What do We Know about the Newark Family?

[JoelTurner]

Newark boss Stefano Badami and underboss Saverio Monaco are Maranzano allies during the war, with Maranzano sending gunmen to assist Badami.

Immediately after Maranzano's murder underboss Monaco is killed and this is presumably when Badami steps down or is deposed.

- Troia moves to Newark and allegedly attempts a coup to take over the Family by 1935 so he and top allies are massacred.

It's not surprising with all of this in mind that the Bonannos may have been tasked by the Commission with carrying out his murder and handling the aftermath

- Badami and Monaco, Newark Family administration, are allied with Maranzano. Troia isn’t a member of this family.

- Troia supports a peace plan to end the war which Maranzano disagrees with.

- Maranzano and Monaco are killed; Badami likely steps down.

............... September 10 1931-August 22 1935

- Vincenzo Troia is killed for attempting a coup in the Newark Family.

———————————

In the intervening period represented by the dotted line, Troia moved to New Jersey, joined the Newark Family, and attempted a coup.

As far as I can tell, Troia didn’t kill anyone during this attempted coup so he must have tried polling the captains.

Two things stand out to me:

1) He goes from finding peaceful solutions to attempting a coup. I can understand this, he probably wanted what was best for him.

2) He moves from the Midwest to North Jersey and tries to take over a family that he wasn’t a part of before. This seems surprising but I can see him trying it because of his pre-existing clout

[B.]

- Difficult to gauge the internal politics in Newark given we don't know who held any of the ranks except boss. We can assume Troia's paesani group was behind him given a bunch of them were killed/shot with him. Like many mafia survivors, Tony Riela may have only "come in" after the murders and did as asked in order to save his own life, not necessarily because he betrayed Troia.

- Someone with Troia's clout/connections would be in a position to recruit political support from other Families if it's true he was staging a takeover. He may have had support from Rockford, Springfield, and Madison but unlikely those Families had much impact on NYC/NJ events. He had a whole range of relationships across Sicily though given his rank in San Giuseppe Jato and activity in Palermo citta.

- Knowing what we know about Joe Bonanno's tendencies it wouldn't be surprising if Bonanno initially backed Troia and then hung him out to dry. Bonanno makes zero mention of Troia in his book despite Troia's key role in the Castellammarese War and close relationship to Maranzano. Like we've talked about, Magaddino doesn't hesitate to bring up Vincenzo Troia when talking about the war ~35 years after the fact and the mysterious elder Bonanno member knows exactly who Vincenzo Troia is the moment Magaddino mentions the name. Troia is similarly a central character in Nicola Gentile's telling of the Castellammarese War and his murder was important enough for Gentile to comment on (though he confused the order of events).

- Some of Bonanno's omissions are easy to understand and you can't expect him to talk about everyone/everything, but Troia is a glaring one in my opinion when you consider Troia's relationship to Maranzano, his importance during the war, and Bonanno's close relationship with Troia's protege Tony Riela, who Bonanno not only recruited into his own Family but was business partners with.

[JoelTurner]

We can assume Troia's paesani group was behind him given a bunch of them were killed/shot with him. Like many mafia survivors, Tony Riela may have only "come in" after the murders and did as asked in order to save his own life, not necessarily because he betrayed Troia.

True, I feel like the people whom he was with are key to understanding this situation. You found Antonio Sunseri’s interview, but these guys are still a blank.

Someone with Troia's clout/connections would be in a position to recruit political support from other Families. He had a whole range of relationships across Sicily.

Yeah, I don’t think any of the small, Midwestern families would be in a position to really back him. If he was going to make a move, he’d need one or more of the Five Families backing him. If I had to speculate, the Profaci Family could have backed him. Troia was killed approximately a month after Salvatore Fontana whose murder was a source of conflict between the Profaci and Newark families.

