The Vincenzo Troia murder

[B.]

We have talked a bit about the 1935 Troia murder in one of the DeCavalcante threads and tried to piece together his exact role in the US mafia and particularly Newark. Due to some errors by Gentile, the timeline is a little messed up and it's not clear if Troia's death was related to him allegedly challenging his boss in Newark, Gaspare D'Amico, who survived a later hit attempt in 1937 and retired. Presumably both of these events factored into the break-up of the Newark family, which happened sometime between 1935 and 1937, but it's clear that the deceased Troia had nothing to do with the attempt on D'Amico, though it is possible D'Amico was attacked in revenge for Troia's murder. It has also been said that D'Amico was murdered with the approval of his Villabate paesano Joe Profaci, who would later absorb a crew of men believed to have been Newark members.

Local speculation as well as speculation in Sicily (via Dr. Allegra) was that it was related to the Newark lottery rackets, which Troia was heavily involved in.

What is known is that Troia was a major political figure who swung between Rockford/Springfield to Newark, was well-known in Sicily, and at one point was part of a "commission" type panel that was nixed by Maranzano (though Troia is said to have been a Maranzano supporter at one point). His name comes up almost 30 years after his death on the Magaddino tapes, so he certainly made an impact on the US mafia.

We can go into that stuff a bit if anyone wants to, but I wanted to take a look at the 5 different men who were shot during the hit on Troia:

- On August 23, 1935, a black sedan pulled up to a Bloomfield candy stored used as a lottery headquarters by local mafiosi. Two gunmen approached the store and one of them fired through the doorway using two revolvers, then allowed the second gunman to fire with his own revolver before leaving.

- Vincenzo Troia is the obvious main target of the attack and he died at the scene of the shooting. Basic background has already been mentioned above, but a year earlier, Troia had returned to Illinois where he as arrested as a result of his former illegal activities in the area and after his release he returned to Newark (more info here: http://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.c ... -list.html). One report I read said he was 45 at the time of his death, but I have seen his birth date listed as 1886, so I'm not too sure.

- Joseph Troia, said to be the step-son of Vincenzo, was shot at the scene and later died. I have seen two different reports listing him as either 25 or 30, but I'd lean toward the former. The erroneous Gentile information says that Vincenzo Troia was trying to take over the family with help from his son, so he's most likely referring to Joseph.

- Frank Longo, a 40-year-old resident of Springfield, IL, who is descibed as a Troia bodyguard and had been arrested with him in Illinois the previous year, was also killed at the scene. Limey has him being from San Giuseppe Iato, like Troia, and others affiliated with this Illinois-Newark bridge. No other info known, but seems to have been a Troia loyalist who he brought out to Newark with him, possibly as muscle but that's just speculation.

- Jerome Bevinetto, age 41, was shot at the scene but survived. There is a Girolamo Bevinetto born around the same time from Camporeale, which is not far from Troia's roots in San Giuseppe Iato. There is also a Girolamo Bevinetto (maybe the same one) born November 17, 1894, who lived in Long Branch, NJ, by 1942. I'm thinking one or both of these could be Jerome Bevinetto, as "Jerome" is typically derived from Girolamo. This Girolamo cites a relatives in Newark as a point of contact ("JR Bevinetto", looks like) and states that he is self-employed, running a boarding house.

- Antonio Sunsaro, age 39, was shot as well and survived. I am guessing they got his last name wrong and it could be any variation of Sansaro, Sanzari, Censori, etc. as I can't find anything for Sunsaro. Some of the variation names have links to Illinois, so he could be another Illinois transplant brought over by Troia, like Longo. He did however use the alias " Anthony Cangeloso". He was kept as a material witness to the shooting but refused to cooperate.

- Absent from all of this is Antonio Riela, another San Giuseppe Iato immigrant who bounced between Illinois and Newark and had ties to Troia. He would later go on to become a prominent, but somewhat independent New Jersey member of the Bonanno family. Very possibly a Newark member before that.

