What do We Know about the Newark Family?

[JoelTurner]

Anthony Riela, in 1957, lived at 7 Benvenue Ave, West Orange, NJ. I don’t know if he used to live in Jersey City at some point though.

No evidence that I've seen that Riela ever lived specifically in JC. He entered the US in 1923 at NYC under the assumed identity of Pietro Riela of Terranova, stating that he was bound for Utica. In 10/1930, as Antonino Pietro Riela, he put in his Declaration of Intention in Springfield, IL. I believe that he had been living in Rockford prior to that, as the Rockford papers reported on 08/17/1930 that Tony Riela had been rooming at the home of Anne DeMarco with a guy they named as Tony LaTuma, who was said to have been the son of major bootlegger Lorenzo Salvatore, when Salvatore was murdered at the home (reportedly in retaliation for the prior murder of Joe Giovingo). Then in 1933, Riela put in his Petition for Naturalization in NYC, stating at that time that he lived at 1148 Belmont Ave in Cypress Hills/ENY, Brooklyn (his witnesses were Antonino Falletta and John Joseph Kenny, both of BK, and occupied as "business agents", so probably union officials). At this time, Riela stated that he had lived in BK since 12/30, so two months after he filed his Declaration in Illinois.

The next record for him that I have, as Anthony Pietro Riela, was his WW2 draft card, which has him in Orange, NJ, where he was still in 1950. He seems to have lived in East Orange then from the 50s on to his death in 1992.

The FBI learned Riela actually came to the US illegally in 1926, he just used Pietro Riela's 1923 immigration data. There's no evidence Tony Riela went to Utica though there was a San Giuseppe colony in nearby Frankfort where his associate Frank Longo lived before Illinois. There was also a ruthless mafioso named Salvatore Polizzi in Frankfort and as mentioned Riela's mother was a Polizzi. One of Riela's uncles on Staten Island was a Salvatore Polizzi but no evidence it's the same guy or that he was a mafiosi. Frank Polizzi's father was also Salvatore Polizzi, probably a different one from these two.

Tony even used the same arrival contacts as Pietro despite there being no connection between the men, so somehow Tony was able to get ahold of Pietro's immigration documents and used every detail to falsify his own background. Be interesting to know how he got the info.

Lorenzo Salvatore was an alias used by Vincenzo Troia. When the FBI interviewed people in the midwest about Riela they knew Troia as "Big Vince" and Riela as "Mr. Tony". Very shadowy guys.

--

Speaking of background confusion, the FBN's info for Gambino leader Giuseppe Traina is actually for Vincenzo Troia's cousin Giuseppe Traina from San Giuseppe Jato. The brothers Giuseppe and Vincenzo Traina were mafiosi in San Giuseppe Jato when their cousin Troia was active there and when Troia was in the US he and Tony Riela were involved with a Troia relative named Vincenzo Traina who came to the US but I'm not sure if it's the same cousin who was active with the mafia in San Giuseppe Jato or another one.

Because the mafia is such a headache, the Gambino Family's Giuseppe Traina and Vincenzo Troia were both on the peace committee together during the Castellammarese War.

If Lorenzo Salvatore was Vincenzo Troia, who was murdered in retaliation for the murder of Joseph Giovingo?
Logically, they’d have to have a body.

Was Tony LaTuma an alias for one of Troia’s sons or a separate guy altogether?

You’re right about them being very shadowy

[JoelTurner]

With Newark, what stands out is Stefano Badami is the only known Corleonese in the Family. He was no doubt a mafioso in Sicily and maybe Tunis if he spent significant time there and his stature in New Jersey may have come from his relationship to Gagliano/the Corleonesi and Sicily. I point this out because his underboss definitely had compaesani around him in NJ from Vita, while Badami appaears to be a lone Corleonese based on what we currently know.

He rose to boss pretty quickly. He moves to the US in March 1927 and is boss at latest by February 1931.

Tom Gagliano himself became boss only after September 5th 1930 but was influential before. I wonder if he could have pushed Badami into the seat.

