by B. » Wed Feb 06, 2019 2:35 pm
Going back to Boiardo, we can look at who he had conflicts with in the late 1920s and early 1930s to try and see the bigger picture of the Newark mafia and his relationship to it...
Reported conflicts with:
- Stefano Badami (boss of Newark and/or DeCavalcante family; possibly future Lucchese member)
- Nick Delmore (Future DeCavalcante boss)
- Salvatore Lombardino, John Misuraca, and the Pizzolato brothers (Likely Newark family members; future Profaci & Lucchese leaders)
- Accardi brothers (Likely Newark family members; future Lucchese leader(s))
- Willie Moretti (Genovese/Masseria leader)
- Longie Zwillman (Jewish bootlegging/gang leader, ally of most of the above mafiosi)
It's reported that Boiardo's biggest rival, Longie Zwillman, was working with most of the above Sicilians, meaning Zwillman was an associate or at least an ally of the Newark mafia. Gerry Catena was also associated early on with Nick Delmore and other reports indicate he may have been an associate of the Newark mafia. Catena himself was said to work closely with Zwillman.
Two main thoughts:
1) Boiardo wasn't in conflict with Zwillman and a bunch of separate Sicilian groups, but these "skirmishes" were likely a larger ongoing conflict with the Newark mafia as a whole and then the Genovese/Masseria Jersey group under Moretti. Hard to know if the DeCavalcantes were separate back then, but if there were multiple Sicilian families at odds with Boiardo, it's likely they were in alliance given that they were mafia groups and Boiardo was not.
2) When Boiardo went to prison in the early 1930s, the men running his gang were said to have made peace with Longie Zwillman. Given Zwillman's alliance with the mafia, this points to Boiardo's gang falling in line or otherwise making peace with the Newark mafia group(s) while he was in prison. When Boiardo was released, he had three leaders of his own gang shot (two dying) and one of them, Gyp DeCarlo, split off from Boiardo. Given that the Boiardo gang would end up being a crew of the Genovese family, it seems likely to me that the Boiardo gang may have become Genovese associates while he was in prison. DeCarlo would end up being made in the Genovese family, it's possible his "split" from Boiardo was actually him staying associated with the Genovese group. In the DeCarlo/Anthony Russo conversation where Russo talks about his brother Ralph (who was one of the murdered Boiardo gang leaders after his release) going to Pittsburgh with Moe Dalitz and being killed on Boiardo's orders, he mentions Pittsburgh's ties to Vito Genovese immediately afterward. This could be an indication that Ralph Russo's presence in Pittsburgh was connected to Genovese, who would later be close to Anthony Russo himself.
3) The question would be when Boiardo himself aligned himself with the Genovese family. We can be sure though that sometime between the mid-1930s and 1944 (when he was made) he fell in line, though clearly he remained a powerful force in his own right. If my theory is true that his gang fell in line with the mafia while he was in prison, it seems likely they were with the Genovese family and not the Newark mafia family. Boiardo's own induction into the Genovese opposed to another family is pretty easy to accept without even knowing the specifics. Consider the following:
A) Boiardo was a Neapolitan. Most Neapolitans, especially those who had achieved their own underworld significance, overwhelmingly joined the Masseria/Genovese family. Also Calabrians, but other families recruited more Calabresi than Neapolitans compared to the Genovese and the Genovese were possibly the only group to put Neapolitans in powerful positions early on.
B) Boiardo may have had ties to the Camorra according to one report. This fits with Vito Genovese, Rocco Pellegrino, Al Capone and likely other ranking Genovese members of his era.
C) Boiardo was raised in Chicago, which had strong connections to Masseria/Genovese and though he says he first become involved in bootlegging in 1925, his earlier criminal record and underworld acumen point to him likely being involved in crime from an earlier age, meaning he may have been associated with criminal groups in Chicago.
D) He was believed to have connections to Al Capone during prohibition. During the period Al Capone was a Masseria capodecina, he was said to have had some kind of interest in Boiardo/New Jersey activities, sending a cousin to mediate the dispute between Zwillman and Boiardo to no avail.
E) The last conflict prior to Boiardo going to prison in the early 1930s looks to have been with Willie Moretti. These kinds of conflicts often aren't about completely eliminating the opposition, but incorporating them. While it may have taken Boiardo longer to accept this than the rest of his gang, it would have been more logical for Boiardo to join Moretti than the Sicilian-dominated group(s) in Newark.
F) During the period Boiardo seems to have fallen in line with the Genovese between the mid-1930s and 1944, much of the violence and warfare that had plagued the mafia over the previous couple of decades had settled down to a minimum, their membership was large, and bootlegging money was being invested in a large number of rackets. It seems likely that the groups were too strong and cohesive for Boiardo to keeping fighting. Most of his conflicts with the mafia seem to have happened when the mafia was fighting among its own.
Not as cohesive as I'd like, but hopefully you can understand what I'm trying to get at with these theories. Informed speculation, as is often the case with this stuff....
