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| 1969 |
Michael 'Jersey Mike' Aquilante was a member of the DeCavalcante Family.
Born January 31, 1916 in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Giovanni and Clara Aquilante. Parents from Baselice comune of Benevento, Campania.
By 1930 the family had moved to Newark, residing at 512 4th St in the Upper Roseville neighborhood.
By Fall 1940 Aquilante was married and living with his wife at 51 Davenport Drive in Newark.
Two years later they moved to Fairfield, Connecticut.
By 1960 Aquilante had returned to Bridgeport. In September of that year he was among fifty-three arrested by the local PD for frequenting a gaming house. Those charged in addition to Aquilante included Genovese members Ralph Belvedere, Vincent Pollina and Gaetano 'Tommy the Blond' Vastano.
On March 30, 1963 Aquilante was again arrested for gambling by the Bridgeport PD, resulting in a $50 fine.
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| 1963 |
On February 23, 1969 he was picked up for frequenting another gaming house in Bridgeport.
Aquilante was then an associate in the DeCavalcante Family's Connecticut regime, headed at the time by Michael 'Mickey Poole' Puglia (1915-1973).
In early April 1972 both men were among those attending the wake for Gambino Soldier Isadore 'Jerry' Castiglione held at Spinelli's Funeral Home in Ansonia, Connecticut. In addition to Aquilante and Puglia, the DeCavalcantes were represented by Family Underboss Joseph LaSelva from Waterbury. Additional attendees included Genovese Soldier Salvatore Annunziata, Gambino Members Frank Piccolo, Paolo Agresta and Thomas DeBrizzi as well as Gambino-affiliated 'ndranghetista Cosmo Sandalo.
By 1974 Aquilante listed an address at 2625 Park Ave in Bridgeport but traveled back and forth between Connecticut, New Orleans and San Diego, California, where he resided with his brother, suspected Los Angeles Member John 'Jersey John' Aquilante (1920-1992).
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| John Aquilante (1963) |
An August 2, 1974 report by the FBI's New Haven Field Office noted: "(Michael Aquilante) is a well known hustler who bets through 'beards' and then does not pay off on horse orders. Aquilante has used this gimmick in New Orleans and Bridgeport (and) is unable to get bets down in these areas."
He was back in New Orleans by mid-March 1975 when he was approached for, and refused, an interview by FBI Agents at the New Orleans Athletic Club on North Rampart St.
Available files first mention his name in relation to the DeCavalcante Family beginning and ending in 1978.
Around Summer 1978 one or more informants reported that 'Michael Aguilante' had been recently made.
On July 28, 1978 an FBI CI noted that DeCavalcante Acting Boss John Riggi was scheduling a meeting for 'out of town' people to take place during mid-August. Among this group, the CI noted, would be 'Mike Aquilante from New Orleans'.
A follow-up report on the above meeting stated that Riggi and Capodecina Louis LaRasso met with Aquilante and another individual whose name is redacted. The report notes: "Mike is up from New Orleans and was told not to go back, instead to go to Connecticut and 'take over'."
On September 11, 1978 an informant reported on another meeting between Riggi and Aquilante, who was accompanied by four unnamed individuals also from New Orleans.
The final mention of Aquilante is from September 15, 1978, when a CI placed Aquilante with Riggi and DeCavalcante Members Joseph Colletti and Robert 'Bobby Basile' Occhipinti at the Coffee House located in Elizabeth, New Jersey's Peterstown neighborhood.
Further information on the extent of Aquilante's involvement in Family activities isn't yet available. He died November 26, 1985 in Bridgeport.
