The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey Mafia or North Jersey crime family, is an Italian-American Mafia organized crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, Newark, West New York, and various other North Jersey cities and the surrounding areas in North Jersey. It is part of the nationwide criminal network known as the American Mafia. It operates on the opposite side of the Hudson River from the Five Families of New York. It maintains strong relations with many of them, as well as with the Philadelphia crime family and the Patriarca crime family of New England. The Decavalcantes are considered by some to be the "Sixth Family".
Its illicit activities include bookmaking, cement and construction violations, bootlegging, corruption, drug trafficking, extortion, fencing, fraud, hijacking, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, money laundering, murder, pier thefts, pornography, prostitution, racketeering, and waste management violations.
History
Badami, Amari and Delmore
The Commission did not recognize the DeCavalcantes as an autonomous crime family until the regime of Sam DeCavalcante. There were several bosses in North Jersey during the Prohibition era controlling transportation of alcohol and whiskey into New York City, and there were two Mafia families based in New Jersey: the Newark family headed by Gaspare D'Amico, and the Elizabeth family headed by Stefano Badami. The New York City families had crews operating in New Jersey: the Masseria family's New Jersey faction, and the Reina family's Jersey crew. There was also Abner Zwillman, a Jewish gangster operating in Newark, and the Philadelphia crime family operating in South Jersey.
In 1935, Vincenzo Troia conspired to take over the Newark family and was murdered. D'Amico fled the United States in 1937 after a failed assassination attempt ordered by Joseph Profaci. The Commission decided to divide up his territory among the Five Families and Badami's Elizabeth family.
Stefano "Steve" Badami became the boss of the Elizabeth-Newark family. His reign proved to be very disruptive, as members of the Newark and the Elizabeth factions began fighting for total control of New Jersey. Badami kept controlling the crew up to the 1950s, but he was murdered in 1955 in what appears to have been another power struggle between the two factions. Badami's underboss Filippo Amari began to run the illegal operations.
Amari was recognized by US law enforcement as being heavily involved with extortion, labor racketeering, loansharking, and narcotics activities in Newark and New York City. He was considered the new head of the New Jersey organization, but his reign proved to be very short, as there were multiple factions operating underneath who all conspired to take over. He relocated to Sicily and was replaced by Nicholas "Nick" Delmore. Delmore attended the infamous 1957 Apalachin Convention to represent the small New Jersey crime family, with underbosses of Elizabeth and Newark Frank Majuri and Louis "Fat Lou" LaRasso.
Delmore kept running the organization until he became ill in the early 1960s. He died in 1964, and his nephew Simone DeCavalcante was installed as new boss of the officially recognized "DeCavalcante crime family" of North Jersey.
Simone DeCavalcante
The official criminal organization began with Simone DeCavalcante, known as "Sam the Plumber" and "The Count". He was born in 1913 and was involved in illegal gambling, murder, and racketeering for most of his life. He died of a heart attack in 1997 at age 84. He rose to power in 1964, and he was incarcerated in 1969. He doubled the number of made men within his family during the 60s.
He owned Kenilworth Heating and Air Conditioning in Kenilworth, New Jersey as a legal front and source of taxable income, for which he gained the nickname "Sam the Plumber". He also claimed to be of Italian royal lineage, earning him the nickname "The Count". He gained much respect because he held a place on the infamous Commission, a governing body for the American Mafia which included the Five Families of New York, the Chicago, LA and Florida.
DeCavalcante and 54 associates were charged and tried in 1969. He pleaded guilty to operating a gambling racket turning over $20 million a year. At the same time, a New York State report indicated that he and another Mafia family controlled 90-percent of the pornography stores in New York City. DeCavalcante was sentenced to five years in prison. He retired to a high-rise condo in Florida when he was released and largely stayed out of Mafia business, although the FBI believed that he was still advising the family into the early 1990s.