Agueci Brothers

"Albert and Vito Agueci", also known as the Agueci Brothers, were Sicilian mafiosi who were involved with the "French Connection" in smuggling heroin from Canada into the United States during the 1950s. While Albert Agueci would become known for his torture-murder in 1961 by members of the Magaddino crime family, Vito Agueci would eventually end up spending time in the same Atlanta Federal Penitentiary as New York boss Vito Genovese and his underling, Joseph "Joe Cago" Valachi who was a former member of the Agueci brothers' heroin network until he was arrested along with the Agueci brothers and all the members of their operation in 1961. Vito would harbour ill feelings towards Valachi while they were in prison and would conspire to have him killed by lying to Valachi's boss, Genovese.

Early life and involvement in the French Connection

Born in Sicily, the Agueci brothers immigrated to Canada following World War II and used a Toronto bakery for their base of operations. The Agueci brothers, Alberto and Vito, were both Buffalo crime family members and held the rank of soldier. Their main partner in the heroin operation was Hamilton mobster, Buffalo crime family capo, and Ontario Don, John "Johnny Pops" Papalia, who had connections to the Cotroni crime family in Montreal and to the Genovese and Bonanno crime families in New York. [Humphreys, p. 40-46, 106-108] The Aguecis and Papalia ran a branch of the famous "French Connection" heroin ring which was controlled at the time by the French-Corsican Mob or Unione Corse, which obtained opium base from Turkey and Afghanistan and converted it into heroin in clandestine laboratories in France and Corsica. The Unione Corse had many French- and Corsican-born Italian members who had affiliations to some of the biggest mafia bosses in Italy and North America and sold most of their heroin to the Sicilian mafia, including Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Frank "Fingers" Coppola, Nicola "Cola" Gentile, Salvatore Greco, Giuseppe Settecase, Salvatore and Angelo La Barbera, and Luciano Leggio. [Humphreys, p. 104-108 WARNING: Wrong reference, see ]

Alberto Agueci specialized in importing heroin from Sicily by hiding 10-20 kilo loads in the false bottoms of trunks and suitcases, while having them brought over by unsuspecting immigrants and vacationers who booked passage of their trip through a travel agency in Sicily, the owner of which was associated with Alberto Agueci. Johnny Papalia was an associate of Bonanno crime family Boss, Carmine "Lilo" Galante, Cotroni crime family boss, Vincent "Vic the Egg" Cotroni and his brothers, Giuseppe "Pep" and Francesco "Frank/Le Gros" Cotroni, who were the middlemen or overseers for the heroin shipped from Sicily into North America by way of the Montreal, Canada, ports and was able to buy heroin from them as well. Once the heroin reached the Aguecis and Papalia in Canada they would contact their associates and main customers in the Genovese crime family, Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo, Vincent Mauro, Frank "Frankie the Bug" Caruso, and Joseph "Joe Cago" Valachi to inform then the heroin had arrived and was being prepared for its transport to New York, the largest heroin market in North America.

Cooperation with the Magaddino crime family

The Papalia-Agueci Group also worked closely with their own Buffalo crime family and with some of its top members in the distribution of heroin in the United States. With the permission of Boss Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino and the help of his top lieutenants, Frederico "Freddie Lupo/The Wolf" Randaccio and Pasquale "Pat Titters" Natarelli (who oversaw the Canadian operations of the Buffalo crime family), and Salvatore "Samuel Johns" Pieri and John "Johnny Ray" Pieri (who oversaw the Buffalo crime family's heroin distribution operations throughout Western New York, the Ohio Valley, and Eastern Pennsylvania through their connections to members of the Colombo crime family of New York, the Scalish crime family of Cleveland] and the Bufalino crime family of Eastern Pennsylvania). [Humphreys, p. 70-71] The Papalia-Agueci Group had customers in Toronto and other areas of Southern Ontario such as Guelph, but had to export most of their heroin to the United States not only because they were aligned with the American crime families, but because they were not big distributors of heroin in the Southern Ontario area being that their group was being overshadowed by a rival group based in Toronto that had direct ties to the Sicilian mafia. The Zizzo-Indelicato Group in Toronto was led by Benedetto Zizzo, the brother of Salemi, Trapani mafia Boss, Salvatore Zizzo and Giuseppe Indelicato from Siculiana, Agrigento who was an underling of mafia Boss, Giuseppe Settecase and a member of the Cuntrera-Caruana family. [Lamothe & Nicaso, p. 26-28, 204 & 206] The direct access to the Sicilian mafia groups that controlled the importation of heroin and eventually controlled the clandestine heroin laboratories in Sicily made the Zizzo-Indelicato Group much better connected and influential than the Papalia-Agueci group. Their early success in New York State, not to mention the greed of Stefano Magaddino who demanded a big cut of the profits made in the operation encouraged the Agueci brothers and John Papalia to make as much money as they could by expanding the amount of heroin they imported. Stefano Magaddino's greed was legendary and he proved this to the Papalia-Aguecci Group by ordering them to take a heroin order of 5 kilos on consignment from the competition, the Zizzo-Indelicato Group and not pay them. [Humphreys, p. 108, 118, 124]

