Some DeCavalcante Family Info (1980s-1990s)

[Antiliar]

I believe that some Birmingham Family members relocated to Elizabeth too. They were also mostly from Ribera.

[Angelo Santino]

If there wasn't the right population to support a functioning mafia family, then it makes sense that the Newark family wouldn't have been formed until later. I don't know how realistic it is that the family would have been started in 1927 (when Badami arrived in the US) or 1928 (when D'Aquila was killed), only that it sounds like they weren't one of the earlier families in the US.

The DeCavalcantes are different to me, though, because they never required a large Italian population. As JD said, they apparently had a cap of 75 members, but I don't know if they ever had that many. When Sam DeCavalcante took over, they apparently had between 30 to 40 members, with most of them being old timers. For the sake of argument, even if they had 75 members at some point before or after DeCavalcante got the spot, they still didn't have a large associate group. It wasn't like NY, where each member might have a full crew of associates. Associates and soldiers both had access to the administration, and the soldiers themselves often made their living through local 394 and whatever they could pull in on their own, which was sometimes nothing.

On wiretaps from the 1960's, a recurring theme from other families is how broke the DeCavalante members were... and of course broke could be a relative term i.e. they weren't starving, they were simply living a middle class life. Sure some DeCavalcante members, especially those in NY, had your more typical east coast mob approach and the money to show for it, but these types were the exception in that family. Like I said, they had limited associates and the members were mostly low-key.

The reason they were able to operate this way is because they had not only been established with a strong Riberese power base, but they were also continuing to bring fresh immigrants from Ribera into the family. It wasn't like the Bonanno, Lucchese, and Profaci families who had a foundation in a certain town but stopped importing members from there... the DeCavalcantes had a foundation in Ribera and continued to bring new men into the family who were born in Ribera well into modern times, possibly still today. This foundation was only enhanced by occasional members from elsewhere who had proven themselves (i.e. Frank Majuri, who I believe might have an unproven Ribera connection anyway).

So I guess to close off this rambling, I don't think the DeCavalcantes would have required much in terms of "biosphere" as they were more dependent on having 1) a small but loyal immigrant population from their hometown of Ribera, 2) a way to support those immigrants (Local 394 and local businesses), and 3) basic acknowledgement from other US mafia families. In my opinion, the family could have existed as soon as Riberesi immigrants started coming to the US.

Great points and insight.

Regarding the Decavalcante's exclusive membership, a few things. 1) You and I discussed the early makeup of the Philadelphia family as a melting pot (essentially), the Elizabeth Family instead went the route of Detroit as far as requiting methods. New York on the other hand, didn't have that luxury for several reasons: there was a competition between the families to beef up, anyone not doing so was almost disarming; and also NY was the main import city in which Mafiosi flooded into. Borgate consisting of 200 members was unheard of in SIcily and still is to an extent, family memberships vary from 90 to 20 with 40 being the average. The New York Mafia groups, while structured the same as in Sicily, were supergroups which explains why, for a time, American Mafiosi were revered in Sicily. When Calderone recalled Carlo Gambino, you would have thought Carlo controlled North America. While overstated, certain things can be taken from Calderone's mindset regarding the AM.

Also, Detroit was for a time, importing Sicilians, they maintained ties to Terrasina and Partinico. Frank Coppola was established in Detroit and St Louis, when he got deported, he took a leadership role in Partinico. When it comes to cross Atlantic transients and their acceptance, we've seen it happen in the Gambinos, arguably Philadelphia and the Decavs, but I read somewhere that the Genovese does not recognize zips "because you don't know them, they could be police" was the reasoning. So it seems to be up to the family/boss how they want to regard the issue. However New York with 5 families, there would be inter-family politics involved and probably not as easy for a willing Boss to freely say yes to if he were inclined.

For biosphere, you could argue that the DeCavalcante were in a Sicilian colony in Elizabeth, and that the colony probably consitedd of other legitimate Riberesi immigrants. You also had an American legal system that was ill equipped and politics that could be influenced. Would the Riberesi had succeeded in Tsarist Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution or English Dutch Indonesia? Probably not. So there needs to be a biosphere in which they can operate and flourish. And something of interest is Buenos Aires, Argentina which was the NY equivalent for Italo immigration in South America. There was a Mafia there and a Camorra, in the early decades of the 20th century, linked to NY, it dissipated in the 1930's, similar to Birmingham, AL. It's a good question ask why it survived in NY but not in BA. One reason I think played a part was Italians were distributed evenly throughout BA, about 10% in each district. Stands in start contrast from NY's condensed Italian colonies. I think that played a significant factor in the Mafia's ability to solidify itself for the long term. The Gambinos are arguably a 150 year old organization, it takes some kinda glue to hold that together beyond the elements of organized structure.