[toto]

Sunsaro can be Sunseri.

[B.]

Thanks. There are a number of Antonino Sunseris who came from the areas around Trabia, Termini Imerese, and Caccamo. Most of them too old, but a couple who fit the general frame.

Hoping we may be able to find future residences and/or criminal activities/associates for the two survivors of this attack. If Bevinetto lived in Long Branch, that could potentially put him in contact with Genovese and DeCavalcante figures there, thinking offhand.

Neither of them were particularly young, though, so by the time things got broken wide open with more information in the 1950s and 60s these two would have already been over 60. They could have been associates who lost underworld significance, left the area, etc. after all this, too.

[cavita]

Don't forget the fact that Troia also lived in Madison, Wisconsin for a time and there were many Troia families living there at the time. In fact, a grocery store/house owned by a Troia was blown up sometime in the mid 1920s. Additionally, there was a Charles Sunzeri, age 35, from Rockford who was arrested for bootlegging near Brodhead, Wisconsin along with Tony LoMonaco. LoMonaco was also from San Giuseppe Iato, was close to Troia and lived in Madison before settling in Rockford and being involved in the LCN there.

[bronx]

for you researchers, a vague story , not sure if true, that "a troia "was on the daquila hit..

[B.]

Don't forget the fact that Troia also lived in Madison, Wisconsin for a time and there were many Troia families living there at the time. In fact, a grocery store/house owned by a Troia was blown up sometime in the mid 1920s. Additionally, there was a Charles Sunzeri, age 35, from Rockford who was arrested for bootlegging near Brodhead, Wisconsin along with Tony LoMonaco. LoMonaco was also from San Giuseppe Iato, was close to Troia and lived in Madison before settling in Rockford and being involved in the LCN there.

Yep, I knew Vincenzo Troia had a strong Winconsin connection as well and a cousin with the same name there, though I don't know much of anything about his involvement in Wisconsin.

Thanks for pointing out the name Charles Sunzeri, though I can't find anything on him. There was a Calogero Sunzeri who came to the US as an illegal alien in 1909 -- could be the same as this Charles. There was also a Calogero Sanseri who came to the US in 1905 from San Giuseppe Iato.

[cavita]

I happen to have a photo of Troia after I believe his 1934 arrest. It's both a frontal and side shot and also a photo of Long. I've never seen any other photos of either of them....

[B.]

I happen to have a photo of Troia after I believe his 1934 arrest. It's both a frontal and side shot and also a photo of Long. I've never seen any other photos of either of them....

Seems to be the case for many of the more powerful guys from that era, which is surprising considering they were often well-traveled, had the money to have photographs taken, etc.

[cavita]

I'm very intrigued about Troia and I personally think that Riela somehow had a hand in his murder since they were both from San Giuseppe Iato and both had spent time in Rockford and Springfield. What are these "Maggadino tapes" and what is exactly said on them about Troia?

[B.]

I'm very intrigued about Troia and I personally think that Riela somehow had a hand in his murder since they were both from San Giuseppe Iato and both had spent time in Rockford and Springfield. What are these "Maggadino tapes" and what is exactly said on them about Troia?

How he shadowed Troia from S.Giuseppe Iato to Illinois and Newark, but survived Troia's death and became an elder statesman in the Bonanno family would tell us a lot. One of the reasons I wanted to look into the other shooting victims at the Troia hit was to find possible connections to Riela later on... i.e. maybe some of Troia's associates ended up with Riela.

The Magaddino tapes are from when his office was bugged in the 1960s. He talks very candidly and some of the transcripts are on the Mary Ferrell site.

