by B. » Sun Feb 16, 2025 1:24 pm
We've discussed it fairly in-depth since the claim came out.
New Orleans was certainly the first US Family given that's where all the mafiosi first arrived and there is documented mafia activity going back to the middle of the 19th century. Scarpa was told by Joe Colombo too (who had just met the NO leadership) that NO was the first Family and as a matter of respect didn't have to report to the Commission.
However, D'Arco was not alone in his belief. DeCavalcante captain Anthony Rotondo testified that the DeCavalcantes were the oldest Family in the country and captain Charlie Stango similarly said the DeCavalcantes are the "oldest crew in the country" and "originated the Five Families". Stango's comment brings to mind what D'Arco was told about the Luccheses branching off from the New Jersey Family. Adding to this is that Gerry Angiulo was recorded telling Larry Zannino that Sam DeCavalcante's Family was "one of the fuckin' oldest Families out there". So there was a perception in New Jersey and Boston that the DeCavalcantes were either the oldest or one of the oldest Families.
So D'Arco isn't alone in thinking New Jersey relates to the origins of the American mafia but what complicates that is my belief that the DeCavalcantes started in NYC. There was a Riberese colony with mafia-connected surnames in NYC by 1892 at the latest and I personally believe this was the genesis of the DeCavalcantes, at least in the NYC/NJ area.
But it is hard to reconcile this with the overwhelming evidence that New Orleans was where the American mafia initially formed. However, we are missing the formal details on what was going on in NO back then. I wrote about this in my Alabama article but one way to reconcile these accounts could be that Riberesi or figures otherwise relevant to the DeCavalcantes initially lived in New Orleans and therefore the DeCavalcantes trace themselves "spiritually" to this group but that's entirely speculative. We also can't be sure if this New Jersey "La Chiesa" group D'Arco heard about was actually the DeCavalcantes or the separate Newark Family.
We've discussed it fairly in-depth since the claim came out.
New Orleans was certainly the first US Family given that's where all the mafiosi first arrived and there is documented mafia activity going back to the middle of the 19th century. Scarpa was told by Joe Colombo too (who had just met the NO leadership) that NO was the first Family and as a matter of respect didn't have to report to the Commission.
However, D'Arco was not alone in his belief. DeCavalcante captain Anthony Rotondo testified that the DeCavalcantes were the oldest Family in the country and captain Charlie Stango similarly said the DeCavalcantes are the "oldest crew in the country" and "originated the Five Families". Stango's comment brings to mind what D'Arco was told about the Luccheses branching off from the New Jersey Family. Adding to this is that Gerry Angiulo was recorded telling Larry Zannino that Sam DeCavalcante's Family was "one of the fuckin' oldest Families out there". So there was a perception in New Jersey and Boston that the DeCavalcantes were either the oldest or one of the oldest Families.
So D'Arco isn't alone in thinking New Jersey relates to the origins of the American mafia but what complicates that is my belief that the DeCavalcantes started in NYC. There was a Riberese colony with mafia-connected surnames in NYC by 1892 at the latest and I personally believe this was the genesis of the DeCavalcantes, at least in the NYC/NJ area.
But it is hard to reconcile this with the overwhelming evidence that New Orleans was where the American mafia initially formed. However, we are missing the formal details on what was going on in NO back then. I wrote about this in my Alabama article but one way to reconcile these accounts could be that Riberesi or figures otherwise relevant to the DeCavalcantes initially lived in New Orleans and therefore the DeCavalcantes trace themselves "spiritually" to this group but that's entirely speculative. We also can't be sure if this New Jersey "La Chiesa" group D'Arco heard about was actually the DeCavalcantes or the separate Newark Family.