nicol­i­na had impli­cat­ed him in the mur­der dur­ing her affi­davit, and other wit­ness­es had seen him open the stable’s doors to aid the killer’s escape. How­ev­er, he was even­tu­al­ly released due to lack of evi­dence.33 He was later placed on trial for horse theft and his sta­bles put under sur­veil­lance on the sus­pi­cion it was shel­ter­ing stolen hors­es.34

Horse theft had become so wide­spread that insur­ance com­pa­nies stopped offer­ing poli­cies. One insur­er com­ment­ed “I came to the con­clu­sion that steal­ing hors­es had become an orga­nized insti­tu­tion rather than a pri­vate indus­try.” It was esti­mat­ed that five hors­es and wag­ons, each worth around $800, were stolen every day in New York. The hors­es were dis­guised by trim­ming their manes and tails, and any dis­tinc­tive were marks con­cealed with dye. Sim­i­lar­ly, wag­ons were chopped, recon­fig­ured, and repaint­ed.35 Dur­ing a meet­ing of the Horse Own­ers’ Pro­tec­tive Asso­ci­a­tion in 1913, the orga­niz­er cel­e­brat­ed the decline of horse theft in the city and named the “Laz­za­zarro gang” as hav­ing been key oper­a­tor.36

The next sus­pect to be detained was Aniel­lo ‘Zoppo’ Prisco who had been recent­ly released from prison for a con­cealed weapon charge. He was arrest­ed on June 18th, 1912, after the police had rec­og­nized him from Nicolina’s descrip­tion of her mother’s killers. He was indict­ed for homi­cide and tried by a Grand Jury. How­ev­er, he was dis­missed in Sep­tem­ber after sev­er­al key wit­ness­es failed to appear; includ­ing Nicol­i­na who had fled to Italy for her safe­ty.37

Pasqua’s mur­der remained unsolved. Joe Valachi, who grew up on East 108th Street and was part of the crowd that pushed into the sta­bles, recalled the events in his 1964 mem­oirs. He claimed that Pasqua had killed Mona­co for assault­ing her daugh­ter, and that a Mona­co asso­ciate took revenge after being released from prison . Valachi’s ver­sion of events ties with the facts that Prisco had been in prison at the time of Monaco’s killing and was released short­ly before Pasqua’s mur­der.38

Aniello Prisco

Later that year, Harlem gang­ster Anto­nio ‘Sharkey’ Zarac­ca was involved in shootout with man known as ‘Coney Island’ Joe. Zarac­ca went into hid­ing but was tracked down on Sep­tem­ber 2nd, 1912, and killed in Café Degli on East 109th Street. ‘Coney Island’ Joe and his fel­low attack­ers man­aged to escape the area before the police arrived.39 A month later Prisco was arrest­ed on East 108th Street as sus­pect. He was arraigned before the coro­ner but, once again, dis­charged due to lack of evi­dence.40

The Deputy Police Com­mis­sion­er had received new infor­ma­tion con­nect­ing Prisco to Pasqua’s killing. Anony­mous tip-offs declared that he had been hired for the job by Gio­sue Gal­luc­ci, a pow­er­ful crim­i­nal leader with strong polit­i­cal con­nec­tions. The infor­mants claimed that Gal­luc­ci had been angered by Pasqua’s readi­ness to pass infor­ma­tion to the police since the death of Mona­co.41

At around mid­night on Decem­ber 15th, Prisco walked into Gallucci’s bak­ery on East 109th Street. Short­ly after his arrival, he was fatal­ly wound­ed after being shot by Gallucci’s nephew John Rus­so­mano. On his lawyer’s advice, Gal­luc­ci took his nephew to the coroner’s office, where he casu­al­ly con­fessed to killing Prisco. He claimed the shoot­ing was done in self-defense after Prisco had attempt­ed to rob his uncle at gun point. Rus­so­mano was charged with homi­cide and his bail was set at $5,000, which was speed­i­ly fur­nished by a Harlem real estate deal­er. Five days later the killing was deemed jus­ti­fi­able homi­cide and Rus­so­mano was dis­charged.42

