In 1882 my great grandfather, Pietro Chillura Martino immigrated to Tampa along with 9 others from Sicily. These 9 immigrants were the pioneers of the Italian Community in Tampa. The population of Tampa at the time was less than 800 people. He moved his family here in 1890, my grandfather, Tom C. Martino, being about 3 years old at the time. Pietro was one of the first Italians to establish residence in Tampa and was responsible for many of the other 550 Sicilian immigrants who moved to Tampa through 1891.

While working in the cigar factories, he was one of the founders of and on the advisory board of the Italian Society of Mutual Assistance. By the turn of the century, Pietro had opened a small grocery store in Ybor City, becoming the first in a long line of Martino entrepreneurs to serve Tampa in private business.

Pietro was joined by his oldest son, (my grandfather) Tom and son in law Francisco Friscia in 1906 and added feed and grain to the business forming P. C. Martino & Co. P. C. Martino & Co. went on to become one of the largest independently owned feed manufacturing companies in the state. This is where the idea of financing began in my family.

My grandfather, during his tenure of running the business, would sell on credit and lend money to local farmers, large and small, to purchase cattle and acreage. His interest on the money was the continued loyalty of his customers. As their farms would grow and prosper his business would grow and prosper. Most of these people otherwise would not have been able to borrow the money.

My dad, Sam C. Martino, went to work for the Bank of America in Los Angeles California after the war giving him a background in finance and returned home to Tampa a few years later. Being young and ambitious, he knew he wanted to follow his family tradition of hard work, and prospering with the community, but was not sure how to, and whether or not to do so by working for the family business. My grandfather advised him to build his home and get his young family settled in, he would then be at ease to decide on a career.

Building his own home gave him a general knowledge of construction. An army buddy who had recently made his mark in real estate suggested that with my dads general knowledge of construction and finance, large following of friends and family, and his family's’ keen reputation for business ethics, he should try real estate sales. He tried and was an immediate success. In 1953, he saw a need for those who could not otherwise obtain financing to buy houses, (as his dad did with the cattle), and brokered his first mortgage to a local grocery store owner and family friend, Antonio Garcia (many of Mr. Garcia’s descendants are investors of mine today). From this he began making a practice of brokering and selling mortgages to private investors, and began selling houses on wrap around mortgages. This enabled a person who otherwise would never be able to obtain conventional financing to now enjoy the American dream of home ownership. The term “creative financing” became popular during the late 70’s, my dad was already practicing this in the 50’s.

Through my fathers tenure of what has now become Martino Mortgages, he helped hundreds of families purchase homes, investors receive a decent return on their hard earned savings, and passed on the family legend of hard work, justly serving the people of the community, and changing with the times.

I started with my dad in 1974. At the time I was buying rental property, selling real estate, and soon after began building houses. Mortgage brokering was about a third of the business, real estate sales about a third, and building, buying and selling houses about a third. We were servicing an inventory of about $300,000.00 in investor money. By 1980, my dad stepped back, we changed the name to Tom P. Martino, Inc. (now d/b/a Martino Mortgages), and I have been president and general manager since. My dad remained a driving force behind me in the success of the business for the remainder of his life.

Today, we are a full service mortgage company dealing exclusively with private investor mortgage money. With an average loan of about $50,000.00, we are privileged to be servicing an investor inventory in the tens of millions.
Of my four children, Thomas is an executive officer and intricate part of the business. Sam II has recently joined the team and is endeavoring to meet the standards set by his namesake. I look forward to the prosperity that will come with the next generation of Martinos.

Tom P. Martino, President