What do We Know about the Newark Family?

[Ed]

Re: Baldassare Accardo

"Benny" was indeed from Vita (b. Oct 3, 1928). A newspaper obituary for him is captured in the Evernote item to which I've linked below. He died June 17, 2014 in Newmarket, north of Toronto but still part of the GTA.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... 49eb6442ff

See also

https://markhamfuneral.sharingmemories. ... o&sort=dod
https://markhamfuneral.sharingmemories. ... .html?s=40
https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/th ... =171393669 (same content as that in the Evernote item)

Benny's parents -- Vito and Francesca (née Adamo) -- were also born in Vita. I'm exploring whether Benny was related to the young Toronto drug trafficker Vito Adamo by marriage, the two of them being described by journalist Jean-Pierre Charbonneau in his 1975 book as henchmen, along with Salvatore Reggio, for Benedetto Zizzo and Antonio Sciortino. Given Benny's mother's maiden name, perhaps he is related to Settimo Accardi, whom B. has indicated is a cousin of Michael Adamo of the Bonanno Family.

Former American undercover agent Tom Tripodi wrote in his 1993 book about going to Toronto -- and posing as a hitman -- to locate Settimo Accardi, who was a fugitive. (Elsewhere I've read that Accardi spent some time living in Toronto.) Tripodi also wrote about Accardi having family in the city, as well as about going to a pizzeria owned by Zizzo and Benny.

Some of the Might's Greater Toronto city directories from the 1960s show that Benny co-owned two San Francisco Bakery locations in Toronto with a Salvador Simone, sometimes written as "Sam Simone" -- I suspect this Simone is related to Benny's sister Francesca (Frances). One of the locations was on Pharmacy Ave. in Scarborough -- at one time the number of Sicilian-Canadians in this east end of Toronto was significant, but even today there are still pockets. Alberto Agueci and his family were living in Scarborough when Joe Valachi was hiding in the Agueci residence. Recall that Agueci and Zizzo owned the Queen Bakery in Toronto.

Baldassare Accardi's FBN entry circa 1965:

I noticed Accardi lived at 1410 Danforth Ave in Toronto. My father's old stomping grounds were a bit east of there. Lots of Italians moved into the area after WW II. St. Brigid's Church had an Italian mass every Sunday for years (although I think that's ended.) There are still some expresso bars in the area that attract the old-timers. You see them sitting outside, chatting, sipping their coffee, eyeing the ladies.

[antimafia]

^^^^
There's still a Sunday Mass in Italian, and part of the weekly bulletin is still written in Italian -- see https://stbrigids.archtoronto.org/sitea ... _05_28.pdf, for example.

The Nicholas Cicchini listed in the FBN entry for Baldassare Acdardi that was uploaded by the thekiduknow back on April 27 -- same document as that you see in Ed's post -- could very well be the individual who roughly from at least 1956 to 1962 was managing the Windsor, Ontario bakery owned by an individual in Detroit. This bakery trucked bread to the Motor City. Cicchini was already known as a major drug trafficker then, and the Siculiana-born Giuseppe Indelicato was described as a Cicchini courier. In 1956, Detroit was importing heroin through the Ontario city. The Detroit individual described by Alan Phillips for Maclean's: "One of Detroit's syndicate directors, a young man with widespread business interests, no criminal record, and an inherited fortune made in the rackets...."

[Ed]

^^^^
There's still a Sunday Mass in Italian, and part of the weekly bulletin is still written in Italian -- see https://stbrigids.archtoronto.org/sitea ... _05_28.pdf, for example.

Thanks. Glad to see the Italian mass carries on. My father lived across the street from the church and attended St. Brigid's school in the 1940s. My grandmother grew up around the corner on Glebemount. I still have family there.

[antimafia]

^^^^
There's still a Sunday Mass in Italian, and part of the weekly bulletin is still written in Italian -- see https://stbrigids.archtoronto.org/sitea ... _05_28.pdf, for example.

Thanks. Glad to see the Italian mass carries on. My father lived across the street from the church and attended St. Brigid's school in the 1940s. My grandmother grew up around the corner on Glebemount. I still have family there.

