Giuseppe De Primo

Giuseppe De Primo (* Sicily ; † unknown) was an Italian-American gangster and member of the Black Hand Gang in New York City . He gained notoriety through his significant involvement in a major counterfeit money crime that went down in criminal history as the “ Morristown Fives ”.

biography

Giuseppe De Primo ran a grocery store in New York, but was also a member of the Black Hand Gang in New York City and was specifically involved in the group's counterfeit activities.

It was De Primo, who on December 3, 1902 after a tip by the Secret Service tracked down and together with Giuseppe Guillambardo and Isadore Crose in the Main Street was arrested. Counterfeit US $ 5 bills were found in his possession, produced using a record stolen from the National Iron Bank in Morristown . The entire incident went down in US criminal history as the " Morristown Fives ".

His two companions testified as witnesses against him. De Primo was tried on March 12, 1903 and later sentenced to five years in prison in Sing Sing .

On April 14th, his brother-in-law Benedetto Madonia was found dead. The corpse had been put into a barrel, which is why this case became known as the " Barrel Murder " due to its unsavory circumstances (Benedette was stabbed and his genitals were in his mouth) . The police agent Joseph Petrosino then visited De Primo in prison to get him to testify against the Black Hand Gang , the Unione Siciliana and the Morello family behind it , which he apparently succeeded in doing.

The New York police arrested nine suspects: Giuseppe Morello , Ignazio Saietta , Giuseppe Fontano , Tony Genoa , Giuseppe Favarro , Giovanni Pecoraro , Vito Lo Baido , Vito Cascio Ferro and Tomasso Petto , but could not prove anything. It was discovered (through Petrosini) that Vito Cascio Ferro and another suspect Paulo Marchese , who had pretended to be Paul Di Cristina , had entered the United States illegally. Before they could be deported, however, both fled to New Jersey .

When De Primo was released from prison in 1908, he immediately went to Pennsylvania and killed Tomasso Petto in revenge for the murder of his brother-in-law. He was deported to Sicily. The Black Handers then commissioned Vito Laduca , an ex-member of the gang, who had also returned to Sicily in 1903, with the murder of De Primo. However, it was Laduca's body that was found riddled with bullets in Sicily.

Nothing is known of the further fate of De Primos.

Addendum

In 1909 the Secret Service succeeded in smashing the entire counterfeit ring. The trial began on January 26, 1910, and the verdict was passed on February 19, 1910: Ignazio Saietta was fined 30 years and fined $ 1,000, his brother-in-law Giuseppe Morello was fined 25 years and fined $ 1,000. The other accomplices: Giuseppe Calicchio , 17 years old, fine of 600 US dollars; Giuseppe Palermo , 18 years old, $ 1,000 fine; Nicola Sylvestro , Cantonio Cecala , Vincenzo Giglio, and Salvatore Cina each 15 years and $ 1,000 fine. Saietta and Morello are also taken to a labor camp in Atlanta. Half of the penalties were imposed for the Morristown Fives case, the other half was the continuation of the counterfeit money spread with new production and the help of the Sicilian Mafia .

Web links

• Biography of Giuseppe De Primo on www.gangrule.com (English)