The Dis­trict Attor­ney and the press told a dif­fer­ent ver­sion of events lead­ing to Prisco’s death. They claimed that Prisco had gone to Gal­luc­ci with demands for more money: “You have not been giv­ing me any­thing of what you have been get­ting for some time, I am down and out, I am now a bum”. It was also said that the pair had arranged to recon­vene the fol­low­ing day at a shop belong­ing to Nico­lo Del­Gau­dio. How­ev­er, Gal­luc­ci feigned ill­ness sent one of his men, Anto­nio Vivo­lo, to a the­atre on First Avenue to locate Prisco with instruc­tions for him to meet as his bak­ery.43

Amedio Buonomo

Two months after Prisco’s assas­si­na­tion, his allies retal­i­at­ed. On Feb­ru­ary 18th, 1913, Gal­luc­ci, Rus­so­mano, and Vivo­lo were ambushed out­side of 329 East 109th Street. They were shot with a rifle equipped with a Maxim Silencer, a new device that had been devel­oped in Con­necti­cut. Vivo­lo died instant­ly, Rus­so­mano was wound­ed and sent to Belle­vue Hos­pi­tal. Gal­luc­ci man­aged to escape seri­ous injury when a bul­let passed through his coat sleeve.44

Giosue Gallucci photo
Giosue Gallucci and wife Assunta (center), nephew John Russomano (right,)
and son Luca Gallucci (far right). E 109th St (c.1900)

Gal­luc­ci exact­ed revenge on those con­nect­ed with the attack. Charles Marone, sus­pect­ed of being one of the gun­men, was later killed in a saloon. Nico­lo Del­Gau­dio, whose name was linked to the attack, trav­elled to Naples, and was later shot down after return­ing and demand­ing more money from Gal­luc­ci. The first to be killed was Ame­dio Buonomo, an asso­ciate of Prisco. He was described as a man of impor­tance in Harlem’s Lit­tle Italy, and a “leader of a coterie of men”.45

Lit­tle is known about Buonomo. He was born in 1884, to Gen­eroso Buonomo and Grazia Mora­no. In 1895, he trav­elled to Boston from Pra­to­la Serra, Cam­pa­nia.46 He had appeared briefly in the papers two months after Monaco’s mur­der in 1911, when he was shot in a fight in Thomas Jef­fer­son Park. Twen­ty men, includ­ing some that had trav­elled from Philadel­phia, had agreed to meet in the park for a pre-arranged fight. Wit­ness­es said the bat­tle was a vendet­ta, while oth­ers said it was a fight over a girl. One of those injured was a noto­ri­ous char­ac­ter known as ‘Tough Louie’ Brin­disi who used to run a saloon on Water Street in Bridge­port, Con­necti­cut. Buonomo was taken to the hos­pi­tal, and gave his address as Westch­ester Avenue, a remote and unde­vel­oped part of the Bronx.47

Amedio Buonomo Marriage
Amedio Buonomo marriage certificate

Fol­low­ing Gal­luc­ci’s mur­der of Prisco, Buonomo had pur­chased a chain­mail vest for his per­son­al pro­tec­tion. On April 5th, 1913, he made the fatal mis­take of leav­ing home with­out his armor. He was gunned down on East 113th Street close to Thomas Jef­fer­son Park. Five days later, his impres­sive funer­al pro­ces­sion made its way from his home on Madi­son Avenue. Head­ed by a 42-piece band, it was formed of over hun­dred car­riages and guard­ed by a sim­i­lar num­ber of detec­tives. The police arrest­ed ‘Dia­mond Joe’ Vis­er­ti as a sus­pect for his mur­der. Vis­er­ti was a friend of the Ter­ra­no­va broth­ers who would later make his for­tune in boot­leg­ging. He was even­tu­al­ly released due to a lack of evi­dence. (Vis­er­ti used to live at 335 East 108th Street, the same build­ing as Pasqua. His mar­riage in 1911 was wit­nessed by Antonet­ta Spinel­li, like­ly con­nect­ed to Pasqua.) 48

