Criminals Crossing Borders: Salvatore Marciante

Lately the media is filled with outcries against President Trump's strengthening of the US borders.  What nation is able to let anyone who wishes to enter do so with no vetting at all? A nation that will not be sovereign long.  

It is not just Mexican and South American criminals crossing borders, it's terrorists and criminals from around the world.  Last week a small article appeared about a man named Salvatore Marciante, also known as “Baby Face,” who was arrested for entering the country in Nogales, Arizona.

Baby Face was born in Italy and brought to the US by his parents as a child. He grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn on 18th Ave. Some would consider that a bad neighborhood.

His parents came here for a better life.  Instead, Baby Face fell in with a Zip crew from 18th Ave.

"Zips" are what American mafia call the Sicilians operating in the US, because they speak such fast Italian.  

According to a childhood friend of Baby Face, he was a really good guy before he embarked on his life of crime. However, he became deeply involved with the Zips, moving large quantities of cocaine and heroin in what would come to be known as the Pizza Connection II case.

Baby Face and a crew also started robbing wealthy Italian restaurant owners they knew, mostly in Pennsylvania, but also New York and New Jersey.  They targeted them because they knew they had a lot of cash in their homes from unreported income.

Baby Face's best friend was Vincent Carini. Vincent and his brother Eddie botched a hit that was ordered by Carmine Persico, the boss of the Colombo family. They were supposed to kill a federal prosecutor, William Aronwald, who had angered Carmine Persico.  

Persico had given the hit to Joel Cacace, then acting boss of the Colombo family. Cacace scouted out the law office and gave the hit to the Vincent and Eddie - the Carini brothers.  They mistakenly killed George Aronwald, the father of the prosecutor, instead of William the prosecutor.

As a result, Vincent and Eddie were killed. They were found dead inside their cars, parked together on Ave X in Brooklyn.  That's when Baby Face lost his best friend.

In the 1994 Pizza Connection II, the indictment claims Baby Face ran a crew that sold multi kilos of heroin and lesser amounts of cocaine. He was arrested while still locked up for his involvement in what would later be known as the Petrified Forest case. He did his time for the heroin case and the home invasions, and he was then deported to Italy.

He moved to Canada, where he opened a restaurant that did well.  He was found out by the Canadians and was deported for overstaying his visa.

He lived in Italy for twelve years, and apparently kept out of trouble.

He recently made his way to Mexico where he attempted reentry into the US. People ask why we need to strengthen our borders. Salvatore Marciante, formerly of Staten Island, is one good reason.