Some of Bonanno's omissions are easy to understand and you can't expect him to talk about everyone/everything, but Troia is a glaring one in my opinion

Maybe he wanted to avoid the subject because he could have been legally liable. If he admits to having been aware of a commission hit, he could have faced issues. He didn’t go into detail on the Willie Moretti murder and he would have been involved in that one too.

[PolackTony]

We can assume Troia's paesani group was behind him given a bunch of them were killed/shot with him. Like many mafia survivors, Tony Riela may have only "come in" after the murders and did as asked in order to save his own life, not necessarily because he betrayed Troia.

Yeah, I don’t think any of the small, Midwestern families would be in a position to really back him. If he was going to make a move, he’d need one or more of the Five Families backing him. If I had to speculate, the Profaci Family could have backed him. Troia was killed approximately a month after Salvatore Fontana whose murder was a source of conflict between the Profaci and Newark families.

If Chicago had backed him, that certainly would've been considerable clout at the national level. Though I don't see any evidence pointing to Troia having support from Chicago, presumably at least the channels would've existed and we can assume that he had connections there. FWIW, Profaci had some important ties to Chicago and, speculatively, that could've provided Troia with powerful backing.

[JoelTurner]

If Chicago had backed him, that certainly would've been considerable clout at the national level. Though I don't see any evidence pointing to Troia having support from Chicago, presumably at least the channels would've existed and we can assume that he had connections there.

That’s true, but I haven’t really seen any interactions between Chicago and Troia; he seemed to be bouncing between Madison-Rockford-Springfield. They’re all a stones throw from Chicago so it isn’t inconceivable.

FWIW, Profaci had some important ties to Chicago and, speculatively, that could've provided Troia with powerful backing.

Was Joe Profaci ever a member of the Chicago family? According to this https://archive.org/details/investigat ... ew=theater on page 743-44, he says that he moved to Chicago from Italy in 1922 and lived there for 3 years.

Looking at the timeline, I think we need to figure out the Salvatore Fontana death. Too many things don’t make sense and it immediately preceded Troia’s murder

[Antiliar]

If Chicago had backed him, that certainly would've been considerable clout at the national level. Though I don't see any evidence pointing to Troia having support from Chicago, presumably at least the channels would've existed and we can assume that he had connections there.

That’s true, but I haven’t really seen any interactions between Chicago and Troia; he seemed to be bouncing between Madison-Rockford-Springfield. They’re all a stones throw from Chicago so it isn’t inconceivable.

FWIW, Profaci had some important ties to Chicago and, speculatively, that could've provided Troia with powerful backing.

Was Joe Profaci ever a member of the Chicago family? According to this https://archive.org/details/investigat ... ew=theater on page 743-44, he says that he moved to Chicago from Italy in 1922 and lived there for 3 years.

Looking at the timeline, I think we need to figure out the Salvatore Fontana death. Too many things don’t make sense and it immediately preceded Troia’s murder

I believe I posted about Fontana's death a few months ago, maybe even in this thread.

[JoelTurner]

If Chicago had backed him, that certainly would've been considerable clout at the national level. Though I don't see any evidence pointing to Troia having support from Chicago, presumably at least the channels would've existed and we can assume that he had connections there.

That’s true, but I haven’t really seen any interactions between Chicago and Troia; he seemed to be bouncing between Madison-Rockford-Springfield. They’re all a stones throw from Chicago so it isn’t inconceivable.

FWIW, Profaci had some important ties to Chicago and, speculatively, that could've provided Troia with powerful backing.

Was Joe Profaci ever a member of the Chicago family? According to this https://archive.org/details/investigat ... ew=theater on page 743-44, he says that he moved to Chicago from Italy in 1922 and lived there for 3 years.

Looking at the timeline, I think we need to figure out the Salvatore Fontana death. Too many things don’t make sense and it immediately preceded Troia’s murder

I believe I posted about Fontana's death a few months ago, maybe even in this thread.

You did, the document that you posted is probably the single most important on this thread. It separated the Troia affair from the D’Amico killing/breakup.

