by B. » Thu Aug 23, 2018 1:39 pm
The Grimaldis are at least third generation, possibly fourth generation Bonanno members:
JD wrote:There was a Vito Grimaldi murdered in the Williamsburg-Bushwick area of Brooklyn in October 1907. He was lured to a spot where he was ambushed and stabbed to death by multiple assailants then had a bomb placed under his body. The press at the time claimed the killers tried to set the fuse so the victim's body would be blown apart but failed due to rainy weather. He's also described in these press reports as a known criminal, extortionist, etc.
The Bonanno member Giuseppe Grimaldi's father was also named Vito and the age matches, but there were a lot of Grimaldis active in Brooklyn and most weren't from Santa Ninfa or even Sicilian. The Fulton site has a more recently added article on this murder and it says the victim had a wife and two children still in Italy at the time of his death. Giuseppe, his mother and only sibling Vitina were all living in Santa Ninfa in 1907 and didn't arrive in the US until years later, so the possibility of this murdered Vito being the father now seems a little stronger.
Only problem is the website for the bakery run by the Bonanno-connected Grimaldis talks about how the business was originally started by Giuseppe's father Vito in 1909, two years after this murder. If that date's correct there should be a mention somewhere of this Vito past 1907 but I haven't been able to find one. When Giuseppe came to the US in 1923 he gave his destination as an uncle, Mariano DiStefano. No mention of Vito there either.
I'm interested in what others here think. Most of the details match up to what is known about Giuseppe Grimaldi and his family. If the Vito stabbed to death in 1907 was the father of Giuseppe Grimaldi, he very likely could have been an early member of this group and that would make the Grimaldi family fourth generation Bonannos (Giuseppe, his son Vito and grandson Joseph are all made members). Maybe there are some references to this Grimaldi in the contemporary SS files covering the Morellos and other counterfeiters?
In the original thread, I remember speculating that the Grimaldis may have given a different story on their site to distance themselves from the murder, and this latest article lends itself to the idea that the website info may not be 100% correct / truthful. In the article Joe Grimaldi claims the business was started in 1961 at a different address than the current one, so the 1961 year isn't just a reference to when they moved to the current building, but the creation of the Grimaldi Bakery itself. The great-grandfather (also named Vito) is simply described as a baker in the article and not necessarily the owner of the same Grimaldi Bakery. Given that the elder Vito Grimaldi's family didn't come to the US until after his death, they may not have had the details straight on his year of death or may have deliberately changed the story to distance themselves from the murder.
The Grimaldis are at least third generation, possibly fourth generation Bonanno members:
[quote="JD"]There was a Vito Grimaldi murdered in the Williamsburg-Bushwick area of Brooklyn in October 1907. He was lured to a spot where he was ambushed and stabbed to death by multiple assailants then had a bomb placed under his body. The press at the time claimed the killers tried to set the fuse so the victim's body would be blown apart but failed due to rainy weather. He's also described in these press reports as a known criminal, extortionist, etc.
The Bonanno member Giuseppe Grimaldi's father was also named Vito and the age matches, but there were a lot of Grimaldis active in Brooklyn and most weren't from Santa Ninfa or even Sicilian. The Fulton site has a more recently added article on this murder and it says the victim had a wife and two children still in Italy at the time of his death. Giuseppe, his mother and only sibling Vitina were all living in Santa Ninfa in 1907 and didn't arrive in the US until years later, so the possibility of this murdered Vito being the father now seems a little stronger.
[b]Only problem is the website for the bakery run by the Bonanno-connected Grimaldis talks about how the business was originally started by Giuseppe's father Vito in 1909, two years after this murder. If that date's correct there should be a mention somewhere of this Vito past 1907 but I haven't been able to find one. When Giuseppe came to the US in 1923 he gave his destination as an uncle, Mariano DiStefano. No mention of Vito there either.[/b]
I'm interested in what others here think. Most of the details match up to what is known about Giuseppe Grimaldi and his family. If the Vito stabbed to death in 1907 was the father of Giuseppe Grimaldi, he very likely could have been an early member of this group and that would make the Grimaldi family fourth generation Bonannos (Giuseppe, his son Vito and grandson Joseph are all made members). Maybe there are some references to this Grimaldi in the contemporary SS files covering the Morellos and other counterfeiters?[/quote]
In the original thread, I remember speculating that the Grimaldis may have given a different story on their site to distance themselves from the murder, and this latest article lends itself to the idea that the website info may not be 100% correct / truthful. In the article Joe Grimaldi claims the business was started in 1961 at a different address than the current one, so the 1961 year isn't just a reference to when they moved to the current building, but the creation of the Grimaldi Bakery itself. The great-grandfather (also named Vito) is simply described as a baker in the article and not necessarily the owner of the same Grimaldi Bakery. Given that the elder Vito Grimaldi's family didn't come to the US until after his death, they may not have had the details straight on his year of death or may have deliberately changed the story to distance themselves from the murder.