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Willie Moretti
Guarino "Willie" Moretti (February 24, 1894 – October 4, 1951), also known as Willie Moore, was an Italian-American mobster who served as underboss of the Luciano crime family, later known as the Genovese crime family, and a top member of its New Jersey faction under Frank Costello. He was murdered in 1951 after his testimony before the Kefauver Committee made his organized crime colleagues anxious that he would reveal the details of their criminal activities to law enforcement or the press.
Born Guarino Moretti in Bari, Apulia, in southern Italy, Moretti emigrated to the United States with his family as a child. He grew up in East Harlem, a neighbor of Frank Costello. As a young man he boxed as a featherweight under the name "Willie Moore," a nickname that stuck with him for the rest of his life.
On January 12, 1913, after being convicted of robbery, Moretti was sentenced to one year in state prison in Elmira, New York. He was released after several months.
After his release from prison he organized dice games in his neighborhood in East Harlem and acquired a reputation for toughness. He forged a bond with his neighbor Frank Costello, who was part of the Morello gang.
With the advent of Prohibition Moretti was active as a rumrunner, both in and around New York City and in the Buffalo, New York area, where he worked closely with Stefano Magaddino, boss of the Buffalo crime family. Moretti later went to work for Waxey Gordon, one of the leading bootleggers in the New York and New Jersey area, and took over Gordon's North Jersey rackets in 1933 when Gordon was sent to prison.
Moretti moved to Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, located in Bergen County, New Jersey just outside New York City, around 1930. Moretti began building his own gambling network and rum-running business in Bergen and Passaic counties. Moretti established his headquarters in Cliffside Park at the Marine Room, a casino within the Riviera Club, a popular nightclub on the Palisades north of the George Washington Bridge. He later acquired a home in the upscale community of Deal, located in Monmouth County, New Jersey along the Jersey Shore.
From 1933 to 1951, Moretti, in association with Joe Adonis, Settimo Accardi and Abner Zwillman, ran lucrative gambling dens in New Jersey and upstate New York. These ranged from "sawdust joints," where only men were allowed to gamble, to "carpet joints" that admitted women and catered to a higher class of clientele, for whom Moretti provided limousine service from Manhattan. These casinos also attracted local businessmen and judges, who often left with debts that Moretti and Adonis were able to exploit to their advantage.
A newspaper account of the time described his string of gambling locations as "probably the biggest and most lucrative empire in the U.S." In addition to his earnings from the gambling operations his crew ran, Moretti also derived income from numbers rackets and bookmaking operations in Bergen County, who paid him a percentage of their profits for protection from the authorities.
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Willie Moretti
Guarino "Willie" Moretti (February 24, 1894 – October 4, 1951), also known as Willie Moore, was an Italian-American mobster who served as underboss of the Luciano crime family, later known as the Genovese crime family, and a top member of its New Jersey faction under Frank Costello. He was murdered in 1951 after his testimony before the Kefauver Committee made his organized crime colleagues anxious that he would reveal the details of their criminal activities to law enforcement or the press.
Born Guarino Moretti in Bari, Apulia, in southern Italy, Moretti emigrated to the United States with his family as a child. He grew up in East Harlem, a neighbor of Frank Costello. As a young man he boxed as a featherweight under the name "Willie Moore," a nickname that stuck with him for the rest of his life.
On January 12, 1913, after being convicted of robbery, Moretti was sentenced to one year in state prison in Elmira, New York. He was released after several months.
After his release from prison he organized dice games in his neighborhood in East Harlem and acquired a reputation for toughness. He forged a bond with his neighbor Frank Costello, who was part of the Morello gang.
With the advent of Prohibition Moretti was active as a rumrunner, both in and around New York City and in the Buffalo, New York area, where he worked closely with Stefano Magaddino, boss of the Buffalo crime family. Moretti later went to work for Waxey Gordon, one of the leading bootleggers in the New York and New Jersey area, and took over Gordon's North Jersey rackets in 1933 when Gordon was sent to prison.
Moretti moved to Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, located in Bergen County, New Jersey just outside New York City, around 1930. Moretti began building his own gambling network and rum-running business in Bergen and Passaic counties. Moretti established his headquarters in Cliffside Park at the Marine Room, a casino within the Riviera Club, a popular nightclub on the Palisades north of the George Washington Bridge. He later acquired a home in the upscale community of Deal, located in Monmouth County, New Jersey along the Jersey Shore.
From 1933 to 1951, Moretti, in association with Joe Adonis, Settimo Accardi and Abner Zwillman, ran lucrative gambling dens in New Jersey and upstate New York. These ranged from "sawdust joints," where only men were allowed to gamble, to "carpet joints" that admitted women and catered to a higher class of clientele, for whom Moretti provided limousine service from Manhattan. These casinos also attracted local businessmen and judges, who often left with debts that Moretti and Adonis were able to exploit to their advantage.
A newspaper account of the time described his string of gambling locations as "probably the biggest and most lucrative empire in the U.S." In addition to his earnings from the gambling operations his crew ran, Moretti also derived income from numbers rackets and bookmaking operations in Bergen County, who paid him a percentage of their profits for protection from the authorities.