Downfall

In early 1961, the Papalia-Agueci Group was in the process of importing a large shipment of heroin that would have allowed them to undercut their rivals and become top heroin distributors in the Southern, Ontario, Western, New York area and quite possibly put them on the map in the global heroin trade with one master stroke, but the leaders of the Agueci-Papalia group, Alberto Agueci and John Papalia ran into legal trouble. Johnny Papalia was the Buffalo crime family capo in charge of all Southern Ontario operations and Johnny had been trying to acquire a piece of the highly lucrative gambling operations of independent Toronto gambler, Maxwell "Maxie Bluestein" Baker who controlled the top betting operation in Toronto which took in $30,000 a day in bets. [Humphreys, p. 84] Johnny gave Maxie Bluestein an ultimatum after trying to negotiate with him for months and on March 21 1961 in the Town Tavern in downtown Toronto Johnny and 2 of his associates severely beat Bluestein within an inch of his life, Johnny surrendered to police on May 11 1961 and was released on $2,000 bail. Next, on May 5 1961, Alberto Agueci was plucked off the Toronto streets by cops who found two capsules of heroin and charged him with drug and weapons possession for carrying a baseball bat. On May 22 1961, the United States District Court, Southern District of New York grand jury returned an indictment against of 30 charges against 20 people in the Papalia-Agueci Group including ring leaders, John Papalia, Alberto Agueci, Vincent Mauro, Frank Caruso, middlemen and couriers, Rocco Eugenio Scopolliti of the Toronto Siderno Group, Vito Agueci, Liugi LoBlue, Filippo "Fifi" Cottone, the mid-level distributors, Joseph Valachi, Salvatore "The Little Guy" Maneri, Charles Shiffman, Arnold "Walsh" Barbeto, low level distributors, William "Shorty" Holmes, Michael Maiello, Matthew Palmeri, Anthony "Porky" Porcelli, Charles Tandler and Morris Taubman. [Humphreys, p.130] On June 12 1961 Johnny Papalia was moved to the top of the RCMP's top 10 list for his warrants on the Bluestein beating and for extradition to the U.S. on the drug dealing charges which occurred by the second week of July 1961 after the Canadian authorities dropped Johnny's Bluestein assault charges so he could be extradited. The Aguecci's and Rocco Scopolleti were extradited also in July of 1961. Johnny Paplia was eventually convicted in 1964 and given a 10 year sentence in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, the mafia country club, which at the time mafia row was controlled by Johhny's associate Carmine Galante who was also serving a 12 year drug dealing sentence. Johnny returned home to Hamilton after serving five years to become one of the top Southern Ontario mafia Dons, but never dealt in narcotics again.