Now I'm done ranting.

[B.]

The way that Sicilians view the Americans and vice versa, not to mention the views of outsiders, definitely changed. I don't know about that pre-1920's period so much, but from the late 1920's through the 1970's (and maybe even up until the mid-80's), the Sicilians seemed to look up to the American members, especially the bosses. And it makes sense... the Sicilians had all kinds of struggles both inside and outside of their groups during those years while the Americans had cut down on the in-fighting and built up heavy influence in legitimate and illegitimate enterprises. I believe Joe Bonanno when he says he was treated like a celebrity in Sicily.

After that, it started to change, where Sicilians were seen as the "true old school" mobsters while the Italian-Americans were white trash in jogging suits and pinky rings who could barely speak Italian if at all. The switch from Castellano to Gotti isn't the reason, but is symbolic of the change. What's funny about that, though, is that out of all five NY families, the Gambinos have kept the strongest ties to Sicily and their leadership is believed to have gone back to their roots.

The DeCavalcantes had their "Real Sopranos" run with Vinny Palermo, the strip club owner who broke into one of his stripper's apartments to steal her life savings, but for the most part their leaders have been pretty consistent; legitimate business owners with strong Sicilian ties who quietly look after their own group without caring much for what happens outside of that or thinking too big. Sam DeCavlcante fit that description but also fucked up by trying to be the middleman in the Joe Bonanno problem. He did say plenty on those tapes about his own family, but what really put him and his family on the radar was the constant discussion of JB's situation, because that's what the FBI was interested in at the time. If not for that, what those tapes show is a small business owner who is banging his secretary and running relatively petty racketeering operations in Union county. Sure, they discuss a murder on there, but that was inadmissible anyway. DeCavalcante thought he could be a big shot by kissing Carlo Gambino's ass and running around for the Commission and it had the opposite effect.

After the embarrassment of those tapes, the DeCavalcantes went quiet and not a whole lot was known about what they were up to in the 1970's and 80's except for what informants recounted post-1999. John Riggi was a respected leader but he quietly laid down for John Gotti. I believe this was as much out of fear of Gotti as it was to avoid dealing with the drama of NY. He ended up getting busted due to the union crackdowns and there was a rocky period where John D'Amato was sucking dicks and getting killed, but then it went to Jake Amari, a Ribera zip who followed the old DeCav tradition. If he hadn't died, you wouldn't have ended up with Palermo in the spotlight and people would be stuck trying to decide whether Tony Soprano is based on Mike Taccetta or Steve Lenehan. Rotondo was a wild card because his morale was apparently gone the second his father was killed, so really any serious case could have caused him to flip.

But that was 15-years-ago and the most attention that's been brought to them is when Guarraci got pissed off at some pizzeria for not giving him a cut of their tip jar. Some people have thought the family was completely decimated by the earlier indictments, while others think they've been quietly tending to their own interests and rebuilding. No doubt those indictments were devastating, but as much as they hurt them, I think they also humbled them. I am very curious to see what kind of information comes out about them from the last 15 years. Have they been operating in a way similar to pre-1960, with less direct union control, or are they a shell of their former selves? Are their ties to Ribera as strong as they were leading up to 1999?

Still hoping to find out more about the Philly / Decavalcante beef, too.

[Angelo Santino]

The way that Sicilians view the Americans and vice versa, not to mention the views of outsiders, definitely changed. I don't know about that pre-1920's period so much, but from the late 1920's through the 1970's (and maybe even up until the mid-80's), the Sicilians seemed to look up to the American members, especially the bosses. And it makes sense... the Sicilians had all kinds of struggles both inside and outside of their groups during those years while the Americans had cut down on the in-fighting and built up heavy influence in legitimate and illegitimate enterprises. I believe Joe Bonanno when he says he was treated like a celebrity in Sicily.

After that, it started to change, where Sicilians were seen as the "true old school" mobsters while the Italian-Americans were white trash in jogging suits and pinky rings who could barely speak Italian if at all. The switch from Castellano to Gotti isn't the reason, but is symbolic of the change. What's funny about that, though, is that out of all five NY families, the Gambinos have kept the strongest ties to Sicily and their leadership is believed to have gone back to their roots.