*** It is hard to understand some of Magaddino's stories because of the broken English and Sicilian translations, but during a meeting he had with Paul Sciacca and "Bill Loffa" (phonetic, still undentified), he mentions Troia a few times while discussing the Castellammarese war:

- Someone called "Angelino" (described as "an Americanized boy" who is popular in Chicago) met with Magaddino, and Magaddino said that "Angelino" came to Chicago to "pose for" (possible translations: "pay for" or "substitute for") Vincenzo Troia. Magaddino calls Troia "that faceless one." The unidentified "Bill Loffa" then yells out, "Vincenzo Troia?!", indicating he too is familiar with Troia (from other context, it's clear that "Loffa" is an old time member, in my opinion from the Bonanno family though others disagree/aren't sure).

Magaddino says of Troia: "If I don't know him, how can I talk to him? To a stranger?" The conversation becomes convoluted and impossible to understand with other phonetic names, but Magaddino then says that he (Magaddino) "... never leveled any accusations at Vincenzo Troia." This "Angelino" then says "You do not know Vincenzo Troia." Magaddino was upset because this "Angelino" wants him to "accuse a man whom I don't know," referring to accusations against Troia. He points out that "Angelino" is a compare of Troia's who "embraces and kisses him every day" but now wants to get rid of him (Troia) because he was working against Maranzano. Magaddino felt "Angelino" was jealous of Troia.

Like almost all of Magaddino's stories, this spirals into a rant about Maranzano and then Joe Bonanno that is impossible to follow.

An FBI summary of this conversation assumed that it was in reference to a dispute between the "Americanized" and the "Greaseballs", with this "Angelino" being on the Americanized side and Troia obviously being a "Greaseball".

**** Cola Gentile also talks about Vincenzo Troia during the Castellammarese war. Here is a summary I was under enough drugs to type tonight(!):

In December 1930 a large meeting was held in Boston where New England boss Gaspare Messina was elected the provisional boss of bosses and a Commission was created consisting of Giuseppe Traina (New York City), Vincenzo Troia (Rockford/Springfield/Newark, not sure exact affiliation at the time), Salvatore LoVerde (Chicago), Salvatore Mangiaracina (?), Nicolo Gentile (not sure exact affiliation at the time), and Giuseppe Siracusa (Pittsburgh). This Commission was supposed to end the war, guarantee peace, and elect a new boss of bosses. If Masseria challenged them, he would be killed.

He describes Troia as a compare of Maranzano who participated in several high-level meetings after the murders of Mineo and Ferrigno where leaders from across the country met to discuss Masseria's fate. Troia apparently supported Maranzano, but Gentile reminded him that he was on the peace commission which led Troia to speak up at the meeting and tell everyone that they were there not to condemn Masseria but to first cancel the death sentence that had been placed on the Castellammaresi.

Maranzano responded by referencing Masseria's abuse of power, the murder of Gaspare Milazzo, and the St. Valentine's Massacre, plus that Masseria had inducted Al Capone into the mafia despite Capone having been a pimp and hitman-for-hire. This riled up the Maranzano supporters so much that he had to jump on a table to silence them.

They then stopped the meeting for a time and during this break Gentile told Troia that the meeting was out of hand and they should instead reconvene the meeting at another time. Troia went to Maranzano with this message, which apparently offended Maranzano, who believed that he had convinced everyone to take his side at the meeting except for the peace commission.

Ultimately Maranzano agreed with Troia and Gentile, however, and agreed to reconvene at a later time to vote on Masseria's fate. However, Gentile attended a dinner with Maranzano the next night where Maranzano informed him that if his supporters changed their mind about Masseria before the next meeting, it will be the fault of Gentile's group (the peace commission, which included Troia).

A larger meeting of 500 men was then held and presided over by Gaspare Messina where a faction led by Gentile prevented the vote on Masseria from being cast. Gentile stated that Maranzano had not shown proper respect to the peace commission and had continued to wage war. Joe Traina was concerned that Gentile had said all of this openly.

