THE BLACK HAND FORUM

johnny_scootch wrote: ↑Thu Nov 11, 2021 6:57 am
I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t finished reading the Catena write up yet. I got halfway thru before getting distracted and haven’t gotten back to it. Looking forward to reading the rest but I have one more question and I apologize if this is also in the write up but is Jerry or Gene related to Ray Catena of the Ray Catena auto group? I’ve always wondered this and more so after it was mentioned by Pennisi recently. Thanks in advance!

Extortion wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:51 pmI’m gonna disagree because it is not like the Decavalanted where they are a smaller family answering to the Gambinos, they are literally made members of the same family. You could be right about strength wise but logically if they are in the same family, it shouldn’t matter if you’re only a couple miles away since many of them grew up in the city.

eboli wrote: ↑Thu Nov 11, 2021 2:03 am

johnny_scootch wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:57 pm

eboli wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:45 am The Moretti regime remained intact until the early 1960s, with Jerry Catena between 1951 and 1957 and Boiardo between 1957 and 1961/62. It was probably the strongest under Moretti after 1944 until his death in 1951 and during Catena's reign. I haven't seen a members list, but it was suspected to have had over three dozen members.

For some reason I had it in my head that after Moretti died the crew got spilt up, thanks for clearing up for me. Do you happen to know when that actually took place? When it went from one huge crew to a handful of smaller crews?

I wrote about it in detail in my recent Catena write-up. In short: Jerry Catena broke up the crew in late 1961 or early 1962 after he became acting boss. He wanted to give his brother Eugene more authority and curb Boiardo's influence, who by that point was running the former Moretti/Catena regime with the help of his son Tony Boy. It's a bit murky, but it seems it wasn't an outright three-way split between Gene Catena, Boiardo, and Gyp DeCarlo. DeCarlo might've been under Gene Catena for a few months before he was bumped up to captain too.

johnny_scootch wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:57 pm

eboli wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:45 am The Moretti regime remained intact until the early 1960s, with Jerry Catena between 1951 and 1957 and Boiardo between 1957 and 1961/62. It was probably the strongest under Moretti after 1944 until his death in 1951 and during Catena's reign. I haven't seen a members list, but it was suspected to have had over three dozen members.

For some reason I had it in my head that after Moretti died the crew got spilt up, thanks for clearing up for me. Do you happen to know when that actually took place? When it went from one huge crew to a handful of smaller crews?

Wiseguy wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 12:26 pm

Extortion wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 12:19 pm I’ve always thought Genoveses were strongest in manhattan and jersey

Manhattan was their traditional powerbase and that eventually extended to the Bronx. They've had the biggest presence in New Jersey since forever but the Jersey crews, like those from any other NY family, were always answerable to New York. So I don't see any from that state being in the running for "strongest crew."

eboli wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:45 am The Moretti regime remained intact until the early 1960s, with Jerry Catena between 1951 and 1957 and Boiardo between 1957 and 1961/62. It was probably the strongest under Moretti after 1944 until his death in 1951 and during Catena's reign. I haven't seen a members list, but it was suspected to have had over three dozen members.

Extortion wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 12:19 pm I’ve always thought Genoveses were strongest in manhattan and jersey

Extortion wrote: ↑Tue Nov 09, 2021 1:44 pm Genovese jersey crew was strongest under Boot and Catena

bababooey wrote: ↑Tue Nov 09, 2021 3:35 am Then we also got the the "Fiumara-Coppola crew" that was lead by trigger mike coppola which was very dangerous and made tons of money. Having interest in both NYC and Jersey i imagined made that team a lot.