Frankie DePaula (left) and John DiGilio
In North New
Jersey, most of the Mafiosi owed allegiance to the Genovese, the family which
traced a direct line to Luciano himself, and before Luciano to Guiseppe ‘Joe
the Boss’ Masseria, one of the so-called antiquated heads known as the
‘Moustache Petes’ whom Luciano contrived to eliminate and pave the way for the
modern Mafia with its ruling national commission.
It was
written after his shooting that long before he made it to the Garden, Frankie
had developed “cherished friendships in the high society of the Jersey City
streets” particularly, it was alleged, among the “soldiers and followers” of
Joseph Zicarelli. The local ‘wise guys’ could always make good use of the
neighbouhood toughs and none came tougher than Frankie. Most of the gangsters
who featured in Frankie’s life were Genovese. The Moscato, from the Mount
Carmel area of the city, were suspected of doing a lot of dirty jobs for the
‘big boys’, and frequently came around the pool hall looking for Frankie. Even
Frankie appeared to be cautious of them. Another figure with whom Frankie
dallied was John DiGilio. DiGillio, an ex-middleweight boxer, was in charge of
the Hudson County Genovese crew which in turn was under the overall command of
Bobby Manna. He would remain an important figure within the Genovese power
structure until his decomposing body was discovered in 1988 in a mortician’s
bag floating in the Hackensack River. Two bullets were lodged behind an ear.
DiGilio, who was based in Bayonne, specialized in many things including loan
sharking; an activity for which he was facing a sentence at the time of his
demise. One Jersey City native who
borrowed $111 from DiGilio ended up paying him back $3,000. A person who missed
a payment would have to pay a penalty which rose by about $25 a day. After
that, “You owed them your fucking life.”
- Excerpt
from “The Garden”, Chapter Three of Jersey
Boy: The Life and Mob Slaying of Frankie DePaula by Adeyinka Makinde
published by iUniverse in 2010.
© Adeyinka
Makinde (2018)
Adeyinka
Makinde is a writer based in London, England.