This resulted in Messina and the national assembly deciding that there should be a two month truce and no verdict was handed down on Masseria. Maranzano was very upset and blamed Vincenzo Troia, who despite being on the peace commission had been a Maranzano supporter and Maranzano had expected that everyone would vote in favor of killing Masseria.

Some of Masseria's men still tried to wage war versus the Maranzano forces against Masseria's wishes, as Masseria was by this time hoping to come to peace with the opposition (according to Gentile at least). It was after this that Masseria's own supporters decided to kill Masseria, as otherwise they feared they'd be punished should peace be made. They brought Al Capone, who was still a Masseria capodecina in Chicago but more powerful than Chicago boss Salvatore LoVerde, into the conspiracy.

Masseria was killed and Gentile and Salvatore LoVerde met with Vincenzo Troia and Charles Lucania at Lucania's house. Lucania told Troia to pass a message to his "good friend" Maranzano that they killed Masseria for their own personal reasons, not out of loyalty to him.

After this a meeting is held in Chicago where men discussed Masseria's "evils" during his reign as bosses of bosses and it is proposed that the American Mafia form a Commission of six members. Vincenzo Troia was selected to be the "president" of this Commission due to his rise in popularity. However, Maranzano put together a group of men who disparaged Troia (this is likely what Magaddino was referring to when he was approached by "Angelino") and the commission idea was nixed, along with Troia's new role.

The infamous banquet is then held in New York where invitations were sold to mafioso around the country and Maranzano was welcome as the new boss of bosses. Maranzano took $100,000 at the banquet and according to Gentile, Maranzano asked Vincenzo Troia (who is identified as a boss, but family not identified) what he (Troia) would do with 100k, and Troia said he did not know because he did not have that kind of money. Maranzano responded that he wished to take the money to Germany for security reasons.

This is the last we hear of Troia from Gentile until his erroneous account of Troia trying to kill D'Amico to take over the Newark family. Despite the mistaken timeline of the attempted hit on D'Amico, he does however make it clear that Troia usurped leadership of the Newark family before his (Troia's death). He also says that the men in Troia's "office" (the candy shop) were his friends and relatives.

Big Question:
- What family was Troia the boss of in 1930? Rockford? Springfield? It doesn't seem he was boss of Newark except for possibly a very short time in the mid-1930s after he deposed Gaspare D'Amico.

[B.]

In answer to the "big question", I know he may NOT have been a boss, but from one FBI report re-telling Gentile's story, it specifically says Troia was a "capo" (boss) at the time of the Maranzano banquet. He also must have been a boss by the time of the Chicago meeting before this when he was nominated as "president" of a six-member Commission that would run the US mafia instead of the archaic "boss of bosses" (this seems to be an identical precursor to the Commission that would be set up post-Maranzano and therefore would consist only of bosses).

So it seems likely he was a boss by the time of the Chicago but maybe not early on in the war despite being part of the "peace commission" (since not all of the members of this group were bosses).

So if he was a boss, which family?

- Ladri, who is an excellent researcher, seems pretty convinced that Antonio Musso was established as the boss of Rockford at least by then, if not a bit earlier. Vincenzo Troia along with Musso came from Madison to Rockford, where until Troia left Rockford in August 1930 (just 4 months before he was part of the Maranzano discussions) he was said to be a "lieutenant" of Musso (though this is a loose description and may not accurately describe his exact position, i.e. "underboss", "capodecina", etc.).

- After August 1930, Troia was living in Springfield but he would have had only around 4 months to fully establish himself there before he was traveling extensively to Chicago and New York for the war meetings. Based on what I've seen of Ladri's research, it is not clear when/how the Springfield family was established, only that Troia's paesano from San Giuseppe Iato Francesco Zito was established as the boss of this family sometime in the 1930s.

- It's assumed he stayed on the east coast (in Newark) after Maranzano's death but I'm not sure. He may have returned to Springfield or continued traveling back and forth. Based on descriptions of his 1934 arrest in Illinois, it does sound like he had left that area, though, hence being arrested for past crimes when he returned to visit.

