Newark family revisited

[B.]

We've had a lot of theories about the Newark family over the years and I've had my own ideas, but I also try to stay open-minded since we know so little. The recent info about Rotondo claiming Badami/Monaco were leaders of the DeCavalcante family made me rethink some of my beliefs about the relationship between Newark and Elizabeth. I don't think Rotondo is 100% right, as almost all informants get historical details wrong, but it does need to be included in the discussion until we know more. Anyway, I was trying to dig more into the mysterious Sam Monaco and it gave me a new look at the Newark family.

I found that Sam Monaco and his brother Frank were from Vita, which is where suspected Newark and future Lucchese members the Accardis and Pizzolatos were from. It's also very close to Gibellina, where possible Newark members the Lombardinos were from. The Monacos were also in Newark early on, from the first decade of the 1900s. Frank Monaco was later suspected of killing Stefano Badami in the 1950s for reasons unknown, both being associated with Settimo Accardi. Seems the Vita guys were more important in the Newark family than I realized. Also might be worth pointing out that Vita is in Trapani not terribly far from Castellammare, and Monaco was supposedly killed at least in part due to being a Maranzano loyalist.

I've had trouble finding out where Luigi Russo is from. The two I can find as potential matches are mainlanders, not that it's impossible. Even the smallest info on any of these Newark guys, especially the leaders, could give us some major leads.

Random thoughts:
- Rotondo linked Badami/Monaco to the DeCavalcante family, but it appears Badami and Monaco's brother and paesani joined the Luccheses after Monaco's death or after the Newark family was split up, meaning that Badami/Monaco weren't leaders of the DeCavalcantes, but leaders of a Newark family that may have included a faction that would become the future DeCavalcantes. I think this is an important distinction since the Newark family was by all accounts "disbanded", the DeCavs couldn't have been a continuation of the Newark family but a splinter group of some kind.

- There were notable Newark factions from Vita, Villabate, and later San Giuseppe Iato under a Corleonese boss. We know of at least a few potential members/associates with each of these groups, with each of them producing at least one leader of the Newark family (Monaco/D'Amico/Troia). Not unreasonable to think there was a similar faction of Riberesi in this same family, or some Corleonesi members behind Badami for that matter.

- No other Corleonesi known to be Newark members except boss Badami. Rotondo has discussed a Corleonesi faction of the DeCav family, but no other Corleonesi known except for Frank+Charlie Majuri and likely Frank's father Calogero "Charles". The Majuris have a possible link to the Gagliano family, as Frank used the alias "Frank Gagliano", so they may have deeper ties to the Luccheses. Given that Badami likely went with the Luccheses, or at least closely associated with their Newark crew after he was deposed, you have to wonder if there is a link too between the Majuris and Badami. Why would Calogero Majuri go with the DeCavs and not the Luccheses then? Well, Badami had already fallen out of favor and Majuri had married a Riberesi woman from a mafia family and lived in Peterstown, Elizabeth. Not unlike that Baudanza guy going with the Luccheses after the Colombo war in modern times.

- Between Vita (Accardis, Monacos, Pizzolatos) and the guys from nearby Gibellina (Lombardinos), that is at least 10 guys from inland Trapani, including an underboss, who were either members or rising associates who would later become members. It's believed the Newark family was fairly small, so even if it they had 50 total members, this Trapani group was a sizable faction. However, the Vita guys went with the Lucchese family and the Lombardinos went with the Profacis, so maybe they weren't aligned or had run into an issue. After the split of the Newark family, none of the guys from Trapani went with the Bonanno family, which is interesting.

Key pieces of info we need to know:
- It's believed that Monaco/Russo were killed for being Maranzano loyalists or at the very least as some part of clean-up in the wake of the Castellammarese war. If his underboss was a diehard Maranzano loyalist, who did Badami support? Valachi talks about doing a favor for Badami on orders from Maranzano, indicating they were aligned. Was he deposed, did he step down, and if he, too, was a Maranzano loyalist like other Newark leaders, why was he not killed?

