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

Chapter 5. Jerry

65 2 Jerry Catena was an enemy, a friend, and a colleague of the Boot; beneath the surface, the blood between them ran cold. He was the right-hand man of Longy Zwillman and led the assault on the Boot’s soldiers during the Longy War. He brokered the peace and later was the best man at Tony Boy’s wedding and an honored guest at the Boot’s estate. He was a partner of the Boot in many ventures, legal and illegal. He was an Italian American gangster who cut his teeth working for a Jewish boss, and later he rose to underboss and acting boss in the Genovese family. Jerry Catena was a close-to-the-vest mobster, a behind-the-scenes operator who quietly became one of the most powerful crime figures in New Jersey and the country. One of the first white-collar mobsters, Catena rose to power efficiently and profitably, avoiding arrest and carefully maintaining a law-abiding reputation. He was a successful businessman as well as an organized crime figure.1 However, during the FBI’s drive to eradicate the mob in the 1950s, his name was included in Director J. Edgar Hoover’s “Top Hoodlum Program” along with the names of the Boot and thirtyeight other crime leaders whose “underworld contacts extend throughout c h a p t e r 5 JERRY My voice must soar to match my chant; I need words more magniloquent. My bow must sweep more rapidly across the lyre; I must portray a fierce and obstinate young man, who almost brought the world to ruin. —Matteo Maria Boiardo, Orlando Innamorato, 296 66 In the Godfather Garden the country.”2 Catena’s Top Hoodlum file cites more than thirty-five informants and it runs more than 4,600 pages, larger than the files of most marquee mobsters including Al Capone, Vito Genovese, Meyer Lansky, and Lucky Luciano. In 1963 Joseph Valachi, the first mob soldier to violate Cosa Nostra’s blood oath of secrecy, testified before a Senate investigating subcommittee; he named names in the Mafia, exposing the existence of organized crime in the United States. Valachi identified Catena as “the substitute boss” of the Genovese family while Don Vito languished in prison on a drug charge.3 The Boot was named a major capo, placing him under Catena, and Tony Boy was described as a button-man, or soldier.When he first heard that he’d been named by Valachi, the Boot sarcastically dismissed him, observing that his name rhymed with pagliacci, an Italian word for clown.4 But it was no laughing matter; thanks to the clown, the Boot and Tony Boy were subpoenaed to appear before an Essex County hearing on organized crime in New Jersey. The Boot was questioned for an hour, and Essex County Prosecutor Brendan Byrne told the press waiting outside the courtroom that he was “cooperative.” The Boot shrugged off the hearing, telling reporters he had no idea why he was summoned and describing himself as a gardener.“Why should I worry,” said the Boot, glancing at a heavy gold watch on his wrist.5 Catena also appeared at that hearing, which was described by an Essex County judge as “a general inquiry . . . designed as a deterrent measure.” Catena’s testimony took only a half hour. Byrne also called him cooperative but declined to say whether his testimony was productive.6 Gerardo Vito Catena was born on January 8, 1902, and grew up on Van Buren Street in the Fifth Ward, or Ironbound section, of Newark. His father, Francesco, emigrated from Salerno, Italy, to the United States in 1895, and worked as a hod carrier and mason. Catena completed grammar school and went on to two years of high school at night, quitting at the age of fourteen. His mother, Donata Speziale, passed away when he was fifteen, leaving his father a widower caring for seven children. Jerry had one older brother, Leonard; three younger brothers, Eugene, Frank, and Jerry 67 Anthony; and two sisters, Mary and Sadie. Although very little is known about his older brother and his sisters, his younger brothers were all connected in some manner to Catena’s “business” dealings later in life. At a young age, Catena and his brother Eugene worked as laborers at the Port Newark shipyards. “As a teenager, he spent much time at the Charlton St...