Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon Pennsylvania Mafia Family

Mob boss Angelo Bruno's grave

As I said in a previous blog, I feel a bit like a peeping tom when I get ideas from the pages of Facebook friends. I originally conceived of this blog as a memoir of sorts, but occasionally I get new ideas from Facebook, and then thanks to you all. A month or then agone I happened on a page of photographs called "Grave Sites of Gangsters," by J. David Perry. Got me thinking most the grave sites of Philly mobsters.

In my 14 years of cemetery travel, I simply recall one instance when I actually looked upward where sure people were buried, in society to visit their graves. This was during a trip to Hollywood and the surrounding areas. Dorsum in the early on 2000s, I visited Marilyn Monroe's crypt, a few of the Marx Brothers, Rudolph Valentino, The Lone Ranger, Alfalfa from the Little Rascals, and then on. Some day I'll come across the photos from those cemeteries.

So if I ever find a notable tombstone or monument, it's strictly by take chances. It'southward been fortuitous to stumble upon the graves of John Barrymore, John Wilkes Booth, and Grover Cleveland, but I'm mainly shooting with blinders on. Retrieve of all the interesting things I must be missing! What can I say, other than information technology'due south taken a number of years for my interests in cemeteries to mature. Back then it was all about angels.

That'due south where my focus was in the early days. Shot angels all over the U.S. for six years or more earlier I always read a headstone inscription! I approximate I just wasn't prepared to take it all in. I wouldn't even become into a cemetery if I couldn't see angels from the road! Merely after I kind of wearied the obvious angelic possibilities, did I begin paying attention to other things. That led to an always-expanding interest in cemeteries-- reading books, seeing what non-angelic cemeteries had to offer, appreciating other types of memorial architecture, talking with people who worked in cemeteries, and even dating them!

Gravesites of Gangsters

So I kind of surprised myself when I saw the "Grave Sites of Gangsters," page. It occurred to me that, hey, Philly used to exist rife with organized offense – I wonder where all those mobsters are buried? About 5 minutes of Internet searching brought me to the odd finding that the nigh notorious ones are cached in the very same cemetery where I

began

my cemetery photography in the belatedly 1990s, correct under those very angelic noses! In fact, this is one of the very first angel photographs I e'er made, on the very starting time roll of pic, in Holy Cross Cemetery in 1997.

Holy Cantankerous Cemetery

Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA is nigh ii miles from where I used to live in Delaware County − the southwestern suburbs of Philadelphia. It'due south one of Philadelphia's most unsung cemeteries. Why? Information technology has more than statues, monuments, and mausoleums than nearly cemeteries in the expanse. Although it'southward of belatedly Victorian age (est. 1890), information technology isn't landscaped with the typical rolling hills and arboreal splendor. Information technology's all rather apartment. None of the Catholic cemeteries in the area promote themselves as tourist destinations, then Holy Cantankerous gets no publicity. However, it is kept up extremely well by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and is a lovely place in which to wander. It was very user-friendly to my house – whenever a gathering storm arose, I would jump in the car with my cameras and caput over there. For me information technology was wonderful − the place has so many angel statues y'all can't swing a cat without hitting i (as Mark Twain would say).

It's ironic that a Cosmic cemetery would allow known criminals to be buried within its grounds. So intendance for the graves, perpetually. No more hypocritical than Italian-American  mobsters existence faux religious, I suppose, you know, all Catholic and god-fearing on the surface. (There accept been a few, all the same, who take been denied a church funeral −John Gotti, Paul Castellano, Ruby Galante and Frank DeCicco.)

Googling Mobsters' Graves

My search began by Googling Angelo Bruno'due south and The Chicken Man's graves. Both had just been whacked when I start moved to Philly in the early on 80s, and the urban center was still abuzz with the news. Specifically, I Googled "Angelo Bruno grave."

The Websearch itself was rather interesting. "FindAGrave.com" is typically what comes upwards first when you search for a specific person's grave. The site boasts "61 1000000 grave records!" For each burying, the site gives a short bio with the specific location within the cemetery where the person'due south buried. Equally I alluded to, both Bruno and the Chicken Man are noted every bit being buried at Holy Cross. Hither's Bruno's data from the site:

Burial: Angelo Bruno
Holy Cross Cemetery
Yeadon
Delaware County
Pennsylvania, Usa
Plot: Section 23, Range ii, Grave 16

FindAGrave even includes a map of the cemetery so y'all can observe the section. Most cemeteries marking their sections with a small stone at the edge of the road edge. The range and grave number is fairly easy to figure out, the range beingness the number of rows in (but you accept to figure out from what side), and the grave number being the count from the finish of the row (but you don't know which end). Navigating around department 23 with the aid of these coordinates and a flake of dead reckoning (pun intended), I came upon Angelo Bruno'south grave without also much trouble. The only thing notable was a tarnished 1959 penny on the rock. Makes you wonder if information technology was a family member who placed it in that location or what might happen to you lot if you snitched it.

