clans

[kup181]

Have you heard of towns that were controlles by families . I have heard that the Senese family cotrolled some towns.

My grandmother was a Senese and came from Afragola. I heard that alot of towns were city states and were run by families. If possible how can this be traced back.

Thank-you

[johnnyonthespot]

Have you heard of towns that were controlles by families .

Well, certainly the Medici's come to mind. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici

At least some Senese from Afracola have roots in Italy's organized crime and they, in a sense, run towns as well. See http://www.liberainformazione.org/news.php?newsid=5841 or Google translation http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... l=it&tl=en ("Arrested: Michael Senese, born at Afragola (Na) 18/11/1957, resident in Rome")

Do you know exactly what your grandmother meant when she said towns were controlled by families?

There are 22 listings for Senese in the Italian telephone directory for Afragola. See http://www.paginebianche.it/execute.cgi ... btt=1&om=0

[kup181]

Thank you for your quick responce. I think that she meant the Senese family had power and influence. It was once stated that they fought for the local "king". That if you look far enough back you will find that there are some nobles. This is do to there power and influence.

Thank-you

[PeterTimber]

The base surname is SIENA with variants SIENIand derivatives SENESI,SENESE,SANESI and SANESE

This name is spread thruout Toscana, however SANESI and SENESE are found in the Neopolitan area and sporadically in other regions of Italy.

=Peter=

[kup181]

is there any way to research the names to see if nobility was attached to them or if a member of the mafia.

Thank-you

[PeterTimber]

A cursory check of Senese does not disclose any heraldry nor does the name come up as associated with organized crime. No doubt research may reveal more of both but for the moment there is nothing further to state. =Peter=

[johnnyonthespot]

... nor does the name come up as associated with organized crime.

Did anyone look at the link I posted in my reply above?

[johnnyonthespot]

More:

http://americanfraud.com/chicagomafia.aspx

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid= ... ewsarchive

http://www.ipsn.org/carey1.html

http://www.iltempo.it/2009/01/22/979661 ... nese.shtml

http://www.google.com/search?q=senese+c ... rt=30&sa=N

http://www.cipm.org/703_Seneseb.htm

Of course, one could repeat this exercise with just about any Italian name, I suppose.

[PeterTimber]

There is a master index of organized crime worldwide and mafiosi in Italy and the USA by cities with family names in Wikipedia. =Peter=