In the Godfather Garden: The Long Life and Times of Richie "the Boot" Boiardo

Acknowledgments

xi The research, writing, and production of this book took five long years, and many individuals helped make it happen. I would like to thank, first and foremost, Roger Hanos. Without his dedication, hard work, patience, inspiration, guidance, stellar connections, killer research, writing skills, and profound rememberings, through many years of fits and starts and the overcoming of obstacles real and imagined, this book never would have made it to press. Although he modestly refused to put his name on the cover, he is as much an author of this book as I am. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Marlie Wasserman and the entire staff at Rutgers University Press for their expert guidance, administration, tolerance, and cajoling. She and her team know better than most publishers that real books about subject matter that is challenging and engaging—not just entertaining—are rare and delicate things that need to be encouraged, nourished, and finally published. Thank you for all that. Special gratitude to Chris Allegaert, Kevin MacMillan, and David Berger at the law firm Allegaert Berger & Vogel for their expert counsel , enthusiasm, and support. Sincere thanks to the Newark Library staff under the supervision of George Hawley, Ph.D., who assisted in retrieving incredible photos and newspaper articles. The staff at Alexander Library at Rutgers University was also supportive, generously making available A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S xii acknowledgments their newspaper archives. The FBI’s local and central Freedom of Information and Privacy Act offices, in particular David Hardy of the Records Information and Dissemination Section and his staff and David Sobonya of the FBI’s Public Information Office, provided invaluable services. Approximately thirty thousand pages of FBI documents were retrieved and researched for this project. A special thank you to Roger Sr.’s late mother, Rosina, and his wife, Janet, his son Roger Jr., and his daughter Mia Hanos Zimmermann, for their support and assistance; Roger Sr.’s brother, Darrel, for assisting in the research and for verification of certain aspects of this story; and his sister, Lillian LaMonica. Hanos family interviews, photos, home movies, personal documents, and newspaper articles about the Ruggiero Boiardo estate, incidents, family and social events provided essential building blocks in re-creating the life of Richie the Boot. A heartfelt thank you to the Balestro family, Anthony and his sister Mary Balestro DelMaestro, for their interviews and photos. Several photos taken by Roger’s uncle through marriage, Joe “Winky” Bruno Sr., were generously provided by his wife, Geraldine. Thank you! Family information provided by Boiardo niece Agnes Manfro DellAcqua and restaurateur Thomas Pannullo added helpful insight into the Boot’s life, his family, and his friends. Many thanks to the poet laureate of the North Ward, Michael Immerso, author of Newark’s Little Italy; his critique of the Godfather Garden proposal and his enthusiasm for the project were not only generous and spot-on but a huge boost. A special thank you to the Livingston Police Department for allowing me to hang out in the station house, pick their collective brains, and take up their valuable time. Finally, a warm embrace to Rhonda Graber for letting me crash in the apartment above her garage, Daryl Devlin for her luscious eggplant parm, and Max Linnett for being my favorite wise guy. IN THE GODFATHER GARDEN 2 ...