DeCavalcante crime family

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The DeCavalcante crime family is a crime family based in Elizabeth, New Jersey, despite having members on the other side of the Hudson River, i.e. in New York. It maintains relations with much of New York's Five Families, they have been scoffed at, in the past, by other mafia families and nicknamed 'The Farmers' because it was felt that they weren't very powerful. However, they have been involved in some brutal and notorious acts.

Contents

[edit] Impact of the DeCavalcante Crime Family

[edit] History of the DeCavalcante crime family

[edit] The Beginnings

The criminal organization's origins began with, Simone DeCavalcante, a diplomatic, 'old school', classy and calculated Don who resembled, in many ways, the character of Don Corleone, in Mario Puzo's, the Godfather.

He was born in 1913 and managed to be a mobster, involved in gambling, murder and racketeering for almost all of his life and die of a heart attack, at the very respectable age of 84.

Between 1964, when he rose to power, and 1969, when he was incarcerated, he doubled the number of made-men within his family. He owned Kenilworth Heating and Air Conditioning, in Kenilworth, New Jersey, as a legal front and source of taxable income and gained the nickname Sam the Plumber. He also claimed to be of Italian Royal lineage and another nickname he bore was The Count.

He gained much respect because he won a coveted place on the infamous 'Commission', a governing body for the U.S. mafia; many of its laws are still applied in today's Cosa Nostra.

Unfortunately for DeCavalcante he and 54 associates were tried, he pleaded guilty to operating a gambling racket, turning over $20 million a year. At the same time a State Report indicated that he and another mafia family controlled 90% of pornography stores in New York City. He only served 2 years of a 5 1/2 year sentence, due to heart problems.

He retired to a high-rise condo and largely stayed out of mafia business, although the FBI believed he was still 'advising' the family into the early 1990s.

[edit] John Riggi

After Simone DeCavalcante left prison, in the mid 1970s, he appointed a well-spoken and polite man, in his late 40s, named John Riggi to be the acting boss of the family while he stayed semi-retired in Florida. Sam DeCavalcante stepped down as Boss in 1982, passing leadership to John Riggi. Riggi had been a business agent of the International Association of Laborers and Hod Carriers, in New Jersey. He was promoted to the position of full-boss, and he reaped the enormous benefits, until his first incarceration came, in 1989. He was convicted and sent to Fort Dix Federal Prison. Riggi continued to run the family from his jail cell, but he appointed Jake Amari as his acting boss.

[edit] Jake Amari

Jake Amari was a broken down Septuagenarian, he ran AMI Construction, from Elizabeth, New Jersey. All was seemingly settled until Jake Amari began to die, slowly, of Stomach Cancer, there was a massive power vacuum. With members, such as Charles 'Big Ears' Majuri, the alleged Consigliere Stefano Vitabile and Frank Polizzi all attempting to ratify and re-structure the state of the family.

All of the high-ranking members, such as Charles Majuri, Stefano Vitabile, Vincent 'Vinny Ocean' Palermo and Capo Anthony Rotondo were desperately pushing to become the next Don, of the DeCavalcante family.

[edit] The Panel and the Attempted Murder of Charles Majuri

Image:CharlesMajuri3.jpg
A mugshot of Charles 'Big Ears' Majuri, Capo

John Riggi, boss of the DeCavalcante family, was in a predicament by the late 1990s, when his acting boss, Jake Amiri, died of stomach cancer. He did a little re-structuring of the family. He organized a 'panel' of the most trusted mobsters, of the 50 or so active members, to make decisions and act in the same capacity as a boss would.

The panel infuriated long time member, Charles Majuri, Majuri had been a hardworking member of the family, since his early teens. He had been arrested for larceny, gambling and illegal bookmaking, amongst other offences, and felt he had been hard done by when he wasn't selected for the panel. Vincent Palermo and Giralomo 'Jimmy' Palermo (the two were not relatives) had, however, been appointed as members of the 'panel'. Majuri decided that he should murder Vincent and Jimmy Palermo, leaving him in charge of the panel, and by extension, the family. He asked Jimmy Gallo to murder Vincent Palermo. Sensing his loyalties weren't to lie with Majuri Gallo told Vincent Palermo.

