James Squillante
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James "Jerome" Squillante (c. 1918-September 30, 1960 ?), also known under the alias Vincent Squillante, was a New York mobster often referred to as "king of the garbage collection racket" as well as an assassin for Albert Anastasia. Government informant Joe Valachi claimed that Squillante was one of the men involved in the 1957 gangland slaying of Anastasia Underboss Frank "Don Cheech" Scalise.
Following Scalise's murder, his brother Joe Scalise publicly declared his intentions to avenge his brother's death. However, possibly because Anastasia's support never materialized, he was forced into hiding for several months until he was forgiven. According to Malachi, after being invited to Squillante's home for dinner on September 7, Scalise was ambushed by Squillante and several others armed with butcher knives, murdered, then cut Scalise's body into pieces and loaded onto one of Squillante's garbage trucks and dumped.
On September 23, 1960, [1] (although newspaper accounts claim he was later seen around 2 am in a Bronx neighborhood driving a car owned by his brother-in-law on September 30), Squillante disappeared after being indicted on extortion charges and, supposedly because of rumors Squillante would be unable to handle the trial and subsequent prison sentence, his death was ordered so as to be "put out of his misery". After being shot in the head and killed, Squillante's body was reportedly loaded into a trunk of a car where it was put through a crusher and melted down in a blast furnace.
[edit] Further reading
- Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-02-864225-3
- Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
- 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, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8147-4247-1
- Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-312-30094-4
- Reuter, Peter. Racketeering in Legitimate Industries: A Study in the Economics of Intimidation. 1987.
- United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Inproper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor Or Management Field: Index to Hearings Before the Select Committee on Inproper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. 1959. [2]
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1988. [3]
- United States. Congress. Senate. Government Operations Committee. Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics: Hearings before the Government Operations Committee. 1964. [4]
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Profile of Organized Crime, Mid-Atlantic Region: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1983. [5]
[edit] References
- Devito, Carlo. Encyclopedia of International Organized Crime. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. ISBN 978-0-8160-4848-9
- Fox, Stephen. Blood and Power: Organized Crime in Twentieth-Century America. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1989. ISBN 978-0-688-04350-6
- Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-313-30653-2
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8160-5694-1
- Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. ISBN 978-0-8160-4040-7
