What do We Know about Willie Moretti?

[JoelTurner]

Official employment: U.S Linen Supply Business (113-137 N 1st, Paterson, NJ)

His partners were Ben & Mark Golden, John “Midgie” Welsh, and Robert Neilley

The Golden bros, led by Ben, were Jew mobsters and had the only policy bank in Passaic County. Known as Gold Bank, they were arrested for this alongside the Moretti bros, Pete LaPlaca, Etc.

Other than numbers, Ben Golden co-owned the Sand and Surf Cabana Club (717 Ocean Ave, Long Branch, NJ) with the Moretti bros and was also involved in political corruption. He was close to NJ Attorney General Theodore Parsons.

Robert Neilley was the Passaic County water commissioner. Additionally, he was a top member of its Democratic Party and involved in doling out patronage jobs. He arranged for US Linen to buy an entire city block for $10K.

The firm’s rival was Noxall Linen Supply. Its president Abraham Frumker had claimed that Moretti’s group was using strong-arm tactics before he “fell of a horse” and died. Noxall merged with US Linen subsequently.

[JoelTurner]

Joe Valachi wasn’t close to Willie Moretti but did share some interesting information about him.

In 1924, Valachi’s gang, that he calls the Irish Mob, was in a conflict with the East Harlem crew. Discussing a peace summit, he names him as a mafia member:

VALACHI: I found out through the years, later on, he [MORETTI] was one of the Cosa Nostra members, but at that time we didn't know.

[…]

CHAIRMAN: You didn't know anything about Cosa Nostra?

VALACHI: No; this was 1924.

Moretti was hosting the summit at his Pompeii Restaurant. From the rest of Valachi says, it’s fairly clear that he was a part of the East Harlem crew.

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Valachi’s says something pretty intriguing about Lucky Luciano’s status at the time too, explicitly naming him as a soldier:

All the big shots went over at this restaurant. By big shots I mean Ciro Terranova, Dutch Schultz, and all kind of big shots from out of town, Charlie Lucky used to go there too, even though he was nothing but a soldier. I didn't know anything about soldiers at this time but I found out later.

He’s referring to the end of 1924. I had previously assumed that Luciano was made captain in the early ‘20s though I didn’t know the exact year. Dominick “Terry Burns” DiDato was discussed earlier in this thread; he seems like a good candidate for his capo.