by B. » Sat Apr 05, 2025 8:54 am
Calogero Coniglio (1894-1983), Domenico Renda (1893-1964), Vincenzo Carlino (1884-1976)
- Calogero "Charles" Coniglio, Domenico Renda, and Vincenzo Carlino sat on the 1947 Ribera Club orphanage committee and of the 15 total committee members, these three are the only ones who are not confirmed mafiosi. The other 12 committee members were DeCavalcante boss Phil Amari, future capodecina Giacomo Colletti, member Salvatore Caterinicchio, future underboss Frank Majuri, member and possible capodecina Lorenzo Giacobbe, member Pietro Galletta, future capodecina Joseph LoLordo, Chicago member Phil Bacino, Chicago capodecina Jim DeGeorge, and suspected Chicago member Nicola Diana. That these three obscure names sat on the committee alongside 12 influential mafia members, many of them leaders, does not confirm they were mafiosi but adds a great deal of suspicion.
- All three were born in Ribera, Coniglio being among the early wave of Riberese Peterstown residents, arriving to Elizabeth in 1906 around the same period the Merlo brothers settled there; Coniglio already had relatives living in Elizabeth. He worked as a barber while his brothers worked as hod carriers, the trade of DeCavalcante-controlled Local 394. In 1915, Coniglio was living in the same building as Sheriff James LaCorte and his son, future mayor Nicholas LaCorte, James noted earlier for his ties to numerous Riberese DeCavalcante-connected names and unsurprisingly Coniglio himself is one of the figures whose naturalization was witnessed by the elder LaCorte.
- Coniglio was additionally listed among fifteen names who founded the Ribera Club in 1923, other notable founders including Phil Amari and the Merlo brothers, Michele and Giuseppe. He was a nearby neighbor of future capodecina Joe Sferra by 1950, the two having served on the Ribera Club orphanage committee three years previous.
- Domenico Renda worked for Standard Oil, at least a few DeCavalcante members or their older relatives, including the Riggis, working for Standard Oil early on. Renda was another relatively early settler in Elizabeth, arriving there straight from Ribera in 1912 and like Calogero Coniglio he shared a close relation to the Firetto surname. Renda too used Sheriff James LaCorte as a naturalization witness. In 1930 he lived on John Street just a short distance from Giovanni Riggi, father of Emanuele and grandfather of John, and a just a bit further down John Street was Emanuele Riggi and young John. In the 1940s Renda and his family were living in the same building as future capodecina Giacomo Colletti.
- Domenico Renda may have been related to fellow 1947 orphanage committee member Frank Majuri through marriage. Frank Majuri's daughter Marie appears to have married the Ribera-born Saverio Renda, son of Michele, whose mother was a Paola Amari. Domenico Renda also had a son named Saverio several years older than this Saverio, an indication he may have been a cousin. Marie's son is Frank Renda, believed to be a current DeCavalcante member under his uncle Charlie Majuri. The Renda-Majuri wedding is also apparently where Phil Bacino's son met his wife in what became another DeCavalcante-coordinated wedding. Saverio Renda died young in 1989 and Marie Majuri later remarried DeCavalcante member Nick LaMela, this second marriage to a made member possibly an indication her first marriage had mafia connections as well which would be logical given who her male relatives were.
- The third unknown 1947 orphanage committee member Vincenzo Carlino was a one-time employee of Standard Oil like Renda and Carlino was also one of the fifteen named founders of the Ribera Club in 1923 along with Calogero Coniglio, Phil Amari, and the Merlos. The eldest of these three men, Carlino may have also been the last to arrive in America, citing a 1921 arrival through Philadelphia on his naturalization although there was a Vincenzo Carlino of the same age from Ribera who arrived to NYC in 1905 -- either way he was living in Ribera before he arrived for permanent residence in 1921. The arrival manifest for the 1921 trip shows that the Carlinos were heading to Elizabeth and accompanied by a fellow Riberese traveler named Firetto, a recurring name connected to Coniglio, Renda, and Carlino, and that Carlino's brother Giuseppe was already living in Elizabeth. By 1930 he lived in DeCavalcante ground zero, living on John Street a few doors down from possible Family leader Michele Merlo and five doors down in the opposite direction from Phil Amari. Vincenzo's brother Giuseppe Carlino's own home was directly next door to Amari.