I wonder if there were any sleepers who joined the Gagliano family and we just don’t know them.

[B.]

Tom Gagliano himself became boss only after September 5th 1930 but was influential before. I wonder if he could have pushed Badami into the seat.

Gagliano wasn't an official boss until 1931 after the war and Valachi said his rebel faction was very small in 1930, but as a high-ranking member and Badami's arrival contact he must have had some influence. Badami could have been a boss already in the late 1920s.

According to the WikiTree info Stefano Badami's sister-in-law Lucia Riina was a third cousin of boss Tom Reina which isn't that far removed with these Corleone clans, so that's another connection. Why Badami chose to settle in Newark instead of NYC where his paesani dominated is another question but he rose quickly regardless.

Also with Giovanni Badami heading to Chicago he must have known Sam Oliveri who was related by marriage to Tom Reina.

[PolackTony]

Anthony Riela, in 1957, lived at 7 Benvenue Ave, West Orange, NJ. I don’t know if he used to live in Jersey City at some point though.

No evidence that I've seen that Riela ever lived specifically in JC. He entered the US in 1923 at NYC under the assumed identity of Pietro Riela of Terranova, stating that he was bound for Utica. In 10/1930, as Antonino Pietro Riela, he put in his Declaration of Intention in Springfield, IL. I believe that he had been living in Rockford prior to that, as the Rockford papers reported on 08/17/1930 that Tony Riela had been rooming at the home of Anne DeMarco with a guy they named as Tony LaTuma, who was said to have been the son of major bootlegger Lorenzo Salvatore, when Salvatore was murdered at the home (reportedly in retaliation for the prior murder of Joe Giovingo). Then in 1933, Riela put in his Petition for Naturalization in NYC, stating at that time that he lived at 1148 Belmont Ave in Cypress Hills/ENY, Brooklyn (his witnesses were Antonino Falletta and John Joseph Kenny, both of BK, and occupied as "business agents", so probably union officials). At this time, Riela stated that he had lived in BK since 12/30, so two months after he filed his Declaration in Illinois.

The next record for him that I have, as Anthony Pietro Riela, was his WW2 draft card, which has him in Orange, NJ, where he was still in 1950. He seems to have lived in East Orange then from the 50s on to his death in 1992.

The FBI learned Riela actually came to the US illegally in 1926, he just used Pietro Riela's 1923 immigration data. There's no evidence Tony Riela went to Utica though there was a San Giuseppe colony in nearby Frankfort where his associate Frank Longo lived before Illinois. There was also a ruthless mafioso named Salvatore Polizzi in Frankfort and as mentioned Riela's mother was a Polizzi. One of Riela's uncles on Staten Island was a Salvatore Polizzi but no evidence it's the same guy or that he was a mafiosi. Frank Polizzi's father was also Salvatore Polizzi, probably a different one from these two.

Tony even used the same arrival contacts as Pietro despite there being no connection between the men, so somehow Tony was able to get ahold of Pietro's immigration documents and used every detail to falsify his own background. Be interesting to know how he got the info.

Lorenzo Salvatore was an alias used by Vincenzo Troia. When the FBI interviewed people in the midwest about Riela they knew Troia as "Big Vince" and Riela as "Mr. Tony". Very shadowy guys.

--

Speaking of background confusion, the FBN's info for Gambino leader Giuseppe Traina is actually for Vincenzo Troia's cousin Giuseppe Traina from San Giuseppe Jato. The brothers Giuseppe and Vincenzo Traina were mafiosi in San Giuseppe Jato when their cousin Troia was active there and when Troia was in the US he and Tony Riela were involved with a Troia relative named Vincenzo Traina who came to the US but I'm not sure if it's the same cousin who was active with the mafia in San Giuseppe Jato or another one.

Because the mafia is such a headache, the Gambino Family's Giuseppe Traina and Vincenzo Troia were both on the peace committee together during the Castellammarese War.

If Lorenzo Salvatore was Vincenzo Troia, who was murdered in retaliation for the murder of Joseph Giovingo?
Logically, they’d have to have a body.