The DeCavalcantes had their "Real Sopranos" run with Vinny Palermo, the strip club owner who broke into one of his stripper's apartments to steal her life savings, but for the most part their leaders have been pretty consistent; legitimate business owners with strong Sicilian ties who quietly look after their own group without caring much for what happens outside of that or thinking too big. Sam DeCavlcante fit that description but also fucked up by trying to be the middleman in the Joe Bonanno problem. He did say plenty on those tapes about his own family, but what really put him and his family on the radar was the constant discussion of JB's situation, because that's what the FBI was interested in at the time. If not for that, what those tapes show is a small business owner who is banging his secretary and running relatively petty racketeering operations in Union county. Sure, they discuss a murder on there, but that was inadmissible anyway. DeCavalcante thought he could be a big shot by kissing Carlo Gambino's ass and running around for the Commission and it had the opposite effect.

After the embarrassment of those tapes, the DeCavalcantes went quiet and not a whole lot was known about what they were up to in the 1970's and 80's except for what informants recounted post-1999. John Riggi was a respected leader but he quietly laid down for John Gotti. I believe this was as much out of fear of Gotti as it was to avoid dealing with the drama of NY. He ended up getting busted due to the union crackdowns and there was a rocky period where John D'Amato was sucking dicks and getting killed, but then it went to Jake Amari, a Ribera zip who followed the old DeCav tradition. If he hadn't died, you wouldn't have ended up with Palermo in the spotlight and people would be stuck trying to decide whether Tony Soprano is based on Mike Taccetta or Steve Lenehan. Rotondo was a wild card because his morale was apparently gone the second his father was killed, so really any serious case could have caused him to flip.

But that was 15-years-ago and the most attention that's been brought to them is when Guarraci got pissed off at some pizzeria for not giving him a cut of their tip jar. Some people have thought the family was completely decimated by the earlier indictments, while others think they've been quietly tending to their own interests and rebuilding. No doubt those indictments were devastating, but as much as they hurt them, I think they also humbled them. I am very curious to see what kind of information comes out about them from the last 15 years. Have they been operating in a way similar to pre-1960, with less direct union control, or are they a shell of their former selves? Are their ties to Ribera as strong as they were leading up to 1999?

Still hoping to find out more about the Philly / Decavalcante beef, too.

You've looked into this network extensively. The members around today- from what you could find- are they still primarily Riberesi or are they watered-down like NY has become, in terms of homogeneous membership?

[Rocco]

B. What info do you have on the Rotondo murder. I have read that Riggi ordered it, I have read that Casso ordered it with no explanation of why..? I have read that Rotondos rackets were in the port...which wouldn't make sense since the Gambinos have always dominated the Brooklyn water front. What info do you have on this guy? Thanks

[Pogo The Clown]

Rotondo had a piece of Local 1814 of the Longshoreman's union. One of the reason's I've seen for his murder was that he intorduced an informant into the family who ended up testifying against John Riggi.


Pogo

[Rocco]

Rotondo had a piece of Local 1814 of the Longshoreman's union. One of the reason's I've seen for his murder was that he intorduced an informant into the family who ended up testifying against John Riggi.


Pogo

I've read that too. With very little info on the Informant. Also at the time he was killed or just prior I read Riggi wanted to bump him up? allot of conflicting info on why he was killed. The Casso story could be complete bullshit ? Not even sure why Rotondo and Casso would even have a beef. As far as I know the only Decavalcante Casso was close to was Jimmy Gallo from Redhook. Also very surprised the Gambino's would allow him to have a piece of a Local 1814..so I began to think maybe it was a Gambino plot to whack him. NJ Luchese member Mike Perna plead guilty in his plea agreement to attempting to fix Riggi trial by trying to reach a juror. Obviously it didn't work and Riggi was convicted.etc

[B.]

There was a lot of speculation that John Gotti influenced the murder because Rotondo was stepping on their toes. At Rotondo's wake, Gotti brought 20 Gambino members with him and pulled Riggi into an office in the funeral home. When he came out, he seemed disturbed and told the DeCavalcante members in attendance that the DeCavalcantes would operate at the Gambino's mercy from then on.

Christie -- as for your question, it's hard to say since we don't know who all they've been recruiting in the last fifteen years. As far as Union county, they've always recruited from relatives, Ribera immigrants (usually first or second generation), and other people within a pretty small pool. Their NY crews traditionally weren't that much different as far as membership goes, but in the 80's and 90's they definitely started to go for the more "typical" mobsters which seems to have been the downfall of the NY faction, and it of course hurt NJ by proxy.