The Agueci brothers under Federal protection

Alberto and Vito Agueci were placed--or, more accurately, detained--at the Federal Detention House on West St. in New York City to await trial concerning their deep involvement in a Canadian-based heroin distribution network. The lucrative drug network overseen by the Agueci brothers and their associates in Canada was just one of the many individual heroin importation and distribution operations that were supplied by the famous French Connection heroin network originally based out of Marseilles, France since the 1920s, but eventually the French-Corsican Mob, which came to be known as the "Unione Corse" set up satellite groups around the world including North and South America. Like most underworld operations in the 1960s, the Agueci brothers and their associates needed the blessing of their superiors and bosses within the American mafia in order to run illegal operations under La Cosa Nostra's flag and protection. The Aguecis' immediate superior in Southern Ontario was Buffalo crime family member John "Johnny Pops" Papalia, an influential Hamilton mafiosi who was recognized as the official Canadian representative and "capo-decina" in Southern Ontario for powerful American mafia boss Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino of Buffalo, New York. Stefano Magaddino had considerable underworld power and influence throughout Western New York and Southern Ontario and placed the Papalia-Agueci heroin ring under the protection of the Buffalo crime family. For his part in protecting the Papalia-Agueci heroin ring from other crime groups looking to muscle in on the operation and extort money from the Hamilton-Toronto based group the boss received a substantial percentage of the profits generated from the vast heroin sales. The Agueci brothers, in particular Albert who had direct connections Sicilian heroin traffickers and their French-Corsican supply line was under the impression that if he was arrested and indicted that Magaddino would supply money for bail and legal support or assistance, but immediately after Albert's arrest it was clear to him that something was not right as Magaddino and various Buffalo crime family members, the overseers of the Southern Ontario operations who were once close associates of the Agueci brothers now began to distance themselves from the Toronto mobsters.

Buffalo mafia boss Steve Magaddino was known to have grown more greedy, paranoid and even more treacherous during the last decade of his reign as boss and immediately after finding out about the arrest of the Agueci brothers Magaddino began to distance himself from the brothers and various members of their group, this did not include John Papalia who Maggadino felt could be trusted, in other words Don Stefano did not trust Alberto Agueci to honor his mafia oath of "Omertà", the boss believed he would eventually talk. Magaddino would not put up any money for Albert Agueci's bail or to support Agueci's immediate family in their time of need, an obvious deal breaker on the part of Magaddino and in the eyes of Agueci. Magaddino may have been correct when it came to Albert Agueci's ability to keep silent and do his time without exposing any mafia secrets and more importantly Don Stefano's involvement in the heroin operations. Within little time after Agueci was jailed in New York reports about the Toronto mobster's behavior were making their way back to Buffalo and Don Stefano. Agueci's actions during his incarceration immediately alerted his criminal associates to the fact that he was not someone who could handle being incarcerated for any significant period of time as he allegedly paced the floor of his cell non-stop at times and continuously talked about nothing else except receiving bail and being allowed to return home to his family in Toronto, all signs of weakness in the eyes of any mafioso or hard core criminal. Immediately after learning he would not receive money for bail, any legal support for himself or help of any kind for his family from his boss and crime family in Buffalo is when Agueci began to talk uncontrollably about mafia affairs and his boss, Don Stefano Magaddino. Albert's anger was fueled even more when his Toronto lawyer and fellow Buffalo crime family member, Ignazio "Harold" Bordonaro, son of Hamilton mafia boss, Calogero "Charlie" Bordonaro came to New York and apparently threw up one legal road block after another dealing with Albert's defense. Agueci believed his boss Steve Magaddino was behind the actions of Bordonaro as no mafia soldier would act against another in such a manner without the orders or consent of his boss. Bordonaro's actions made Agueci realize that Magaddino would never honor their agreement and that the boss of his crime family had completely betrayed him and in fact did not want to see Agueci released any time soon. At this time Agueci may have come to understand that Magaddino was planning to make him the sacrificial lamb, while the more influential and important mobster Johnny Papalia was being trusted to do his time quietly and would get any support and help he needed so long as he did not betray hos oath of Omertà and his loyalty to Magaddino and the Buffalo crime family.

