Joe the Boss loses a couple guys

We know through Joe Valachi that todays entries were definitely victims of the Castellemmares War on the Masseria side. By November of 1930 the Maranzano forces had united with the rebellious Reina gang, now headed by Tom Gagliano and, to solidify their friendship, both groups decided to unite and kill one, Stephen Ferrigno. This was Valachi’s first foray into murder. Not yet a member of the mob, Valachi was on a trial period and was told to rent an apartment in the same Bronx complex that Ferrigno lived in. The neophyte mobster took a second story apartment across the courtyard from Ferrigno's front door so that he could see if Ferrigno came or went. The plan was that when the Masseria lieutenant was spotted the Maranzano men would jump into a car, which was to be driven by Valachi, and shoot him from the street. After about a three week stake out two spotters saw Ferrigno sitting in front of the apartment complex, so with Valachi at the wheel and fellow gangster Buster from Chicago, literally riding shotgun, the death squad pulled around to complete the deed but at the last moment the doorman of the complex waved to Valachi so the murder was called off. With this failed attempt the hit squad returned to the apartment to wait for the next opportunity. The next opportunity came in a few days when a summit was held in Ferrigno’s apartment. The Maranzano men couldn’t believe there eyes as Joe Masseria himself and upwards of twenty of his men (according to the New York Times the meeting only consisted of six men) poured into Ferrigno’s apartment. The prospect of killing Masseria and ending the Castellemmarese War was to great and it was determined that if Joe “the Boss” showed himself he would be killed from Valachi’s apartment. Understandably Valachi was not happy about this prospect since his belongings were all over the place. Lady luck shined on Valachi however and none of the Masseria men exited the apartment that night, so early the next morning the gunmen commandeered the first floor apartment to ambush Masseria when he left. Not until the afternoon did the summit break up and the Masseria men began to exit in groups of two. Not seeing Joe “the Boss” leave, the gunmen decided to fulfill the original contract when they saw Ferrigno exit with a confederate named Alfred (Manfredi) Mineo. As the two gangsters passed the first floor window, Buster From Chicago, Bobby Doyle and another gang member named Nick “Nick the Thief” Capuzzi opened fire with shotguns and cut them down in their tracks, then high tailed it to safety. A search of the apartment turned up two double-barreled shotguns, a single barreled shot gun and the guitar case that was used to carrying them inside.
Stephen Ferrigno was thirty-four years old and went by the alias Sam Ferrara. His record consisted of an arrest on June 6, 1927 for grand larceny and a prior arrest for being a fugitive from justice in another grand larceny case in Newark, New Jersey on February 8, 1927. In both cases he was discharged. Even though he was carrying a gun when he died and silk gloves covered his manicured hands, his family maintained that he was an electrician.
Alfred "Manfredi" Mineo was thirty-six (according to the press his death certificate says 50) and went by the aliases Minelo and Mineo Manfredi. A business card found on him identified him as vice-president of the A.D.L. Holding Corporation of 55 West Forty Second Street. His record showed that on November 19, 1926 he was arrested in Brooklyn for carrying a dangerous weapon but was discharged. Following the murder detectives discovered that Mineo was a bootlegger and that both Mineo and Ferrigno were probably involved in the Brooklyn policy racket where both men had up until recently lived.