Palermo wanted to murder Majuri, to ensure that he wasn't murdered himself by the unstable Majuri. He made a plan to cover his own tracks, because it would be in violation of Omerta to murder Majuri without permission. Palermo was privy to the information that Majuri controlled a Union in New Jersey and had been removing mobsters from its payroll and taking their money, this, of course, made him a great many enemies. So Vincent sent Joe Masella and two vicious DeCavalcante Soldiers, Anthony Capo and Jimmy Gallo to stake-out Majuri and then murder him.

The three hitmen waited for the right moment, but were boxed in and felt the environment for making the 'hit' wasn't certain enough, they then left. Joe Masella reported to Vincent, who was hiding in Florida, that the murder attempt had failed. Vincent decided that, perhaps, Majuri didn't pose a big enough threat to be murdered and he was let go.

[edit] The Fred Weiss Murder

Fred Wiess was a former journalist and real-estate developer, but he longed to be a 'wiseguy' and began to associate with some known mobsters from the Gambino and DeCavalcante families.

Wiess was noted for his chronically poor choice of business partners. He selected Angelo Puccione and Anthony Vulpis, two Gambino thugs. They ended up buying an abandoned railroad in Staten Island and by the end of a massive investigation into medical waste they were dumping in parts of Arlington, Staten Island, tons of medical waste, including body parts from a nearby hospital and they had dangerously infected some of the local population.

The reason that the DeCavalcante family became involved in killing Fred Weiss was when he, amongst others, were convicted of numerous crimes, which could put him in jail for decades, in June of 1989. With his knowledge of Gambino boss John Gotti and many of his secrets and those of his family, Gotti reasoned that Weiss couldn't handle the thought of years behind bars and so he decided that he should be murdered in case he traded into the Gambino family's secrets in return for an early release.

Gotti explained to the DeCavalcante's that Weiss was more their associate than anyone else's and so it was their job to murder him. The DeCavalcantes were more than happy to please the powerful John Gotti, so 3 American sedans (filled with DeCavalante mobsters), with stolen license plates, drove to a Condo in Staten Island at 7.30 a.m. on September 11th 1989. The men inside blocked off the entrance to the Condos, so that no police could save the target of the assassination. As Fred Weiss left the Condo of his girlfriend he was oblivious of the Sedans. He climbed into his car and Jimmy Gallo and Vincent Palermo shot him repeatedly, killing him instantly.

The DeCavalcante boss John Riggi had delegated responsibility to Capo, Anthony Rotonodo, who had told Vincent Palermo to carry out the murder. This murder earned the often mocked DeCavalcante family underworld respect.

[edit] Ralph Guarino, The Informant

In 1998 failing DeCavalcante associate, Ralph Guarino, spoke to a friend, Salvatore Calciano, who worked at the World Trade Centers, about the possibility of robbing the Bank of America.

The Bank of America Brinks van which brought millions to the WTC every day was ambushed by three drug-addicted thieves, Richard Gillette, Melvin Folk and Michael Reed. They made off with $1.6 million.

In the aftermath of the Bank of America Robbery all 3 of the robbers were caught and in the end Guarino decided to become an FBI informant, on the DeCavalcante family, instead of spend 20 years, or longer, in prison.

He became an informant and during his time as an informant Joe Masella was gunned down and he was offered the chance to become a made man.

[edit] Undercover Investigation

The family began to crumble when Ralph Guarino became an FBI informant and the FBI began hearing about murder after murder, as well as innumerable cases of probable cause relating to other crimes. Joe Masella had been murdered, very few in the family knew who had killed him, or why. They knew that he had gambling debts, but didn't believe that was the reason for the murder.

