Opinion/Discussion: DeCavalcante Present Day

[joerock]

And streetboss Merlo no ?

Precisely I’ll add that thank you

[Frank]

Then you can add John Riggi as the Boss and Manny Riggi as a Capo.


Pogo

John Riggi-Boss
Acting Boss-Charles Majuri
Street Boss-Joey Merlo iii
Underboss-Unknown(any opinions?)
Consigliere-Frank Nigro

Capo-Manny Riggi
Capo-Charles Stango
Capo-Joseph Collina

Soldier-Luigi Oliveri
Soldier-Joe Sclafani-(active~unknown)

Associate-Anthony Stango
Associate-Mario Galli iii
Associate-James Heeney
Associate-Rosario Pali
Associate-John Capozzi

Maybe Merlo i underboss

[joerock]

Then you can add John Riggi as the Boss and Manny Riggi as a Capo.


Pogo

John Riggi-Boss
Acting Boss-Charles Majuri
Street Boss-Joey Merlo iii
Underboss-Unknown(any opinions?)
Consigliere-Frank Nigro

Capo-Manny Riggi
Capo-Charles Stango
Capo-Joseph Collina

Soldier-Luigi Oliveri
Soldier-Joe Sclafani-(active~unknown)

Associate-Anthony Stango
Associate-Mario Galli iii
Associate-James Heeney
Associate-Rosario Pali
Associate-John Capozzi

Maybe Merlo i underboss

He is confirmed to be the street boss

[B.]

He could well be both. The underboss is traditionally the "street boss" but over time we see that's not always the case.

[joerock]

He could well be both. The underboss is traditionally the "street boss" but over time we see that's not always the case.

This is true.

[Pogo The Clown]

The UnderBoss is almost certainly either Majuri or Merlo. In the past John Riggi, John D'Amato, Jake Amari and Joe Miranda served the dual role of UnderBoss and Acting Boss.


Pogo

[johnny_scootch]

Acting Boss & Street Boss are temporary titles so more than likely once Riggi kicked the bucket Majuri became the Official Boss and Merlo became the Underboss. It seems they were operating in that fashion anyway, they were just waiting for the old man to die. It's funny he managed to give them a couple headaches before he checked out.

[Dave65827]

I wonder what Riggi was doing in his last days beside create more problems. I’d imagine he made a few people but there’s no proof (that I know of) of that besides Luigi.

And besides that anyone know anything in particular about this Luigi “The Dog” Oliveri character ? He doesn’t strike me in his mugshot as a sophisticated guy would be interested in what anyone from the area has to say

I’ve read snippets of the guys book and it looks like the agent was legitimately worried about being killed by this guy too. Mentions about him trying to lure him to his home. Something I also noticed from the search is that for the talk of no whackings there seems to be a lot of fear among these guys of being whacked as well.

Also something I find hilarious is that the agent found out one of the bartenders at the Decavalcante club was an FBI informant

[elasticman]

I wonder what Riggi was doing in his last days beside create more problems. I’d imagine he made a few people but there’s no proof (that I know of) of that besides Luigi.

And besides that anyone know anything in particular about this Luigi “The Dog” Oliveri character ? He doesn’t strike me in his mugshot as a sophisticated guy would be interested in what anyone from the area has to say

I’ve read snippets of the guys book and it looks like the agent was legitimately worried about being killed by this guy too. Mentions about him trying to lure him to his home. Something I also noticed from the search is that for the talk of no whackings there seems to be a lot of fear among these guys of being whacked as well.

Also something I find hilarious is that the agent found out one of the bartenders at the Decavalcante club was an FBI informant

I imagine members understand that the organizations are still very capable of murder, it's more a strategic choice (a wise one, for that matter) to avoid it so stringently these days.

[B.]

The UnderBoss is almost certainly either Majuri or Merlo. In the past John Riggi, John D'Amato, Jake Amari and Joe Miranda served the dual role of UnderBoss and Acting Boss.

Great point.

Sam DeCavalcante was also underboss and acting boss before Delmore died. That's almost all of the known history of the family where they did this.

Another possibility is that Majuri is acting boss / official underboss, while Merlo is acting underboss and was simply referred to as "street boss". The info from the book would then indicate Merlo was going to continue on as Majuri's underboss when Riggi died.