Was Tony LaTuma an alias for one of Troia’s sons or a separate guy altogether?

You’re right about them being very shadowy

As it was reported in the Rockford papers, there was a shotgun attack on the house of Anna DeMarco, where Troia, Riela, and “La Tuma” were all reportedly living at the time, but none of them were actually hit.

[cavita]

I tend to think the name was LaPuma and he completely disappeared from Rockford after the August 1930 attempted hit

[JoelTurner]

Gagliano wasn't an official boss until 1931 after the war and Valachi said his rebel faction was very small in 1930, but as a high-ranking member and Badami's arrival contact he must have had some influence. Badami could have been a boss already in the late 1920s.

I thought that Gagliano became boss after Joe Pinzolo was killed(September 5th 1930). If Badami became boss at some time in the late 1920s, which is possible, he would have become boss pretty much immediately after coming to the US.

According to the WikiTree info Stefano Badami's sister-in-law Lucia Riina was a third cousin of boss Tom Reina which isn't that far removed with these Corleone clans, so that's another connection. Why Badami chose to settle in Newark instead of NYC where his paesani dominated is another question but he rose quickly regardless.

The Reina connection makes it even weirder that he would choose to got to Newark instead of NYC. Maybe he felt that his career prospects would be better in a smaller family, but I don't know if they really thought like that

[PolackTony]

I tend to think the name was LaPuma and he completely disappeared from Rockford after the August 1930 attempted hit

Yeah, agreed that “La Tuma” was most likely a corruption of La Puma. I haven’t been able to find any other info on this guy and have no idea if he was actually related to Troia. Given that he was associated with Troia and Riela, who of course used assumed names/identities, who knows if his name was even actually LaPuma. Were you ever able to find any info on his background?

[JoelTurner]

Pretty interesting, the article names two man, I wonder who the 2nd man was if Frank Monaco was one of them.

- Badami was stabbed 40 times. Note that in addition to being 66-years-old, Badami was in poor health and partially blind. Records show he had health issues as far back as the late 1920s. The number of wounds is savage for a sick old man.

If Frank Monaco thought that Badami tortured and killed his brother years earlier, I can see someone going ham as revenge.

- Can't find it right now, but one article linked Badami's murder to the deportation proceedings against Sam Accardi. Could be speculative or maybe Accardi had been protecting Badami and someone saw this as an opportunity.

The timeline doesn't work on that. Badami was murdered on March 31st while Accardi and his drug ring were busted on August 5th.

- Valachi said when Maranzano listed off all of the guys he wanted to kill after the war he noticed that Frank Scalise, Tom Gagliano, and Stefano Badami were not on the hit list which led him to believe those three were conspiring with Maranzano in the plot. Given Badami was the Newark boss and believed by Valachi to be one of Maranzano's closest allies and co-conspirators, why were Monaco and Russo killed in 1931 and not Badami?

It's similar to what happened to Scalice though. No longer boss after '31 and his underboss was killed. We could ask the same question about him.

I read that Scalice's underboss, Vincenzo LePore, was killed as revenge because he had killed Joseph Catania. Monaco and Russo probably had some other transgression rather than just being Maranzano's allies

[JoelTurner]

Question too why Monaco and Russo's murders were apparently so horrific. Valachi said one of them had a metal pipe hammered up his ass which if true is beyond obscene for a mafia political murder (i.e. they were Maranzano loyalists) unless someone used the Maranzano issue as an excuse to let out their personal... "frustration".

Maybe I'm blanking, but the families in New York didn't really torture people very often. There are more, but off the top of my head, I could think of two: Jimmy Hydell getting tortured by Casso and the Tony Bananas thing.

The more I think about, the more Monaco-Russo murders feel similar to the Tony Bananas ones:

- 2 men from New Jersey
- One of the men is an administration member
- One of the men appears to rank much lower
- Tortured with foreign objects inserted into the body

Bananas killed his boss, so what did Monaco and Russo do? The general charge of "supporting Maranzano" doesn't make much sense. People like Bobby Doyle Santuccio did hits for Maranzano and got to live out their lives. They had to have done something major, like try and kill someone, to elicit such an extreme reaction.