The police stat­ed there had been six “mys­te­ri­ous street mur­ders”, and ten shoot­ings since the attack on Gal­luc­ci. The press referred to them as a war between the “Russomanno-Gallucci” and “Prisco-Buonomo fac­tions”. The tit-for-tat con­flict con­tin­ued when Joe DeMar­co, was wound­ed on April 14th. DeMar­co was an ally of the Ter­ra­no­va broth­ers and ran the grain and feed store attached to the sta­bles. Two days later, Pietro Mar­ti­no was shot while enter­ing his home on East 117th Street. He had been sus­pect­ed of hir­ing the men who killed Buonomo. Two weeks later, Gallucci’s fac­tion was cred­it­ed with the shoot­ing of three peo­ple out­side the Elena the­atre once man­aged by Pasqua Musone.49

Vice Ring

Prisco’s death trig­gered a wide-ranging inves­ti­ga­tion that would even­tu­al­ly ensnare Gal­luc­ci. NY Dis­trict Attor­ney Whit­man, had setup a homi­cide bureau to inves­ti­gate mur­ders in the city, inter­view­ing wit­ness­es and gath­er­ing evi­dence first­hand: “Some of the more impor­tant con­vic­tions we have been able to obtain have been the direct result of either myself or my assis­tants being prompt­ly on the scene of a crime.50 Assis­tant Dis­trict Attor­ney Mur­phy, was work­ing at the bureau when he opened an inves­ti­ga­tion in Prisco’s death. It would later lead to the dis­cov­ery of a city-wide vice ring “respon­si­ble for about one mur­der a week”.51

Both fac­tions of the war had con­nec­tions to the city’s vice trade. Buonomo’s broth­er, ‘Chica­go Joe’, was part of a “white slave” gang. He was sen­tenced to death in 1912 for killing a woman he had traf­ficked from New York to Chica­go, where he was said to be a friend of vice-king Jim Colosi­mo of the Chica­go mob. Gal­luc­ci was also linked the trade and referred to as “King of the White Slavers”, he ran a broth­el close to his bak­ery on East 109th Street.52

In July, Assis­tant D.A. Mur­phy decid­ed the most suc­cess­ful way to break up the vice ring would be to arrest the lead­ers for gam­bling vio­la­tions. After weeks of plan­ning, twenty-five detec­tives raid­ed pol­i­cy shops in Harlem and Mul­ber­ry Street. Among the forty arrests were Gal­luc­ci and his nephew Rus­so­mano, who were both held for car­ry­ing con­cealed weapons. Gal­luc­ci was released on $10,000 bail while Rus­so­mano was sen­tenced to three to six years at Sing Sing prison.53

Russomano home and arrest
John Russomano home and Sing Sing entry

The Dis­trict Attorney’s office received sev­er­al let­ters of con­grat­u­la­tions. One let­ter signed by Harlem busi­ness own­ers stat­ed: “On last Sat­ur­day a big num­ber of the worst men belong to the worst gang of the world were arrest­ed. The head man of this gang that was also arrest­ed the name is Gesule Lugariel­lo, alias Gal­luc­ci. He is the head man Ital­ian Lot­tery. He is the man who gives the order to his men to kill.” Anoth­er let­ter con­firmed that Gal­luc­ci had been respon­si­ble for the death of Ame­dio Buonomo.54

The Last Vendettas

Two years after the death of Pasqua Musone, the sta­bles were still man­aged by of her old busi­ness part­ner Luigi Laz­za­zara. Although he had been arrest­ed in con­nec­tion with her mur­der, he had man­aged to escape con­vic­tion. He final­ly met his end on Feb­ru­ary 19th, 1914. He was mak­ing his way past 2106 First Avenue when he was stabbed to death by Ange­lo Lasco, a broth­er of Pasqua’s son-in-law. The police found Lasco near­by, drunk, and blood­stained. A detec­tive over­heard him mut­ter­ing to him­self: “Now, I’ve made as mess of this thing”.55

The war had left Gal­luc­ci and his allies with dan­ger­ous enemies.

