Mickey Duffy and the Lanzetta Brothers

A few posts ago, we were talking about the real people the D’Alessio brothers in Boardwalk Empire are loosely based on, and Mickey Duffy, the real person Mickey Doyle is based on. After looking up a thing or two, here’s what we’ve learned:

In “South Philadelphia: Mummers, Memories, and the Melrose Diner” (1996), Murray Dubin writes:

“The first criminal luminary from downtown was Mickey Duffy, a Polish lad from Grays Ferry who was born either Michael or Wiliam Cusick … Duffy owned nightclubs and speakeasies in Philadelphia, ran breweries throughout New Jersey ….

“He was arrested first at the age of 16 in 1908 and would be arrested on 27 other occasions and imprisoned eight times … in the late 1920s, he was not just another ex-convict; he was a public figure who dressed well, threw lavish parties, owned a fleet of cars and built a Moorish mansion …. But he didn’t stay on too long. On August 29, 1931, at age 39, [he] was murdered while he napped in his suite at the Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City.”

Dubin also gives an account of “the six Lanzetti brothers, four of whom were named after popes.” In this account, Leo was shot in South Philadelphia in 1925; Pius (the oldest) was killed in a luncheonette at 726 South Eight Street on December 31, 1936. Willie’s corpse was found in two sewn-together potato sacks on a Wynnewood Estate on July 31, 1939.

In “From Paesani to White Ethnics: The Italian Experience in Philadelphia” (2001), Stefano Luconi writes:

“By the mid-1920s, Pius, Ignatius, Lucien, Teo, Leo and Willie Lanzetti had come to control the dope ring as well as prostitution, bootlegging and numbers writing in South Philadelphia’s “Little Italy.” Their ruthless rule was a godsend to the local press because newspapers relied primarily on racket-associated news to broaden a readership fascinated with violence and criminality. … When Willie Lanzetti was killed in 1939, for instance, a detailed account in the Evening Bulletin described how his corpse was found beheaded with the head sewn up in a burlap bag and a bullet in the brain.”

There is also U.S. Supreme Court case law concerning Ignatius Lanzetta (evidently, the brothers’ real last name was incorrectly printed and reprinted and reprinted as Lanzetti, sort of like what happened to Salvatore Lucania a.k.a. Lucky Luciano). According to “Gangs in America III” (2001) by C. Ronald Huff: “Frank Pius (also known as Ignatius Lanzetta), Michael Falone and Louie del Rossi were found guilty of breach of the law and sentenced to not more than 10 years and not less than 5 years imprisonment. …” The law in question read:

“Any person not engaged in any lawful occupation, known to be a member of any gang consisting of two or more persons, who has been convicted at least three times of being a disorderly person, or who has been convicted of any crime, in this or in any other State, is declared to be a gangster …’.1 Every violation is punishable by fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 20 years, or both. 5, R.S.N.J.1937, 2:136-5.”

Ignatius Lanzetta appealed his conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the New Jersey law was overturned in an opinion given by Justice Pierce Butler, who was the first Minnesotan appointed a Supreme Court Justice. He was also notable for being a Democrat appointed by a Republican, as well as a Catholic. The Supreme Court found the law to be “repugnant to the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Now for the popes the Lanzettas and/or D’Alessio brothers were named after. Let’s start with Pius IX who became pope in 1846. It may seem like a long time before 1920, the time frame of Boardwalk Empire, Season 1, but that’s because these traditions were handed down from generation to generation, for one thing. For another, the D’Alessio brothers have all had their names for quite a while in 1920, even Pius D’Alessio, the youngest.

Pius IX died in 1878 and was succeeded by Leo XIII. the third longest reigning pope of all time. Leo died in 1903 and was succeeded by Pius X, who died in 1914 after the outbreak of World War One caused him such great distress that he became ill and suffered a heart attack. It didn’t help that he smoked! Pius X was canonized by Pius XII, the pope during World War II. Some Catholics believe Pius X is one of the incorruptibles.

Pius X was succeeded by Benedict XV, who was succeeded by Pius XI in 1922. When Pius XI died in 1939, the last pope named Pius (the already mentioned twelfth Pius) took over. In 1920, Pius XII was the Apostolic Nuncio to Germany and was still known by his real name, Father Eugenio Pacelli. He died in 1958 and was succeeded by John XXIII. Pius XII canonized a lot of saints although the cause for his own canonization has been clouded by controversy over his sympathies during World War Two. These arguments arose anew when Pope Benedict XVI declared Pius XII Venerable on December 19, 2009. So from 1846 to 1958, the Popes’ names were Pius, Leo, Pius, Benedict, Pius, Pius.

All these popes were Italian. In fact, until Karol Józef Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II in 1978, there had not been a non-Italian pope since 1522.

There were several popes named Sixtus. Two of them are saints, the last one was Sixtus V, and in between there’s Sixtus IV, who is on a list of the 25 most evil people of the 15th century. Although there is a Saint Ignatius of Loyola, there were no popes named Matteo or Ignatius (or Ignacious as they are spelling it on Boardwalk Empire). Looks like that was another thing the newspapers got wrong.