Frank Costello murders

[eboli]

Is it explicitly said anywhere that Boiardo took over for Catena in 1957? I am under the impression that following Moretti's murder, Catena and Boiardo became captains but even then I'm not sure. Catena's crew would have likely gone to Gene Catena. Maybe someone has seen a report that lays it out clearly.

I had a file about it years ago, but I also think it's mentioned in The Godfather Garden, Garden State Gangland or Inside Newark. It's strange and I don't know if it's 100% accurate. I have it as Moretti->Catena->Boiardo->then a crew split in the 60's between Boiardo, Eugene Catena and DeCarlo. The thing is Boiardo despite his rank was always somewhat of his own entity. In contrast Jerry Catena was very tight with Zwillman since the days he was operating in Newark's First Ward and according to Morreti, with Luciano too. Jerry's brother Eugene was not well-liked by a lot of people for some reason. Whether he was greedy or generally rude and disrespectful it was probably the main reason why he wasn't promoted until the 60's when his brother became acting boss. It's funny because on some of the tapes the FBI made of DeCarlo in the early 60's he's talking shit about the Catenas too.

[MichaelGiovanni]

Great thread; I love reading about the Genovese family during this time period.

I second that. I hope someone is able to find those old threads about those crews.

[B.]

After going through Boiardo's FBI files, I didn't come across anything about his date of promotion and the info pre-1960s speaks in generalities. Based on the info in his files, it looks like members of his gang may have fallen in line under Willie Moretti in the 1930s without Boiardo's consent when he was incarcerated. Moretti was believed to have been responsible for an attempt on Boiardo's life before he went to prison and while he was away Gyp DeCarlo broke away from the independent Boiardo gang, presumably becoming associated with the mafia (i.e. the Genovese family), while other remaining members of the gang were working in cooperation with the mafia, possibly even as associates if my interpretation is true. When Boiardo was released he retaliated against some of his former gang members but by WWII period he was a Genovese associate and one of the first members made in the 1940s.

Following his induction, many of Boiardo's longtime gang members were made into the Genovese family between the mid-1940s and 1957 and continued to operate under his direction... whether he was officially in charge of them or just continued as a defacto leader isn't clear to me, but by the late 1950s he was almost 70 and dialing back on his activities, with his son and a couple of top crew members running the activities of the crew. I'd be surprised if he had been under Catena leading up to that only to be promoted in 1957 but with all of the bugs and informants maybe some reliable info is out there about that succession.

On one of the DeCarlo tapes, DeCarlo and Pussy Russo talk about Boiardo meeting with Sam Giancana at some point and Giancana asking Boiardo about Russo, who was also at the meeting with Giancana. Boiardo told Giancana that it was Russo who killed Tony Bender, which is again confirmed in the conversation between DeCarlo and Russo, who says the order came from Vito Genovese.

To get back on topic, one murder that took place when Costello was official boss was a Harold/"Little Harry", killed by the Boiardos and Russo brothers. This hit is believed to have taken place sometime between 1948 and 1955 though the exact date and full name of the victim were never identified to my knowledge. Would be interesting to know if Costello personally approved every murder done under his reign, especially in Jersey.

[HairyKnuckles]

To get back on topic, one murder that took place when Costello was official boss was a Harold/"Little Harry", killed by the Boiardos and Russo brothers. This hit is believed to have taken place sometime between 1948 and 1955 though the exact date and full name of the victim were never identified to my knowledge. Would be interesting to know if Costello personally approved every murder done under his reign, especially in Jersey.

"Little" Harry, I think, was a guy they referred to as the little jew who was tough to kill because he was able to put out a good resistance. They finally knocked him out by hitting him with a shovel, if I remember correctly.

Another guy they talked about was a William. Not sure on this guy´s last name but I think it was Cardinale, who they killed and put in Boiardo´s infamous furnice. By some accounts, it looks like Boiardo killed/had a lot of guys killed and I don´t believe Costello personally approved many of them. In fact, he may have been in the dark on many of these hits. Most of them seems to have been local matters Boiardo took care of.

I personally believe that Jerry Catena´s crew went to his brother Gene when he was upped. Boiardo must have been a skipper already by then considering he was having plans of retirement by the late 1950s, handling over control to his son Tony. By 1960, the Genovese Family definitely had three NJ vased crews (Gene Catena, Boiardo and DeCarlo).

And regarding loyalty, Jerry Catena was Costello´s guy (at least Costello trusted him enough to make him the acting boss of the Family when he was incarcerated in the mid 1950s).

[Charlie]

In ''The Real Thing'' Valachi said Luciano was boss until the early fifties, ''He was still boss all the time he was away. After he went away Willie Moore in Fort Lee, New Jersey, was acting boss for a while then they elected Frank Costello to act as boss but only acting boss until Charlie sent word in the early fifties that he had resigned and that made Frank Costello automatically Boss''

[B.]

To get back on topic, one murder that took place when Costello was official boss was a Harold/"Little Harry", killed by the Boiardos and Russo brothers. This hit is believed to have taken place sometime between 1948 and 1955 though the exact date and full name of the victim were never identified to my knowledge. Would be interesting to know if Costello personally approved every murder done under his reign, especially in Jersey.

"Little" Harry, I think, was a guy they referred to as the little jew who was tough to kill because he was able to put out a good resistance. They finally knocked him out by hitting him with a shovel, if I remember correctly.

Another guy they talked about was a William. Not sure on this guy´s last name but I think it was Cardinale, who they killed and put in Boiardo´s infamous furnice. By some accounts, it looks like Boiardo killed/had a lot of guys killed and I don´t believe Costello personally approved many of them. In fact, he may have been in the dark on many of these hits. Most of them seems to have been local matters Boiardo took care of.

I personally believe that Jerry Catena´s crew went to his brother Gene when he was upped. Boiardo must have been a skipper already by then considering he was having plans of retirement by the late 1950s, handling over control to his son Tony. By 1960, the Genovese Family definitely had three NJ vased crews (Gene Catena, Boiardo and DeCarlo).

And regarding loyalty, Jerry Catena was Costello´s guy (at least Costello trusted him enough to make him the acting boss of the Family when he was incarcerated in the mid 1950s).

"Little Harry"/Harold was the same as the "little Jew" discussed by Boiardo, for sure. There are conflicting accounts on who exactly killed him, with Russo on one wiretap giving a different story than the one told by Tony Boiardo, who may have exaggerated his own involvement.

re: Catena/Costello, that would actually put a different but logical spin on why Catena was selected as Genovese's underboss -- that Catena was selected not because of an alliance with Genovese but to pacify Catena and the pro-Costello element in the family.

[MightyDR]

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

That's a conversation between Little Pussy Russo and Angelo DeCarlo. Around page 23 DeCarlo tells a darkly comical story about how one time Willie Moretti told Richie Boiardo to get all his guys together and kill them at the same time instead of getting the OK for one every six months. Now if Boiardo was made in the 1940s, this would mean he was getting permission from Costello to commit these murders.

[Antiliar]

To get back on topic, one murder that took place when Costello was official boss was a Harold/"Little Harry", killed by the Boiardos and Russo brothers. This hit is believed to have taken place sometime between 1948 and 1955 though the exact date and full name of the victim were never identified to my knowledge. Would be interesting to know if Costello personally approved every murder done under his reign, especially in Jersey.

If we could come up with a list of NJ mob hits during that time period (and maybe a bit earlier) we might be able to figure out who this "Little Harry" was.