What do We Know about the Newark Family?

[Antiliar]

There was a Baldassare Accardi also from Vita active in Ontario during the 50s/60s involved in narcotics with Benedetto Zizzo from Salemi. I never managed to know if he was a relative to Settimo. Someone knows ?

Couldn't find anything on Baldassare Accardi other than what's mentioned in the Valachi hearings.

According to this, Settimo had two brothers, Joseph (Giuseppe) and Frank (Francesco). Interesting that almost all of his associates in this biography were Genovese Family members, the only exceptions being Cristoforo Robino, who was a member of the Vita Family and transferred to the Lucchese Family, and Carmine LoCascio, who might have been a Gambino. https://books.google.com/books?id=z3xKA ... di&f=false

This FBI document cites a Buffalo newspaper that claimed that Magaddino punished Accardo by not paying him.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... ch=settimo

Accardo fled to Turin, Italy, in 1955 to avoid prison. He was arrested and brought back in 1963 and sent to prison in 1964. While in Italy he allegedly directed narcotics trafficking to the United States and Canada.

[B.]

My best guess is the Lucchese NJ crew consisted of these members 1950s - 1970s:

Giuseppe Abate - Marsala, Trapani (captain 1970s)
Onofrio Abate - Vita, Trapani via Tunis
Giuseppe Accardi - Vita, Trapani
Settimo Accardi - Vita, Trapani via Tunis (captain 1940s-1950s?)
Stefano Badami - Corleone, Palermo via Tunis (former Newark boss)
Anthony Dolasco - Castelferrato, Enna?
Onofrio Milazzo - ?, Trapani (Sicilian transfer, deported)
Benny Pizzolato - Vita, Trapani (captain 1950s-1960s)
Leonard Pizzolato - Vita, Trapani
Vito Pizzolato- Vita, Trapani
Michael Russo - Cerda, Palermo

Notable associates:
Carmine Accardi (son of Settimo)
Anthony Accetturo (with Dolasco)
Frank Monaco - Vita, Trapani (brother of murdered Newark underboss Saverio, suspect in Badami murder)

- Likely some old timers flew under the radar we're unaware of. Could have been some ex-Newark members who were either elderly or dead by the time LE started intensifying their investigation.

- Anthony Acceturro said the members of the Lucchese group in New Jersey numbered 20, but more than 100 associates worked for him. That must include both newly made members in the 1970s/80s plus survivors of the old crew.

- Accetturro was also familier with the break-up of the Newark Family. Don't know how deep his knowledge went but someone told him there'd been a Newark Family who was disbanded. My guess is most of the original NJ Lucchese members were first with Newark so not surprised it would come up in conversation. For example, reports in Richie Boiardo's file say the Accardis, Pizzolatos, and Lombardinos were all one group in the 1920s/30s.

- There was a lot of confusion around these guys. There's a DeCarlo tape where he and Pussy Russo argue for a minute about whether the Pizzolatos are Gambino members or Lucchese. Russo insisted they were Gambino but DeCarlo knew they were Lucchese. It was in reference to a sitdown where Benny Pizzolato was going to represent associate Anthony Accetturo.

Did most of this come from Bill Feather? If not, I'm curious at how you arrived to your conclusions.

- Benny Pizzolato, the oldest of the Pizzolato brothers. First, it's pretty rare for three brothers to be members in the same family, not to mention the same crew. Second, do we have sources that confirm that he was a capo?

- Stefano Badami. Why would he be in the Lucchese Family and not the Decavalcante Family? Also, there's the question of him being the Newark boss. Nick Gentile has Gaspare D'Amico as the Newark boss during that period, or was Badami deposed and replaced by D'Amico? Or is it possible that Badami was really an early boss of the Elizabeth Family? Joe Valachi referred to "Don Steve" as the Newark boss having trouble with Ritchie the Boot, but to a guy like Valachi, Newark could represent Elizabeth. After all, the two cities border each other and Newark is far better known and larger. It's similar to the Angels, based in Anaheim, being called the Los Angeles Angels. It's common to refer to a smaller city by its larger neighbor.

- Getting back to Settimo Accardo, it looks like guilt by association. You could very well be correct, but the fact is that all the documentation discovered so far is that he was a Genovese member or belonged to an unknown borgata. I haven't seen any documentation that shows him to be a capo.

So what I get is that this is a speculative theory with little evidence to support it. Your theory could be right. Maybe Accardo's FBI file has the answer and will provide confirmation for your theory. For the record, I don't have a dog in this fight except for wanting better and more evidence.

I phrased it as "my best guess" because some of it is speculative / circumstantial, not a definitive list. It's not pulled from Bill Feather though we may have come to similar conclusions.

- All three Pizzolatos were confirmed Lucchese members and show up on FBI lists from the era. Accetturo confirmed Lenny Pizzolato was still an active Lucchese member in the 1970s who arranged for him to meet captain Joe Abate.