There’s still some lingering questions about Salvatore Fontana’s death.

1) Why did Profaci feel that Salvatore Fontana knew too much? Fontana’s brothers remained in good standing, did Profaci think Salvatore was going to flip?

2) Why did Profaci get D’Amico involved?

3) Why did D’Amico refuse? It was a serious enough situation that Profaci was willing to kill him over the refusal.

It’s interesting, D’Amico was having this Fontana issue at the same time that Troia was supposedly trying to take over.

[B.]

Mentioned in the charts thread that NJ Lucchese member Andrew Licari died last year:
https://obits.nj.com/us/obituaries/star ... d=12902160

He was born in the late 1920s and made by the Luccheses under sponsorship of his brother-in-law Lenny Pizzolato (source Al D'Arco), so never a Newark member but along with Carmine Accardi was one of the last remnants of the clans that can be traced back to the Newark Family.

His obit says his parents were from Sicily. They might be from Camporeale, not positive, so that'd be another Camporeale tie-in to this crowd.

Obit says he worked at his bro-in-law's garment factory during WWII. Not sure if that was Pizzolato or another in-law but we know the Newark/Lucchese crowd had garment interests, Stefano Badami being the best example.

--

Side note -- I don't know what former cop Bob Buccino's range of knowledge is, but Buccino says in his book Giuseppe Abate was originally made in Sicily. Wonder if there's any evidence to support that. Abate was from Marsala but allegedly a cousin of the guys from Vita like the Accardis and Onofrio Abate. Buccino also said Ham Dolasco's brother "Legs" was a made member.

Onofrio Milazzo is one who appears to have been made somewhere in Trapani before joining the Luccheses in NJ, though it was short-term due to legal trouble, so they did maintain some Sicilian connections after the break-up of Newark.

[Eld]

Good find on Licari. According to D'Arco Licari wanted to be 'neutral' between Amuso and Acceturro. Maybe he was shelved after that. Amuso wasn't the kind of guy that belived in neutrality.

Also according to D'Arco Lenny Pizzolato almost got himself killed when he tried to tell Amuso how to run the NJ crew.

---

Buccino is hard to assess, in his book he calls Carmen Battaglia the consigliere of the Bonanno family. So he makes some misstakes.

I couldn't find a brother of Dolasco but according to an newspaper article he was arrested with his nephew Salvatore Dolasco (d 1969) for murder in 1945. They were fairly close in age so maybe Buccino thought they were brothers.

On the DeCarlo tapes P*ssy Russo says he is going to sit down with Dolasco's nephew, which could indicate that the nephew was a made guy.

[B.]

The FBI Dead List has Salvatore "Legs" Dolasco as the brother of Ham who died in 1969, maybe the FBI confused the relationship as well.

[HairyKnuckles]

Dolasco.png

[JoelTurner]

This is Salvatore Dolasco (https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L ... -1914-1969)

If he was born on 28 September 1914, he would have been 22 years old when Newark broke up. That's probably too young to be a member. Anthony "Ham" Dolasco would have been 27.

What about their father Pietro? I wonder if he could have been a member.

A Patricia D from New Jersey posted this (https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g ... icily.html) on Trip Advisor: " Hello: I would like to visit Gagliano Castelferrato [..] This is where my grandfather was from.[...] My grandfather's name was Pietro Dolasco, married Antonina Guista."

[JoelTurner]

Here's some information from San Jose:

(https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=2)

- In July 1937, FNU Fontana killed a clothing factory owner named Francioni.
- A police officer named Gricasi contacted John Misuraca and told him who witnessed the crime.
- In 1947, Alex Cammarata, John Misuraca, Pete Misuraca, and John's daughter Madeline Greco went to LA to pick up FNU Fontana to hide him because he had shot a factory owner.

Either there was a mistake or there was a 10-year gap between Fontana killing this factory owner and going into hiding. Either ways, this Fontana cannot be Salvatore who was killed on July 3rd 1935, it would be Harry, John or Philip. It's another interesting link between a Fontana and the Newark family.