Alberto Agueci began to openly threaten his boss Magaddino, and in not a very subtle manner, in fact he made outright threats. Albert Agueci felt he was being mistreated by Don Stefano and was not being given the respect and support he deserved as a "made man", an LCN member who deserved to be treated with respect. It was a disgrace to Agueci that his wife had to mortgage off their house in Toronto to raise the bail money when it was allegedly understood that Agueci was paying Magaddino tribute money regularly, a portion of the profits from the heroin operations for protection and assistance when needed, but now Magaddino would not honor his commitment to his crime family member Agueci. Genovese crime family soldier Joseph Valachi, an American mafia associate and business partner of the Agueci brothers was also incarcerated in the same New York Detention House and found himself becoming an ear for Alberto Agueci's threats and rantings towards Magaddino. "Joe Cago" as Valachi came to be known had been indicted alongside the Agueci brothers in connection with activities surrounding the heroin ring and it's New York operations. Valachi was one of the mafiosi who was told by Agueci of Magaddino's deep involvement in the heroin ring and how he would expose Magaddino and co-operate with authorities if Magaddino did not post bail for he and his brother so they could be released from jail. All the while Albert Agueci made his threats, associate, Joe Valachi warned him he was playing with fire and that he had made a serious and possibly deadly mistake letting Harold Bordonaro hear the threats against Magaddino being that Bordonaro's family was close to Magaddino. Finally Albert's wife raised the bail money by September 1961 and was able to return to Toronto to await trial. On October 8 1961, Albert Agueci left Toronto allegedly for a meeting with his Boss, Stefano Magaddino, but he never returned home. On November 23 1961, hunters near the Rochester, New York area stumbled on the rotting corpse of Alberto Agueci in a cornfield in Penfield, New York. Agueci's body was naked and burnt beyond recognition, his hands were tied behind his back with barbed wire, his face and hands had been burnt off, while the medical examiner eventually stated that Agueci was tortured before death, his ribs broken, half a dozen teeth knocked out and his skull fractured and he was strangled to death, while his body had been left to be eaten by animals (some thirty pounds of flesh were missing when he was found).

Vito Agueci imprisoned

Vito Agueci was eventually convicted of narcotics violations and, as an inmate in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, where he was a fellow inmate of Genovese crime family Boss, Vito Genovese and his henchman and Agueci-Papalia Group member, Joe Valachi. Vito Agueci had a vendetta against Joe Valachi concerning his brother, Albert who Vito felt was betrayed by Valachi as well as Magaddino. Vito Agueci informed Vito Genovese that he intended to avenge his brother’s death by killing, but then Agueci used Vito Genovese to get his revenge by Genovese that Valachi was a rat and could not be trusted as he was already talking to the feds. This was a lie, but Vito Agueci was able to convince Valachi's boss, Vito Genovese of this provoking Genovese to order Joe Valachi's murder. However, an inmate in prison with Joe Valachi was able to convince Valachi that Genovese wanted him killed eventually resulting in the paranoid mobster to murder an inmate he suspected was sent by Genovese to kill him in 1962. The inmate however, forger John Saupp, had no connection to the Genovese, and Valachi was sentenced to life imprisonment and Vito Agueci's plan of revenge was not completed as Valachi would eventually become a government informant revealing extensive activities of what federal authorities would refer to as "La Cosa Nostra"

Further reading

*Capeci, Jerry. "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia". Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
*Peterson, Robert W. "Crime & the American Response". New York: Facts on File, 1973. ISBN 0-87196-227-6
*United States. Congress. Senate. Government Operations Committee. "Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics". 1964. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC17735988&id=yxJMaa3f3cEC&q=Albert+and+Vito+Agueci&dq=Albert+and+Vito+Agueci&pgis=1]

Footnotes

References

*Humphreys, Adrian. "The Enforcer:Johnny Pops Papalia, A Life and Death in the Mafia". Toronto, Canada: Harper Collins, 1999. ISBN 0-00-200016-4
*Lamothe, Lee. & Nicaso, antonio. "Bloodlines:Project Omertà and the Fall of the Mafia's Royal Family". Toronto, Canada: Harper Collins, 2001. ISBN 0-00-638524-9
*Edwards, Peter. & Nicaso, Antonio. "Deadly Silence:Canadian Mafia Murders". Toronto, Canada: MacMillan, 1993. ISBN 0-7715-9017-2
*Dubro, James. "Mob Rule:Inside the Canadian Mafia". Toronto, Canada: Totem Books, 1985. ISBN 0-00-217657-2
*Kelly, Robert J. "Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States". Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
*Sifakis, Carl. "The Mafia Encyclopedia". New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3

External links

* [http://www.americanmafia.com/Cities/Buffalo.html AmericanMafia.com - 26 Mafia Cities: Buffalo, New York] By Mario Machi, Allan May and Charlie Molino