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.

Joey Caves (Joseph Compitello) Colombo Takedown

Joe Waverly aka Joel Cacace is a wretched little man who will most likely die locked up.

He was a storied Colombo Gangster.  He owned a Sheesphead Bay Florist shop, and one time some thugs attempted to rob him and he wound up shot in the chest.  He fought off the robbers, taking one of their pistols and killing one of them.  He then drove to the local police station with the robber’s dead body. On the one hand he was tough, but he was also often a coward who hid behind his crime family connections.

Carmine “Gimpy” Persico, the Colombo Family Boss, was sent away for life in 1987.  He decided to have the Federal Prosecutor George Aronwald murdered.  So he sent word to Joe Waverly that he wanted it done.  Killing anyone in law enforcement is forbidden by the rules of Cosa Nostra.  But that didn’t stop the honorless Gimpy Persico or Joe Waverly.  Joe Waverly then has the two Carini Brothers kill Aronwald, only they made a mistake and they kill his father who shared the same name.  He then had the  brothers killed for their troubles and marries one of their widows.   If that was not enough, he then had the men who killed the Carini’s killed also.   He then ordered the killing of Police Officer Ralph Dols, because he married Waverly’s ex wife the same one he married after he had her husband killed.  Yet another blatant violation of Cosa Nostra rules.

Joe Waverly was targeted for murder a number of times including by some Gambino Mobsters that wanted him dead.

This is where Joseph Compitello aka Joey Caves comes into the picture. Joey Caves was a Colombo soldier who killed for Joe Waverly.

Joey would sit at the witness stand and describe how they would refer to Joe Waverly by motioning his hand across the side of his head.  That way they could avoid electronic surveillance, He talked about his life in the Colombo Family and about how he killed for him.

He would detail his hangouts along Bay Parkway in Brooklyn and then the candy store on 75th street and 20th Avenue Brooklyn.  He then detailed his rise in the 1980’s as a Colombo associate to a Made guy until he flipped in 2008.    He spoke about his time during the Colombo war in the 1990’s when he sat on or clocked Joe Baudanza for murder.  

He then described the house of horrors on 76th and 20th in Brooklyn where Dino Saracino lived.  They killed a man named Richard Greeves there and then the Colombo underboss Wild Bill Cutolo.  They lured Wild Bill into the basement and Dino Saracino shot him as he descended the steps.

Joey then described in detail the murder of Ralph Dols, where he parked his car and how they used walkie talkies.    

After all the murders he helped out with he was rewarded by the Colombo’s by being proposed for induction.  Joey Caves name was placed on a list that was given to other families in New York.  No family had any objections so he was made.  The day he was made they had him wait at Roll N Roaster in Brooklyn.   One of the guys to show up was my old buddy Little Craig Marino along with Dino Saracino and his brother Sebby. They were then driven by another Colombo named Jimmy Gooch to a house on West 6th and Ave U.  The house was Jimmy Gooch’s sister and they were told to wait in the front room. Joey Caves was called in second and there sat Joe Baudanza,  Tommy Geoli, Upstate Vinny, Dino Calabro and Funzi. There was a table with a bowl, a pistol, knife and picture of a Saint.  They picked his finger they had him touch the pistol trigger, the knife and the saint.  They then burned it in his hand.  They then all came together in the room and were introduced around and put with Capo’s. Little Craig Marino was put with Joe Baudanza as a member of his crew.  

Joey Caves was once a bad man, he killed  and then he had a change of heart.  Joey went with Team USA and that is a good thing because he solved a lot of murders and gave some families some closure by revealing where there loved ones were buried.  Joey comes up for sentencing this month and I hope they go easy on him.