[JoelTurner]

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... arch=Troia

I'm trying to figure out what exactly Magaddino's trying to say:

- Someone named Angelino, an americanized boy, had to represent Vincenzo Troia at a meeting because people in Chicago liked him.

- Magaddino can't talk to him because he doesn't know him(Troia?) because he didn't grow up here.

- "Della Mora" called Magaddino to Chicago but he refused to go and doesn't care how important "Della Mora" may be.

- Magaddino says that he never leveled any accusations at Troia and was told that he didn't know Troia. All he knew is the information that he was being told.

- Someone wanted Magaddino to accuse Troia to get rid off him because Troia was working against Maranzano. This person was Troia's "compari".

- "Gavarino" wanted to the main man(boss?) when he was at Montane(where is this?)

The rest of the converesation seems to be another story about his interactions with Maranzano. I wonder who were the names in quotations, Della Mora and Gavarino.

Troia was a boss with one of the small midwestern families, is this story about someone trying to take over one of those families from him?

------------------

Excellent trove of information! This is my interpretation anyways.

[Antiliar]

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... arch=Troia

I'm trying to figure out what exactly Magaddino's trying to say:

- Someone named Angelino, an americanized boy, had to represent Vincenzo Troia at a meeting because people in Chicago liked him.

- Magaddino can't talk to him because he doesn't know him(Troia?) because he didn't grow up here.

- "Della Mora" called Magaddino to Chicago but he refused to go and doesn't care how important "Della Mora" may be.

- Magaddino says that he never leveled any accusations at Troia and was told that he didn't know Troia. All he knew is the information that he was being told.

- Someone wanted Magaddino to accuse Troia to get rid off him because Troia was working against Maranzano. This person was Troia's "compari".

- "Gavarino" wanted to the main man(boss?) when he was at Montane(where is this?)

The rest of the converesation seems to be another story about his interactions with Maranzano. I wonder who were the names in quotations, Della Mora and Gavarino.

Troia was a boss with one of the small midwestern families, is this story about someone trying to take over one of those families from him?

------------------

Excellent trove of information! This is my interpretation anyways.

To figure out Della Mora we have to consider who would have had the authority to call a boss of a New York borgata to come to Chicago. This had to be 1930-1931, so we have a small time frame. That leaves Joe Aiello, Salvatore Agostino Loverde, Joe Masseria and Al Capone. Aiello was killed on October 23, 1930, and considering that he had a target on his back until the day he was killed, I doubt he would have called Magaddino to come. Loverde, from what little we know of him, was weak and was killed on November 5, 1931. Joe Masseria did insist on meeting with Maranzano and Magaddino, but in New York. So could Della Mora have been Capone? I think it's possible. Della Mora could have been a nickname since Capone was associated with the Camorra.

Troia was a boss with one of the small midwestern families, is this story about someone trying to take over one of those families from him? Something to keep in mind with Magaddino is that he jumped around chronologically in his conversations. He could be talking about the present then suddenly switch to events from 30 years ago, then 25 years ago. Let's say he took over Newark from Badami and that it was D'Amico who took it away from him. Then it would make sense.

[B.]

- Della Mora is probably Willie Moore Moretti. There's another tape where he uses similar phonetics and it's clear he's talking about Willie Moore. It's not that it was necessarily a boss who called him to Chicago, but Willie Moretti was a powerful member who may have been used as a messenger to Magaddino given Moretti was ex-Buffalo.

- What Magaddino said about Troia working against Maranzano fits with Gentile's account too. Gentile talks about how Troia, despite their close relationship, drew Maranzano's ire by insisting on peace with Masseria when Maranzano was still adamant about killing him. Maranzano was disturbed by Troia's conduct even though Troia was just doing his due diligence as a member of the peace committee.

- Angelino might be Angelo Caruso, as he went to Chicago and was Maranzano's underboss. Given Maranzano and Troia's close relationship it's possible Caruso was involved with Troia as well in these political matters.