- Many of the suspected Newark members lived in New Jersey before Badami came to the US in 1928. It was speculated on here before that the Newark family may have been formed in 1928, but there is nothing to support nor contest that. Either none of these guys were mafia members before 1928 (unlikely), they were members of another family/families, or there was already some kind of mafia organization in Newark pre-1928. Who were some leading mafia figures in North Jersey at the time?

- Where is Luigi Russo from? This could tell us a lot... or nothing.

[B.]

Alessio "Albert" Barrasso might tell us something about this situation also. Valachi misidentified his affiliation and JD recently shared info that Barrasso was supposedly a Profaci member close to the Lombardinos who later transferred to the DeCavalcantes in the 1950s. The Lombardinos are likely Newark members who moved to the Profaci family, which could mean that Barrasso too was a member/associate of Newark. Going from Newark>Profaci>DeCavalcante would make for a good story, especially given that the Lombardinos and other Profaci NJ guys stayed with Profaci.

According to the FBN, Barrasso's brother-in-law was Aniello Santagata, born 1888 in Caserta. He's been suspected by some of being a Newark member and I'm not sure if he's ever been linked to any other families. Given his age, it seems if he was ever actually a made member he would have been made when the Newark family was still around. He associated with other suspected Newark members, but so did many people.

Anthony Caruso of NYC was a DeCavalcante member who I believe had mainland heritage, so would be interesting if he fits into this at all.

Re: Luigi Russo
There is also Michael Russo from Cerda who lived in North Jersey and attended Cleveland 1928 along with other suspected Newark members. It's such a common name it never crossed my mind, probably no connection, but if Luigi Russo wasn't from the mainland maybe there is a relation to Michael.

[B.]

There was a Luigi Russo living in Newark born 1892 (same year as the mafia Luigi Russo) who was from Maddaloni, Caserta. That's where Aniello Santagata is from. Would be interesting if it's the same Russo.

[Antiliar]

Good analysis, B. Luigi Russo is too common of a name to be certain without further identifying information. On his death certificate it only says he came from Italy. His father's name was Antonio Russo, so that's not helpful, and his mother's name is difficult to make out. His will gives the names of his brothers and sisters. There are some other names in it that may or may not be of interest. His wife's name was Josephine (nee Giuseppa Caso), and his siblings were Michele, Pasquale, Brigida, and Angelina Russo Desimone (wife of Pietro Desimone). He had a nephew named Luigi Russo. Anthony F. Minisi was the executor of his will. No dates or addresses are given (except for the executor). If you want to take the time, you could probably search some of the names of the siblings and see if they match. Sometimes the draft registration cards note the city of origin too. On Ancestry.com someone made a family tree for Luigi Russo, but appears to have mixed it up with a different one who was also born in 1892, but was married to a Rosa or Rosalia, so if you see it you can dismiss or ignore it. On findagrave it says he came from Salerno, which maybe true, but that information didn't come from a relative so it needs to be verified.

There is a World War I draft registration card which may be his. This Luigi Russo was born on April 20, 1892 and was from Maddalone di Caserta.

Anthony Riela would be the only member I can think of who went with the Bonannos.

[B.]

Thanks for the names. I'll look into them when I have time later.

The one from Maddalone di Caserta is the one I am suspecting, and I also believe the same Russo was a barber. According to the FBN, Aneillo Santagata's nickname was "O'Maddalonese", so his background was obviously well-known, and he was also a barber. If it's the same Russo, having same town, profession, and just four year age difference with Santagata make me think there may be something there. As I mentioned, Santagata was related to Profaci/DeCav member Barrasso -- I believe they were married to sisters, last name Carbone. Santagata was also said to associate with Sam Accardi (like virtually all of Newark) and the Campisi brothers (whose father Pietro is a suspected Newark member).