Wiggles, a strip club, to which Vinny Palermo acted as a silent partner, was under constant public disapproval and very little was going well by the end of 1998.


There was a plan to murder Frank D'Amato, initiated by Vinny Palermo, and what was worse; Ralph Guarino had it all on tape. The FBI could pounce and implicate most of the DeCavalcante family in one or two offences.

On December 2nd 1999 there was a massive attack, launched by the FBI, in which they aimed to arrest 40 members of the DeCavalcante family, which had an estimated 70 active members by that point.

They arrested Vinny Palermo, in connection with the attempted murder of Frank D'Amato, Charles Majuri and a whole host of other offences. They arrested Joey 'Tin Ear' Scalfani, a member of the DeCavalcante family who had been heard, on FBI tape, saying that he was going to make a robbery and unintentionally admitting to innumerable other offences, threatening to murder any police informant, without hesitation. Westley Paloscio, a bookmaker, was charged, along with four others, for Conspiracy to murder Joe Masella. Numerous arrests were made when Bonnano associate, and informant, Jeffrey Pokross revealed a 'pump-and-dump' scam being run by the Bonnano family from DMN Capital Investment, in which a dozen mobsters persuaded Senior Citizens to buy worthless stocks and shares.

The entire family collapsed when John Riggi, who was hoping to be released in 2003, was indicted and given a lengthy sentence, Vinny Palermo decided to become a Government Witness and both he and his family were entered into the Witness Protection Program. Anthony Capo, a reputed hitman, even became an informant, giving out information about Vinny Palermo planning to murder Frank D'Amato in Florida and he told the authorities about how Vinny Palermo, in person, had shot to death Real-Estate Developer, Fred Weiss, in 1989.

By the end of Anthony Capo's testimony Vinny Palermo knew he had to become an informant, he had been implicated in murdering Fred Wiess, ordering the murder of John D'Amato, Frank D'Amato (although this never actually happened) and Charles Majuri (which also never happened). With these mounting charges Vinny Palermo had to consider the possibility that with Rudolph Guiliani, New York’s' tough, anti-crime Mayor, he might face the death penalty.

For perhaps the first time in his life Vinny Palermo was perfectly honest, he confessed to killing Fred Weiss, he confessed to murdering Lou LaRossa, he admitted to planning to kill Frank D'Amato and Charles 'Big Ears' Majuri and he said that he had ordered Anthony Capo to murder John D'Amato. He admitted to a plot to murder Tom Salvata, the manager at his strip-club, 'Wiggles'. He talked about everything and every crime committed by a DeCavalcante member or associate since he became a made-man in 1965. His family entered the witness protection program.

Thanks to the shocking testimonies of Anthony Capo, Vinny Palermo and the information gained via Ralph Guarino the FBI arrested Riggi, who was already in jail, they also arrested Frank Polizzi (Capo), Jimmy Palermo (Capo), Charles Majuri (Capo) and Stefano Vitabile (alleged Consigliere).

The family crumbled and the FBI arrested and convicted almost every member of the family, John Riggi has only left his prison to have a short viewing of his wife's coffin when she died of cancer.

[edit] New Boss and Regrouping

In 2006 "Acting" Boss Joseph Miranda stepped down as boss and the family appointed 51 year old Sicilian Born Francesco "Frank" Gauracci. Gauracci, known as a low-profile member of the family is a construction foreman by trade and has been rising in the unions for a long time. The Ribera Social Club, where family members hang out is run by Gauracci since 1989 when he was formely inducted into the family. The prospect of the family strength seems good as Joseph Miranda has recently Inducted 12 new members to a 60 member crime family and has regained respect in Cosa Nostra.

