Am I wrong in remembering (or, at least, thinking that I remember) that Leo Martello was friends with Tony Andruzzi and was a bizarre magician?
I thought that was the case, but I can't seem to find the references I thought there were.

I had a good friend years ago that was a big fan of Martello. I remember hearing a great deal about his occult pursuits (not limited to Stregheria) and his activism, but never anything about a link between him and bizarre magic, in general, or Andruzzi, in particular. It certainly doesn’t mean there wasn’t a link there. After all, Martello was acquainted with LaVey, and (according to Walt Anthony) LaVey was mentored by Andruzzi.

Right, it definitely seems possible, but maybe I got confused by the six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon connections that they both have; as you say, they certainly ran in similar circles even if they didn’t know each other.

I was a big fan of LaVey when I was teen (I just got a great book filled with pictures of him and Jayne Mansfield ...including a reprint of one his flyers for his occult talks at the black house!), and only relative recently hear about the Andruzzi-LaVey connection of the seances and Spookshows podcast. The story, as told there, seems potentially embellished but had a ring of truth to it. As I heard it the impetus was on Sammy Davis Jr, but I’m under the impression that the church was already established by the time he came along; I’m not up to going through Aquino’s book to look for references though.

My old boss was a friend of LaVey. They belonged to a "wild animal club" in the S.F. Bay Area. Matt owned a pair of Ocelots. I was their babysitter many times. Since they had the run of the house...it was absolutely terrifying.

Matt definitely was influenced by LaVey in his outlook on life. And took part in "parties" at the black house. ( LaVey of course kept a Lion in his basement )