- Even during the Delmore era the Ribera Club orphanage committee was comprised almost entirely of Family leaders plus future Ribera Family leader Gennaro Sortino and high-level associates like Mike Kleinberg and Jake Miceli as well as the mysterious John Parlapiano. The original 1947 committee was dominated by an even more overwhelming number of mafiosi so either Coniglio, Renda, and Carlino were the only three non-members on the 15 man committee or they too were Family members/associates. The Family had between 30 to 40 members in the 1960s with roughly 27 or 28 identified, leaving a number of slots that logically should have included at least a few elderly Riberesi who were holdovers from an earlier era and completely off the radar.
- While certain direct relatives of DeCavalcante members are strong candidates for these unknown slots as well, these three names are equally if not stronger candidates given two of them not only helped found the Ribera Club but all three sat on the 1947 orphanage committee. The Ribera Club itself was controlled by the DeCavalcante Family and carried Family leaders and other members as officers but Ribera Club posts also included many "civilians" from within the broader Sicilian/Italian community and the Ribera Club's administration pales in comparison to the sheer concentration of mafiosi we see on the club's orphanage committee in 1947 under Amari and later under Delmore. That twelve of the fifteen 1947 committee members were mafiosi makes it probable that at least one of these three was a member and if they weren't members they were nonetheless regarded as respected peers.
- Former proposed member and CW Frank Scarabino stated that the Ribera Club's orphanage activities in the 1990s were carried out in collaboration with members of the Ribera Family, who also traveled to America to attend orphanage events hosted by the Ribera Club, the DeCavalcante tapes further confirming that these benefit dinners were a Family-controlled affair in the 1960s. This is despite the fact that during Scarabino's era these links had been fully exposed for decades and even during Sam DeCavalcante's early years as boss the Ribera Club and its corrupt orphanage philanthropy were becoming known. In 1947 it appears the then-unknown Family was even less apologetic in inserting itself into orphanage activities based on the sheer number of DeCavalcante and Chicago members on the committee.
- Renda died in 1964 but the other two lived into the mid-1970s and early 1980s, their advanced age already taking them off the radar of the FBI and contemporary sources and the unassuming nature of Riberese mafiosi in Elizabeth making it more difficult to confirm/deny their membership.
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Mariano Coniglio (1895-1991)
- Along with members Emanuele Riggi and Jake Colletti, a Mariano Coniglio was one of the men who posted bond for Salvatore Caterinicchio when he was held as a material witness in the 1948 John DiBiasio murder so it is a surname that connects to top DeCavalcante figures more than once. Mariano, who used the name "Michael", was from Ribera like the aforementioned Calogero Coniglio (relation unconfirmed; both related to Venzianos) and arrived to NYC in 1909 then settled in Elizabeth. He was another one-time Standard Oil employee, also living two doors down from Frank Majuri's Riberese father-in-law Emanuele Caruano circa 1950. A decade earlier he'd been Salvatore Caterinicchio's next door neighbor which may explain why he was one of the men who posted his bond.
- Another name who posted Caterinicchio's bond was a "Joseph DeStephens". I'm not sure who "DeStephens" is as I couldn't find a record for him but there was a Joseph DeStefano (b. 1903) living in Peterstown circa 1940 although I haven't found many leads beyond that and it's a fairly generic name. There was a Joseph DiStefano buried in Linden in 1942 which would rule him out as "Joseph DeStephens" but I couldn't find a DOB, neither could I find a DOD for the 1940 Peterstown resident. There was also a younger Joseph DeStefano (b. 1915) living in Peterstown whose father Alfonso DeStefano/DiStefano came from Girgenti (Agrigento; possibly Ribera) and reportedly lived in Elizabeth since at least 1908 based on the locations given for his children's birth on his naturalization paperwork. It's anyone's guess who "DeStephens" actually is although the latter is a good candidate based on his confirmed heritage and that he's confirmed to have been alive in 1948.
- I don't consider Mariano Congilio a particularly strong candidate for membership (nor "DeStephens" for that matter) compared to the three unknown 1947 orphanage names but his surname together with posting bond for a top DeCavalcante in tandem with two other top DeCavalcantes puts him in the conversation. Living next door to Caterinicchio adds a more practical angle to the relationship and it's not uncommon to see neighbors post bond for one another. He's worth of including in the discussion particularly in light of the info on his paesan and possible relative Calogero Coniglio.
