New Jersey murders in the 1920s/30s

[B.]

Was reading something from Anthony Rotondo where he mentions that both soldier Carmelo Corsentino and captain Giacomo Colletti had around "50 bodies" between them. Back when Rotondo was on the stand there were some articles mentioning his testimony about Corsentino allegedly using his funeral home in the 1920s/30s to bury murder victims in "double decker" coffins, so we can assume this plays into the number he gave, though I'm hesitant to even call it an "estimation".

Rotondo has always come across as an intelligent, reliable witness with a good read on the history of the organization, sort of the DeCav's version of DiLeonardo, but the "double decker" coffin idea is something I've seen other places unrelated to Corsentino/DeCavalcantes and I'm skeptical of it, as it seems like a typical "mafia myth" without other evidence. I assume he's drawing from stories he was told, as so maybe there is some truth to it or maybe someone was bullshitting him. Keep in mind that Corsentino and Colletti were ancient by the time Rotondo was around.

The bit about Colletti is particularly interesting to me. He was an older member promoted to captain by Sam DeCavalcante and later his son would become a captain and his grandsons are believed to be current members. In addition, the Collettis are related to other names in both the Ribera and NJ mafia families.

This "50 bodies" number made me think of a thread we had a while back where we were trying to come up with the names of murders committed by the DeCavs and we could find very few before the 1970s/80s. There is the murder of John Riggi's brother-in-law Alphonso Colicchio at the hands of Jimmy Palermo in 1960 and the well-known murder of Joseph Feola by Louis LaRasso in 1965, but neither have known ties to Corsentino or Colletti who were senior members even by that time.

I'm not looking to connect anything to this "50 bodies" number, but I thought I'd start by seeing what people can come up with for organized crime murders committed in North Jersey in the 1920s and 30s and go from there.

I'll go with some obvious ones:
- Double murder of underboss Sam Monaco and member(?) Luigi Russo in 1931. Happened following the Maranzano murder and believed to have been connected to that. Rotondo has made claims that their boss Stefano Badami ordered the murders, which could still be connected to Maranzano, but the info is too thin. His info points to them being DeCav members or that Newark was the same organization as DeCavs at that point.

- Murder of Vincenzo Troia, Joseph Troia, and Francesco Longo in 1935. No leads on who committed these murders, only that the motivation was Troia's aggressive attempts to take over the Newark organization and their rackets.

Feel free to list any murders that could have any mafia or organized crime connection in North Jersey. If they've been attributed to a certain person or group, please list that, but I'm looking for a comprehensive picture of NJ murders during this period. Thanks!

[B.]

I'm open to mentions of other murders post-1930, pre-1970s as well if they can't be connected to other NJ groups. I'm hesitant to open that door though because by the 1940s the NYC families were deeply established in NJ and a large number of murders can be connected to their operations. I'm more interested in the possibility of Newark and/or the DeCavs having a hand in early NJ murders.

[Villain]

Im not sure but I think he was involved in the September 25, 1950, murder of former Chicago police captain William Drury.

Heres one 1950 press photo of Rotondo...

[Frank]

Im not sure but I think he was involved in the September 25, 1950, murder of former Chicago police captain William Drury.

Heres one 1950 press photo of Rotondo...

I believe that would have been Vincent Jimmy Rotondo, his dad. His dad was killed by the Gambino Family or on orders from the Commission. At his funeral Gotti showed up with 20 men. He had a meeting with John Riggi. Riggi came out of meeting looking pale as a ghost and announced that they would be a Family in a Family.

[Antiliar]

Dominick "the Ape" Pacelli was shot to death in his hospital bed on Nov 3, 1930. He was reportedly a gunman for Ritchie "the Boot" Boiardo. Ralph Russo, Harold Corbett, Ernest Fiumara and Tony Bove were arrested for his murder. This is part of the "war" between Boiardo and the New Jersey Family that Valachi talked about.

[Villain]

Im not sure but I think he was involved in the September 25, 1950, murder of former Chicago police captain William Drury.

Heres one 1950 press photo of Rotondo...

I believe that would have been Vincent Jimmy Rotondo, his dad. His dad was killed by the Gambino Family or on orders from the Commission. At his funeral Gotti showed up with 20 men. He had a meeting with John Riggi. Riggi came out of meeting looking pale as a ghost and announced that they would be a Family in a Family.

Heres another one which says Anthony...

https://www.historicimages.com/1950-pre ... s-rrx56837

https://pictures.historicimages.net/Pic ... id=1021892

[B.]

Thanks for the info so far. Will try to look up more info on the gunmen in that Pacelli hit later. Russo is such a common name, but of course there was a prominent Russo in Jersey during that period. Curious if the Fiumara name can be connected to Tino.

If that's an "Anthony Rotondo", he would be far too old to be the same one. There's a resemblance to Jimmy, but hard to tell given how much he aged... would have to crosscheck age/DOB and other stuff. Good info though.