What do We Know about the Newark Family?

[JoelTurner]

Very interesting.

There was a Giacomo LoPiccolo from Monreale I previously noted who was heading to a brother Filippo in the Ridgewood/Bushwick area in 1923. Future Chicago boss Salvatore LoVerde, a Brancaccio member/leader in the 1920s, appears to have intended to be on the same ship but didn't sail -- LoVerde of course sat on the Castellammarese Peace commission with Vincenzo Troia. When I first saw Giacomo I wondered if LoPiccolo was a relative of likely Bonanno captain Stefano LoPiccolo of Ridgewood from Monreale/Pioppo as he was heading to the same neighborhood and now I'm curious if he could be the same Jack you found given the extensive Bonanno/Newark connections in that circle.

This was the same guy.

He was later arrested with Joe Abate and his guys down in Atlantic City

The LoPiccolos are all pretty confusing; I haven’t found any relations between them yet. The narcotics figure Joseph LoPiccolo was close to Gambino member Vincent Todaro, but I couldn’t find anything linking them either.

[JoelTurner]

The Italian word for "bell" is "campana," and Campisi shares a similar sounding root, so Thomas Campisi is a good candidate for being Tom Bell. I'll note that Campisi has a different etymology since it can come from "bowman," "campo" (field), or the region of Campise.

That’s interesting, I wouldn’t have made the connection.

Everyone called him Mossi or Mozzi which came from his birth name Tommaso

I could see someone nicknaming him Tom Bell as a play on words

[B.]

Nice -- I suspected it was the same guy.

The Chicago LoPiccolos were from Pioppo frazione of Monreale like Stefano LoPiccolo of Ridgewood and may have been cousins. I am suspecting the Ridgewood-Newark ones were cousins as well as I don't think they were Stefano's brothers -- Giacomo and Filippo's father was Giuseppe while Stefano's was apparently Antonino; all three branches seem to have a son named Filippo. Giacomo's marriage into the Camporealesi and naturalization being witnessed by Thomas Scardino makes it more likely there's a tie to Stefano. I noticed Charles Matranga's mother was a Rizzuto from Camporeale, could mean she was related to the Rizzutos of the Schiro clan who became members in NYC and Kansas City, especially with Schiro and Grippi being in these Newark circles.

In addition to having likely cousins involved in Chicago, Stefano LoPiccolo traveled to Chicago before the post-Castellammarese War meeting but apparently didn't attend the meeting itself as he was on his way back when he ran into Magaddino on the train and warned him about Maranzano's plans for the meeting. With this in mind, we then have future Chicago boss Salvatore LoVerde on the same manifest as Giacomo LoPiccolo although LoVerde didn't board. Maybe a coincidence but the LoPiccolos from Pioppo/Monreale have recurring Chicago ties. Joe LoPiccolo from Chicago later interacting with Todaro from this Newark circle seems like more than a coincidence given Giacomo was involved with them earlier.

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Something of note too, is with these finds we're still not coming across evidence of DeCavalcante links to the Newark Family. Here we see the Passaic crowd crossing over with Newark but still nobody from Elizabeth and southward, nor Agrigento. Nick Delmore seems to be one of the only members we can link to these circles and he wasn't a member until later and his trajectory is a bit of a mystery still given he was made in a Genovese-centric ceremony.

[cavita]

Nice -- I suspected it was the same guy.

The Chicago LoPiccolos were from Pioppo frazione of Monreale like Stefano LoPiccolo of Ridgewood and may have been cousins. I am suspecting the Ridgewood-Newark ones were cousins as well as I don't think they were Stefano's brothers -- Giacomo and Filippo's father was Giuseppe while Stefano's was apparently Antonino; all three branches seem to have a son named Filippo. Giacomo's marriage into the Camporealesi and naturalization being witnessed by Thomas Scardino makes it more likely there's a tie to Stefano. I noticed Charles Matranga's mother was a Rizzuto from Camporeale, could mean she was related to the Rizzutos of the Schiro clan who became members in NYC and Kansas City, especially with Schiro and Grippi being in these Newark circles.