  • Andrea Ricci was a part­ner of Prisco but had been in jail for horse theft at the time of his friend’s mur­der. He left Harlem and became a leader in the Brook­lyn Navy Street gang and was later ini­ti­at­ed into the Camor­ra.56
  • John Manci­ni, who stole hors­es with Ricci, later became an induct­ed mem­ber of the Coney Island Camor­ra group.57
  • Pel­le­gri­no Mora­no was an uncle of Ame­dio Buonomo. He lived on East 116th Street and ran a liquor store near to Buonomo’s cof­fee shop but was forced to leave Harlem. He later led the Camor­ra group in Coney Island and demand­ed retal­i­a­tion against the Ter­ra­novas for the mur­der of his nephew.58
  • Alessan­dro Vollero, a boss in the Navy Street gang, sought ret­ri­bu­tion for the killing of Nico­lo Del­Gau­dio, his “fel­low towns­man” from Grag­nano, Cam­pa­nia. Anoth­er Navy Street leader from Grag­nano was Leopol­do Lau­ri­tano, he mar­ried Delgaudio’s widow who had sworn a vendet­ta against her husband’s killers.59
  • Andrew Rege, who stole hors­es with Pasqua’s old busi­ness part­ner Luigi Laz­za­zara, relo­cat­ed from Harlem to Brook­lyn. He aided the Navy Street gang with the killing of a Gal­luc­ci asso­ciate.60
Photo of the Navy Street gang
Members and associates of the 'Navy Street' gang celebrating Andrea Ricci's Onomastico.
113 Navy Street, June 27th, 1916. (1. Andrea Ricci 3. Leo Lauritano 4. Alessandro Vollero)

Gal­luc­ci was assas­si­nat­ed in May 1915 in his son’s East 109th Street café. One of the gun­men was Andrea Ricci, Prisco’s old part­ner and then boss of the Navy Street Gang. Gal­luc­ci had been betrayed by his own allies and body­guards who assist­ed the Brook­lyn gang with its first killing. It was pri­mar­i­ly an effort to gain con­trol over his crim­i­nal empire, but many those involved also sought revenge for the deaths of their asso­ciates. Mafiosi Joe Valachi, later recalled Gallucci’s funer­al, describ­ing it as “one of the biggest of all the ones I saw around this time.” The pro­ces­sion was com­prised of 150 car­riages, and the roofs, fire escapes and door­ways along its route were teem­ing with curi­ous onlook­ers.61

Most of the key fig­ures involved in the war were dead or incar­cer­at­ed. The Brook­lyn Camor­ra, who had worked with the Ter­ra­no­va broth­ers to assas­si­nate Gal­luc­ci, con­tin­ued the rela­tion­ship and began work on expand­ing their gam­bling oper­a­tions in the city.

The Stables

Not all the shoot­ings and mur­ders that occurred in the vicin­i­ty of the sta­bles were con­nect­ed to the hos­til­i­ties with Gal­luc­ci. Giuseppe Gan­dol­fo, who had run a wagon busi­ness on the premis­es since 1910, was wound­ed in 1914 for rea­sons unknown.62 For­tu­na­to and Gae­tano Lo Monte, who ran the grain and feed store on the cor­ner of premis­es were both killed in a Mafia war with Toto D’Aquila. Their store then passed to Frank Badola­to, who had run the Ignatz Flo­rio Co-operative with Mafioso Giuseppe Morel­lo.63 Ippoli­to Greco, who ran the sta­bles in 1915, was gunned down out­side the premis­es. He had been con­nect­ed to the killing of Bar­net Baff, a case that spawned the sen­sa­tion­al term “Mur­der Sta­bles” in the head­lines. The car used in the killing of Bar­net Baff was said to have belonged to “Scar-faced Char­lie” Pan­dolfi, the same man who had shat­tered Prisco’s leg in a gun­fight.64

John Cullen, the owner of the land, later con­vert­ed the old sta­bles into a garage. He leased the prop­er­ty to John Rumore, a Morel­lo gang asso­ciate who ran an under­tak­er busi­ness next to the city block.65

Block #1679 in 1930
Block #1679 in 1930 / Photo of the garage entrance from East 107th Street (1934)

