She opened the front door and spoke over the yapping of her schnauzer. "The DeCavalcante Crime family is one of the oldest Italian American Crime families in the United States based out of the NY/NJ areas," Mr. Rocco explained. He was born in 1913 and was involved in illegal gambling, murder, and racketeering for most of his life. Simone Rizzo DeCavalcante - The Count Of New Jersey Unlike New York's infamous Five Families, the Chicago mob consists of only one family, often referred to as the "Outfit.". charged along with Stango were accused of discussing at a bar in Toms River in 2015 their plan for a prostitution business. District of New Jersey Great acting.. 1. Critics have praised the hit series, about a mob boss and his family, for its writing, cast, style and themes.. Violence, sex, drugs and money all feature heavily in the six-season American crime drama, which ran from 1999 to 2007. After nearly two and a half years of undercover investigation, Giovanni Rocco sat in the spacious home of his mentor, Charlie Stango, eating sauteed shrimp made by one of the most powerful people in the DeCavalcante mafia family. Never mind that DeCavalcante had transformed a bunch of ever-warring factions into an immensely profitable operation. Mario Galli III, 28, from Toms River New Jersey and an associate of the DeCavalcante crime family has been sentenced to five years in federal prison and probably much more.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,100],'aboutthemafia_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_2',650,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-aboutthemafia_com-medrectangle-3-0'); In exchange for leniency, Galli plead guilty on Monday in the U.S. District Court in Trenton to possession of drugs and possession of a firearm during a drug crime, which were discovered during a search of his and another home by detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutors Office. Unrelenting law enforcement pressure was further diminishing the power of the DeCavalcante crime family as well. Between June 6, 2013, and Nov. 6, 2013, Oliveri bought multiple cases of untaxed cigarettes from undercover law enforcement officers. The FBI was able to pressure several lower ranking DeCavalcante associates into becoming informants after catching them committing serious crimes; these informants helped the Justice Department to gather substantial evidence against the family, and led to scores of long-term Federal convictions. ignored and then continued working, the indictment notes. He declared that This Thing of Ours and Our Friends were the same, whether it be among the five families of New York or his family in New Jersey. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited. John LaMela was a DeCavalcante Family soldier active in liquor bootlegging, narcotics, and garbage rackets. The scene where the FBI breaks into Tonys basement to plant a bug was so realistic that an agent who happened to encounter two of the shows head writers at The Buffalo Club in Santa Monica asked where they got their information. He was a knockaround Jersey guy rising to power in the fictional DiMeo family, founded by Ercole DiMeo, who had been sent to prison just like Simone DeCavalcante. I thought he was gonna fly though the wall. Simone DeCavalcante also known as Sam the Plumber was a New Jersey mob boss in the 1960's and 1970's before retiring to Florida. Gallo was a strong ally and friend of Vincent Palermo's, and told him about Majuri's plans. It also helped send him to prison. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. He was an in-law by marriage to Nicholas Delmore, the former head of the New Jersey, crime family whose nephew was Simone DeCavalcante, also a New Jersey mob family leader whose daughter he married. Antonio Caruso was a member of the DeCavalcante Family active in gambling operations on the Lower East Side with policy and card games. All five of the New York City crime families, plus the New Jersey DeCavalcantes and the Philadelphia mob have people placed in the port, according to Walter Arsenault, executive director of the. [16] This resulted in the arrest of 12 more men less than a year later,[16] decimating the crime family's hierarchy and putting it on the brink of extinction. Brooklyn-born Frank (Big Frankie) Cocchiaro was one of the most active racketeers in the DeCavalcante Family - and one of its most notorious. Through deep-dive biographies and snapshots of mobsters to in-depth stories about mafia regimes and crews, youll uncover an underworld you might never have known existed maybe even in your own hometown! Ba-boom! [35], The DeCavalcante crime family is partly the inspiration for the fictional DiMeo crime family of the HBO television series The Sopranos. 