I forgot that Bill Bonanno claimed Masseria established the Newark family in 1928. This matches up with Badami coming to the US, but along with other potential issues with his info/credibility, Bonanno claims that D'Aquila was head of the Newark family. Maybe there is something to this and he got it confused, or used the wrong wording. Maybe the D'Aquila family had a Newark crew of some kind and after D'Aquila's death they were given their own Family, or combined this crew with other mafia members in the area. This could potentially explain the presence of the Newark members at the Cleveland meeting, plus leading figures from Villabate and Ribera (who both had Jersey connections), as well as D'Aquila leaders like Traina and Mangano.

Some things to consider:
- There are extensive ties between the DeCavalcantes and the Gambino membership going back decades, to the point where one of the theories we've discussed on here about the origin of the DeCavs is that they split off from the D'Aquila family. JD mentioned an informant citing Sal Caterinicchio and another early member as former NY members.

- Early Villabate leader Giuseppe Fontana is believed to have been under the Lupo/D'Aquila family, so it seems possible that the Villabate guys in Newark were originally aligned with that family as well, especially in the period before Profaci and the other Villabate guys took over the Mineo family.

- Ignazio Lupo's brother Giovanni, a leading figure in the family, lived in New Jersey for some period, indicating the family may have had some kind of presence there early on.

- Can anyone think of anything else that might connect the roots of NJ operations to the Lupo/D'Aquila family?

[B.]

This topic is going to be kind of fragmented but some other points:

- Well-known names from Ribera were established in Elizabeth, NJ shortly after the turn of the century. This includes John Riggi's grandfather, great-uncles, Caternicchios, Merlos, and various other less known names from Ribera. None of these relatives are confirmed mafia members, but it's likely there were a few among them.

- The Monacos were already in Newark shortly after the turn of the century. Sam Monaco became an underboss and his brother Frank was at least an associate, possibly a member. No indication that their father Francesco was connected to anything, but someone better at genealogy should try to see if there is any relation between the Monacos and the other Vita members like the Accardis and Pizzolatos. One of the Pizzolatos was in the US by the 1910s, the others by 1920. The Accardis were also in Newark by the early 1920s. Accardi in-law Onofrio Abate would later came to the US from Tunisia but the Abates were originally from Vita as well.

- The Lombardinos were in the US by the early 1900s. Andrew was born in NJ in 1905 and Salvatore was in the US by 1907 and I believe headed to Jersey shortly from there. Gaspare D'Amico was in Jersey by the 1910s, same with Cammarata. Does anyone know where in Sicily John Misuraca is from?

- If Luigi Russo is the same one we've been talking about, it appears he came to the US not long after the turn of the century (1905). His possible paesan Santagata seems to have been there by the 1920s.

Can probably find other examples as well, but outside of Badami, most of the foundations of what we believe to be the Newark and/or Elizabeth family were already in place way before 1928. By the 1920s there are distinct groups of budding mafiosi in NJ from Vita, Villabate, Ribera, and the mainland. It's just a matter of how it was organized, if at all.

The San Giuseppe Iato guys seem to be an exception, as it doesn't seem like they had much of a presence in Newark before Troia moved there. Along with his stepson (?) Joseph, Troia was killed with Francesco Longo from San Giuseppe Iato, who he had recently recruited from Springfield and may have been a relative. Antonio Riela survived either by design or maybe he was simply lucky he hadn't been with Troia at the time. Either way, all of these known San Giuseppe guys in Newark were transplants from Illinois before coming to NJ so it doesn't appear they would have been part of any pre-Badami NJ group.

[B.]

The informant is obviously missing some details, but they were aware of future Profaci members Lombardino and Misuraca being in the same group as future Lucchese members the Pizzolatos, so we can only assume this is in reference to the Newark family.



Looking at this one again, my interpretation is different than it used to be. I used to think Bruno was saying the Newark family was broken up into the 6 families he mentions, but he's not necessarily saying that -- he's just saying that there was originally one Newark family that was broken up and now all of the listed families operate there.

As for the list:

1. There's no info linking Philly Newark members to the Newark family that I can think of. Their Newark crew seems to have been established in the 1950s as part of the Trenton crew.