The term “mur­der sta­bles” lin­gered in the press for decades to come. In 1939, The New York Sun, used the term in a light-hearted Sat­ur­day quiz, ask­ing its read­ers to name the loca­tion of the infa­mous shacks.66 The entire city block was demol­ished and remod­eled in 1961 as part of the Franklin Plaza project.67

Foot­notes

Foot­notes
1Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. Dec 121915
2New York Times (NYT). Feb 26, 1898. p.10
Insur­ance Maps of the City of New York. Brom­ley, George W. and Brom­ley, Wal­ter S. Atlas of the City of New York Man­hat­tan Island. Plate 40, Part of Sec­tion 6, 1898
New York Tri­bune. Jul 22, 1900. p.14
The Sun. New York. Mar 261905
3NYT. Oct 17, 1901 
New York Tri­bune. Mar 15, 1910
Block sketch­es of New York City. Clara Byrnes. New York: Rad­bridge Co Inc, 144 Pearl St., 1918
New York City Record Office. Annu­al record of assessed val­u­a­tion of real estate in the city of New York. New York. (1906 – 1916
4Evening Telegram. June 12, 1905. p.2
New York, U.S., Sing Sing Prison Admis­sion Reg­is­ters, 1865 – 1939. #55771
5The Boston Globe. Sep 27, 1905
The Sun. New York. Sep 281905
6New York Tri­bune. Jan 8, 1906
NYT. Jan 8, 1906
The Sun. New York. Jan 8, 1906. p.12
7New York Her­ald. Apr 26, 1909. p.6
8Ship: Hin­dous­tan. July 6, 1892. New York, U.S., Arriv­ing Pas­sen­ger and Crew Lists (includ­ing Cas­tle Gar­den and Ellis Island), 1820 – 1957
New York Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate: Man­hat­tan #14403. (Tomas­so Lener)
New York State Pop­u­la­tion Cen­sus, 1905; A.D. 33 E.D. 05; City: Man­hat­tan; Coun­ty: New York. (345 E 109th
9New York Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate: Man­hat­tan #17498 (Con­cetta Lenere)
Trow’s New York City direc­to­ry, 1897 – 1898. p 825
The New York Times. Mar 9, 1898. p.10
U.S., Pass­port Appli­ca­tions. Michele Lasco #74691 1920
10Real estate record and builders’ guide. New York: F. W. Dodge Corp. Vol. 73. March 12,1904. p.567 (2113 – 2115 First Av.)
(Lasco had pre­vi­ous­ly leased the prop­er­ty for his wagon busi­ness in 1899: Trow’s New York City direc­to­ry, 1899 – 1900 /
Real estate record and builders’ guide. vol.64. 1899. p.893)
(The neigh­bor­ing land of 2117 First Av. was briefly acquired at some point later. Shown when Pasqua leased the prop­er­ty: Real estate record and builders’ guide. Vol.76. Sept 2, 1905. p. 383
11New York State Pop­u­la­tion Cen­sus, 1905; A.D. 33 E.D. 05; City: Man­hat­tan; Coun­ty: New York. (345 E 109th)
Hunt, Thomas, ‘Spinelli’s killing sparked Mur­der Sta­ble leg­ends’ The Amer­i­can Mafia, mafiahistory.us, last revised 08 Dec 2021.
NYT. Oct 30, 1911. p.20
New York Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate: Man­hat­tan #14403. (Tomas­so Lener) 
12New York Her­ald. Apr 26, 1909. p.6
Real estate record and builders’ guide. New York: F. W. Dodge Corp. V. 83 June 19, 1909. p.1250
Block sketch­es of New York City. Clara Byrnes. New York: Rad­bridge Co Inc, 144 Pearl St., 1918
New York Her­ald. Mar 22, 1912
New York Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate: Man­hat­tan #17326. (Nicol­i­na Lener)