In addition to having likely cousins involved in Chicago, Stefano LoPiccolo traveled to Chicago before the post-Castellammarese War meeting but apparently didn't attend the meeting itself as he was on his way back when he ran into Magaddino on the train and warned him about Maranzano's plans for the meeting. With this in mind, we then have future Chicago boss Salvatore LoVerde on the same manifest as Giacomo LoPiccolo although LoVerde didn't board. Maybe a coincidence but the LoPiccolos from Pioppo/Monreale have recurring Chicago ties. Joe LoPiccolo from Chicago later interacting with Todaro from this Newark circle seems like more than a coincidence given Giacomo was involved with them earlier.

--

Something of note too, is with these finds we're still not coming across evidence of DeCavalcante links to the Newark Family. Here we see the Passaic crowd crossing over with Newark but still nobody from Elizabeth and southward, nor Agrigento. Nick Delmore seems to be one of the only members we can link to these circles and he wasn't a member until later and his trajectory is a bit of a mystery still given he was made in a Genovese-centric ceremony.

Not sure if there's any connections to these LoPiccolos but there was a Richard LoPiccolo in Rockford who died in 2014 who I had heard people say he was connected somehow. Info on his family is scant for some reason but I do know his parents were Antonio LoPiccolo and Caterina Gambino but I have no idea where they were from as they came to Rockford from Louisiana. Antonio was either dead or abandoned the family by 1940 as he doesn't show up in the census.

[JoelTurner]

They were probably cousins

-Stefano had an older brother named Philip LoPiccolo (Apr 11 1880 - Pioppo)

-In 1920, he was staying with a separate Philip LoPiccolo (Sep 22 1888 - Pioppo)

-Joseph LoPiccolo’s father was Philip LoPiccolo (Jan 11 1888 - Monreale)

-Jack’s brother Philip LoPiccolo lived at 117 Wyckoff Ave, Brooklyn, NY. This was about 13 min away from where Stefano and the first two Philips lived (1524 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn, NY). This neighborhood was smack dab in Bonanno territory

[JoelTurner]

Nice -- I suspected it was the same guy.
Something of note too, is with these finds we're still not coming across evidence of DeCavalcante links to the Newark Family. Here we see the Passaic crowd crossing over with Newark but still nobody from Elizabeth and southward, nor Agrigento. Nick Delmore seems to be one of the only members we can link to these circles and he wasn't a member until later and his trajectory is a bit of a mystery still given he was made in a Genovese-centric ceremony.

More than Delmore, Frank DeCavalcante had ties to the Newark group. They were partnered in a gigantic liquor ring and he was basically the point man for the Trenton area.

Plus, you have Sam DeCavalcante calling Accardi his cousin (I couldn’t find any relation) and getting advice from Tony Riela later on.

The Ribera-Elizabeth group feels very cutoff. Besides Local 394, by-and-large, they weren’t involved in crime. But more than the public not knowing them, Ray DeCarlo only knew 5 members. This is especially wild considering that he had been involved in Union County, NJ for ~40 years at that point.

[B.]

Looking at the drug trafficker collection Motorfab shared, it has Vincent Todaro as an associate of Leonardo Crimi of Vita. Crimi is said in the report to be involved with the mafia "gang" of Salemi and was also connected to the well-known Salemi mafiosi like Zizzo and Agueci. There was a boss of the Vita Family named Salvatore Crimi so maybe a relative. These reports weren't entirely accurate when it came to affiliation but it saying he was part of the Salemi "gang" is interesting as in the 1930s the "Vita" Family was actually a single Family that included both Vita and Calatafimi. I'd be curious if Salemi was its own Family or also part of this multi-town regional Family, what pentito Scavuzzo called the "Rosignolo" Family after a historic fiefdom.

Interesting Todaro was doing business with important people from Vita itself given his associations in Newark.

[JoelTurner]

Looking at the drug trafficker collection Motorfab shared, it has Vincent Todaro as an associate of Leonardo Crimi of Vita. Crimi is said in the report to be involved with the mafia "gang" of Salemi and was also connected to the well-known Salemi mafiosi like Zizzo and Agueci. There was a boss of the Vita Family named Salvatore Crimi so maybe a relative. These reports weren't entirely accurate when it came to affiliation but it saying he was part of the Salemi "gang" is interesting as in the 1930s the "Vita" Family was actually a single Family that included both Vita and Calatafimi. I'd be curious if Salemi was its own Family or also part of this multi-town regional Family, what pentito Scavuzzo called the "Rosignolo" Family after a historic fiefdom.

Interesting Todaro was doing business with important people from Vita itself given his associations in Newark.