Elizabeth isn't what it was during their heyday no matter which way you cut it... the old Ribera club is now a Mexican restaurant (Ribera has a huge hispanic population), and now the club meets at the community center a few blocks away, so it's definitely not the social club headquarters it once was. They were so deeply involved in Local 394 that I can't imagine them ever losing complete influence but I don't know. I am sure there are a lot of relatives and friends of members still involved in the union who would quietly do their bidding. A few years ago LIUNA raised their healthcare rates by something like 600%, and I can't help but be suspicious that some of that is going into certain people's pockets.

[Angelo Santino]

There was a lot of speculation that John Gotti influenced the murder because Rotondo was stepping on their toes. At Rotondo's wake, Gotti brought 20 Gambino members with him and pulled Riggi into an office in the funeral home. When he came out, he seemed disturbed and told the DeCavalcante members in attendance that the DeCavalcantes would operate at the Gambino's mercy from then on.

Christie -- as for your question, it's hard to say since we don't know who all they've been recruiting in the last fifteen years. As far as Union county, they've always recruited from relatives, Ribera immigrants (usually first or second generation), and other people within a pretty small pool. Their NY crews traditionally weren't that much different as far as membership goes, but in the 80's and 90's they definitely started to go for the more "typical" mobsters which seems to have been the downfall of the NY faction, and it of course hurt NJ by proxy.

Elizabeth isn't what it was during their heyday no matter which way you cut it... the old Ribera club is now a Mexican restaurant (Ribera has a huge hispanic population), and now the club meets at the community center a few blocks away, so it's definitely not the social club headquarters it once was. They were so deeply involved in Local 394 that I can't imagine them ever losing complete influence but I don't know. I am sure there are a lot of relatives and friends of members still involved in the union who would quietly do their bidding. A few years ago LIUNA raised their healthcare rates by something like 600%, and I can't help but be suspicious that some of that is going into certain people's pockets.

You want to make any DeCav charts, lemme know.

[B.]

Sure, thanks for the offer. Most of the known capos I think have been posted about and also feel free to use any photos I've shared.

Some more info I found:

- Frank DiCavalcante (DeCavalcante) was involved in a bootlegging operation in Pennslyvania during the 1930's. He was arrested with an associate of his listed as Amerigo Pauline (but true name was Paoline) as well as Frank's wife. DiCavalcante provided molasses for the still through his business "Italian Food Products Corporation of America", which was based in Trenton.

- The DiCavalcantes must have been wealthy, as they had a live-in cook from Italy living with them.

- In the early 1970's, Frank Cocchiaro's son Rosario (who would later become a member) was badly beaten with a shovel by a black Nation of Islam member who worked construction with him. Sam DeCavalcante and Frank Majuri were consulted and decided first to have the black beaten and later killed, but wanted to wait due to concerns with the Nation of Islam. They then consulted Carlo Gambino who said that the rules allowed for the man to be killed, but not if it would hurt the organization. They ultimately decided to do nothing, as it was determined that Rosario Cocchiaro started the fight and the other guy couldn't have been expected to know the rules because he was just a black guy.

- Carmelo Cocchiaro became a fugitive in 1959 after robbing a supermarket in Queens. He posed after the robbery while one of his accomplices took his photo, which fell into the possession of LE. His sister-in-law identified him in the photo which put a warrant out for his arrest. I'm not sure if/when he was arrested but he must have been at some point. Just insanely stupid.

- Gaetano Vastola's family was Neapolitan and settled in Brooklyn, both of which may have factored into his his close relationship with Funzie Tieri even when Vastola was just an associate.

- Alessi, Colletti, and Corsentino are among the earliest documented surnames in Ribera, Sicily. Amari is an early one as well.

[Angelo Santino]

Supply me with what you would like: a lineage chart, a contemporary chart at a certain year, or a chart similar to those in my article- that show origins (in sicily) and NY, Only in the place of NJ. They'll be listed as B.'s Charts.

[Pogo The Clown]

All I know is they make anybody and everybody over there. And the way that they do it is all fucked up. Guys don't get their finger pricked. There's no sword and gun. Either it has meaning or no meaning. And the Johnny Boy thing-- they harbored a faggot. Five fucking families and we got this other pygmy thing over in Jersey.


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

All I know is they make anybody and everybody over there. And the way that they do it is all fucked up. Guys don't get their finger pricked. There's no sword and gun. Either it has meaning or no meaning. And the Johnny Boy thing-- they harbored a faggot. Five fucking families and we got this other pygmy thing over in Jersey.


