Bobby Manna (1950s Info)

[Clark]

Hey guys,

I am on a couple of those organized crime Facebook groups. A lot of the members seem really interested in Bobby Manna and I had been sitting on some information about it that I thought I would share. When I was finishing my book, Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the West Side Waterfront, a lot had to be cut out due to page restrictions and to help make the narrative clearer. One of the parts that got chopped contained some information about Manna’s early role on the waterfront.

The Jersey City waterfront has a long history of corruption. Two of the largest unions in the area were ILA Local 1247 and ILA Local 1478. When the corrupt Mayor Hague and his nephew—and future successor—Mayor Eggers were in office, the two controlled the piers with an iron fist. However, the Ward Leader who would eventually overthrow the Hague machine in 1949, John V. Kenny, was more open to doing business with gangsters; it had long been rumored that he was closely associated with New Jersey waterfront czar Charles Yanowsky. With an election looming, Kenny made a number of unsavory side-deals with the cities more nefarious characters in an attempt to gain votes from the labor unions that they controlled. This included pacts with Yanowsky and Anthony “Cheese” Marchitto, a gangster associated with the Genovese family.

Charlie Yanowsky was permanently removed from the world in 1947 due to an unrelated gang conflict, and one of his old associates, Albert Ackalitis, took control of his rackets. One of Yanowsky’s biggest money-earners had been overseeing ILA Local 1247, where Frank “Biffo” DeLorenzo, Yanowksy’s brother-in-law, remained a Business Agent. After Kenny’s election, the waterfront remained running like a well-oiled machine until Ackalitis was picked up in New York on a parole violation, and sent to prison for a year.

The wolves began to circle after Ackalitis’ removal, as Biffo DeLorenzo was regarded as a stooge that lacked the toughness needed to maintain control of the volatile Jersey City docks. Anthony Marchitto and Bobby Manna’s father, Morris—a powerful Genovese hoodlum—had longed to control the lucrative waterfront, and they also felt they were entitled to a piece of the action after successfully backing Mayor Kenny in the election. The two men made a deal with a pair of DeLorenzo’s closest associates in ILA Local 1247, George “The Rape Artist” Donahue and Vincent “Cockeye” Brown, and a double-cross was in the works.

On December 5, 1950, a reporter at The Jersey Journal received a call from Donahue stating that changes were being made in ILA Local 1247 and that DeLorenzo and his associate, Anthony “Slim” Lucey, had resigned from their positions. Donahue explained that Vincent “Cockeye” Brown remained President of ILA Local 1247, but that Anthony “Tony Cheese” Marchitto was the new Business Agent and that he, Donahue, had been made Trustee.

The paper later discovered that only minutes before the call, Donahue, Brown, Marchitto, and Morris Manna, had conducted their own hostile takeover of ILA Local 1247. The three had walked into the union headquarters on Grand Street and informed DeLorenzo and Lucey that they were out of the job and needed to write their resignations. When they refused, Donahue pulled out a gun and pointed it at DeLorenzo’s head, who then complied. Lucey would not agree as easily, so Manna pistol-whipped him and knocked out his front teeth. Lucey was ordered to open the union safe, but he still held out. The attackers then pulled off his shoes and began to put matches out on his feet until he cooperated.

After the assault was over, the new ILA Local 1247 leadership called the media to announce their promotions. The men, minus Manna, posed for a proud picture that was splashed across the pages of The Jersey Journal the following day.

After the takeover of the union, DeLorenzo began to make some very loose statements to police about his forced resignation, and the local longshoremen demanded that an election be held. The ILA Present, Joe Ryan, who was trying to appear democratic and did not want further details about the ugly incident to come to light, approved a vote for March 5, 1951.

With the upcoming election, Manna and Marchitto began to work closely with Anthony “Tony Bender” Strollo, their Genovese counterpart across the Hudson. To gain the muscle needed to support their rule, the Mafia opened the floodgates and began importing ex-cons from New York City to work for them on the waterfront. The local Jersey City longshoremen, who had their own group of bad apples, resented the New Yorkers taking the best jobs and calling the shots. Even those who had initially backed the forceful takeover of the union, including Donohue and Brown, began to push back against Marchitto and Manna. The most casual of waterfront observers knew what was coming next.

The first pre-election outburst occurred early in January 1951, when Morris Manna’s house was riddled with bullets in a drive-by shooting. Next, on January 28, 1951, George Donahue was starting his car when a hidden grenade exploded. Donahue was relatively unharmed, but his vehicle was destroyed.

The pinnacle of the violence occurred just over a month later. On March 3, 1951, two days prior to the election, a green car with two men pulled up to the ILA Local 1247 union offices. One man jogged towards an open window and hurled a grenade into the room. The explosive rolled across the floor and settled under a table, where a number of supporters of the new leaders of ILA Local 1247 were sitting. The device exploded, shooting shrapnel into Local 1247 President Vincent “Cockeye” Brown, new Secretary-Treasurer Armand Faugno, and three other of their supporters. The table likely saved their lives, and no one was seriously injured except Faugno, who had a significant leg injury that resulted in a long hospital stay and him having to wear platform shoes on one foot for the rest of his life. Interestingly enough, Marchitto had just left the office the moment before the attack occurred.

Jersey City police rounded-up all of the big players on the waterfront and became convinced that the Manna-Strollo group had perpetrated the attack against the local waterfront powers. A witness to the bombing identified Joseph “The Beefer” Wyckoff as the thrower of “the pineapple.” Wyckoff was a known associate of Marchitto, a long-time Jersey City resident, and the holder of an extensive criminal record. When the car used in the bombing was located, police discovered that it had been stolen from near a garage in New York City where Joseph Gernie—a Strollo associate who was currently employed on the Jersey City waterfront—worked. A number of arrests were made, including Wyckoff and Gernie, but due to lack of evidence, the men would be found not guilty.