You’re welcome, Ed. Thanks for the interesting bit of history you’ve been providing us. One of my grandmothers attended the St. Catherine of Siena 1967 RC Church, which abruptly closed in 2009 and whose parishioners were *not* seamlessly integrated into the St. Brigid parish.

What’s interesting about the distribution of Italian-Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area post-WW II is that there have always been so many of them who were *not* living in one of the first two Little Italies in Toronto and later consciously chose *not* to live in the third one in Woodbridge (Vaughan) (immediately north of Toronto).

In Scarborough, besides the individuals whose ancestry is being discussed in this thread, there is still a large number of Sicilian-Canadians who descend from Pachino and appear to have no men in their community who have ever been mentioned in the Canadian annals of Italian organized crime.

In Downsview (North York), you had 'ndranghetisti like Cosmo Stalteri and Sammy Triumbari living relatively close to the Sicilian men of honour with ancestry from Ribera and Cattolica Eraclea. In Willowdale (North York), you had the three Commisso brothers growing up with their mother in the chi-chi Jewish neighbourhood — and two of the brothers stayed there after getting married with children.

In Mississauga, you had 'ndranghetisti such as Jimmy De Maria and Cosimo Lombardo.

[Ed]

^^^^
There's still a Sunday Mass in Italian, and part of the weekly bulletin is still written in Italian -- see https://stbrigids.archtoronto.org/sitea ... _05_28.pdf, for example.

Thanks. Glad to see the Italian mass carries on. My father lived across the street from the church and attended St. Brigid's school in the 1940s. My grandmother grew up around the corner on Glebemount. I still have family there.

You’re welcome, Ed. Thanks for the interesting bit of history you’ve been providing us. One of my grandmothers attended the St. Catherine of Siena 1967 RC Church, which abruptly closed in 2009 and whose parishioners were *not* seamlessly integrated into the St. Brigid parish.

What’s interesting about the distribution of Italian-Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area post-WW II is that there have always been so many of them who were *not* living in one of the first two Little Italies in Toronto and later consciously chose *not* to live in the third one in Woodbridge (Vaughan) (immediately north of Toronto).

In Scarborough, besides the individuals whose ancestry is being discussed in this thread, there is still a large number of Sicilian-Canadians who descend from Pachino and appear to have no men in their community who have ever been mentioned in the Canadian annals of Italian organized crime.

In Downsview (North York), you had 'ndranghetisti like Cosmo Stalteri and Sammy Triumbari living relatively close to the Sicilian men of honour with ancestry from Ribera and Cattolica Eraclea. In Willowdale (North York), you had the three Commisso brothers growing up with their mother in the chi-chi Jewish neighbourhood — and two of the brothers stayed there after getting married with children.

In Mississauga, you had 'ndranghetisti such as Jimmy De Maria and Cosimo Lombardo.

Thanks for the anecdote about your grandmother (I drive on Danforth daily and see the poor church boarded up) and for discussing Italian immigrants in Toronto. Probably a book waiting to be written about the fascinating Italian immigrant patterns in Toronto (maybe it already has, idk.)

[bn]

Can you trace Joe Taormina's heritage or is he too young? He is a more recent NJ Bonanno born in 1947 who died in 2002 but his surname heavily indicates Agrigento.

A lot of the Bonannos who lived in NJ over the years had AG heritage:

Nicolo Alfano - Racalmuto
Nicolo Buttafuoco - Cattolica Eraclea
Antonino Busciglio - Alessandria della Rocca
John Caltagirone - Casteltermini(?)
Joseph Colletti - Lucca Sicula
Giovanni Ligammari - Alessandria della Rocca
Angelo Salvo - Alessandria della Rocca

Other modern guys whose heritage I wonder about are Joe Bonanno (the one who flipped) and Joe Sammartino. Sammartino is found in various parts of Caltanissetta, no idea about Joe's background though. I'd be curious if Bonanno is Sicilian.