2. There's not much connecting the Genovese to the Newark family. Their Newark presence seems to have been built up in the same way that Masseria built up the family originally in New York -- taking a bunch of semi-independent but ambitious guys and organizing them. Pietro Campisi is a suspected Newark member and his sons and supposed protege Carmine Battaglia ended up joining the Genovese family, so maybe Pietro did as well. Pietro may be from an area not far from Vita / Gibellina, indicating that there was a significant presence of guys from near the inland Trapani / Palermo border.

3. The Lucchese family seems to have ended up with one of the largest chunks of the Newark family, taking in the guys from Vita and the former boss. Sam Accardi would become one of the most prominent NJ leaders during his time as Lucchese capodecina. Many of his associations into the 1950s continued to be with other figures suspected of having been Newark members.

4. I know some have thought Joseph Paterno's father was a possible Newark member and maybe there are others. Honestly I'm not familiar enough with the Gambino family's Newark operations to speculate, but it seems possible some of their early Jersey guys could have started out in Newark family.

5. Wouldn't be a reference to Boiardo, as the Genovese were already covered. Must be a reference to Joe Profaci (who had just died 6 months earlier), as he isn't mentioned otherwise and ended up with a large number of former Newark members, including relative(s) of former Newark boss D'Amico. Could also be a reference to Nick Delmore, who was still alive at this point but fading fast. However, Bruno may specifically be talking about NEWARK and is deliberately leaving the Elizabeth family out of it.

6. I don't know if Riela ever lived in Jersey City, but he must be the "Tony" referenced here. He was almost surely a Newark member. The Bonanno presence was historically so small in Newark that I don't know of any others who may have been affiliated with Newark. Zicarelli was made much later and NJ-based guys like Alfano were NY guys who just happened to live in Jersey for a time.

It should be pointed out, too, that the Newark family was disbanded 15 to 20 years before Bruno was even a made member. He was obviously told about the Newark situation, but who knows how he heard it, when he heard it, or who told him. He may not have even known all of the details and how the family was divided up. That said, he doesn't really say much, only what we already know -- there was a Newark family, it was broken up, and now Newark is a divided territory.

[B.]

Eugene Catena was picked up telling Timmy Murphy Pecora in 1964 that Sam DeCavalcante takes a third of the money his men earn. He said that this is split with nobody else except for $75 per week that goes to the family of Joseph Stassi, who was a fugitive. Stassi was allegedly hiding in the Dominican Republic. We know from the DeCav tapes that Sam also gave a relatively similar amount of money from a score to the wives of former bosses Delmore and Amari.

Multiple informants talk about Nick DelMore being a partner of Joe Stassi in the numbers and other rackets, and different sources point to Delmore and Stassi controlling all gambling in Elizabeth in partnership. According to the Kefauver hearings, Stassi and DelMore's association together goes back to the prohibition era. Stassi was suspected in Reading, PA mobster Max Hassel's murder in Elizabeth NJ in 1933. In the 1940 census, Joe Stassi and his family were living in Elizabeth, so it appears he had been living there by the 1930s or earlier.

In 1959, Elizabeth mayorial candidate Thomas Dunn and former mayor Nick LaCorte met with Nick DelMore and Joe Stassi in NYC and DelMore/Stassi pledged $50,000 in support of the campaign in exchange for protection for their Elizabeth gambling rackets. Dunn would later be recorded meeting with Sam DeCavalcante in the 1960s.

I've never looked into Joe Stassi because I've never been interested in the so-called "syndicate" guys and most of the info about Stassi is about his involvement in Cuba, with infamous Jewish gangsters, etc. There is very little that I can find on Stassi's involvement in actual Cosa Nostra. I'm surprised at how little info I've been able to find on him, actually. He has been ID's as both a Genovese and Gambino member. Does anyone have more background info on him? Where his parents came from in Sicily/Italy?

Elizabeth is always thought of as DeCavalcante territory, and some other mobsters have had operations in union county, but this is new to me that someone from another family would have such influence in Elizabeth itself. In this case, it's a soldier who is partnering with the boss of a different family.