Tensions ran high on the waterfront and fights between the local dock workers and the New York backed mobsters were common. One notable incident occurred when a longshoreman pushed Anthony Strollo’s brother, who was working as a Hiring Boss, to the ground. Strollo suffered a fractured skull and the pusher was later found shot to death.

Morris Manna sent his son, Bobby, then twenty-one, to the front-lines. The younger Manna was appointed as a Hiring Boss on one of the most contentious piers. His career as a longshoreman was short-lived; during one of his first shifts, he was arrested for carrying a pistol while in the company of two bodyguards, Anthony “Boston” Lepore and Vincent Mattiello.

Morris Manna was later returned to prison and would die soon after, even as Bobby continued to make attempts to intercede with local politicians on his father’s behalf. Marchitto would hold onto ILA Local 1247 for a short-time longer before being defeated by a ticket of Jersey City longshoremen who were not mob connected. Although he had lost control of ILA Local 1247, Marchitto remained actively involved in labor racketeering and still employed Manna’s services when needed, including when the group was arrested in 1952 while attempting to break a strike being conducted by a rival union.

I am going to add a couple pictures from Manna's 1950 gun arrest in the photo section.

Take care!

Neil

[MichaelGiovanni]

Interesting read. Thank you

As a new member forgive me for asking...but where is the photo section?

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

Interesting read. Thank you

As a new member forgive me for asking...but where is the photo section?

It is titled 'MUGSHOTS' in the ORG CRIME FORUMS area

[MichaelGiovanni]

Interesting read. Thank you

As a new member forgive me for asking...but where is the photo section?

It is titled 'MUGSHOTS' in the ORG CRIME FORUMS area

Thanks for the tip...but I don't see anything anywhere in the organized crime forum listed as Mugshots.
Did a search as well and nothing came up other than a few posts with the word mugshots in them.

[TwoPiece]

Great info, thanks.

Wonder if the Anthony "Boston" Lepore is any relation to Dennis Lepore, an old guy with the Patriarcas.

[Camo]

George “The Rape Artist” Donahue - what in the world. How did he get that nickname?

Great info, thanks for posting.

[Camo]

Interesting read. Thank you

As a new member forgive me for asking...but where is the photo section?

It is titled 'MUGSHOTS' in the ORG CRIME FORUMS area

Thanks for the tip...but I don't see anything anywhere in the organized crime forum listed as Mugshots.
Did a search as well and nothing came up other than a few posts with the word mugshots in them.

Here - viewforum.php?f=31

If that doesn't work you may need a certain amount of posts. I remember when i just got here once i got 10 or 20 posts a few extra forums appeared.

[MichaelGiovanni]

Interesting read. Thank you

As a new member forgive me for asking...but where is the photo section?

It is titled 'MUGSHOTS' in the ORG CRIME FORUMS area

Thanks for the tip...but I don't see anything anywhere in the organized crime forum listed as Mugshots.
Did a search as well and nothing came up other than a few posts with the word mugshots in them.

Here - viewforum.php?f=31

If that doesn't work you may need a certain amount of posts. I remember when i just got here once i got 10 or 20 posts a few extra forums appeared.

thanks camo...that must be it because it the link says I'm "unauthorised" all misspelled and everything lol

[UTC]

Great info, thanks.

Wonder if the Anthony "Boston" Lepore is any relation to Dennis Lepore, an old guy with the Patriarcas.

Civil union partner.

[handy]

Interesting read. Thank you

As a new member forgive me for asking...but where is the photo section?

It is titled 'MUGSHOTS' in the ORG CRIME FORUMS area

Thanks for the tip...but I don't see anything anywhere in the organized crime forum listed as Mugshots.
Did a search as well and nothing came up other than a few posts with the word mugshots in them.

Here - viewforum.php?f=31

If that doesn't work you may need a certain amount of posts. I remember when i just got here once i got 10 or 20 posts a few extra forums appeared.

Ahhh, thanks. I was also wondering about this

[B.]

Great info, thanks.

Manna and Larry Dentico were ID'd as members of the Eboli/Strollo crew in the 1960s, so they were probably made into that crew in the 1950s, especially, with Mauro "Morris" Manna's strong ties to Strollo. The powers in the Jersey City/Bayonne area seem to have been NJ guys who originally reported to NYC crews... Manna, Dentico, DiGiglio (Genovese), and Zicarelli (Bonanno) all reported to NY crews and were leaders in Hudson county long before they were promoted. Probably nothing to it but just an interesting note.

[Clark]

I think you are definitely right B. Manna was operating Jersey City, but we know how close he was to the Greenwich crew. Dentico was originally connected to the Greenwich group when he lived in New York City. After he moved to New Jersey he became even closer to Manna. Another Jersey City resident who knew all the Greenwich guys, as he had lived in the area before also moving, was George Martinelli (who was a close associate of Dentico and Manna).

[Rocco]

nice post. Manna was a skinny little guy. 135lbs

[MikeyRiens11]

The restaurant he got caught on the wiretap was called Cassella's, correct? I think it is an "upscale" pizza place now.

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

The restaurant he got caught on the wiretap was called Cassella's, correct? I think it is an "upscale" pizza place now.

Yes, Casella's in Jersey City. He was recorded in the bathroom talking
about hitting Gotti.