Unit­ed States Cen­sus of 1910, New York State, New York Coun­ty. W 12, ED 339. (2097 First Av.)
New York Tri­bune. Mar 15, 1910. p.1
13New York Daily Tri­bune. Mar 21. 1912 p.2
14New York Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate: Man­hat­tan #17326. (Nicol­i­na Lener)
1910 Unit­ed States Fed­er­al Cen­sus. New York. Bronx. AD 32, ED 1469. (1739 Zegra Av.)
New York Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate: Man­hat­tan #14403. (Tomas­so Lener)
NYT. Mar 21, 1912. p.1
15The Sun. New York. Oct 30, 1911. p.2
The Sun. New York. Mar 21, 1912. p.3
NYT. Oct 30, 1911. p.20
Real estate record and builders’ guide. New York: F. W. Dodge Corp. v. 84 Jul-Dec 1909 Index. p.460
(The con­veyance was like­ly made as a gift. It request­ed a mort­gage around 70% lower than the prop­er­ties esti­mat­ed value: New York (City Record Office. Annu­al record of assessed val­u­a­tion of real estate in the city of New York. New York. (1906 – 1911
16New York Her­ald. Feb 1, 1910. p.14
Enter­tain­ment license grant­ed to Aris­tide Car­bone: The City Record: Offi­cial Jour­nal. New York: V.37. Oct 6, 1909. p.1
The City Record: Offi­cial Jour­nal. New York: V.38. Jan 5, 1910. p.87
New York Her­ald. March 9, 1910. p.8
17New York Her­ald. Mar 15, 1910. p.4
York Dra­mat­ic Mir­ror. Mar 26, 1910. p.8
New York Tri­bune. Mar 15, 1910. p.1
18Unit­ed States, New York Land Records, 1630 – 1975. Westch­ester. Grantor index (Eastch­ester) 1898 – 1931.
The Daily Argus. Oct 51910
19Real estate record and builders’ guide. New York: F. W. Dodge Corp. V.88. Jul 8, 1911. p.22 & Jul 15, 1911. p.60
Real estate record and builders’ guide. New York: F. W. Dodge Corp. V.88. Jul 8, 1911. p.37
NYT. Jul 6, 1911. p.17 c7
20The Evening World. Dec 16, 1912
The New York Press. Dec 16, 1912. New York Death Cer­tifi­cate. Man­hat­tan #35154
New York Evening World. Dec 16, 1912
NYT. Dec 171912
21Unit­ed States Cen­sus of 1910, New York State, New York Coun­ty. W 12, ED 286. (2066 First Av.)
New York State Pop­u­la­tion Cen­sus, 1905; City: Man­hat­tan; Coun­ty: New York (400 E107th St.)
New York Evening World. Oct 30, 1911
The Sun. New York. May 24, 1909
NYT. Oct 30, 1911. p.20
22New York Evening World. Oct 31, 1911
The Sun. New York. May 24, 1909
1910 Unit­ed States Fed­er­al Cen­sus. Elmi­ra, Chemu­ng, New York. W 7, ED 28. (Inmate Frank Monaco) 
23NYT / New York Evening World / The New York Call / The Sun. New York / Oct 301911
24Ibid.
25NYT / New York Evening World / The New York Call / The Sun. New York / Oct 30, 1911
New York Her­ald / New York Evening World / Oct 31, 1911
New York Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate: Man­hat­tan #17326. (Nicol­i­na Lener) 
26New York Her­ald / New York Evening World / Oct 31, 1911
NYT. Mar 211912
27Brook­lyn Daily Eagle. Jun 191951
28The New York Press. Mar 21, 1912. p.1 & 3
New York Her­ald. Mar 221912
29U.S. Nation­al Archives and Records Admin­is­tra­tion, RG 87, Daily Reports of Unit­ed States Secret Ser­vice Agents, William Flynn Vol. 33. Dec 121911.
30The New York Press. Mar 21, 1912. p.3
Unit­ed States, New York Land Records, 1630 – 1975. Westch­ester. Grantor index (Eastch­ester) 1898 – 1931