Todaro was being supplied by Antoine Cordoliani who was mentioned earlier in this thread.

Cordoliani also supplied Papalia/the Aguecis/Indelicato & Zizzo with an heroin

I wouldn’t be surprised if Todaro got his international narcotics contacts from Sam Accardi. Earlier, he had worked with him on both his liquor and his ration stamp operations. This theory fits with the Vita/Salemi connection that you mentioned.

Then again, I don’t know just how connected his family really was. I haven’t yet connected his father with any of the other Todaros or Badolatos

[JoelTurner]

Something interesting to note is that Newark -> San Jose member Anthony Scavuzzo listed his employment in 1942 at Liborio Mangiaracina’s clothing factory, Varsity Clothing Co. (211 Grant Ave, East Newark, NJ).

Vito Oddo also worked at Varsity Clothing per his WW2 draft card.

[motorfab]

Looking at the drug trafficker collection Motorfab shared, it has Vincent Todaro as an associate of Leonardo Crimi of Vita. Crimi is said in the report to be involved with the mafia "gang" of Salemi and was also connected to the well-known Salemi mafiosi like Zizzo and Agueci. There was a boss of the Vita Family named Salvatore Crimi so maybe a relative. These reports weren't entirely accurate when it came to affiliation but it saying he was part of the Salemi "gang" is interesting as in the 1930s the "Vita" Family was actually a single Family that included both Vita and Calatafimi. I'd be curious if Salemi was its own Family or also part of this multi-town regional Family, what pentito Scavuzzo called the "Rosignolo" Family after a historic fiefdom.

Interesting Todaro was doing business with important people from Vita itself given his associations in Newark.

Todaro was being supplied by Antoine Cordoliani who was mentioned earlier in this thread.

Cordoliani also supplied Papalia/the Aguecis/Indelicato & Zizzo with an heroin

I wouldn’t be surprised if Todaro got his international narcotics contacts from Sam Accardi. Earlier, he had worked with him on both his liquor and his ration stamp operations. This theory fits with the Vita/Salemi connection that you mentioned.

Then again, I don’t know just how connected his family really was. I haven’t yet connected his father with any of the other Todaros or Badolatos

Yes at the time the Italian, French and American justices had linked Todaro to the Zizzo/Cordoliani/Papalia drug network, about thirty individuals on both sides of the Atlantic had been indicted and tried.

Todaro & Cordoliani were indicted in 1958, I suppose it is linked

The network had been discovered after Salvatore Rinaldo & Matteo Palmeri were arrested in 1960.

The next issue of Informer which comes out in November is dedicated to Joe Valachi. I was invited by Thomas Hunt to write an article, and since Valachi was specifically involved in this network, I wrote an article that details the whole affair.

Even though I don't mention Todaro in it (I wanted to do it at first but it was complicated), I mention Accardi who had been fined by Magaddino because he was trafficking in Ontario without his authorization.

Accardi being from Vita, I'm sure he was fully involved with Zizzo and the others

[JoelTurner]

In Mar 1938, there was a raid on a still in Chatham, NJ:



- Joseph Baracco: Still haven’t figured out who this really was, he was also arrested after the Troia/Longo murder. There were other Baroccos in the Newark area from Marsala so he could have been from there.

- Tony Lemandre: This was probably John LiMandri. The address is a match and this arrest doesn’t appear on the records of his brother Joseph or father Marco.

- Thomas Longo: This was Gaetano Longo (Mar 26 1889 - Agira, Enna, Sicily) Parents were Giuseppe Longo & Felicia Sammarco and he was married to Giovanna Gennefina. His address at 329 S 7th St, Newark, NJ was pretty much in the center of the Newark Family’s old stomping grounds

[JoelTurner]

The Monaco family was absolutely central to Newark. Here’s a better look at the various branches with a spotlight on some of the more notable figures or interesting connections.

