What do We Know about Willie Moretti?

[PolackTony]

Interesting story there, as I don’t know much about these guys back in the day in Passaic County. Anthony Wilda was a Polish guy and a notorious gunman around Paterson; apparently him and Bill Schlessinger had a multi-ethnic gang (Polish, German, Irish) who ran around sticking up stills in the area, which is what LE believed led to the battle between them and Curatola/LaPadura group (who seemed to also have some non-Italians with them, as Frank LoGioco was killed with “Bayonne racketeer” Charles “Yiggy” Huff). Given that LoVullo was shot the same night as Wilda and Schlessinger, LE believed that the latter two had attempted to rob one of the Curatola/LaPadura stills and got into a shootout, fatally wounding LoVullo. Wilda and Schlessinger were then believed to have chased down by LoVullo’s comrades, tortured, and repeatedly shot.

Apart from the Daniele murder, Curatolo had been a partner of Luigi LaMendola, also from Caltanissetta, a major bootlegger in Pittsburgh (rumored to have had close ties to Capone in Chicago and Rocco Perri in Ontario). In May of 1927, LaMendola and Curatolo were leaving the restaurant that they operated together when two men opened fire on LaMendola, fatally wounding him (the hit was believed to have been ordered by Caccamese Pittsburgh boss Stefano Monastero). LaMendola and Curatolo were believed to have been responsible for the 1924 murder of powerful Pittsburgh leader Giovanni LaPaglia, of Villarosa (also at that time in Caltanissetta), who I’ve suspected may have been the boss of the Pittsburgh Family at the time.

[JoelTurner]

Interesting story there, as I don’t know much about these guys back in the day in Passaic County. Anthony Wilda was a Polish guy and a notorious gunman around Paterson; apparently him and Bill Schlessinger had a multi-ethnic gang (Polish, German, Irish) who ran around sticking up stills in the area, which is what LE believed led to the battle between them and Curatola/LaPadura group (who seemed to also have some non-Italians with them, as Frank LoGioco was killed with “Bayonne racketeer” Charles “Yiggy” Huff). Given that LoVullo was shot the same night as Wilda and Schlessinger, LE believed that the latter two had attempted to rob one of the Curatola/LaPadura stills and got into a shootout, fatally wounding LoVullo. Wilda and Schlessinger were then believed to have chased down by LoVullo’s comrades, tortured, and repeatedly shot.

Yiggy was actually Arthur Huff from Perth Amboy. Also, he wasn't with the LaPadura group. As you said, their robbery of the Ye Old Time Inn turned into a shootout. It was alleged that Logioco shot Huff and that Wilda in turn killed him. The two were known to be friends and were living together.



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LoGioco and LoVullo jointly owned Ye Old Time Inn .

A bouncer there, Angelo Zarella, was a hold-up man who was killed by in May 1933 by the Moretti gang. Interestingly, he looks to have started out in Buffalo, NY. I haven't found too much on him yet.

[PolackTony]

Interesting story there, as I don’t know much about these guys back in the day in Passaic County. Anthony Wilda was a Polish guy and a notorious gunman around Paterson; apparently him and Bill Schlessinger had a multi-ethnic gang (Polish, German, Irish) who ran around sticking up stills in the area, which is what LE believed led to the battle between them and Curatola/LaPadura group (who seemed to also have some non-Italians with them, as Frank LoGioco was killed with “Bayonne racketeer” Charles “Yiggy” Huff). Given that LoVullo was shot the same night as Wilda and Schlessinger, LE believed that the latter two had attempted to rob one of the Curatola/LaPadura stills and got into a shootout, fatally wounding LoVullo. Wilda and Schlessinger were then believed to have chased down by LoVullo’s comrades, tortured, and repeatedly shot.

Yiggy was actually Arthur Huff from Perth Amboy. Also, he wasn't with the LaPadura group. As you said, their robbery of the Ye Old Time Inn turned into a shootout. It was alleged that Logioco shot Huff and that Wilda in turn killed him. The two were known to be friends and were living together.



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LoGioco and LoVullo jointly owned Ye Old Time Inn .

A bouncer there, Angelo Zarella, was a hold-up man who was killed by in May 1933 by the Moretti gang. Interestingly, he looks to have started out in Buffalo, NY. I haven't found too much on him yet.

Thanks for the clarification on Huff, I had seen a different article that erroneously put him as one of LoGioco’s buddies.

What do you know about Jim Profita? In a previous post you stated that he wasn’t a major figure, though the papers seemed to think that he was from what I’ve seen.

[JoelTurner]

VINCENZO PROFITA was born on Feb 2 1889 in Castellana Sicula, Palermo, Sicily. He generally went by James or Big Jim.

He was pretty active in the 1920s. Notably, he was with Genovese member Michael Spinella when he killed Harry "Schwabbles" Joachim on Jan 22 1927. During these years, he was often named as the leader of the group that Willie Moretti would run (Angelo LaPadura, Joe Bongiorno, Etc.)