31New York Her­ald. Mar 21, 1912
The New York Press. Mar 21, 1912. p.1
32New York Her­ald. Mar 21, 221912
33New York, New York, City Direc­to­ry, 1911
New York Her­ald. Mar 24, 1912
The Sun. New York. Mar 23, 1912
New York Tri­bune. Feb 20, 1914. p.1
34New York Tri­bune. Feb 20, 1914. p.1
NY Court of Gen­er­al Ses­sions. 1912. #91763 The Peo­ple vs. Andrew Rege and Luigi Lazzazzara
35NYT. Apr 23, 1911. p.9
36NYT. Apr 7, 1913. p.2
37The Evening Telegram. Oct 3, 1912. p.9
The New York Evening World. Oct 3, 1912. p.13
Waausau Daily Her­ald. Dec 23, 1912
The Peo­ple of The State of New York vs Aniel­lo Prisco. #89082 (Dock­et) 9 Aug 1912
38Man­u­script Files Relat­ed to ‘The Real Thing: The Expose and Inside Doings of Costa Nos­tra’, 19641964. John F. Kennedy Library
39New York Her­ald. Sep 3, 1912
New York Tri­bune. Sep 3, 1912. p.2
40New York Call. Oct 4, 1912. p.3
Brook­lyn Daily Eagle. Dec 16, 1912. p.4
41The Evening Telegram. Oct 3, 1912. p.9
NYMA, DA Record of Cases #95249, The Peo­ple vs. John Rus­so­mano (Memo in ref­er­ence to the char­ac­ter of the defendant.) 
42New York Sun. Dec 17, 1912. p.16.
New York Tri­bune. Dec 17, 1912. p.16.
The Evening News. Dec 17, 1912.
Waausau Daily Her­ald. Dec 23, 1912
Unit­ed States Cen­sus of 1910, New York State, New York Coun­ty. W 12, ED 327. (Sal­va­tore Mar­i­ano 2207 First Av.)
New York Her­ald. Dec 20, 1912. p.8
43Court of Gen­er­al Ses­sions for New York Coun­ty, The Peo­ple of the State of New York against John Rus­so­mano. March 20, 1914
NYMA, DA Record of Cases #95249, The Peo­ple vs. John Rus­so­mano (Memo in ref­er­ence to the char­ac­ter of the defen­dant.)
The Fort Wayne Jour­nal Gazette. Dec 12, 1915.
Anto­nio Capalongo’s real name was Anto­nio Vivo­lo – con­firmed in pri­vate communication.
44The Evening World. Feb 18, 1913. p.9
NYMA, DA Record of Cases #95249, The Peo­ple vs. John Rus­so­mano (Memo in ref­er­ence to the char­ac­ter of the defendant.) 
45New York Her­ald. Dec 6, 1913. p.7
New York Tri­bune. Oct 20, 1914
Court of Appeals. The Peo­ple of the State of New York against Alessan­drio Vollero, Case on Appeal. Vol 1. (1918) 226/587 PT1. p.473
The Evening World. Apr 11, 1913. p.10
The New York Her­ald. Apr 11, 1913. p.20
46Ship: Tar­tar Prince. Mar 26, 1900. New York, U.S., Arriv­ing Pas­sen­ger and Crew Lists (includ­ing Cas­tle Gar­den and Ellis Island), 1820 – 1957.
47Utica Her­ald Dis­patch. Dec 19, 1911. p.1
Bridge­port Evening Farmer. Dec 23, 1911. p.1
The Sun. New York. Dec 19, 1911. p.1
48The New York Her­ald. Apr 6 & 10 & 11, 1913
The Evening World. Apr 11, 1913. p.10
The Sun. New York. Apr 30, 1913. p.5
New York Evening World. Apr 29, 1913
Mar­riage Cer­tifi­cate (Man­hat­tan) #21340
49The Sun. New York. Apr 19, 1913
The New York Her­ald. Apr 17, 1913
The Sun. New York. Apr 19, 1913
The New York Her­ald. Jul 21, 1916. p.1
NYT. Apr 27, 1913
Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. Dec 121915
50New York Her­ald. Oct 5, 1913. Third Sec­tion. p.3
51The Times Demo­c­rat. Aug 2, 1913. p.3
52The Berk­shire Evening Eagle. Oct 29, 1912. p.3
New York Tri­bune. Oct 24, 1912. p.2
