Simone Paul Rizzo DeCavalcante (April 30, 1913 – February 7, 1997), known as "Sam the Plumber", was an Italian-American mobster who was boss of the DeCavalcante crime family of New Jersey. The McClellan hearings later named the New Jersey Mafia the DeCavalcante crime family since he was the boss of the family at the time of those hearings.
Early life The son of Italian immigrants Maria Antoinette (Occhipinti) and Frank Rizzo Di Cavalcante, Simone Paul Rizzo DeCavalcante was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City and raised in Trenton, New Jersey.Sam The Plumber DeCavalcante - New Jersey Godfather Mike Dickson, AmericanMafiaHistory.com (October 5, 2018) His birth date has been reported as April 30, 1913. Claiming descent from an Italian marquis, Michelangelo Cavalcanti and his wife Maria Caterina De Medici, DeCavalcante was nicknamed "The Count"."Sam DeCavalcante" Intellius People Search
Criminal career New Jersey mob boss After the retirement of family boss Nicholas Delmore (real name Nicholas Amoruso)Mafia: the government's secret file on organized crime By United States. Dept. of the Treasury (pg. 284) between 1960 and 1964, DeCavalcante replaced him. Shortly after that, he acted as a liaison between the Mafia Commission and the Bonanno crime family after the beginning of the Bonanno War between the New York Five Families. Under DeCavalcante's leadership, the New Jersey Mafia was transformed from a dysfunctional group of ever-warring factions into a cohesive and profitable crime family. He also doubled the number of "made men" in the family.Jersey’s True-Life Tony Soprano: Meet the DeCavalcante Crime Family Michael Daly, The Daily Beast (June 21, 2013) DeCavalcante altered longstanding parts of the Mafia initiation ritual, abolishing the use of a gun, a knife and a burning holy card when "making" new members of his organization as "he did not feel it was necessary", according to Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo.Proper Inductions Matthew Yglesias, The Atlantic (June 10, 2007) Despite this, he insisted there was no difference between the New Jersey Mafia and the Five Families on the other side of the Hudson River and declared: "Cosa Nostra is Cosa Nostra. An Amico Nostro is an Amico Nostro". DeCavalcante oversaw illegal gambling, loansharking, and labor racketeering in New Jersey. He also had interests in lucrative pornography businesses in two states.The real-life Sopranos? Boston.com Living in the Lawrenceville section of Lawrence Township, but working in Newark, DeCavalcante commanded an organization of around 60 "made" members active in the tri-state area of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.Police Cameras Click as DeCavalcante's Son Marries Murray Schumach, The New York Times (January 4, 1970) The DeCavalcante crime family, as it came to be known, operated primarily in New Jersey, with interests in Connecticut, Troy, New York, and suburbs of New York City.DeCavalcante Gets Mandatory Release From U.S. Prison Wolfgang Saxon, The New York Times (December 29, 1973)
DeCavalcante's legal business front was the Kenilworth Plumbing and Heating Co., a plumbing supply store in Kenilworth.Simone DeCavalcante Associated Press (February 10, 1997) He and his wife Mary had three sons, Frank,Frank Rizzo DeCavalcante obituary tributearchive.com Robert, and Carl. He later resided at 1015 Mercer Street in Princeton.Reputed Bigwig In State Mob Fights $22 Speeding Ticket Loretta Boeche, Daily Record (July 23, 1975) DeCavalcante's ownership of a plumbing supplies store earned him the nickname "Sam the Plumber", although his preferred sobriquet was "The Count", which derived from his claims that he was the son of an Italian marquis. Another nickname of his was "the Claw", as he had a reputation as a usurious loan shark.
"DeCavalcante Papers" From 1961 to 1965, DeCavalcante was the subject of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation known as the "Goodfella Tapes" or the "DeCavalcante Papers". The FBI used wiretaps and bugs at four locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including the office of DeCavalcante's Kenilworth plumbing supply firm, to record conversations among DeCavalcante and his associates which revealed detailed information on the day‐to‐day operations of the Mafia and crimes including labor racketeering, corruption, loansharking and murder.New Tapes By F.B.I. Link Politicians To Jersey Mafia Charles Grutzner, The New York Times (January 7, 1970) DeCavalcante Is Found Guilty The New York Times (September 25, 1970) The other locations where electronic surveillance was utilized were the Best Sales Co., a company in Newark controlled by Gerardo Catena, the Penn Jersey Vending Co. in Philadelphia, owned by Angelo Bruno, and a building known as "the Barn", located at the rear of a restaurant on U.S. Route 22 in Mountainside.Mafia Men Talk About Local Police Chiefs Reginald Kavanaugh, Home News Tribune (June 11, 1969) The investigation confirmed claims by cooperating witness Joe Valachi, provided crucial information on La Cosa Nostra, and revealed the existence of the Mafia Commission. One Justice Department official described the "DeCavalcante Papers" as a report just as crucial as Valachi's disclosures. During these conversations, DeCavalcante repeatedly referred to himself as the "father" (boss) of his "borgata" (crime family).DeCavalcante Changes Lawyer, Gains a Delay in Start of Trial Charles Grutzner, The New York Times (February 10, 1970) However, since no court order was issued for the wiretaps, none of the tapes could be used to indict DeCavalcante.