[b]Calogero Coniglio (1894-1983), Domenico Renda (1893-1964), Vincenzo Carlino (1884-1976)[/b]
- Calogero "Charles" Coniglio, Domenico Renda, and Vincenzo Carlino sat on the 1947 Ribera Club orphanage committee and of the 15 total committee members, these three are the only ones who are not confirmed mafiosi. The other 12 committee members were DeCavalcante boss Phil Amari, future capodecina Giacomo Colletti, member Salvatore Caterinicchio, future underboss Frank Majuri, member and possible capodecina Lorenzo Giacobbe, member Pietro Galletta, future capodecina Joseph LoLordo, Chicago member Phil Bacino, Chicago capodecina Jim DeGeorge, and suspected Chicago member Nicola Diana. That these three obscure names sat on the committee alongside 12 influential mafia members, many of them leaders, does not confirm they were mafiosi but adds a great deal of suspicion.
- All three were born in Ribera, Coniglio being among the early wave of Riberese Peterstown residents, arriving to Elizabeth in 1906 around the same period the Merlo brothers settled there; Coniglio already had relatives living in Elizabeth. He worked as a barber while his brothers worked as hod carriers, the trade of DeCavalcante-controlled Local 394. In 1915, Coniglio was living in the same building as Sheriff James LaCorte and his son, future mayor Nicholas LaCorte, James noted earlier for his ties to numerous Riberese DeCavalcante-connected names and unsurprisingly Coniglio himself is one of the figures whose naturalization was witnessed by the elder LaCorte.
- Coniglio was additionally listed among fifteen names who founded the Ribera Club in 1923, other notable founders including Phil Amari and the Merlo brothers, Michele and Giuseppe. He was a nearby neighbor of future capodecina Joe Sferra by 1950, the two having served on the Ribera Club orphanage committee three years previous.
- Domenico Renda worked for Standard Oil, at least a few DeCavalcante members or their older relatives, including the Riggis, working for Standard Oil early on. Renda was another relatively early settler in Elizabeth, arriving there straight from Ribera in 1912 and like Calogero Coniglio he shared a close relation to the Firetto surname. Renda too used Sheriff James LaCorte as a naturalization witness. In 1930 he lived on John Street just a short distance from Giovanni Riggi, father of Emanuele and grandfather of John, and a just a bit further down John Street was Emanuele Riggi and young John. In the 1940s Renda and his family were living in the same building as future capodecina Giacomo Colletti.
- Domenico Renda may have been related to fellow 1947 orphanage committee member Frank Majuri through marriage. Frank Majuri's daughter Marie appears to have married the Ribera-born Saverio Renda, son of Michele, whose mother was a Paola Amari. Domenico Renda also had a son named Saverio several years older than this Saverio, an indication he may have been a cousin. Marie's son is Frank Renda, believed to be a current DeCavalcante member under his uncle Charlie Majuri. The Renda-Majuri wedding is also apparently where Phil Bacino's son met his wife in what became another DeCavalcante-coordinated wedding. Saverio Renda died young in 1989 and Marie Majuri later remarried DeCavalcante member Nick LaMela, this second marriage to a made member possibly an indication her first marriage had mafia connections as well which would be logical given who her male relatives were.
- The third unknown 1947 orphanage committee member Vincenzo Carlino was a one-time employee of Standard Oil like Renda and Carlino was also one of the fifteen named founders of the Ribera Club in 1923 along with Calogero Coniglio, Phil Amari, and the Merlos. The eldest of these three men, Carlino may have also been the last to arrive in America, citing a 1921 arrival through Philadelphia on his naturalization although there was a Vincenzo Carlino of the same age from Ribera who arrived to NYC in 1905 -- either way he was living in Ribera before he arrived for permanent residence in 1921. The arrival manifest for the 1921 trip shows that the Carlinos were heading to Elizabeth and accompanied by a fellow Riberese traveler named Firetto, a recurring name connected to Coniglio, Renda, and Carlino, and that Carlino's brother Giuseppe was already living in Elizabeth. By 1930 he lived in DeCavalcante ground zero, living on John Street a few doors down from possible Family leader Michele Merlo and five doors down in the opposite direction from Phil Amari. Vincenzo's brother Giuseppe Carlino's own home was directly next door to Amari.
