Salvatore Zannino biography: 13 things about Baltimore, Maryland boxing scout

Who was Salvatore Zannino?

Salvatore Joseph Zannino was an Italian-American boxing scout and gambler from Baltimore, Maryland, United States. He was one of the four children of Joseph Nickolas Zannino Sr. and Rosa DeVono Zannino.

Joseph Sr. was born in Pazzano, Città Metropolitana di Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy. Rosa was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, USA to Joseph Devono and Catherine Desmond DeVono. 

As a boxing promoter, Salvatore worked with Benny Trotta, Johnny Catane and Sicily, Italy native Anthony Messina. They operated the Squires Athletic Club, which promoted the professional fights in Baltimore.

On June 18, 1952, Salvatore went missing. He was never found and was presumed dead.

On June 23, 1952, Messina was found dead in Baltimore. He was 53.

Messina had four gunshot wounds in the head and his body was stuffed in the trunk of an abandoned vehicle. The mysteries behind his death and Salvatore’s disappearance have yet to be solved.

Salvatore was also known as Big Sam. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. He was born in 1925.
2. On November 29, 1931, his grandfather Joseph died in Summit Park, Harrison County at age 49.
3. On June 18, 1952, Trotta dropped him at the Pennsylvania station in Baltimore en route to New York, USA, which was the last time he was seen alive.
4. On September 27, 1962, his grandmother Catherine died in Clarksburg, Harrison County at age 82.
5. On May 12, 1969, his uncle Larry Zannino died in Eastpoint, Baltimore County at age 79.
6. On September 25, 1983, his aunt Teresa “Daisy” DeVono Lucente died in Clarksburg at age 80.
7. On March 5, 1996, his mother died in Baltimore at age 89.
8. On May 6, 1998, his brother Joseph Nickolas Zannino Jr.’s daughter Kathleen Zannino Mangione gave birth to Luigi Nicholas Zannino Mangione at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland.
9. On December 31, 2022, his uncle John Baptist Devono died in Steubenville, Jefferson County, Ohio, USA at age 90.
10. On March 5, 2012, his sister Margaret Rose Zannino Mastellone died in Maryland at age 85.
11. On December 11, 2014, his sister Kathleen DeVono Zannino Corasaniti died in Maryland at age 91.
12. On March 6, 2017, his brother Joseph Jr. died in Baltimore at age 88.
13. On December 9, 2024, authorities in Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA arrested his grandnephew Luigi, who was accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson in Manhattan, New York City, New York on December 4, 2024.