- He returns to Newark after his 1934 arrest with alleged San Giuseppe Iato native Frank Longo of Springfield. There may have been a relation there, but at the very least it seems he had enough influence in Springfield to bring a known Springfield member/associate back to Newark with him. He may have brought fellow paesano Riela of S.Giuseppe Iato/Rockford/Springfield/Newark with him as well at an earlier time, as no doubt Troia was more influential than Riela in those days.

- He apparently joins or associates with the Newark family sometime between 1931 and 1934, but is not the boss of this family. If and when he does become the Newark boss after deposing D'Amico, it is only briefly. This indicates that if he had been a boss of a different family in 1931, he no longer held this position (possibly demoted / stepped down like many other bosses after Maranzano's death? Despite challenging Maranzano as a member of the peace commission and drawing Maranzano's rage, he was still regarded as a "good friend" of Maranzano).

- If he WAS a boss at some point during the Castellammarese war, it looks to me like Springfield is the most likely group. A fellow S.Giuseppe Iato paesano took over this family (possibly indicating some kind of logical chain of succession/powerbase), he seemed to maintain influence in the area even after moving to the east coast, and the other families he was known to associate with were spoken for at this time. Springfield to the best of our knowledge was not spoken for by any other boss.

[HairyKnuckles]

I´d suggest you make a FOIA request on him. There could be snippets of info on him in files told by informants long after his death.

[B.]

Would be a good move, I'm sure.

Yet another theory:

NEWARK, N. J. (AP)
Deputy Police Chief John Haller revealed Friday his detectives had found a shotgun, wrapped in Springfield, IL. newspapers, in a room which had been occupied by Vincenzo Troia, one of three men shot down August 22 in a candy store in the Italian section. Haller announced his find after Springfield police said they believed Troia, his son, Joseph, and Frank Longo, had been killed in reprisal for a killing in Springfield on July 8. The newspapers were dated July 10 and 27. Haller said investigation showed the Troias were out of town during part of July. The victim of the Springfield slaying was Jake Wexler, jeweler and reputed gambler. The shotgun, found by police, was said to be of the same type as one found in the sedan, abandoned by the gunmen after the attack. Haller said the Newark police were informed by the Department of Justice that the slain men recently had been in the Middle West. The elder Troia and Longo were arrested last year in connection with a Rockford, IL. kidnapping. Troia was wanted by immigration authorities in Chicago for deportation

Note however that several non-Italian men were suspected of Wexler's murder and one of them was arrested, but I don't know what came of it.

[cavita]

I was also thinking that the most likely city Troia was a boss of was Springfield as well. Where Troia was listed as Musso's "lieutenant" was from a late 1920s newspaper article based on police information. After the murder in Rockford of Joe Giovingo in August 1930, Troia fled the city, presumably for Springfield. Interestingly, the house that Troia was rooming in was also occupied by Tony Riela and a Tony LaPuma, who I tend to think may have been from Kansas City. Riela also left Rockford soon after this hit.
On May 4, 1934 Troia was arrested in Rockford while driving in a vehicle with Frank Longo from Springfield and Phil Picciuro from Beloit, Wisconsin who I believe was later involved with the Milwaukee LCN. A .22 caliber rifle was found inside the car upon their arrest. Troia gave his address as 365 N. 7th Street, Newark, New Jersey. Now what is interesting is that after this arrest, four (unidentified) men posted the bond for Troia so he must have had some influence in that area. Streator was a hotbed of early LCN activity in the day and the Zito family had a lot going on there. I also read one newspaper report that stated Troia entered the U.S. illegally by wearing monk's robes, but who knows if this is true or not.

[B.]

Cavita, not sure if this is the same as the mugshot you have or if yours is higher quality, but here is the only photo of Vincenzo Troia I have seen. He definitely "looked the part" of an early mafia powerhouse.