Going back to Boiardo, we can look at who he had conflicts with in the late 1920s and early 1930s to try and see the bigger picture of the Newark mafia and his relationship to it...
Reported conflicts with:
- Stefano Badami (boss of Newark and/or DeCavalcante family; possibly future Lucchese member)
- Nick Delmore (Future DeCavalcante boss)
- Salvatore Lombardino, John Misuraca, and the Pizzolato brothers (Likely Newark family members; future Profaci & Lucchese leaders)
- Accardi brothers (Likely Newark family members; future Lucchese leader(s))
- Willie Moretti (Genovese/Masseria leader)
- Longie Zwillman (Jewish bootlegging/gang leader, ally of most of the above mafiosi)
It's reported that Boiardo's biggest rival, Longie Zwillman, was working with most of the above Sicilians, meaning Zwillman was an associate or at least an ally of the Newark mafia. Gerry Catena was also associated early on with Nick Delmore and other reports indicate he may have been an associate of the Newark mafia. Catena himself was said to work closely with Zwillman.
Two main thoughts:
1) Boiardo wasn't in conflict with Zwillman and a bunch of separate Sicilian groups, but these "skirmishes" were likely a larger ongoing conflict with the Newark mafia as a whole and then the Genovese/Masseria Jersey group under Moretti. Hard to know if the DeCavalcantes were separate back then, but if there were multiple Sicilian families at odds with Boiardo, it's likely they were in alliance given that they were mafia groups and Boiardo was not.
2) When Boiardo went to prison in the early 1930s, the men running his gang were said to have made peace with Longie Zwillman. Given Zwillman's alliance with the mafia, this points to Boiardo's gang falling in line or otherwise making peace with the Newark mafia group(s) while he was in prison. When Boiardo was released, he had three leaders of his own gang shot (two dying) and one of them, Gyp DeCarlo, split off from Boiardo. Given that the Boiardo gang would end up being a crew of the Genovese family, it seems likely to me that the Boiardo gang may have become Genovese associates while he was in prison. DeCarlo would end up being made in the Genovese family, it's possible his "split" from Boiardo was actually him staying associated with the Genovese group. In the DeCarlo/Anthony Russo conversation where Russo talks about his brother Ralph (who was one of the murdered Boiardo gang leaders after his release) going to Pittsburgh with Moe Dalitz and being killed on Boiardo's orders, he mentions Pittsburgh's ties to Vito Genovese immediately afterward. This could be an indication that Ralph Russo's presence in Pittsburgh was connected to Genovese, who would later be close to Anthony Russo himself.
3) The question would be when Boiardo himself aligned himself with the Genovese family. We can be sure though that sometime between the mid-1930s and 1944 (when he was made) he fell in line, though clearly he remained a powerful force in his own right. If my theory is true that his gang fell in line with the mafia while he was in prison, it seems likely they were with the Genovese family and not the Newark mafia family. Boiardo's own induction into the Genovese opposed to another family is pretty easy to accept without even knowing the specifics. Consider the following:
A) Boiardo was a Neapolitan. Most Neapolitans, especially those who had achieved their own underworld significance, overwhelmingly joined the Masseria/Genovese family. Also Calabrians, but other families recruited more Calabresi than Neapolitans compared to the Genovese and the Genovese were possibly the only group to put Neapolitans in powerful positions early on.
B) Boiardo may have had ties to the Camorra according to one report. This fits with Vito Genovese, Rocco Pellegrino, Al Capone and likely other ranking Genovese members of his era.
C) Boiardo was raised in Chicago, which had strong connections to Masseria/Genovese and though he says he first become involved in bootlegging in 1925, his earlier criminal record and underworld acumen point to him likely being involved in crime from an earlier age, meaning he may have been associated with criminal groups in Chicago.
D) He was believed to have connections to Al Capone during prohibition. During the period Al Capone was a Masseria capodecina, he was said to have had some kind of interest in Boiardo/New Jersey activities, sending a cousin to mediate the dispute between Zwillman and Boiardo to no avail.
E) The last conflict prior to Boiardo going to prison in the early 1930s looks to have been with Willie Moretti. These kinds of conflicts often aren't about completely eliminating the opposition, but incorporating them. While it may have taken Boiardo longer to accept this than the rest of his gang, it would have been more logical for Boiardo to join Moretti than the Sicilian-dominated group(s) in Newark.
F) During the period Boiardo seems to have fallen in line with the Genovese between the mid-1930s and 1944, much of the violence and warfare that had plagued the mafia over the previous couple of decades had settled down to a minimum, their membership was large, and bootlegging money was being invested in a large number of rackets. It seems likely that the groups were too strong and cohesive for Boiardo to keeping fighting. Most of his conflicts with the mafia seem to have happened when the mafia was fighting among its own.
Not as cohesive as I'd like, but hopefully you can understand what I'm trying to get at with these theories. Informed speculation, as is often the case with this stuff....