Joseph Albert Taormina was actually born in 1947 in Johnstown, PA. Not sure about his mother’s ancestry, but his dad was John Charles Taormina, born in 1921 in Johnstown to Giuseppe Taormina and Maria LoBue of Ciminna.

FWIW, the Taormina surname is actually way more common in various parts of Palermo province than in Agrigento.

He was a NJ Bonanno associate under Capodecina Angelo Salvo, but he was later transferred to the crew of Joseph 'Lefty' LaPadura, a Genovese capo.

[JoelTurner]

John Lardiere was working with the Newark family in South Jersey.



Their liquor still got pinched in October 1936, before the breakup.

- Joseph Ternatto was Joseph Abate, future Lucchese capo
- Anthony LaManna was a likely member

- Joseph Rifice, Philip Grasso, Salvatore Mesiano, and the Cappellas appear to be South Jersey locals.

——————-

Lardiere was not a member back then, he would be made much later. However it could mean that some of his earlier associates were linked to the Newark family.

The only other pre-New England arrest for him that I could find was a bombing attempt on Congressman Charles Eaton.

[B.]

Wondering about the "Capella" farm. Some of the Cappellos connected to the Philly Family lived in South Jersey.

[JoelTurner]

These Capellas appear to have been actually Capilli.

They were from Gesso, Messina, Sicily

——

Salvatore Mesaino was Calabrese, from Pizzoni

[B.]

Cool -- thank you.

[JoelTurner]

Joseph Rifice and Philip Grasso were Messinese too. Rifice was from Naso and Grasso was from Malvagna.

[B.]

Messina was huge in Philly so makes sense it spilled over into S.Jersey.

[JoelTurner]

In August 1914, Giovanni Zummo, Vito Campione, and his wife Lena were arrested for passing counterfeit coins.

(https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/878317353/)

Both of these men were Salvatore Lombardino’s brother-in-laws.
———————
Vito Campione was born Aug 18 1867 in Italy (couldn’t find where specifically) and was married to Lena Lombardino. She was Salvatore’s sister.

They lived at 32 Bedford St, Newark, NJ. This was across the road from the Pedone family (15 Bedford St) who were previously mentioned in this thread. It was also a few houses from the Campisi family (8 Bedford St) and Salvatore Musomecci (4 Bedford St).

———————

Zummo was born Apr 4 1885 in Gibellina and was married to Maria Lombardino. She was another sister.

Their son Rosario was married to Antoinette LaPlaca. She was the daughter of Charles LaPlaca and Grazia Musso. Musso had previously been married to Paolo Lombardino. They had a son together, Genovese member Paul M. Lombardino.

Paolo was Salvatore’s first cousin. Their fathers, Pasquale and Rosario, were brothers.

Zummo and his family lived at 296 S6th St, Newark, NJ. This was at the center of the Central Ward. The Bevinetto, Gallicchio, and Monaco families all lived down that road. Sam Monaco & Vincenzo Troia’s office was a few buildings away at the corner of S6th St and 15th Ave.

[JoelTurner]

Gaspare D’Amico may not have gone to Puerto Rico immediately after the Feb 1937 macaroni shooting.

His 1975 death certificate says “TIEMPO DE RESIDENCIA EN PUERTO RICO: 35 anos” which, in English, is time of residence in Puerto Rico - 35 years. This means he was there from -1940; however this may have been an approximation.

(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... AQVJ9-5P6K)

On July 28 1938, he re-entered the US and gave his address as 212 Highland Ave, Newark, NJ



(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... AQK31-Z65T)

—————-

I had previously assumed that he left to Puerto Rico and the family broke up pretty much right after his assassination attempt/father’s murder.

He may have given an old address, but it would be really interesting if he continued to live in Newark after the shooting. It’s been said that he “fled to Puerto Rico” but if he was living in NJ over a year later, that wouldn’t have been true.

He was in PR by the time of his WW2 draft registration.

[B.]

A+

Be great to know that detail, as we often hear that someone "fled" only to find out that's not exactly what happened. Info is so limited on the Newark situation we can't be confident in much aside from the big pieces.