by B. » Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:53 pm
Antiliar wrote: ↑Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:25 pm
As a point of speculation, if Troia was indeed a member of the Newark Family, it would make sense that he was killed by the five New York Families that wanted to destroy it. Maybe he wanted to hold Newark together but was overruled by the Commission, and fought back in a losing war.
It's tricky because in FBI files on MF Gentile makes some mistakes, but here is what stands out offhand about his info and the info from others like Bill Bonanno:
- He claims that D'Amico was the rappresentante of a "New York-New Jersey family", the wording of which is very interesting. This implies that the Newark family included a New York element, which matches the DeCavalcante family, who had a large NYC faction. However, Villabatesi and other members from Newark joined the Profaci family after Newark was disbanded, including a direct relative of D'Amico, and according to Angelo Bruno wiretaps and other pieces we have, Newark members were spread out into at least several of the NYC families, so we can't assume the "New York-New Jersey" description implies continuity with the DeCavalcantes, only that Newark may have been similar to the DeCavs in that they had members in NYC as well as NJ. Sure, it could mean the DeCavs were a faction of Newark, but it could be just as likely that any NJ group would have a presence in NYC by default given how close it is. Many NJ crews from NY families have had operations in NYC, for example (read Fresolone's book for some good examples of this).
- Gentile claims that Troia was a member of the Newark family and DID usurp D'Amico as boss, in turn making a lot of money by taking over Newark's lottery racket. However, he incorrectly says that Troia was responsible for the attempted murder of D'Amico that killed D'Amico's father and that this was the reason for Troia's own murder -- this event happened a significant amount of time after Troia's death, so he could not have been involved though I suppose it's possible that Troia set the wheels in motion for the murder and his loyalists carried it out, who knows. Gentile knew Troia very well, though, and I think he could be right that Troia did become boss of the Newark family for a period before his death. There was a significant period of time between Troia's death and the attempted murder of D'Amico, though, so if Troia was the boss at the time of his death, who was running the Newark family between 1935-1937? Did D'Amico resume control, or was the family disbanded around 1935 and D'Amico was supposed to be killed later for not accepting this or perhaps other reasons?
- Profaci is said to have been involved in disbanding the Newark family, which makes sense as his cousin Cammarata was a likely member, boss/former boss D'Amico and his relatives were Villabatesi Newark members, and a number of other prominent Newark members like the Lombardinos ended up with Profaci. However, this does not mean that Profaci supported D'Amico, as it is just as common, if not more common, for paesani to be at odds with each other even though the assumption is that they are natural allies.
- Side note, but Toto Lombardino, though not from Villabate, seems to have been an important Newark member by 1928, as he had lived in Newark for quite a while before that and his presence at the Cleveland meeting with his nephew as an "assistant" implies some importance (many people talk about how leaders would bring an assistant to Commission/assembly meetings and looking at the Cleveland meeting, we see Profaci/Magliocco, Traina/Mangano, Lolordo/Bacino, and probably other relationships we don't know, so Lombardino/Lombardino would fit this arrangement, implying the elder Lombardino was representing the Newark family with his nephew as his assistant).
Back to Troia -- if he did become boss of Newark, as Gentile says, he was already dead by 1937 and could not have been killed for the attempt on D'Amico in 1937, as Gentile incorrectly says. If Gentile was slightly mixed up but not completely, it could mean that Troia was killed by the Commission for simply usurping the Newark family, or it could mean he was killed by D'Amico's loyalists, which could also mean that the attempt on D'Amico was somehow in response to the murder of Troia. It's too hard to make sense of, but these are some possibilities.
From the limited amount of info we have on Troia, particularly during the Castellammarese war, he seems to have been seen as more of a peacemaker, hence his prominent position on the peace committee and his being proposed as the new boss of bosses during a time when diplomacy was favored over tyrannical leaders like Maranzano and Masseria. However, he did supposedly kill the mayor of SGI (an outsider to the mafia, who may or may not have been corrupt himself) and these guys are not exactly known for their moral consistency, instead being opportunists more than anything. It stands though that he does not seem to have made any attempt on D'Amico if he did usurp him and there are no other known murders/attempted murders of Newark members before Troia's death except the Monaco/Russo murders (which were years earlier and connected to Maranzano's murder), so it doesn't seem Troia violently took over in Newark if he did become boss and may have done it through his experience in mafia politics and extensive national/international connections. He may very well have been more popular than D'Amico, who was usurped, almost killed, and had his family disbanded before permanently fleeing the USA. Troia in contrast rose to prominence in just about every city he lived in, both in Sicily and the USA, and survived many tricky situations except the surprise massacre in 1935.