20122015 "Horse" mentioned by Charles Stango in December 2012 wiretaps. I grew up in Elizabeth in the 70s and 80s and was good friends with John Riggi's younger granddaughter (who is now, funny enough, a lawyer). [18] With the decline of the DeCavalcante family, New York's Five Families have taken over many of the rackets in northern New Jersey. Gay mobster Vito Spatafore clips a guy who knew too much in The Sopranos. Today, the DeCavalcante Crime family is a shadow of its former self. The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia organized crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, [2] Newark, West New York, [3] and various other North Jersey cities and the surrounding areas in North Jersey. [15], Toward the late 1990s, the Ruling Panel kept running the DeCavalcante crime family with Giovanni Riggi still behind bars as the boss. Do not over Speak the Don or Higher Ranks than you. [15] Guarino spent ten years undercover working for the FBI. The mob still exists, said Grady OMalley, senior litigation counsel in the U.S. Attorneys Office inNew Jersey, who has sentMafia members to trial and prison since the late 1970s. The USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey learned the state remains a hunting ground for mobsters tied to Philadelphia and New York City. His father, James, Sr., received a Purple Heart during World War II and worked as a mason and then as a high-school custodian. The Sopranos is often hailed as the greatest TV show of all time. He also thanked the FBIs Las Vegas office and the Union County Prosecutors Office for their roles in the investigation. Hearing Impaired: 856-968-4983 However, long before the Sopranos there was an actual mafia network running criminal activities across the Hudson River that divides New Jersey from New York (and the Five Families who operated in the big city). Unfortunately for Sam the Plumber, his rise to power coincided with another development: more aggressive and sophisticated law enforcement efforts to take down organized crime. He appointed Gaetano Vastola to oversee. The Jersey civil war only ended when boss Stefano Steve Badami was stabbed to death on March 31, 1955, at Vitos Clam Bar in Newark. Joe Lolordo was a member of the Sam DeCavalcante Family and was reportedly involved in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929. DeCavalcante was sentenced to five years in prison. Corky hit him, DeCavalcante said. had a home in the Jersey Shore's Long Branch. Delmore attended the infamous 1957 Apalachin Convention to represent the small New Jersey crime family, with underbosses of Elizabeth and Newark Frank Majuri and Louis "Fat Lou" LaRasso. Charles Stango is scheduled to appear later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe in Las Vegas, Nevada, federal court. [30], Longtime member Charles "Big Ears" Majuri is the current boss of the family. No, its not the Sopranos. Riggi was hit with another 10 years just as he was about to be freed. By the late 1990s, high turnover rates in the familys leadership due to arrests, deaths, or disappearances was beginning to take its toll on the crime networks fortunes. The Riggi placed the family under the day-to-day direction of a ruling panel headed by Vastola, whose various activities ranged from shaking down dice games to promoting concerts by Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. It maintains strong relations with many of them, as well as with the Philadelphia crime family and the Patriarca crime family of New England. Trenton:609-989-2190 The alleged MS-13 "regional director for the East Coast" had a home in the Jersey Shore's Long Branch. The Mafia once infiltrated New Jerseys political system and some elements of law enforcement, according to Lee Seglem, executive director of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation, a 51-year-old arm of state government dedicated to rooting out organized crime and corruption. As in The Sopranos, the DeCavalcante family recruited a new arrival from Sicily. Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Several customers became alarmed and exited the restaurant, without paying their bills. This allowed the Family to control major construction projects in both New Jersey and New York. The DeCavalcantes have been around for more than 100 years, and like the notorious Five Families, they never seem to die.Legendary New York Post and Daily News Mafia columnist Jerry Capeci. However, the familys declining fortunes coincided with the debit of the Sopranos, the hit television series depicting the lives of second-tier mafiosas operating out of New Jersey. Its illicit activities include bookmaking, cement and construction violations, bootlegging, corruption, drug trafficking, extortion, fencing, fraud, hijacking, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, money laundering, murder, pier thefts, pornography, prostitution, racketeering, and