[edit] Bosses of the DeCavalcante crime family

  • 1922–1937 — Gaspar D'Amico (shot Feb.22,1937, fled to Italy)
  • 1937–1955 — Stefano "Steve" Badami (stabbed & killed March 31,1955)
  • 1955–1957 — Filippo "Phil" Amari (stepped down May 14,1957, returned to Italy)
  • 1957–1964 — Nicholas "Nick" Delmore (semi-retired 1962, died February 2,1964)
  • 1962–1964 — Simone "Sam The Plumber" DeCavalcante (acting boss)
  • 1964–1982 — Simone "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante (semi-retired in Florida, officially retired 1982, became senior advisor, died February 7,1997)
  • 1972–1974 — Francesco "Frank" Polizzi (acting boss)
  • 1975–1982 — John "The Eagle" Riggi (acting boss)
  • 1982–present — John "The Eagle" Riggi (jailed since 1990)
  • 1990–1992 — John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato (acting boss, killed early 1992)
  • 1992–1997 — Giacomo "Jake" Amari (acting boss, died June 14,1997)
  • 1997–2000 — Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo,Girolamo "Jimmy" Palermo,Stefano "Steve" Vitabile,Charlie "Big Ears" Majuri - (4 Man Ruling Panel)
  • 2000–2003 — Girolamo "Jimmy Dumps" Palermo (acting boss, jailed Dec.2003)
  • 2004–2006 — Joseph "The Old Man" Miranda (acting boss, stepped down)
  • 2006–present — Francesco "Frank" Gauracci (acting boss)
  • 2006–present — Francesco "Frank" Gauraci, (acting boss) Joseph "The Old Man" Miranda, (underboss) Stefano "Steve The Truck Driver" Vitabile, (consigliere) (present family regime)

[edit] Other members

  • Stefano "The Truckdriver" Vitabile, Consigliere
  • Frank Polizzi, Capo
  • Frank Cocchiaro, Capo (Brooklyn)
  • Daniel "Danny" Noto, Capo
  • Anthony Rotondo, Capo
  • Frank Majuri, Underboss
  • Vincent "Jimmy" Rotondo, Underboss
  • Vincent "Vinnie" Ingranio, Underboss
  • Salvatore "Sam" Monaco, Underboss
  • Joseph "Peppe" LaSelva, Underboss (Connecticut)
  • Luigi "Louie" Russo, Consigliere
  • Vincenzo Troia, Consigliere
  • Philip "Phil" Abramo, Capo
  • Rudolph "Rudy" Ferrone, Capo
  • Joseph Coletti, Capo
  • Joseph "Joe" Sferra, Capo
  • Michael "Mikey" Puglio, Capo (Connecticut)
  • Louis "Fat Louie" LaRasso, Capo/Underboss
  • Robert "Bobby Basile" Occhipinti, soldier (Sam DeCavalcante aide)
  • Joseph "Joey O" Massella, soldier
  • Whitey Danzo, soldier
  • John LaMela, soldier (Marlboro,N.Y.)
  • Anthony "Jack Panels" Santoli, soldier
  • James "Jimmy" Gallo, soldier


  • Salvatore Timpani, soldier
  • John J. Riggi, soldier
  • Vincent Riggi, soldier
  • Gaetano "Corky" Vastola, soldier
  • Louis "Louie Eggs" Consalvo, soldier (Manhatten,N.Y.)
  • Gregory Rago, soldier (Manhatten,N.Y.)
  • Thomas "Tommy" DiTorra, soldier
  • Daniel "Danny" Annunziata, Capo (Staten Island)
  • Joseph Garofaro, associate member
  • Fred Weiss, associate member
  • Robert "Bob" Gucciono, associate member
  • Ralph Guarino, associate member
  • Vincezno Sorce, associate member
  • Stephen "Steve" Lenehan, associate member

[edit] Further reading

  • Jacobs, James B. Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra. New York: NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4230-0
  • Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
  • Goldstock, Ronald, Martin Marcus and II Thacher. Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry: Final Report of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force. New York: NYU Press, 1990. ISBN 0-8147-3034-5
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Organized Crime in America: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1983. [1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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