- The inference that Benny Pizzolato was a captain comes from the DeCarlo tapes where Lucchese member Ham Dolasco's superior is referred to as "Benooks" (ph) who has to come from Atlantic City on Dolasco's behalf. Benny Pizzolato was living in Atlantic City and "Benooks" could be a phonetic take on his name/nickname.

- Badami never lived or operated in the same territory as the DeCavalcante Family and his Corleonese heritage and close ties to Tom Gagliano make the Lucchese Family a possible landing spot. Accounts of his murder suggested it was connected in some way to the deportation of Settimo Accardi, though it's anyone's guess if that's accurate. I haven't seen anything indicating Badami and D'Amico were bosses at the same time, as there are no known references to Badami being an NJ boss after 1931 (when his underboss Monaco from Vita is killed) and D'Amico surfaces as an NJ boss after that. The D'Amico situation referred to by Gentile took place in the mid-1930s unless there's an earlier reference I'm unaware of.

- Onofrio Abate is not confirmed as a member by any sources (though he appears to have had status as a mafioso) and Mike Russo's affiliation is also a mystery but "my best guess" is they were with the Lucchese Family.

- The other Onofrio, Onofrio Milazzo, came from Sicily and by the late 1960s was associating heavily with this group. His cousin was Lucchese associate Jimmy Sinatra Craparotta and Milazzo ended up representing the Lucchese associates in a sitdown with Funzi Tieri, who the informant said showed Milazzo great respect. John DiGilio had also uncharacteristically shown Milazzo the respect afforded a made member when Milazzo interrupted DiGilio assaulting a Lucchese-connected associate. Milazzo's status indicates he either transferred to the Lucchese Family or was a Sicilian mafioso allowed to represent Lucchese associates in a sitdown with another US Family, but I think the former is more likely.

Please feel free to pick holes in any of this if you can, this is just a basic mock-up of where I'm leaning with the Lucchese NJ crew. I understand Settimo Accardi was believed by some sources to be with the Genovese Family but I'm not confident in it based on some of the other patterns we're seeing, along with his son being made into the Luccheses, but I'd be happy to have definitive confirmation either way.

[jimmyb]

This is a great thread. Wasn't Settimo Acardi connected to Toto Minore (Trapani) somehow. I believe Minore married one of these old Zips's daughters.

[Antiliar]

Thanks for the additional information. I can agree with you that Badami was the Newark boss before D'Amico. It makes sense.

Your case for Benny Pizzolato also makes sense.

I still don't feel confident about Accardo. Hopefully I'll still be alive when they send the file and can share what answers it has.

[B.]

Also Fab -- wasn't Baldassare Accardi from Salemi like the other Toronto drug traffickers? The head of the Sicilian mafia's 1920s/30s cattle rustling operation (which was island-wide) was an Accardi from Salemi as well. Could still be a connection to Settimo as he had relatives in neighboring villages and Salemi is near Vita. Accardo/Accardi is a very common name in that region of Trapani, though.

Another guy to bring up is San Jose member Anthony Scavuzzo. Born in Vita like so many of these guys and started as a mafioso in Newark, likely with the Newark Family, but he didn't move to San Jose until later in the 1940s so he must have belonged to an NYC Family in NJ before his move.

It appears there was a large Vita faction in the Newark Family which may have factored into Saverio Monaco's status as underboss.

[antimafia]

This FBI document cites a Buffalo newspaper that claimed that Magaddino punished Accardo by not paying him.
https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... ch=settimo

Accardo fled to Turin, Italy, in 1955 to avoid prison. He was arrested and brought back in 1963 and sent to prison in 1964. While in Italy he allegedly directed narcotics trafficking to the United States and Canada.

The article written by Sidney Zion that was published in that Buffalo newspaper must have been syndicated -- see my post on p. 1 of this thread. I’m providing again a link to my Evernote item, which contains Zion’s article as published in the NYT:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... 4b70159a53

If Zion’s name is familiar to us, the reason may be that he is a co-author of Roy Cohn’s autobiography.

[Antiliar]

Sidney Zion was well-known. He hosted a Mafia mini-series on Fox in the late 1980s/early 90s and put out a related book. He was most interested in Murder Inc. and the Jewish mob.

[B.]

Something curious is Jerry Capeci said Joe Abate was first a "gunslinger" for Al Capone in Chicago before being with the Luccheses. Not sure what the basis is, but Abate was from Marsala so would be very interesting if he was involved with the Genna faction. Don't know if there's any info verifying he lived in Chicago.

What's weird too is both Joe Abate and Benny Pizzolato lived in Atlantic City going back many years. Never heard the Philly sources or anyone mention Lucchese NJ leaders living in AC so they must have had very little involvement with Philly. From the DeCarlo tapes and Accetturo's cooperation it seems like the AC-based captains did relatively little direct supervision of the crew and were mainly called up to North Jersey and NYC for admin matters and sitdowns where they had to rep members.