Among the eight murders discussed by DeCavalcante and his associates were the 1951 shooting of Willie Moretti in Cliffside Park, and the 1962 hand grenade killing of Charles "Cadillac Charlie" Cavallaro in Youngstown, Ohio. In one conversation, involving DeCavalcante and three others on February 23, 1963, DeCavalcante agreed with Angelo DeCarlo that the method of Moretti's murder was distasteful.Taping the Mafia (1 of 2) Time (June 20, 1969) Each of the four men were also critical of the method used to assassinate Cavallaro as his 4-year-old son was also killed in the explosion. It was indicated that the use of hand grenades had since been forbidden by the Mafia. In another conversation in 1964, DeCavalcante and two others discussed methods of body disposal, with a car crusher, a garbage compactor and a device capable of turning a human corpse into a "meatball" being mentioned. In 1965, he forbade the killing of an African-American construction worker who had assaulted the son of a Mafioso with a shovel in a fight because the construction worker was a Black Muslim and DeCavalcante feared a war between the Nation of Islam and the Mafia.Taping the Mafia (2 of 2) Time (June 20, 1969)
In addition to murder, the tapes revealed political corruption and links between mobsters and New Jersey public officials. Days before Thomas G. Dunn was elected Mayor of Elizabeth, he visited DeCavalcante at his Kenilworth office on October 23, 1964. Dunn said to DeCavalcante: "If you have any way of getting to [two redacted names] tell them to keep their lousy mouths shut... Because this thing could cream me at the last minute. So if you can in some way get to these two guys – tell them to keep this thing out of the papers". DeCavalcante promised Dunn support in his mayoral campaign and asked: "Do you think we could get any city work?", to which Dunn laughed and replied: "Well, maybe". In a statement issued on June 10, 1969, Dunn claimed that at no point during the meeting had DeCavalcante asked him "to do anything irregular or illegal", and that he had had no contact with DeCavalcante since. He also denied that DeCavalcante had any influence over his administration and claimed that he had not been aware of DeCavalcante's underworld associations. Other public officials implicated by the tapes included Cornelius Gallagher, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In January 1965, DeCavalcante, along with Joseph "Bayonne Joe" Zicarelli, met with Emanuel Riggi, a reputed mafioso who the government was seeking to deport. At the meeting, Zicarelli suggested that Riggi contact Congressman Gallagher, who "if the case ever got to Washington, would be in a position to get [Riggi] a favorable ruling". Gallagher had allegedly been connected with the Mafia since at least 1960.The Congressman and the Hoodlum Russell Sackett, Sandy Smith and William Lambert, Life (August 9, 1968) He denied that he was involved in Riggi's case and said: "Many kinds of people drop names of public figures. But no one is responsible for people dropping his name, whether the name droppers be reputable or disreputable individuals". DeCavalcante also discussed police bribery with DeCarlo. Two police chiefs named by DeCavalcante were John Ellmyer Jr. of Edison and Ralph C. Petrone of New Brunswick. In a February 4, 1965 discussion, DeCavalcante mentioned an illegal craps game which was being organized by a man known as "Mickey". According to DeCavalcante, Mickey "had an okay" from Ellymer to arrange the game but still "needed a contact possible on the county level". Mickey's "county level" contact was alleged to have been arranged by Dutch Mele, a former baseball player who operated taverns in Edison.
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". 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".DeCavalcante's Wife Remains Silent; Some of the Neighbors in Jersey Are Upset Charles Grutzner, The New York Times (June 14, 1969)
Conspiracy charges DeCavalcante is reputed to have masterminded a plot to extort thousands of dollars over a six-week period in 1966 from the operators of an illegal dice game in the Philadelphia suburb of Trevose, Pennsylvania. On September 28, 1966, he allegedly sent two Brooklyn Mafiosi, Daniel Annunziata and Gaetano "Corky" Vastola, to the game with the intention of feigning surprise at discovering that the dice were loaded, then staging a holdup, demanding $20,000 and suggesting that DeCavalcante arbitrate the matter. Four gamblers were robbed at gunpoint at the game, which was held at a Trevose motel. After three meetings, one held at DeCavalcante's company in Kenilworth, one at a diner in Lawrence Township, and another at a second motel in Trevose, a $12,000 settlement was arranged by DeCavalcante. He was eventually paid $3,800 by the robbery victims as the adjudicator.