waste management violations. Robert Occhipinti was a member of the DeCavalcante Family who ran into trouble when the infamous "Sam the Plumber" tapes were revealed. DeCavalcante Crime Family Bosses Timeline (1920-Present) - YouTube Mafia Simone Rizzo "Sam" DeCavalcante (1912-1997), known as "Sam the Plumber", was a member of the New Jersey Mafia. The bosses of the five families on the other side of the Hudson River were busy hiding and pretending they were not in charge of anything when Guarraci strode right into Lennys Brick Oven Pizza in Washington Township, N.J. in August 2010 and announced that he was taking over the business. At least one customer called 911 seeking police assistance.. U.S. Attorney Fishman credited the members of the FBIs Organized Crime Task Force under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark; the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, under the direction of Executive Director Walter Arsenault; the Bayonne Police Department, under the direction of Chief Drew Niekrasz; and the N.J. State Commission of Investigation, under the direction of Chairman Joseph F. Scancarella, with the investigation leading to todays charges. He has five sisters, including Claire and Nancy, and one brother. A welcome email is on its way. Riggi is said to have given the go-ahead from prison for a killer named Anthony Capo to dispatch DAmato. The DeCavalcante family isn't the powerhouse it once was, and some in law enforcement argue the organization's criminal tool box hasn't kept pace with Asian, Russian, and African mobsters. The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia organized crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, Newark, West New York, and various other North Jersey cities and the surrounding areas in North Jersey. The Sopranos are fictional, the DeCavalcante crime family is not. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. He estimated up to 300 associates are active in the state, down from 800 at their peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Apalachin meeting. What follows below is a list of in-depth biographies for many of their more interesting members and associates. Law enforcement authorities seized 3,200 pounds of cocaine valued at $77 million at Port Newark in late February, though they havent yet named who they suspect of importing the drugs. Ricky Rowlands, 46, died after he was stabbed three times on the evening of October 10, 2020 near the Ibis Hotel in Melbourne's CBD, which was being used to house the homeless during Covid-19 . The plate number was written down by a witness who saw the hitman tossing the guns in a stream. DeCavalcante will soon be moving to Los Santos Either in October 2012 or Sometime in 2013. Mario Galli III, a DeCavalcante crime family associate who plead guilty to drug and firearm charges Mario Galli III, 28, from Toms River New Jersey and an associate of the DeCavalcante crime family has been sentenced to five years in federal prison - and probably much more. Tracing its origins to Ribera, Sicily, and with its home base in the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey, the DeCavalcante Family is the only Cosa Nostra group able to claim true Jersey origins. The longtime New Jersey mob godfather took over officially as boss in the early 1980's controlling the family for decades. Anthony Comello was arrested in Brick andcharged in the fatal shooting. They operate in the realm made mythic by The Godfather and their bosses are figures of legend. But that was far from the end of the DeCavalcante Crime Family. DeCavalcante can be heard on the recordings expressing some bitterness when Joe Colombo of the Colombo crime family was appointed to the ruling Commission at Carlo Gambinos urging. In 1935, Vincenzo Troia conspired to take over the Newark family and was murdered. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. He is believed by law enforcement to remain the boss, even though Riggi was released in November 2012, after 22 years in prison. Legalized sports gambling and a crackdown on opioids cut into their traditional cashflow. 1991) was an American mobster and the longtime official underboss of the DeCavalcante crime family. Sam DeCavalcante was the boss of the DeCavalcante Family who became notorious for undercover FBI recordings at his plumbing office. He declined to commenton a rumored romantic motive, except to saywere investigating everything thats been reported.". [13] Riggi continued to run the family from his jail cell, but he appointed Giacomo "Jake" Amari as his new acting boss. Amanda Humphreys, 24, of Seaside Heights and Jason Vella, 37 of Berkeley Township who were also arrested. An Amico Nostro is an Amico Nostro.. But still, the mob reigns eternal. 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