[quote=Antiliar post_id=71561 time=1521005109 user_id=77]
As a point of speculation, if Troia was indeed a member of the Newark Family, it would make sense that he was killed by the five New York Families that wanted to destroy it. Maybe he wanted to hold Newark together but was overruled by the Commission, and fought back in a losing war.
[/quote]
It's tricky because in FBI files on MF Gentile makes some mistakes, but here is what stands out offhand about his info and the info from others like Bill Bonanno:
- He claims that D'Amico was the rappresentante of a "New York-New Jersey family", the wording of which is very interesting. This implies that the Newark family included a New York element, which matches the DeCavalcante family, who had a large NYC faction. However, Villabatesi and other members from Newark joined the Profaci family after Newark was disbanded, including a direct relative of D'Amico, and according to Angelo Bruno wiretaps and other pieces we have, Newark members were spread out into at least several of the NYC families, so we can't assume the "New York-New Jersey" description implies continuity with the DeCavalcantes, only that Newark may have been similar to the DeCavs in that they had members in NYC as well as NJ. Sure, it could mean the DeCavs were a faction of Newark, but it could be just as likely that any NJ group would have a presence in NYC by default given how close it is. Many NJ crews from NY families have had operations in NYC, for example (read Fresolone's book for some good examples of this).
- Gentile claims that Troia was a member of the Newark family and DID usurp D'Amico as boss, in turn making a lot of money by taking over Newark's lottery racket. However, he incorrectly says that Troia was responsible for the attempted murder of D'Amico that killed D'Amico's father and that this was the reason for Troia's own murder -- this event happened a significant amount of time after Troia's death, so he could not have been involved though I suppose it's possible that Troia set the wheels in motion for the murder and his loyalists carried it out, who knows. Gentile knew Troia very well, though, and I think he could be right that Troia did become boss of the Newark family for a period before his death. There was a significant period of time between Troia's death and the attempted murder of D'Amico, though, so if Troia was the boss at the time of his death, who was running the Newark family between 1935-1937? Did D'Amico resume control, or was the family disbanded around 1935 and D'Amico was supposed to be killed later for not accepting this or perhaps other reasons?
- Profaci is said to have been involved in disbanding the Newark family, which makes sense as his cousin Cammarata was a likely member, boss/former boss D'Amico and his relatives were Villabatesi Newark members, and a number of other prominent Newark members like the Lombardinos ended up with Profaci. However, this does not mean that Profaci supported D'Amico, as it is just as common, if not more common, for paesani to be at odds with each other even though the assumption is that they are natural allies.
- Side note, but Toto Lombardino, though not from Villabate, seems to have been an important Newark member by 1928, as he had lived in Newark for quite a while before that and his presence at the Cleveland meeting with his nephew as an "assistant" implies some importance (many people talk about how leaders would bring an assistant to Commission/assembly meetings and looking at the Cleveland meeting, we see Profaci/Magliocco, Traina/Mangano, Lolordo/Bacino, and probably other relationships we don't know, so Lombardino/Lombardino would fit this arrangement, implying the elder Lombardino was representing the Newark family with his nephew as his assistant).
Back to Troia -- if he did become boss of Newark, as Gentile says, he was already dead by 1937 and could not have been killed for the attempt on D'Amico in 1937, as Gentile incorrectly says. If Gentile was slightly mixed up but not completely, it could mean that Troia was killed by the Commission for simply usurping the Newark family, or it could mean he was killed by D'Amico's loyalists, which could also mean that the attempt on D'Amico was somehow in response to the murder of Troia. It's too hard to make sense of, but these are some possibilities.
From the limited amount of info we have on Troia, particularly during the Castellammarese war, he seems to have been seen as more of a peacemaker, hence his prominent position on the peace committee and his being proposed as the new boss of bosses during a time when diplomacy was favored over tyrannical leaders like Maranzano and Masseria. However, he did supposedly kill the mayor of SGI (an outsider to the mafia, who may or may not have been corrupt himself) and these guys are not exactly known for their moral consistency, instead being opportunists more than anything. It stands though that he does not seem to have made any attempt on D'Amico if he did usurp him and there are no other known murders/attempted murders of Newark members before Troia's death except the Monaco/Russo murders (which were years earlier and connected to Maranzano's murder), so it doesn't seem Troia violently took over in Newark if he did become boss and may have done it through his experience in mafia politics and extensive national/international connections. He may very well have been more popular than D'Amico, who was usurped, almost killed, and had his family disbanded before permanently fleeing the USA. Troia in contrast rose to prominence in just about every city he lived in, both in Sicily and the USA, and survived many tricky situations except the surprise massacre in 1935.