We don't have a member or high-level associate who cooperated in the Stango case, so our knowledge is probably based around Stango's recorded conversations and whatever he told the agent. The FBI must have some other intel on the family but hard to say how that factors into this. Though he rambled on about the organization to the agent, Stango might not have specified every detail about the exaction positions "Horse" and "Milk" held beyond acting boss and street boss.

The only other time I'm aware of where both an acting boss and street boss were identified on the street at the same time was when the FBI identified Allie Boy Persico as the acting boss in prison and Andy Russo as "street boss". It makes sense in this context, as Carmine Persico was official boss in prison, but his son Allie was the one who effectively had final say, with Russo being the one on the street representing them.

And besides that anyone know anything in particular about this Luigi “The Dog” Oliveri character ? He doesn’t strike me in his mugshot as a sophisticated guy would be interested in what anyone from the area has to say

His parents came from Partinico, Sicily, and settled in Peterstown. Works in the food business.

I’ve read snippets of the guys book and it looks like the agent was legitimately worried about being killed by this guy too. Mentions about him trying to lure him to his home. Something I also noticed from the search is that for the talk of no whackings there seems to be a lot of fear among these guys of being whacked as well.

Think of it as a probability game. We know most guys, no matter what they do, won't be murdered anymore. However, they do occasionally still murder someone in the US and eventually they will do it again. While probability is on everyone's side post-1990s, someone will be the exception and it could be anyone, which means it could be you if you make a mistake.

I mean, even I look over my shoulder sometimes just walking down the street because you never know if a stranger is going to mug you. A mafia associate deals with the normal paranoia we as humans have, plus the reality that they're involved in a violent organization with treacherous politics and sometimes fatal penalties, even today.

[B.]

I imagine members understand that the organizations are still very capable of murder, it's more a strategic choice (a wise one, for that matter) to avoid it so stringently these days.

This is what Pennisi said in one of his episodes when they asked him about "capability." He said you could put a gun in a baby's hand and he'd be capable, something along those lines. This is coming from a convicted killer.

No question the mafia is less formidable today with families no longer having dozens of experienced "hitmen" at their disposal, but if there was ever a period in the future where the mafia could get away with most murders gain, they wouldn't have to put guys through "hitman" basic training to get it done.

Look at what's happened in Canada the past 10+ years. Some of the participants in the wars there likely had little to no experience in murder let alone mafia warfare.

[AntComello]

I imagine members understand that the organizations are still very capable of murder, it's more a strategic choice (a wise one, for that matter) to avoid it so stringently these days.

This is what Pennisi said in one of his episodes when they asked him about "capability." He said you could put a gun in a baby's hand and he'd be capable, something along those lines. This is coming from a convicted killer.

No question the mafia is less formidable today with families no longer having dozens of experienced "hitmen" at their disposal, but if there was ever a period in the future where the mafia could get away with most murders gain, they wouldn't have to put guys through "hitman" basic training to get it done.

Look at what's happened in Canada the past 10+ years. Some of the participants in the wars there likely had little to no experience in murder let alone mafia warfare.

Good point and a lot of the hits in Canada were very professional and then you have the ones that were horribly executed

[B.]

And on the Montreal side a lot of it was orchestrated by a 30-something guy from NYC with no known involvement in any murders.

It's a question how many DeCavalcante members throughout their history have actually participated in a murder. A lot of the ones we know of were part of the NYC faction, but there haven't been enough known DeCavalcante murders in NJ for that many members to have participated. Rotondo said they used to bury guys in double decker coffins provided by Carmelo Corsentino's funeral home in the 1920s/30s -- the problem with that is Carmelo Corsentino didn't run a funeral home and it was his son Carl (also a member) who started the Corsentino funeral home much later. Who knows where he heard this or what he confused it with unless I'm missing something.

Sam DeCavalcante was recorded saying he had personally done multiple hits (and sometimes let other people take credit) but not sure what evidence there is. I can rattle off a few more NJ guys who allegedly participated in murders, but it's not a big list.

[furiofromnaples]

So anyone had a chart of the hierarchy?

[joerock]

So anyone had a chart of the hierarchy?

Nobody knows about the chart for 2021 it’s quite unknown the 2015 chart I made with all the info we have is I suppose the most up to date chart maybe things changed since then maybe things haven’t.