Saverio Monaco & Giuseppina “Christina” Leo:

-—-Benedetto Monaco (1865-1918)
-married to Marianna Gruppuso (1876-1945), daughter of Vito Gruppuso & Vita Pampalone
-Daughter Christina married Giuseppe Leo
-Was stabbed to death on 23 Oct 1918 per FindAGrave

—— Francesco Monaco
-married Vita Gruppuso, daughter of Vito Gruppuso & Vita Pampalone
-Son Saverio “Sam” married Antonina Bevinetto & served as Underboss before being killed in Sep 1931
-Son Vito “Frank” married Sebastiana Lombardo & was arrested for the murder of ex-boss Stefano Badami

—— Vito Monaco (1874-1951)
-married Marianna Agosta (1875-1945)
-Was arrested in the 1908 black hand case alongside his wife’s brother Gaetano Agosta
-Daughter Sebastiana “Lillian” married Nicholas Abate, son of Gaetano Abate (1873-1926) & Marianna Agosta (1873-1942), who grew up in Vineland, NJ

—— Eleonora Monaco (1880-1964)
-married Vito Gruppuso (1880-1956), son of of Vito Gruppuso & Vita Pampalone, who was arrested in the 1908 black hand case
-Daughter Rosaria “Sadie” married Vito Agosta, son of the aforementioned Gaetano Agosta & Gaetana “Jean” Marchello

—— Lorenzo Monaco (1882-1955)
-married Antonina Giacalone, daughter of Melchiore Giacalone & Antonina Cadella. Her brother Antonio Giacalone lived with Colombo capo Salvatore Lombardino; his son Mike Giacalone was a Gambino member
-Was arrested in the 1908 black hand case

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There’s definitely stuff that I missed. Here are some probable connections:

- If/how Bonanno member Nicolo Gruppuso was related to these ones

- Giuseppina Leo & her SIL Giuseppe Leo. Was also likely related to the Michele Leo arrested in the 1908 black hand case

- Both Marianna Agostas were probably cousins going by their names & ages

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A lot of the men listed were likely members who passed away pre-1957 so they wouldn’t really have shown up in any federal investigations.

It would be interesting to know where they landed post breakup too. My first thought is that the Lucchese family but the Gambino NJ crew also looks like it had a few connections to this Vita group. Both of those crews were probably larger earlier on. Interestingly, looking back, the NJ Luccheses don’t seem to have made anyone in the 1940s/1950s

Another thing to note is that there doesn’t seem to be any connections to the Accardi/Scavuzzo people despite both groups being from Vita and settling in the same Newark neighborhood. I haven’t seen any overlap or common last names.

[JoelTurner]

On Jun 23 1932, William Schlegel, a gas station attendant in Garfield, NJ was riddled with bullets. The shooters had mistaken him and his boss for hijackers Stanley Wilda & Edmund “Whitey” Adamchesky.

Joseph Troia and Jack LoPiccolo were arrested for this. Troia and his car were identified by another station worker, Clarence Flood. He was let go after the witness “lost his confidence”. Similarly, LoPiccolo doesn’t appear to have been convicted either.

The intended targets were a part of a gang that had been at war with what would become Willie Moretti’s crew. In fact, in 1930, Stanley’s brother Anthony "Sparky" Wilda had killed Frank LoVullo before being killed by ex-Pittsburgh member Peter Curatolo. Additionally, a few papers reported that the shooters had been hired by John “Gypsy” Castelli, a minor Clifton, NJ figure who was also pinched.

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This is the 2nd major connection between the Bergen mob and the Newark family, specifically Troia & LoPiccolo.

While I doubt that they were hired by Castelli, the idea that the hit originated from Bergen/Moretti’s group before being farmed out to Newark does make sense.

Also, LoPiccolo is looking more and more like he was a mafia member. Considering his Bonanno connections, he could have been a member of Riela’s crew.

[B.]

Also a couple years ago I remember you said when Sal got made he started acting exactly like his sponsor. Do you remember around when that was, i.e. 1990s?

Cicale made it sound like Montagna was already made in 99 when Sciascia was killed.

[JoelTurner]

Frank Longo born May 4, 1898 in San Giuseppe Iato, Sicily to Gaetano Longo and Maria Mazzola.1922 arrived in the U.S., giving his destination as his brother-in-law Vincenzo Caiola in Frankfort, New York.

Per his Mar 1921 immigration, Frank Longo’s father Giuseppe Longo



The Cristina Bufalino listed below him was Pittston member Calogero Bufalino’s sister

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On the topic of Frankfort, NY; Tony Riela may have been involved in the area. The feds investigated and didn’t really find anything. Riela’s son Andrew lived in Frankfort for a while in the 50s. Andrew’s wife Concetta Lo Re (from SGJ) grew up there; two of his kids were born there too.