Bruno is perhaps the all-time known Philly mobster of recent times, having been the dominate of the city's organized crime family unit from 1959 to 1980. Bruno was murdered with a shotgun blast to the caput while sitting in his car in front end of his house. The Bruno killing sparked years of family infighting with dozens of slayings. A year later, Bruno's successor, Philip 'Chicken Human' Testa was blown up by a blast bomb at his domicile.

Angelo Bruno's house in Due south Philadelphia

Bruno's house was up for sale in 2010. His girl still lived there and wanted to move to Jersey (where all the Goodfellas seem to end upwards). Since his business firm is only about a mile from mine, I thought I'd stop by and snap a photo. People assume mobsters live in fancy homes or estates like the bosses on the  Sopranos. Bruno's house was a very plain cease-of-row, equally yous can encounter in the photo. John Stanfa, Bruno's driver at the time of the killing, did the brick work on the front (in instance you lot were wondering).

(Map link to Bruno's house – annotation that it is located on "Eastward. Snyder Avenue!")

Philip 'Chicken Human' Testa

Though Phil Testa was only a mob boss for a year, he'due south more famous in popular culture than Bruno. Bruce Springsteen opens his vocal "Atlantic City" with the line:

"Well they blew up the Craven Man in Philly last dark, now they blew up his house also…."

Philip "Chicken Homo" Testa's business firm (r.) in South Philly

Testa, whose nickname came from his involvement in a poultry business, was killed when a smash bomb was exploded on his forepart porch as he was entering his business firm in South Philly (21st and Porter Streets). I took this photo a few days ago. The house is however there. His was the one on the correct side of this twin. Obviously some remodeling has been done since the blast in 1981.Dissimilar the very commercial Snyder Avenue area where Bruno lived, Testa seemed to prefer the residential tree-lined streets across from Steven Girard Park.

Finding Testa's grave was a bit more challenging. It probably took me 15 minutes to locate Bruno'south headstone, but it didn't seem like Testa's was in that location, at least co-ordinate to the directions on FindAGrave.com. Yous figure it would exist relatively easy, since they show you a photo of the bodily stone.  So I gave up and re-checked the site. It was supposed to be in Department 27, but it didn't seem to be at that place. I started thinking all these cloak-and-dagger thoughts like they must have moved the grave considering rival crime families were desecrating it. Turned out FindAGrave had the wrong information. (I went back to the site today to send an e-mail correction to the site author, but found all the specific location data for Testa's grave removed.)

I visited the record keeper at Holy Cross and asked if she could tell me where Testa's grave was located. That was a bold move on my office – I wasn't sure they would give me any information at all, or they might want an explanation of

why

I wanted to know. Turned out not to exist the instance. No questions asked, the adult female looked it upwards and gave me a map. Section 21, non 27. Foreign how we often assume everything we read is factual (like Wikipedia, for instance).

Boosted data I was given was the verbal location and depth of Testa's coffin relative to the family unit stone and the other family members buried there. This kinda weirded me out, like, who would need to know that...? You'll also detect Salvatore Testa's name on the stone. Salvie was Phil Testa's son. Co-ordinate to Wikipedia, "Three years afterward Salvatore was murdered on orders from Nicky Scarfo. Scarfo, despite being Salvatore'south godfather at birth, began to experience threatened by the immature capo'due south popularity in the family and was jealous of an article in the Wall Street Periodical that noted Salvatore every bit a rich, young rising star within the Cosa Nostra underworld."

I was rather surprised to likewise find this mausoleum at Holy Cross. Michael Maggio was an old-time Mafia Don who sponsored Angelo Bruno for membership into the Philadelphia Family unit in the 1930s. A lot of people glorify such criminals, treat them similar movie stars or folk heroes. One hopes that the line from Springsteen'south Atlantic Metropolis , "everything that dies anytime comes back, " does non apply to their kind. In closing, it amused me to come across this notation with the Lamentable Pansy at the bottom of all the mobster's pages on the FindAGrave site:

The Virtual Flowers characteristic has been turned off for this memorial because information technology was being continually misused.

References and Further Reading:

Italian Catholics against mobster church funerals
Canadian Catholics rationalize mobster church funerals
Angelo Bruno's House for Sale
Observe-a-grave.com Angelo Bruno
Discover-a-grave.com Philip Testa
Find-a-grave.com Michael Maggio

Craven Man Video:  Mob Scene west/George Anastasia
Angelo Bruno Video:  Mob Scene w/George Anastasia
Archdiocese of Philadelphia Cemeteries

garnernothat.blogspot.com

Source: http://thecemeterytraveler.blogspot.com/2011/05/graves-of-mob-bosses.html

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