by B. » Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:13 pm
After going through Boiardo's FBI files, I didn't come across anything about his date of promotion and the info pre-1960s speaks in generalities. Based on the info in his files, it looks like members of his gang may have fallen in line under Willie Moretti in the 1930s without Boiardo's consent when he was incarcerated. Moretti was believed to have been responsible for an attempt on Boiardo's life before he went to prison and while he was away Gyp DeCarlo broke away from the independent Boiardo gang, presumably becoming associated with the mafia (i.e. the Genovese family), while other remaining members of the gang were working in cooperation with the mafia, possibly even as associates if my interpretation is true. When Boiardo was released he retaliated against some of his former gang members but by WWII period he was a Genovese associate and one of the first members made in the 1940s.
Following his induction, many of Boiardo's longtime gang members were made into the Genovese family between the mid-1940s and 1957 and continued to operate under his direction... whether he was officially in charge of them or just continued as a defacto leader isn't clear to me, but by the late 1950s he was almost 70 and dialing back on his activities, with his son and a couple of top crew members running the activities of the crew. I'd be surprised if he had been under Catena leading up to that only to be promoted in 1957 but with all of the bugs and informants maybe some reliable info is out there about that succession.
On one of the DeCarlo tapes, DeCarlo and Pussy Russo talk about Boiardo meeting with Sam Giancana at some point and Giancana asking Boiardo about Russo, who was also at the meeting with Giancana. Boiardo told Giancana that it was Russo who killed Tony Bender, which is again confirmed in the conversation between DeCarlo and Russo, who says the order came from Vito Genovese.
To get back on topic, one murder that took place when Costello was official boss was a Harold/"Little Harry", killed by the Boiardos and Russo brothers. This hit is believed to have taken place sometime between 1948 and 1955 though the exact date and full name of the victim were never identified to my knowledge. Would be interesting to know if Costello personally approved every murder done under his reign, especially in Jersey.
After going through Boiardo's FBI files, I didn't come across anything about his date of promotion and the info pre-1960s speaks in generalities. Based on the info in his files, it looks like members of his gang may have fallen in line under Willie Moretti in the 1930s without Boiardo's consent when he was incarcerated. Moretti was believed to have been responsible for an attempt on Boiardo's life before he went to prison and while he was away Gyp DeCarlo broke away from the independent Boiardo gang, presumably becoming associated with the mafia (i.e. the Genovese family), while other remaining members of the gang were working in cooperation with the mafia, possibly even as associates if my interpretation is true. When Boiardo was released he retaliated against some of his former gang members but by WWII period he was a Genovese associate and one of the first members made in the 1940s.
Following his induction, many of Boiardo's longtime gang members were made into the Genovese family between the mid-1940s and 1957 and continued to operate under his direction... whether he was officially in charge of them or just continued as a defacto leader isn't clear to me, but by the late 1950s he was almost 70 and dialing back on his activities, with his son and a couple of top crew members running the activities of the crew. I'd be surprised if he had been under Catena leading up to that only to be promoted in 1957 but with all of the bugs and informants maybe some reliable info is out there about that succession.
On one of the DeCarlo tapes, DeCarlo and Pussy Russo talk about Boiardo meeting with Sam Giancana at some point and Giancana asking Boiardo about Russo, who was also at the meeting with Giancana. Boiardo told Giancana that it was Russo who killed Tony Bender, which is again confirmed in the conversation between DeCarlo and Russo, who says the order came from Vito Genovese.
To get back on topic, one murder that took place when Costello was official boss was a Harold/"Little Harry", killed by the Boiardos and Russo brothers. This hit is believed to have taken place sometime between 1948 and 1955 though the exact date and full name of the victim were never identified to my knowledge. Would be interesting to know if Costello personally approved every murder done under his reign, especially in Jersey.