- I don't think LePore was Scalise's underboss, but a captain, and in Scalise's case he saved himself by turning on Maranzano if I remember right. Maybe Badami did something similar and like Scalise was able to save himself and simply step down.

The timeline doesn't work on that. Badami was murdered on March 31st while Accardi and his drug ring were busted on August 5th.

Good observation, I might have it mixed up as it's been a long time but I'll keep digging as it's bugging me.

I thought that Gagliano became boss after Joe Pinzolo was killed(September 5th 1930). If Badami became boss at some time in the late 1920s, which is possible, he would have become boss pretty much immediately after coming to the US.

It doesn't seem Gagliano was officially recognized as boss that early, though it's open for interpretation due to the chaos of the war, but whereas Bonanno makes it clear Maranzano had the support of most of the Bonanno Family, Valachi says at that time the Gagliano faction had only a very small number of his Family aligned with him. We don't know when/how the rest of the Family fell under Gagliano.

[B.]

Troia's exact position pre-Newark is still open for debate. Cavita and I both suspect he was the boss of an Illinois Family and Gentile's account suggests he was a rappresentante in the US when he joined the peace committee but it's never stated explicitly. Giuseppe Traina was also on the committee and he was D'Aquila's consigliere and sostituto in the years leading up to the war, so not everyone on the committee was an official boss.

I used to believe he was official boss of San Giuseppe Jato before he absconded to the US and could have kept his title for a time, but after reviewing Italian investigations more closely I believe his cousin Antonino Pulejo remained official boss. The succession in San Giuseppe Jato went Pulejo -> Santo Termini -> Vincenzo Troia, all three men being cousins, but unfortunately the investigators didn't make much of a distinction most of the time between capofamiglia and sostituto and it's evident that Pulejo remained the preeminent leader of San Giuseppe Jato when he was in hiding and was one of the most powerful Sicilian bosses on the island.

[antimafia]

A+ antimafia, thanks for the infos !

And on a personal note nice find on Cordoliani who supplied Carmelo Caruana & Mira. Charbonneau mentionned in his Book that Cordoliani also supplied Papalia/the Aguecis/Indelicato & Zizzo with an heroin made by Jo Césari alias "Mr 98%" nicknamed like that for the purity of his heroin

You're welcome, motorfab.

Your reference to Charbonneau's book reminded me that the split that developed between the Papalia-Agueci group and the Zizzo-Indelicato group was fomented by Stefano Magaddino himself, having ordered the first group -- headed by his Buffalo Family soldiers -- to buy heroin on consignment from the second group but not pay them.

There are 2 New York Times items about Settimo Accardi in the Evernote note to which I've linked immediately below -- both items are dated November 14, 1963, and they appeared side by side in the print edition.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... 3e2251e902

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
[snip]

So it seems that Settimo and brother Giuseppe travelled to Quebec in the summer of 1932, ostensibly for a "business tour" per the incoming passenger list found in the Evernote item to which I've linked farther below. They indicated they would be headed to the Queen's Hotel in Montreal. On this occasion they travelled from the port in Cherbourg, France. (On another occasion, in August 1938, Settimo travelled from the port in Le Havre, France, to New York City, eventually making his way to East Orange, NJ.)

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... f814ce9980

[cavita]

It was generally thought Troia entered the United States in 1925 disguised in monk's robes. By October 1927 he was arrested at the Paul Scamardo home in Rockford having been suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of bootlegger Ezra Duffy. That leaves approximately two to two and a half years for him to have been in the Utica/Frankfort, New York area and then on to Madison, Wisconsin. He was in Rockford from 1927 to 1930, pretty much a solid three years but most likely travelled back and forth between New York I suspect. After he fled Rockford in August 1930 he returned to New York for a time before being arrested in Rockford again in May1934 and then in September 1934 he was arrested in Peoria, Illinois before being murdered in Newark in 1935.
I have suspicions as B does that Troia perhaps travelled to some of the small midwestern cities and either helped set up their early Mafia families or headed them briefly.