Sam DeCavalcante
Sam DeCavalcante | |
---|---|
Born | Simone Paul Rizzo DeCavalcante April 30, 1912 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Died | February 7, 1997 Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. | (aged 84)
Other names | "Sam the Plumber", "The Count" |
Occupation | Crime boss |
Known for | Boss of the DeCavalcante crime family |
Predecessor | Nicholas Delmore |
Successor | Giovanni Riggi |
Spouse | Mary Abrams |
Children | 3 |
Allegiance | DeCavalcante crime family |
Conviction(s) | Extortion conspiracy (1970); overturned upon appeal (1971) Gambling conspiracy (1971) |
Criminal penalty | 15 years' imprisonment (1970) 5 years' imprisonment and $10,000 fine (1971); served 2 years |
Simone Paul Rizzo DeCavalcante (April 30, 1912 – February 7, 1997), known as "Sam the Plumber", was an
Early life
The son of Italian immigrants Maria Antoinette (Occhipinti) and Frank Rizzo Di Cavalcante,[2] Simone Paul Rizzo DeCavalcante was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City and raised in Trenton, New Jersey.[3] His birth date has been reported as April 30 of either 1912[4] or 1913.[2]
Criminal career
New Jersey mob boss
After the retirement of family
DeCavalcante's legal business
The "DeCavalcante Papers"
From 1961 to 1965, DeCavalcante was the subject of a
Among the eight murders discussed by DeCavalcante and his associates were the 1951 shooting of
In addition to murder, the tapes revealed political corruption and links between mobsters and New Jersey public officials. Days before
DeCavalcante was recorded expressing some bitterness at Carlo Gambino's decision to appoint Joseph Colombo of the Colombo crime family to the Commission as he had hoped that his own "family" would be given the opportunity to join the Commission as the Sixth Family. Speaking with his underboss Frank Majuri, he said: "[Colombo] sits like a baby next to Carl [Gambino] all the time. He'll do anything Carl wants him to do", and later mused: "Sometimes, Frank, the more things you see, the more disillusioned you become. You know, honesty and honorability, those things". The bug planted in DeCavalcante's office also revealed affairs he was having with his secretary and other women. Majuri was recorded telling him that he "shouldn't run around because [Gerardo] Catena and [Carlo] Gambino don't".[6] On June 13, 1969, after transcripts of the recordings were unsealed in court, a reporter from The New York Times visited the DeCavalcante home in Princeton Township. Mary DeCavalcante told the reporter: "If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it. I don't mind your asking, but I hope you appreciate my feelings".[24]
Conspiracy charges
DeCavalcante is reputed to have masterminded a plot to
Alongside Philadelphia crime family boss Angelo Bruno, DeCavalcante appeared at Trenton Municipal Court on December 13, 1967, to answer to charges that they falsified applications for New Jersey driving licenses.[25] On March 21, 1968, DeCavalcante, Vastola and Annunziata were arrested and indicted on charges of conspiring to violate federal extortion statutes following a 17-month racketeering investigation by three federal agencies. DeCavalcante was taken into custody at his Kenilworth plumbing and heating firm, where FBI agents seized three pistols and a shotgun from his office.[26] On July 18, 1968, DeCavalcante was arrested by state and Union County officials as he left the Garden State Parkway in Kenilworth and charged under state statutes with illegally acquiring a .38 caliber pistol which had been stolen during a burglary in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. The gun was among those seized by the FBI from DeCavalcante's office.[27]
In an effort to discover if his client's offices in Kenilworth were bugged by authorities in relation to the Trevose extortion case, DeCavalcante's attorney, Sidney "Chris" Franzblau, requested a
DeCavalcante was among 55 men and women indicted by a federal
The "DeCavalcante Papers" transcripts were physically released by
During DeCavalcante's extortion conspiracy trial in Newark, which consisted almost entirely of presentation from the prosecution, the government contended that DeCavalcante had masterminded the extortion plot. One of the victims of the Trevose holdup, Kenneth Martin, testified for the prosecution that DeCavalcante acted as an arbitrator for Annunziata and Vastola, that a $12,000 settlement was arranged by DeCavalcante, and that DeCavalcante was paid $3,800 for his role. The defense did not present any witnesses or evidence and relied instead on summations to the jury.
In January 1971, DeCavalcante pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to operate the Newark/Troy numbers racket at a secret federal court hearing in Newark. In order to protect the rights of other defendants in the case, DeCavalcante's guilty plea was not made public until the following month, by which time the cases of the other defendants had been resolved.
