Settimo Accardi

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Settimo "Big Sam" Accardi' (October 23, 1902–December 1977) was an Italian-American mobster, who controlled criminal operations in northern New Jersey. He was also a major criminal figure in New York's underworld during the post-World War II era, and known primarily as one of the largest drug traffickers of heroin in the 1950s. Accardi emigrated from Italy shortly before World War I, and soon became involved in gas-stamp black marketeering with Paul and Carlo Gambino [1]. During the Prohibition, Accardi served as an enforcer both in New York and northern New Jersey. He later founded his own criminal organization among whose associatiates included Joseph Sica, Willie Moretti, Joe Adonis and Abner Zwillman [2]. Accardi was suspected of being involved in several gangland killings, but charges were never brought against him for these crimes.

Over three decades, Accardi was mostly able to avoid criminal charges, with the exception of several counts of assault and battery. However, he was convicted with sixteen other mobsters in June, 1951, for operating a 600 gallon-a-day still in midtown Manhattan. While serving a sentence of a year and a day in a federal prison, the IRS issued a jeopardy tax assessment of $159,363 against him.

On July 10, 1953, Accardi's United States citizenship was revoked by Federal Judge Richard Hartshorne on the grounds that Accardi had withheld two of his previous four arrests during his naturalization hearing. In his defense, Accardi argued that the Fifth Amendment gave him the right to do so, but this strategy did not prove effective.

Accardi was again arrested on a federal narcotics charge in 1955, while in Newark, New Jersey. After posting a $92,000 bond, Accardi skipped bail and fled to Italy on September 28, where he continued to smuggle heroin into the US and Canada. He later resided in Toronto, where he oversaw smuggling operations into the US.

Located by the US government in 1960, Accardi was living in Turin as a fruit merchant. However, even though a presidential arrest warrant was authorized, it took three years until Accardi was extradited back to the United States after his arrest in April 1963. Flown back to New York on November 28, Accardi was faced with federal prosecution including charges of narcotics conspiracy and skipping bail. Setting bail at a record $500,000, on August 25, 1964, Judge John M. Cannella sentenced Accardi to fifteen years of imprisonment and a fine of $16,000.

[edit] References

• United States. Congress. Senate. Government Operations Committee. Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics: Hearings before the Government Operations Committee. 1964. [3]