Pogo

There's no scraps in my scrap book! - - Make it happen!

[Chaps]

I debated "piggybacking" off of JD's post or starting another but considering the wealth of information already here I thought I'd continue the thread. I have several FOIA requests in the works dealing with the DeCav's including Frank Majuri's FBI file which is being processed. I received Sam DeCavalcante's file the other day (all 3,575 pages of it). I'm really busy at work right now but he perused it and found some interesting stuff. A lot of other great info but the names are heavily redacted on this thing and the file ends in the mid to late 1980's.

-In 1967 Sam's youngest brother (name redacted) was interviewed and stated that true and correct last name of the family is RIZZO but that, for the most part, the family uses the name DE CAVALCANTE. He further stated that when his father, FRANK RIZZO, immigrated to America, he "brought the title of DE CAVALCANTE with him. He didn't know the origin of the title but it was common for Italians to bring a title with them or "added some variation of their last name."

-Sam was born SIMONE RIZZO on May5, 1912 in New York City to FRANK RIZZO and MARIE OCCHIPINTI. Apparently Sam had a step-mother who was also his Godmother named CAROLINE RIZZO DE CAVALCANTE. Her maiden name was also OCCHIPINTI. As Bobby "Basile" Occhipinti was later one of Sam's Capo's I wonder what the family relationship is.

-An informant advised on September 22, 1966 that he learned from an "old-time bookmaker" that this bookmaker had lodged a complaint against FRANK MAJURI for failing to provide any financial assistance for the bookmaker and his family while said bookmaker was serving a prison sentence on behalf of MAJURI. A sitdown was held at Ange and Min's Restaurant in Kenilworth, NJ where SAM DE CAVALCANTE heard the bookmaker's complaint. Sam ruled that Frank would have to pay a sum of money to the bookmaker and give him a job in Local 394. This is interesting that Sam ruled against his own Underboss.

-The Ribera Italian-American Citizens Club was incorporated on September 6, 1923 at 621 3rd Ave in Elizabeth, NJ. Apparently there is also a Ribera Welfare Association of New Jersey. The President was listed as FILIPPO AMARI. When presented with this information, an informant said that this person is identical to PHILIP "BIG PHIL" AMARI who preceded NICHOLAS DELMORE as head of the family that SAM DE CVALCANTE was later boss of.

-On March 9, 1967, and informant stated that he was told by FRANK MAJURI that he (MAJURI) is "worried to death because there is trouble brewing" in their Family. MAJURI complained this was happening because SAM DE CAVALCANTE is "hogging everything for himself and is not cutting up the action just like BIG PHIL AMARI did years ago." MAJURI ended with "there is discontent amongst the people working for SAM and that trouble has to come." Reading through the files, there are quite a few statements like this that lead one to believe that Sam's reign wasn't as peaceful as often made out to be.

-NKT-9 advised that SAL CATERINICCHIO, an "old-time member of Local 394", shakes down the immigrants from Sicily who worked for Local 394. These immigrants are "required to pay CATERINICCHIO a part of their salary and that this money is given to SAM DE CAVALCANTE." Informant stated that CATERINICCHIO was formerly a "trigger man" for BIG PHIL AMARI.

-On October 14, 1966 NK T-4 said that in the 1930's, 1940's, and until 1958, PHIL AMARI was the "boss of the organized Italian mob which is now called LCN. AMARI"S activities centered around Elizabeth, NJ and his number on Lieutenant was NICHOLAS DELMORE. In about 1958, or maybe 1957, BIG PHIL AMARI suddenly left this country and returned to his native ITALY whereupon DEMORE replaced AMARI. When DELMORE died in early 1964, SAM DE CAVALCANTE replaced DELMORE." This same informant went on to say that he had no knowledge of Sam DeCavalcante until 1953 when all of a sudden Sam showed up in Elizabeth, NJ from Trenton and became Nick Delmore's "constant companion".

-Another informant heard that when Delmore died that the position of Boss of the Elizabeth, NJ Family was "offered to ANTONIO ROCCO CAPONIGRO who is a member of the LCN Family of ANGELO BRUNO in Philadelphia, PA. Informant said that h understood that CAPONIGRO did not want the position." We all know this is more than likely street gossip.

-Informant NK T-12 said that Sam "has his own 'Family' of LCN but still answers to the 'Big Boys' in Brooklyn, NY."

[Antiliar]

Thanks Chaps. Real interesting info. Makes me wonder more than before if Bacino was ever a boss there.