Side note, but a source said that DelMore's group had been helped financially by Jerry Catena, who the source says was an old associate of theirs in Union County during prohibition. Seems to be saying Catena was originally an associate of the DeCavalcantes (or the Newark family)?

edit: there were apparently some Stassis in the Wisconsin and Rockford areas associated with the local families there. These Stassis were said to be from San Giuseppe Iato, like many of the local mafiosi in those areas. Would be curious if Joe Stassi's father is from there and/or there's any relation to the midwestern Stassi.

[B.]

- Sam Monaco described as affluent, involved in bootlegging. Was a business partner of a C.Mangiaracina, business unspecified. An unspecified Mangiaracina is a name that shows up during the Castellammarese war as a member of one of the commissions set up to establish peace. Not sure if there's any connection, as my knowledge is limited.

- A different Sam Monaco, age 50, said to be a bootlegger, was shot to death in November 1930 in Wooster, Ohio, allegedly as a result of bootlegging conflicts. No connection to the other Sam Monaco known and pretty unlikely, but interesting two different Sam Monacos were killed during this time. Maybe there wasn't a "Night of the Sicilian Vespers", but rather a "Night of Killing Guys Named Sam Monaco." It's about as believable as half the shit that gets published.

- Like other Lucchese members / Corleonesi, Badami was a dress manufacturer at the time of his death in 1955. His alleged murderer, Francesco Monaco, brother of Sam, died in the late 1980s. Can't find any record of him being formally charged or serving time for the Badami murder, but he was the main suspect, having been caught with a switchblade near the crime scene (Badami was stabbed nearly 40 times).

[Angelo Santino]

Leave it to be to create a perfect thread (nearly entirely by himself.)

I find all of this very interesting, informative and thought provoking. I really have nothing to add, there's really no one can do what you do in regards to this Family and Philadelphia. I'm sure everyone who's read this thread feels the same. Salut.

..

Something I could comment on:

I forgot that Bill Bonanno claimed Masseria established the Newark family in 1928. This matches up with Badami coming to the US, but along with other potential issues with his info/credibility, Bonanno claims that D'Aquila was head of the Newark family. Maybe there is something to this and he got it confused, or used the wrong wording. Maybe the D'Aquila family had a Newark crew of some kind and after D'Aquila's death they were given their own Family, or combined this crew with other mafia members in the area. This could potentially explain the presence of the Newark members at the Cleveland meeting, plus leading figures from Villabate and Ribera (who both had Jersey connections), as well as D'Aquila leaders like Traina and Mangano.

Yes, he was confused because he directly labeled D'Aquila as leader of a faction subservient to Masseria, hence part of the same Family. No sense wasting time refuting it. But rather, where could he have gotten this from? IF it came from Joe Bonanno then it's good to bare in mind that he was made in 1930 which coincides with his book and when he partook in events. He made no mention of D'Aquila other than to point out "the position of (boss of bosses) in the past had been held by Gaspar Messina and Tata Aquilla" which, if he were a member in Oct of 1928, should have remembered its significance. It caused an underworld cataclysm much like the murders of Masseria or even Castellano.

Some things to consider:
- There are extensive ties between the DeCavalcantes and the Gambino membership going back decades, to the point where one of the theories we've discussed on here about the origin of the DeCavs is that they split off from the D'Aquila family. JD mentioned an informant citing Sal Caterinicchio and another early member as former NY members.

Part of the Agrigento Faction. if there would have been a 6th Family formed in NYC during this time (1900-1920) it would have been the Agrigento Faction of the Gambinos. There appears to be blood relations between Palermo and Sciacca, even one notable Gambino boss (pre-D'Aquila- I'm not at liberty to name who it is right now) who had was apparently related to some of these Sciaccatani, how wasn't specified.

- Early Villabate leader Giuseppe Fontana is believed to have been under the Lupo/D'Aquila family, so it seems possible that the Villabate guys in Newark were originally aligned with that family as well, especially in the period before Profaci and the other Villabate guys took over the Mineo family.