U.S. Nation­al Archives and Records Admin­is­tra­tion, RG 87, Daily Reports of Unit­ed States Secret Ser­vice Agents, William Flynn. Vol.29 (Mar 8, 1910)
New York Tri­bune. May 231915
53The Times Demo­c­rat. Aug 2, 1913. p.3
The Evening World. Jul 26, 1913
New York Her­ald. May 18, 1915. p.7
New York, Sing Sing Prison Admis­sion Reg­is­ters, 1865 – 1939. #64408
Court of Gen­er­al Ses­sions for New York Coun­ty, The Peo­ple of the State of New York against John Rus­so­man­no. Mar 201914
54 NYMA, DA Record of Cases #95249, The Peo­ple vs. John Rus­so­mano (Memo in ref­er­ence to the char­ac­ter of the defendant.)
55NYT / New York Tri­bune / New York Her­ald. Feb 20. 1914
Ship: Citta Di Milano. Dec 10, 1902. New York, U.S., Arriv­ing Pas­sen­ger and Crew Lists (includ­ing Cas­tle Gar­den and Ellis Island), 1820 – 1957
U.S., World War I Draft Reg­is­tra­tion Cards, 1917 – 1918. Ange­lo Lasco #A2122
56The Brook­lyn Daily Times. Nov 14, 1917. p.1
Court of Appeals. The Peo­ple of the State of New York against Ange­lo Gior­dano, Record on Appeal. Court of Gen­er­al Ses­sions. 231/633 PT1. People’s exhib­it #1 (State­ment of Leopol­do Lau­ri­tano. Mar 271918
57Court of Appeals. The Peo­ple of the State of New York against Alessan­drio Vollero, Case on Appeal. Vol 1. (1918) 226/587 PT1
58Unit­ed States Cen­sus of 1910, New York State, New York Coun­ty. W 12, ED 323. (306 East 116th)
Trow’s New York City direc­to­ry, Aug 1910. p 1029 “Beer 2218 2d Av”
Critch­ley, David (2009) The Ori­gin of Orga­nized Crime in Amer­i­ca: The New York City Mafia, 1891 – 1931. New York: Rout­ledge. p.111, 113
The New York Her­ald. Apr 10, 1913. p.1
59The Daily Stan­dard Union Brook­lyn. Mar8, 1918. p.9
New York Mar­riage cer­tifi­cate: Man­hat­tan #123324
The Stan­dard Union Oct 12, 1916. p.3
60NY Court of Gen­er­al Ses­sions. 1912. #91763 The Peo­ple vs. Andrew Rege and Luigi Laz­zaz­zara
Evening World. Nov 17, 1916. p.19
61Court of Appeals. The Peo­ple of the State of New York against Ange­lo Gior­dano, Record on Appeal. Court of Gen­er­al Ses­sions. 231/633 PT1. People’s exhib­it #1 (State­ment of Leopol­do Lau­ri­tano. Mar 27, 1918)
Critch­ley. The Ori­gin of Orga­nized Crime in Amer­i­ca: The New York City Mafia. 111
The Barre Daily Times. May 18, 1915
Man­u­script Files Relat­ed to ‘The Real Thing: The Expose and Inside Doings of Costa Nos­tra’, 19641964. John F. Kennedy Library
NYT. May 25, 1915. p.10
62New York Tri­bune. Apr 10, 1914. p.2
Polk’s (Trow’s) New York copart­ner­ship and cor­po­ra­tion direc­to­ry, bor­oughs of Man­hat­tan and Bronx. New York. 1910. p.310
63Warn­er, San­ti­no, Van‘t Riet. Early New York Mafia An Alter­na­tive The­o­ry. The Informer. May 2014. Thomas Hunt.
R.L. Polk & Co.‘s Trow gen­er­al direc­to­ry of New York City. New York City direc­to­ry, 1916. p.211
The Ignatz Flo­rio Co-Operative Asso­ci­a­tion Among Cor­leone­si. Cer­tifi­cate of Incor­po­ra­tion. 1902 
64New York Her­ald, Oct 8, 1915. p.1
New York Tri­bune. Oct 28, 1919. p.22
65The Brook­lyn Daily Eagle. Dec 17, 1922. p.42
The Sun. New York. Aug 2, 1924. p.16
66The New York Sun. Nov 11, 1939. p.14
67https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/1/1678/1#15.8/40.790775/-73.935674