Imprisonment and later career
As a prisoner at the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, DeCavalcante was praised for his work as a nurse in the federal prison system by Dr. Joseph Alderote, the prison's chief medical officer. Alderote wrote in a report that DeCavalcante "has proven to be one of the best inmate nurses that I have had under my supervision in the three years that I have been there", and described him as someone who had taken "sincere interest in chronic nursing type cases of elderly patients that we have in the hospital".[33] Despite being denied parole earlier, DeCavalcante was granted mandatory release from prison on December 20, 1973, after serving more than half of his five‐year sentence.[10] According to a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., DeCavalcante was considered for release for good behavior and his work as an inmate nurse, and because he had served about half a year of his earlier conviction for extortion, which was subsequently overturned on appeal.[34]
In the spring of 1974, DeCavalcante was
DeCavalcante moved to Florida in 1976.[11] In 1980, he passed control of the family to Giovanni "John the Eagle" Riggi and retired to Miami Beach, Florida. He started planning to build a legitimate resort casino in South Florida; however, the project did not proceed after voters rejected casino gambling in a 1986 referendum.[36]
Death
DeCavalcante died of natural causes at age of 84, at a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 7, 1997.[11] He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton, New Jersey.
References
- ^ "Sam DeCavalcante"[permanent dead link] Intellius People Search
- ^ a b Simone Paul Rizzo (Sam) DeCavalcante Ancestry.com
- ^ Sam The Plumber DeCavalcante - New Jersey Godfather Mike Dickson, AmericanMafiaHistory.com (October 5, 2018) Archived January 21, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Sam DeCalvacante
- ^ Mafia: the government's secret file on organized crime By United States. Dept. of the Treasury (pg. 284)
- ^ a b c d Jersey’s True-Life Tony Soprano: Meet the DeCavalcante Crime Family Michael Daly, The Daily Beast (June 21, 2013) Archived January 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Proper Inductions Matthew Yglesias, The Atlantic (June 10, 2007) Archived January 21, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The real-life Sopranos? Boston.com Archived January 9, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Police Cameras Click as DeCavalcante's Son Marries Murray Schumach, The New York Times (January 4, 1970) Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b DeCavalcante Gets Mandatory Release From U.S. Prison Wolfgang Saxon, The New York Times (December 29, 1973) Archived January 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Simone DeCavalcante Associated Press (February 10, 1997) Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mary DeCavalcante Geni.com
- ^ Frank Rizzo DeCavalcante obituary tributearchive.com
- ^ Robert DeCalvacante Geni.com
- ^ a b c Reputed Bigwig In State Mob Fights $22 Speeding Ticket Loretta Boeche, Daily Record (July 23, 1975) Archived January 18, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b New Tapes By F.B.I. Link Politicians To Jersey Mafia Charles Grutzner, The New York Times (January 7, 1970) Archived January 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f g DeCavalcante Is Found Guilty The New York Times (September 25, 1970) Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f g 'Plumber' Demanded the Leak Home News Tribune (June 11, 1969) Archived January 14, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c DeCavalcante Changes Lawyer, Gains a Delay in Start of Trial Charles Grutzner, The New York Times (February 10, 1970) Archived January 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Taping the Mafia (1 of 2) Time (June 20, 1969) Archived December 14, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Taping the Mafia (2 of 2) Time (June 20, 1969) Archived December 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Congressman and the Hoodlum Russell Sackett, Sandy Smith and William Lambert, Life (August 9, 1968) Archived March 14, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mafia Men Talk About Local Police Chiefs Reginald Kavanaugh, Home News Tribune (June 11, 1969) "Sam "the Plumber" DeCavalcante (Jun. 1969)". The Central New Jersey Home News. 11 June 1969. p. 1. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ DeCavalcante's Wife Remains Silent; Some of the Neighbors in Jersey Are Upset Charles Grutzner, The New York Times (June 14, 1969) Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Call 2 Alleged Mafia Kingpins To Trenton The News (December 7, 1967) Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Reputed Mafia Member Held in Shakedown Charges Courier News (March 22, 1968) Archived January 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d DeCavalcante Is Indicted In Jersey on a Gun Charge The New York Times (August 18, 1971) Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Brennan Testimony Sought on Bugging Courier News (January 8, 1969) Archived January 11, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d DeCavalcante Wins a New Trial After Getting 15‐Year Sentence Ronald Sullivan, The New York Times (March 12, 1971) Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Son of Alleged Mafia Chief Weds The Burlington Free Press (January 5, 1970) Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ DeCavalcante Gets A 15‐Year Sentence The New York Times (October 3, 1970) Archived January 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ DeCavalcante Plea Cited In '69 Case The New York Times (Feb. 19, 1971) Archived January 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ DeCavalcante Praised As a Nurse in Prison The New York Times (July 31, 1972) Archived January 3, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ DeCavalcante Leaves Prison After Serving Over Two Years Wolfgang Saxon, The New York Times (December 29, 1973) Archived January 3, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ DeCavalcante Fined For Going 7 M.P.H. Above Speed Limit The New York Times (August 8, 1969) Archived January 9, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Tampa Bay Times, Nov 25, 2009: "A Timeline of Gambling in Florida" by Mary Ellen Klas
Further reading
- Zeigler, Henry A. Sam the Plumber, Signet Books, 1970.
- Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3