Name: Giuseppe DiCarlo
The boss of the Italian underworld at the time of DiCarlo’s arrival was Angelo Palmeri. He was not a violent man, however, and many underworld figures from opposing Sicilian villages were able to operate independently because Palmeri refused to get into open warfare. DiCarlo came in as a respected underworld leader with contacts such as the powerful Manzella brothers operating in Buffalo expecting his arrival. Once settled down, he approached Palmeri with a plan to take over and completely organize the Italian underworld. As a result, DiCarlo became the boss, and Palmeri became his quiet but very liked and respected advisor. This relationship between DiCarlo Sr. and Palmeri created peace between two of the largest feuding Sicilian groups on the West Side or in the declining Little Italy – those from Castellammare and those from Valledolmo. Together, from the DiCarlo-Palmeri Saloon, they took over the Italian district and the labor rackets on the docks. Workers would drink and hangout at their Saloon. When ships came in to the harbor, the captain would approach DiCarlo at the saloon and ask for workers to handle the freight. DiCarlo would then supply whichever Italian workers he chose. He became the king of the docks in Buffalo and was able to venture with this money into other areas like gambling and then drug dealing through the activities of his sons.
Angelo Palmeri moved to the Castellammarese community in Niagara Falls shortly after DiCarlo’s dominance over the underworld in Buffalo and left much of the City to DiCarlo. As a result, DiCarlo became a respected man in other national Sicilian communities as well. He was involved with many early mafia disputes in both Detroit and Cleveland and was close with several Mafiosi from New York City. He controlled nearly everything in Little Italy in the community’s final days. He was also a landowner who sold West Side property to his countrymen when more Sicilians and Southern Italians arrived.
In 1921 and 1922, the Castellammarese underworld was making noise and preparations for an arrival from the young but respected Stefano Magaddino, who was helping lead a clan in New York City. DiCarlo lost his wife and a huge funeral commenced; his days were becoming very stressful, and eventually in ’22, Magaddino arrived. Magaddino stayed with Palmeri’s Castellammarese community that had heavily moved to Niagara Falls where warring villages played less of an impact on Italian life than on the violent streets of the big city. DiCarlo remained the boss of Buffalo but could count on the Castellammarese any more. DiCarlo died in 1922 as a neighborhood leader, not long after Magaddino had come to Buffalo.
Nicknames: Joe
Born: ???
Died: 1922
Biography:
Joe DiCarlo came to Buffalo in 1912 from New York City and Valledolmo, Sicily. He was a respected underworld leader form his old region not far outside of Palermo. When he came to Buffalo’s Little Italy, the former Canal District, he entered a fragmented and violent neighborhood. Buffalo was made up of immigrant colonies from many villages and towns across Sicily and Southern Italy; the immigrant communities in Buffalo had immense loyalty to the same village or town that they descended from. As a result, the established Buffalo citizens oppressed the Italian community as a whole because they couldn’t be organized successfully without avoiding raised tensions between feuding villages.