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

(https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=2)

- Rose Cammarata says that a police officer named Lombardino killed a man named Austino (phonetic) in Newark.
- This police officer was also a member of the organization [Newark family] and his firearm in the Misuraca's store.
- Rose's father John Misuraca was picked up for questioning but was released.
- This incident took place approximately in 1926. Rose was 48 in 1963 and says this took place when she was 11.

What strikes me the most is that this officer Lombardino was a member of the mafia, I always thought cops couldn't be made. He wasn't Salvatore or Andrew who weren't police officers nor was he Paul, Rosario, or Salvatore Jr. who were't born/too young. Probably one of their relatives. I wonder who was Austino (Augustino?), there's probably a record of someone with that name getting killed.

Two stories of John Misuraca and corrupt cops told by someone else. I'm still pretty curious about the Fontana affair

[B.]

There were different branches of Fontanas. Some were from Villabate like Giuseppe Fontana (killed 1910s, related to Profaci clan) and I believe the Salvatore Fontana killed in Newark was one of these. The Harry Fontana branch is unrelated and from Palermo citta. The one from the 1937/1947 situation is probably connected to the Villabate ones but no idea.

The report about the cop has always interested me, as the early Monreale "anti-mafia" mafia included cops as members and I've had conversations with some of the board historians about whether the early mafia inducted police in the same way they did mayors, judges, politicians, etc. The level of municipal control the Sicilian mafia had over villages meant local police would be completely subservient to them so it would be much different than inducting LE serving the state. You can see kind of a similar relationship with the US mafia's relationship to police -- they corrupted local police in droves, but were unable to do this with federal agencies.

Now that doesn't mean I believe they inducted cops in the US and Sicily, just that there are questions about whether a time existed where this was possible in mafia-controlled villages and if the Lombardino story has any truth (it came from a woman and we have to assume her telling of the story was documented correctly) maybe this existed to some degree here.

All very, very speculative.

[Antiliar]

Here's some information from San Jose:

(https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=2)

- In July 1937, FNU Fontana killed a clothing factory owner named Francioni.
- A police officer named Gricasi contacted John Misuraca and told him who witnessed the crime.
- In 1947, Alex Cammarata, John Misuraca, Pete Misuraca, and John's daughter Madeline Greco went to LA to pick up FNU Fontana to hide him because he had shot a factory owner.

Either there was a mistake or there was a 10-year gap between Fontana killing this factory owner and going into hiding. Either ways, this Fontana cannot be Salvatore who was killed on July 3rd 1935, it would be Harry, John or Philip. It's another interesting link between a Fontana and the Newark family.

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

(https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=2)

- Rose Cammarata says that a police officer named Lombardino killed a man named Austino (phonetic) in Newark.
- This police officer was also a member of the organization [Newark family] and his firearm in the Misuraca's store.
- Rose's father John Misuraca was picked up for questioning but was released.
- This incident took place approximately in 1926. Rose was 48 in 1963 and says this took place when she was 11.

What strikes me the most is that this officer Lombardino was a member of the mafia, I always thought cops couldn't be made. He wasn't Salvatore or Andrew who weren't police officers nor was he Paul, Rosario, or Salvatore Jr. who were't born/too young. Probably one of their relatives. I wonder who was Austino (Augustino?), there's probably a record of someone with that name getting killed.


Two stories of John Misuraca and corrupt cops told by someone else. I'm still pretty curious about the Fontana affair

Salvatore Lombardino - the same one arrested in Cleveland - was arrested and tried for the murder of Austin Savi in Belleville on April 6, 1927. He was acquitted on Feb 8, 1929. Informants often make chronological errors trying to recall names and events from decades earlier.

Austin Savi was born Agostino Savi in New Jersey and his father Thomas (Tommaso) was born in Palermo (province or city).
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/594 ... ustin-savi