By the early 30s, he was rapidly fading out of view. He took 2 &1/2 years for running slot machines on Feb 7 1934, but after that he was pretty much out of sight. From what I can tell, his only criminal interaction after that was harboring Charles LaGotta, who was trying to muscle out some bus routes. Genovese member Michael "Mickey Dodge" Geralle was also involved. He passed away on Feb 20 1961.

I think that he was a mafia member, but I don't buy the idea that he was Passaic County's "Chief Desperado". It doesn't make sense to me that he would go from being the leader to being a random character.

[B.]

Great work as usual. I've wondered if Masseria may have had a capodecina or otherwise de facto head of NJ before Moretti. No hard reason to suspect it but there was some kind of presence there pre-1930 that fed into the Genovese Family when Moretti was still in NF/Buffalo. Giuseppe Morello himself was living in the Ft. Lee / Palisades area when he died though that was in 1930 and I'm not sure when he moved there, plus to be fair those towns were more like a suburb for NYC-based members.

I think that he was a mafia member, but I don't buy the idea that he was Passaic County's "Chief Desperado". It doesn't make sense to me that he would go from being the leader to being a random character.

It's happened with many guys. I don't know enough about Profeta, but there were former bosses who end up peripheral characters and we'd never otherwise know their true stature without inside sources or earlier cases.

[PolackTony]

Nice work on Profita.

Worth noting that Castellana Sicula is right there in that Eastern Palermo/Madonie region which is clearly emerging as a core area of origin for Sicilian members of the Genovese Family (ie, next to Polizzi Generosa and Petralia Sottana).

[JoelTurner]

Here's more ties between this group and the mafia in Pennsylvania, this time, with the Pittston family.



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1) Paul Cappa - (Enna, Sicily) A likely member of the Moretti crew who passed away on Apr 13 1949. Had liquor & gambling charges in Passaic dating back to 1920. His brother John Cappa was likely an early Pittsburgh member killed there on May 2 1917 during a blackmail attempt; John's daughter Gladys married Philadelphia-Trenton member Vincenzo "Jimmy Brown" Gioe.

2) Salvatore Anzalone - (San Cataldo, Caltanissetta, Sicily) Moved to Passaic, NJ in 1912 but married Rosina Parisi in Philadelphia in 1917. Passed away May 24 1976.

3) Joseph LaPadura - (San Cataldo, Caltanissetta, Sicily) A longtime NYC Genovese member, he was Angelo LaPadura's nephew. He appears to have been very close to the Pittston family, in the '50s he worked for Russell Bufalino selling draperies. The two were arrested together in 1976.

4) William Medico (father from San Cataldo, Caltanissetta, Sicily) Member of the Bufalino family. His daughter's husband, Santo Volpe Jr., was an usher at Willie Moretti's daughter's wedding in 1947.

5) Leo Ostico - (Fmaily from Campobasso, Molise) His brother was Bufalino member James Ostico

6) Anthony Scoma - (Family from Prizzi, Palermo, Sicily) Gambino member in Frank Perrone's crew. He had a few arrests with this crowd; was very close to Dr. Philip Noto, another early Sicilian member of the Moretti crew. His wife, Filippa Noto, was probably related to him but wasn't his sister.

7 & 8) Joseph & Samuel Costanza Both were arrested with Angelo LaPadura for liquor in Mar 1926. At that time, Joseph was living at 3 Madison Ave, Clifton, NJ while his brother was in Mocanaqua, PA. Either they switched places in the intervening years or there was a discrepancy. They were possibly from Alia, Palermo, Sicily.

[blackhander]

Willie Moretti may have been involved with the Genovese family WAY earlier than previously thought:

On Oct 13 1915, Moretti was arrested on a weapons charge.

In his famous Kefauver Committee testimony, he explains that he heard a shooting at 116th St. in East Harlem. Since he knew the victim, he helped him to a hospital. When a gun fell from the victims clothes, Moretti put it in his own pocket which led to his pinch. He then adds that the killer was caught that day and later executed.

On Oct 13 1915, Thomas LoMonte was shot on 116th St. in East Harlem. Though he passed away at a nearby hospital, his killer Antonio Impoluzzo was caught that day and executed on May 17 1917.

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I don't think that this was a random coincidence.

Gaetano "Thomas" LoMonte was part of the Morello group. His brother, Fortunato "Charles" LoMonte had been the leader at the time of his murder the year prior (May 29 1914).

Moretti was fairly young but wasn't a kid. By this time, he had multiple robbery charges and had spent over a year in prison. I don't think that he was made, but he could have been an associate.

I think that it's really interesting because it shows that he was interacting with important mafia figures way earlier than previously thought.