If two families can be mixed with Palermitani from the same neighborhoods of Palermo then the same can occur for Villabate which is a suburb of Palermo and arguably their version of Jersey to New York... Fontana's affiliation is absolutely 100% with the Gambinos if Salvatore Clemente is to be believed. He had Genovese membership since at least 1895 and was quite active in the 1910's, he's named members of groups throughout his years as a dry informant, I've never found him to be wrong.

- Ignazio Lupo's brother Giovanni, a leading figure in the family, lived in New Jersey for some period, indicating the family may have had some kind of presence there early on.

Lupo had contacts in New Jersey since at least 1902. After Lupo went to prison in 1910, a meeting was held for that Family with people from Jersey and was chaired by a "Don Sebastiano" (not DiGaetano). NOTE: The information is very ambiguous. It doesn't say where this "Don Sebastiano" lived- NY or NJ- or what his rank/significance was. Only that the men from Jersey were apparently well armed, on high alert and made the NY members uncomfortable. The issue of murdering Flynn out of retribution for 'our Dear Lupo' was discussed.

- Can anyone think of anything else that might connect the roots of NJ operations to the Lupo/D'Aquila family?

I got the names and addresses of Lupo's NJ contacts (as well as nationally). I don't know where they are. I want to say one name for Jersey City (1902) and two for Newark (1909). I'm quite certain there was nothing for the city of Elizabeth.

[Angelo Santino]

Found this, don't know where to post it. Non-Mafia related but Newark-Ital related.

The first Italian to show up in the Newark Registry was Angelo Cattaneo in 1864-5 where he gave his address as 282 Mulberry St, NYC

By 1873, Newark became the primary city for Italians to move to after leaving Mulberry Bend in NYC. They called Newark Nevarca.

In 1870 there were 257 Italians in Newark; 1880 it was 407. In 1886 that number increased to 3000. In 1927 that number had grown to 27,465.


Newark's first Italo-colony was on Boyden St (which became the 15th Ward in 1910,) mainly from Avellino. By 1920 there were four:
1) East Ward / Ironbound District (Down Neck) - Avellino.
2) 14th Avenue - Sicilian
3) Silver Lake District (present day Belleville) with subdistricts at Greylock and Roosevelt Avenues as well as Passaic Ave.
3) First Ward (the largest) - in 1920 there were 8109 Italo born with 20,000 Ital descendants. Mostly Avellino.

[Antiliar]

Interesting.

[cavita]

The San Giuseppe Iato guys seem to be an exception, as it doesn't seem like they had much of a presence in Newark before Troia moved there. Along with his stepson (?) Joseph, Troia was killed with Francesco Longo from San Giuseppe Iato, who he had recently recruited from Springfield and may have been a relative. Antonio Riela survived either by design or maybe he was simply lucky he hadn't been with Troia at the time. Either way, all of these known San Giuseppe guys in Newark were transplants from Illinois before coming to NJ so it doesn't appear they would have been part of any pre-Badami NJ group.

I, for one, think that Riela actually had a hand in the Troia/Longo murder as he had a history with Troia going back a few years. If he didn't actually participate in the killing I feel he either helped plan it or had information as to where and when Troia would be at the business he was murdered.

[Pogo The Clown]

Newark's first Italo-colony was on Boyden St (which became the 15th Ward in 1910,) mainly from Avellino. By 1920 there were four:
1) East Ward / Ironbound District (Down Neck) - Avellino.

The whole village of Avellino settled in this area.


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

Newark's first Italo-colony was on Boyden St (which became the 15th Ward in 1910,) mainly from Avellino. By 1920 there were four:
1) East Ward / Ironbound District (Down Neck) - Avellino.

The whole village of Avellino settled in this area.


Pogo

The entire region of Casserta. I could list a dozen towns within a 15 mile radius of the Compagna province that influenced the Ital demo in Newark. That much David Chase did get correct. Newark wasn't a heavy Sicilian city and were probably outnumbered 3 or 4 to 1 demographically.