The Sixth Family Read Online Free
Author: Lee Lamothe
brother-in-law, Calogero Renda, was well settled in New York by 1927, so it is likely that both men wasted little time in Louisiana before heading north, where the American Mafia was getting properly organized. Rizzuto was living in east Harlem, just across the Harlem River from the Bronx, when, on February 9, 1928, he declared his intention to become a naturalized American citizen, the first step in obtaining citizenship.
His financial fortunes seemed to be improving. Seven months later, he was able to leave the crowded streets of Harlem for a house at 94 Ridgewood Road in Oradell, across the Hudson River in New Jersey. The suburbs did not bring him peace.
At 8:35 p.m. on September 25, 1930, Rizzuto was shot inside his Oradell home. Police arrived quickly and took him to Hackensack Hospital, where he was treated by doctors while detectives questioned him about the attack. With his friend Giovanni “John” Chirichello at his side, Rizzuto told police: “I was shot by my best friend, Jimmy Guidice.” He said little else, other than insisting that he had no wish to pursue charges. Police believed the dispute was the result of a love triangle, with a detective later noting that Rizzuto and Vincenzo “Jimmy” Guidice were involved with the same woman. Officers also noted that Guidice was never again seen in Oradell. Two days after the shooting, despite his injury, Rizzuto filed his petition for American citizenship at the Court of Common Pleas in Hackensack. Calling himself a “contractor,” Rizzuto swore the oath of citizenship and renounced his loyalty to Vittorio Emanuele III, the King of Italy. The event was witnessed by two of his friends, a carpenter and a laborer. This time he came clean with authorities, stating on his application that he was married to Maria Renda and finally revealing the existence of his son, Nicolò, likely the first notation in U.S. government files of a man who would, decades later, cause investigators great concern by bringing the Sixth Family to true prominence. Certificate of Citizenship #3455682 was soon forwarded to Rizzuto by the U.S. Bureau of Naturalization. He was now an American.
Police records on this early Vito Rizzuto are complicated by the carelessness of recording foreign names during that time. There were Vitto Rizzuttos, Vito Rizutos, Rissutos and even Riuzzitos turning up in police notes throughout the late 1920s and 1930s in the area, mostly involving bootlegging and violence. Even when the name was spelled correctly in police files, the newspapers of the day were notoriously sloppy, with reporters drawing the names phonetically from policemen who had no interest in the intricacies of Italian pronunciation. As Rizzuto would soon learn, however, not everyone in the local media was so lackadaisical about who he was.
PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY, 1931
Max L. Simon was an aggressive entrepreneur who had started his newspaper career as a streetwise cub reporter known for his exposés of scandalous behavior. Described as having “ability, energy and intelligence,” Max Simon became a powerful and prominent newspaper publisher. A lawyer by education, he was feared by businessmen and politicians for his skill at muckraking, mudslinging and manipulation. It was widely known that he kept secret files on the misdeeds and peccadilloes of powerful people in the community. In fact, he had once suffered a severe beating when one of his blackmailing schemes went awry.
By 1931, he was owner of the moribund Elizabeth Daily Times and deeply in debt. Operating from the Passaic, New Jersey, area, Simon seemed to take too many cues from the gangsters and thugs he had once reported on and to prove that he was himself a crook at heart. Finding himself in increasing debt, Simon turned to the underworld. He called on John Chirichello, Rizzuto’s close friend. The pair were part of one of the dozens of arson rings operating across America, a rare growth industry in those desperate times, as more
His financial fortunes seemed to be improving. Seven months later, he was able to leave the crowded streets of Harlem for a house at 94 Ridgewood Road in Oradell, across the Hudson River in New Jersey. The suburbs did not bring him peace.
At 8:35 p.m. on September 25, 1930, Rizzuto was shot inside his Oradell home. Police arrived quickly and took him to Hackensack Hospital, where he was treated by doctors while detectives questioned him about the attack. With his friend Giovanni “John” Chirichello at his side, Rizzuto told police: “I was shot by my best friend, Jimmy Guidice.” He said little else, other than insisting that he had no wish to pursue charges. Police believed the dispute was the result of a love triangle, with a detective later noting that Rizzuto and Vincenzo “Jimmy” Guidice were involved with the same woman. Officers also noted that Guidice was never again seen in Oradell. Two days after the shooting, despite his injury, Rizzuto filed his petition for American citizenship at the Court of Common Pleas in Hackensack. Calling himself a “contractor,” Rizzuto swore the oath of citizenship and renounced his loyalty to Vittorio Emanuele III, the King of Italy. The event was witnessed by two of his friends, a carpenter and a laborer. This time he came clean with authorities, stating on his application that he was married to Maria Renda and finally revealing the existence of his son, Nicolò, likely the first notation in U.S. government files of a man who would, decades later, cause investigators great concern by bringing the Sixth Family to true prominence. Certificate of Citizenship #3455682 was soon forwarded to Rizzuto by the U.S. Bureau of Naturalization. He was now an American.
Police records on this early Vito Rizzuto are complicated by the carelessness of recording foreign names during that time. There were Vitto Rizzuttos, Vito Rizutos, Rissutos and even Riuzzitos turning up in police notes throughout the late 1920s and 1930s in the area, mostly involving bootlegging and violence. Even when the name was spelled correctly in police files, the newspapers of the day were notoriously sloppy, with reporters drawing the names phonetically from policemen who had no interest in the intricacies of Italian pronunciation. As Rizzuto would soon learn, however, not everyone in the local media was so lackadaisical about who he was.
PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY, 1931
Max L. Simon was an aggressive entrepreneur who had started his newspaper career as a streetwise cub reporter known for his exposés of scandalous behavior. Described as having “ability, energy and intelligence,” Max Simon became a powerful and prominent newspaper publisher. A lawyer by education, he was feared by businessmen and politicians for his skill at muckraking, mudslinging and manipulation. It was widely known that he kept secret files on the misdeeds and peccadilloes of powerful people in the community. In fact, he had once suffered a severe beating when one of his blackmailing schemes went awry.
By 1931, he was owner of the moribund Elizabeth Daily Times and deeply in debt. Operating from the Passaic, New Jersey, area, Simon seemed to take too many cues from the gangsters and thugs he had once reported on and to prove that he was himself a crook at heart. Finding himself in increasing debt, Simon turned to the underworld. He called on John Chirichello, Rizzuto’s close friend. The pair were part of one of the dozens of arson rings operating across America, a rare growth industry in those desperate times, as more
Readers choose
Matt Blake
Christina Saunders
Patricia Briggs
Susan Cooper
Patricia Rice
Rebecca Tope
John Norman
Dorothy Vernon
Taslima Nasrin