That's a great find. I've just included it in a story about the Lo Montes and given you a credit. Hope that's okay, let me know otherwise.

https://www.gangrule.com/biographies/th ... e-brothers

[JoelTurner]

Willie Moretti may have been involved with the Genovese family WAY earlier than previously thought:

On Oct 13 1915, Moretti was arrested on a weapons charge.

In his famous Kefauver Committee testimony, he explains that he heard a shooting at 116th St. in East Harlem. Since he knew the victim, he helped him to a hospital. When a gun fell from the victims clothes, Moretti put it in his own pocket which led to his pinch. He then adds that the killer was caught that day and later executed.

On Oct 13 1915, Thomas LoMonte was shot on 116th St. in East Harlem. Though he passed away at a nearby hospital, his killer Antonio Impoluzzo was caught that day and executed on May 17 1917.

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I don't think that this was a random coincidence.

Gaetano "Thomas" LoMonte was part of the Morello group. His brother, Fortunato "Charles" LoMonte had been the leader at the time of his murder the year prior (May 29 1914).

Moretti was fairly young but wasn't a kid. By this time, he had multiple robbery charges and had spent over a year in prison. I don't think that he was made, but he could have been an associate.

I think that it's really interesting because it shows that he was interacting with important mafia figures way earlier than previously thought.

That's a great find. I've just included it in a story about the Lo Montes and given you a credit. Hope that's okay, let me know otherwise.

https://www.gangrule.com/biographies/th ... e-brothers

No problem!

Great article by the way. I really didn’t know much about them before

[blackhander]

Thanks Joel. It was an interesting article to research. Almost all of the Lo Montes on E109th were closely related and somehow involved in construction/real estate, some of them headed off to L.A.— but unpicking all that is a job for another time.

[JoelTurner]

Here’s another Pittston connection:

On Jul 29 1927, Salvatore Moretti was arrested in Pittston, PA for liquor.



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- Moretti’s address was actually 2338 Esplanade, Bronx, NY

- James Ciampi of Mocanaqua, PA was born Nov 11 1914 to Philip Ciampi & Grace Sarday. Both parents from Montefusco, Avellino, Campania.

I don’t know if they had the right person; at 12-yrs old he would have been really young to be involved. His family does seem to have been into crime: his father Philip beat a murder charge in 1918 and was involved in other smaller crimes as well.

[JoelTurner]

On December 20, 1926, a band of five members of a band suspected of involvement in the shooting of Joseph Renaldi, 59, of Olypyhant, are arrested by West Scranton and Scranton police. One of the members of the band was a John LaRocca

Another one was Angelo Alba

Born Sep 9 1903 in Du Bois, PA to Andrea Alba and Maria Grimaldi (from Serradifalco, Caltanissetta, Sicily), Alba grew up in Buffalo, NY.

Earlier that year in January, he & Joseph Tutaro (Todaro?) were arrested there for liquor. He was living at 165 Tenth street, Buffalo, NY

Other articles on the Renaldi shooting clarified that he had arrived in the area from Buffalo a few days earlier. Both he and his fellow defendant Esther Doyle(using alias Esther Alba) were visiting a Mike Acquilino who lived at 103 South Main St, Pittston, PA.

By Dec 1927, he was in Paterson, NJ; he was arrested for the murder of Thomas Di Floramo. His brother Joseph & Genovese member Joseph “Kid Steech” Bongiorno were also pinched for it.

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I don’t know what LaRocca’s position was at the time. His hometown of Villarosa was not very far from Alba’s of Serradifalco.

I feel like this North Jersey group had been recruiting muscle from their paisan in other cities. Alba certainly fits this, he was a hitter. Notably, in addition to the DiFloramo murder, he was arrested for one alongside Willie Moretti, Solly Moretti, Joseph “Kid Steech” Bongiorno, and Anthony "Chicago Fat" Sabio

[B.]

LaRocca bounced between the Pittsburgh area, Pittston, and Buffalo (specifically Jamestown) before settling for good in Pittsburgh. He was involved in bootlegging in the Buffalo area. Very possible he transferred between Families and like you said his background fits all those spots. Jamestown produced some interesting connections -- San Jose leader Tom Nicosia and Chicago sleeper Rosario Siragusa (both from Caltanissetta) also spent time living there.

[Aristotle123]

I the Valachi Papers, Morretti's murder was described as a mercy killing

Not sure if that meant he was sick and/or in pain or maybe with dementia and talking too much

[JoelTurner]

I the Valachi Papers, Morretti's murder was described as a mercy killing

Not sure if that meant he was sick and/or in pain or maybe with dementia and talking too much

It was because of a perceived mental decline. As early as June 1943, he was suffering from an illness that’s described as making him “grandiose & delusional”. He went to California periodically to recuperate.

By 1951, there was a string of incidents that likely caused his murder. The most well known was his bizarre performance at the Kefauver hearings. However, he had also been trying to make unrealistic bets (several million $) and had accidentally passed word of Frank Bomepensiero’s promotion to capo to the FBN