- Even during the Delmore era the Ribera Club orphanage committee was comprised almost entirely of Family leaders plus future Ribera Family leader Gennaro Sortino and high-level associates like Mike Kleinberg and Jake Miceli as well as the mysterious John Parlapiano. The original 1947 committee was dominated by an even more overwhelming number of mafiosi so either Coniglio, Renda, and Carlino were the only three non-members on the 15 man committee or they too were Family members/associates. The Family had between 30 to 40 members in the 1960s with roughly 27 or 28 identified, leaving a number of slots that logically should have included at least a few elderly Riberesi who were holdovers from an earlier era and completely off the radar.
- While certain direct relatives of DeCavalcante members are strong candidates for these unknown slots as well, these three names are equally if not stronger candidates given two of them not only helped found the Ribera Club but all three sat on the 1947 orphanage committee. The Ribera Club itself was controlled by the DeCavalcante Family and carried Family leaders and other members as officers but Ribera Club posts also included many "civilians" from within the broader Sicilian/Italian community and the Ribera Club's administration pales in comparison to the sheer concentration of mafiosi we see on the club's orphanage committee in 1947 under Amari and later under Delmore. That twelve of the fifteen 1947 committee members were mafiosi makes it probable that at least one of these three was a member and if they weren't members they were nonetheless regarded as respected peers.
- Former proposed member and CW Frank Scarabino stated that the Ribera Club's orphanage activities in the 1990s were carried out in collaboration with members of the Ribera Family, who also traveled to America to attend orphanage events hosted by the Ribera Club, the DeCavalcante tapes further confirming that these benefit dinners were a Family-controlled affair in the 1960s. This is despite the fact that during Scarabino's era these links had been fully exposed for decades and even during Sam DeCavalcante's early years as boss the Ribera Club and its corrupt orphanage philanthropy were becoming known. In 1947 it appears the then-unknown Family was even less apologetic in inserting itself into orphanage activities based on the sheer number of DeCavalcante and Chicago members on the committee.
- Renda died in 1964 but the other two lived into the mid-1970s and early 1980s, their advanced age already taking them off the radar of the FBI and contemporary sources and the unassuming nature of Riberese mafiosi in Elizabeth making it more difficult to confirm/deny their membership.
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[b]Mariano Coniglio (1895-1991)[/b]
- Along with members Emanuele Riggi and Jake Colletti, a Mariano Coniglio was one of the men who posted bond for Salvatore Caterinicchio when he was held as a material witness in the 1948 John DiBiasio murder so it is a surname that connects to top DeCavalcante figures more than once. Mariano, who used the name "Michael", was from Ribera like the aforementioned Calogero Coniglio (relation unconfirmed; both related to Venzianos) and arrived to NYC in 1909 then settled in Elizabeth. He was another one-time Standard Oil employee, also living two doors down from Frank Majuri's Riberese father-in-law Emanuele Caruano circa 1950. A decade earlier he'd been Salvatore Caterinicchio's next door neighbor which may explain why he was one of the men who posted his bond.
- Another name who posted Caterinicchio's bond was a "Joseph DeStephens". I'm not sure who "DeStephens" is as I couldn't find a record for him but there was a Joseph DeStefano (b. 1903) living in Peterstown circa 1940 although I haven't found many leads beyond that and it's a fairly generic name. There was a Joseph DiStefano buried in Linden in 1942 which would rule him out as "Joseph DeStephens" but I couldn't find a DOB, neither could I find a DOD for the 1940 Peterstown resident. There was also a younger Joseph DeStefano (b. 1915) living in Peterstown whose father Alfonso DeStefano/DiStefano came from Girgenti (Agrigento; possibly Ribera) and reportedly lived in Elizabeth since at least 1908 based on the locations given for his children's birth on his naturalization paperwork. It's anyone's guess who "DeStephens" actually is although the latter is a good candidate based on his confirmed heritage and that he's confirmed to have been alive in 1948.
- I don't consider Mariano Congilio a particularly strong candidate for membership (nor "DeStephens" for that matter) compared to the three unknown 1947 orphanage names but his surname together with posting bond for a top DeCavalcante in tandem with two other top DeCavalcantes puts him in the conversation. Living next door to Caterinicchio adds a more practical angle to the relationship and it's not uncommon to see neighbors post bond for one another. He's worth of including in the discussion particularly in light of the info on his paesan and possible relative Calogero Coniglio.