Accetturo also said Pizzolato got angry with him for trying to speak to Joe Abate before Abate addressed him first. This is despite Accetturo already being a highly respected associated being groomed for membership/leadership. Seems these older NJ Luccheses were very secretive and rigid about protocol.

[PolackTony]

Something curious is Jerry Capeci said Joe Abate was first a "gunslinger" for Al Capone in Chicago before being with the Luccheses. Not sure what the basis is, but Abate was from Marsala so would be very interesting if he was involved with the Genna faction. Don't know if there's any info verifying he lived in Chicago.

Maybe Capeci stated that as well, but I have Selwyn Raab as claiming, at the beginning of his book as he's introducing Accetturo, that Abate was a "gunslinger" for Capone in Chicago. I'm not aware of a Giuseppe/Joseph Abate (or Abbate) as linked in Chicago to all of the 1920s mayhem. That in itself doesn't mean much, of course, as Abate could've been there without leaving a record, under an assumed or stolen identity, or moving back and forth between Chicago and NJ. The fact that he was There was a "Philip Abbate/Abate", who was stated to be a Genna/Tropea affiliate and linked to "Don Peppino" aka "Russo", alleged leader of the infamous "Sicilian Quarto". I had wondered if this guy had been Trapanese given his apparent loyalties, but it turns out that he was actually the Filippo Ignolfo aka "Abate" who was from Villarosa, Enna, and murdered in Chicago in 1930 (he was killed along with a guy from Toledo and another from Rochester, interestingly, but that's a story for a different thread).

Has Abate's arrival in the US been confirmed? When can he first be firmly accounted for in NJ?

[B.]

My mistake, I meant Raab but typed Capeci. That's what I was referring to. No idea where Raab got the info unless Accetturo was told that about Abate.

Abate's obituary says he was born in Marsala and lived in Atlantic City since the mid-1940s but I haven't found any records confirming his immigration or residences prior to that.

[PolackTony]

My mistake, I meant Raab but typed Capeci. That's what I was referring to. No idea where Raab got the info unless Accetturo was told that about Abate.

Abate's obituary says he was born in Marsala and lived in Atlantic City since the mid-1940s but I haven't found any records confirming his immigration or residences prior to that.

Yeah, his WW2 draft card in AC also confirms that he was from Marsala. There’s also a record for a “Joseph Abbott” born in Italy and of the same age living in AC in 1930, probably him.

[B.]

If he was in AC that far back it could point to the Newark Family having a presence that far south.

[B.]

According to this, Settimo had two brothers, Joseph (Giuseppe) and Frank (Francesco). Interesting that almost all of his associates in this biography were Genovese Family members, the only exceptions being Cristoforo Robino, who was a member of the Vita Family and transferred to the Lucchese Family, and Carmine LoCascio, who might have been a Gambino. https://books.google.com/books?id=z3xKA ... di&f=false

By the way Carmine "Willie" LoCascio was a Lucchese member, as was his brother. Family from Baucina (like the Gambino LoCascios) and part of the Lucchese Manhattan/Queens faction. The Dippolitos of LA started out associating with the LoCascios in NYC.

This is the first I've heard of Robino being a Vita Family member and a Lucchese. His cousin Calogero Robino is listed by the FBN as being from Salemi but it neighbors Vita and there's a lot of interrelation between these inland Trapani towns. Cristofaro used to get labeled a Colombo but I've always doubted that. Always wanted to know more about him, curious what you may have found.

[jimmyb]

This is a great thread. Wasn't Settimo Acardi connected to Toto Minore (Trapani) somehow. I believe Minore married one of these old Zips's daughters.

Just checked my files. Minore was married to Onofrio Abate's daughter.

[Antiliar]

According to this, Settimo had two brothers, Joseph (Giuseppe) and Frank (Francesco). Interesting that almost all of his associates in this biography were Genovese Family members, the only exceptions being Cristoforo Robino, who was a member of the Vita Family and transferred to the Lucchese Family, and Carmine LoCascio, who might have been a Gambino. https://books.google.com/books?id=z3xKA ... di&f=false

By the way Carmine "Willie" LoCascio was a Lucchese member, as was his brother. Family from Baucina (like the Gambino LoCascios) and part of the Lucchese Manhattan/Queens faction. The Dippolitos of LA started out associating with the LoCascios in NYC.

This is the first I've heard of Robino being a Vita Family member and a Lucchese. His cousin Calogero Robino is listed by the FBN as being from Salemi but it neighbors Vita and there's a lot of interrelation between these inland Trapani towns. Cristofaro used to get labeled a Colombo but I've always doubted that. Always wanted to know more about him, curious what you may have found.

I was reading something about Accardi and it got stuck in my brain as I wrote that, LOL. Robino was from Salemi, not Vita. However, the part about him being a Lucchese member is accurate according to the Italian parliamentary report that I cited. It can be found here: https://archiviopiolatorre.camera.it/l- ... -relazioni