Anthony (Tony Cheese) Marchitto: NJ Waterfront Kingpin

Anthony (Tony Cheese) Marchitto was a highly influential and powerful union official on the New Jersey docks. He was also a soldier in the Genovese Family of Cosa Nostra which, as we know from history, ruled the roost on the New Jersey waterfront.

But throughout most of his underworld career, "Tony Cheese" was able to freely walk the fine line between the upper world and the underworld, taking care of business when business needed to be taken care of, no matter whose business it was.

And although the slope was slippery at times with constant calls to testify before committees investigating waterfront corruption, or navigating a major gambling arrest, Marchitto always seemed to come out ahead, even at the very end.

Anthony Michael Marchitto - aka “Tony Cheese,” “Cheese,” “Anthony Marchetto,” and “Antonio Michele Marchitto” - was born on August 30, 1911, in Jersey City, New Jersey, one of six children blessed to Fortunato and Anna Maria (nee’ Pompei) Marchitto. His five siblings included two brothers and three sisters named Fortunato Jr., Dominick, Marie, Isabella, and Theresa, respectively.

The Marchitto children all grew up around Jersey City and resided there in their later lives. It’s also where Tony would first cut his teeth in the gritty New Jersey underworld and later become one of the most powerful mobsters in the Garden State.

FBI #26242B, Jersey City PD #13057, Hackensack-PD #63325, NYPort #11896

Tony Marchitto was described as having a stocky build at approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall on a solid 180-pound frame. He had a medium complexion with medium brown eyes and hair that had receded by the time he reached his early forties.

Tony Marchitto

He met and married a local girl named Rose DeAngeles and by 1937 the couple had a child. In 1940, during WWII, on his U.S. draft card, the now-married 29-year-old Marchitto listed his home address as 50 Greenville Avenue. He and his wife and child were then living with his in-laws, Dominick and Sarah DeAngeles.

By the 1950s, Tony and his young family had relocated to another home. A modest two-story wood-framed house they rented just down the block from Rose’s parents, at 130 Greenville Avenue, Jersey City.

130 Greenville Avenue, Jersey City.

As a young man, he first listed his employment as a longshoreman for the American President Shipping Line at Pier 9 in Jersey City. Around this same time, he also became a principal in the Seventh Ward Social & Athletic Club which was ostensibly operated as a private neighborhood fraternal organization but may have also doubled as a mob social club and gambling den.

Tony always stayed close to his early neighborhood roots which coincidentally happened to be situated near the Northern New Jersey waterfront piers. It seems this was not by accident or happenstance either. Aside from his other criminal exploits, Tony Cheese's underworld expertise appears to be centered around his efficiency as a strong-arm man on the docks for the Genovese Family of New York.

This may be why Marchitto never strayed far from home because the piers were where his “bread and butter” and underworld strength was.

His proficiency as a gunman, strong-arm, and enforcer eventually allowed him and his cohorts to infiltrate and dominate several New Jersey union locals connected to the International Longshoremen’s Union (ILA.) The rough and tumble “Tony Cheese” reportedly had a well-deserved reputation as a dangerous and potentially deadly hoodlum.

Marchitto is listed in the report from the 1983 U.S. Senate subcommittee hearings on organized crime as an official documented soldier of the Genovese Family.

The Dock Boss

Tony Marchitto first became affiliated with the International Longshoreman Association Local #1247 as a union trustee and official in the mid-to-late 1940s.

After the March 2, 1951 bombing of ILA headquarters in Jersey City which had completely wrecked the place, and the ensuing strife that had overtaken the docks, ILA vice-president Patrick "Packy" Connolly made some changes. This included removing "Biffo" DeLorenzo as a business agent which left Marchitto as one of only two business agents for the local, a maneuver which ensured tighter control over the goings on at the docks.

In August of that year, Tony was once again elevated within the local. This time around, he became its president. After his appointment, a big testimonial dinner was held in his honor, attended by many bigwigs, including Jersey City Mayor John V. Kenny. During a toast, Kenny told the guests, "Marchitto is the type of union leader all unions should have. He is the kind of union official I am proud to be associated with."

Tony Cheese now had total, iron-clad control over the Hudson County docks.

Tony Gloms It All!

On December 5, 1951, Marchitto was elected to be a delegate within the ILA. And by at least the mid-1950s, he also enjoyed a virtual stranglehold over Local #1478, an ILA Warehousemen’s Union located in Jersey City in which he served as a salaried organizer.

He also controlled Local #1823 - Industrial Employees Union which listed Tony as holding two salaried posts, recording secretary and union business agent.

These coveted union positions gave Marchitto unfettered access and control over the docks and piers in Hoboken and Jersey City. It also aided him in carrying out his extensive labor racketeering activities which included extorting money and shaking down shipping companies coming into those key waterfront ports.

Tony at the height of his underworld power.

But Tony’s victims were not reserved for just freight shipping lines. He and his mob cohorts also shook down many other vendors looking to do business on the New Jersey docks. They coerced trucking companies and stevedoring firms to kick back a piece of their profits. Using his sensitive position as the fiduciary over his union locals pension and retirement funds, Tony also drained untold thousands by padding union expenses, double-billing, and other forms of embezzlement.

And this doesn’t include his other lucrative racket schemes such as hijacking and cargo theft, the “tapping” of shipping crates and containers as they were being off-loaded onto the piers, smuggling contraband, and other mob shenanigans.

An Unsavory Record and Reputation

Tony Marchitto's known criminal record dates to at least 1951 and includes arrests on such charges as atrocious assault and battery (1952), being held as a material witness in a criminal investigation, bribery, and criminal conspiracy (1953).

He was known to “hold court” at the New Ocean Tavern located at 269 Ocean Avenue, a nearby watering hole that Marchitto was thought to have secretly owned. It's where he often met up with fellow mafiosi and dock racketeers and where he also conducted much of his criminal rackets.

At one time or another, the joint New York-New Jersey Waterfront Commission (Bi-State Waterfront Commission), the FBI, and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (FBNDD) all described Marchitto as "a powerful Mafia figure in control of the New Jersey docks" and a "union strong-arm and extortionist.”

At the time, federal investigators suspected that Tony Cheese may have first served under Willie Moretti. But after Moretti’s murder in 1951, authorities speculated he may have become part of Anthony (Tony Bender) Strollo’s crew until Strollo himself disappeared in 1962 and was never seen again. Thereafter, he is believed to have transferred over to the regime of notorious capo Ruggiero (Richie the Boot) Boiardo .

But regardless of who he may have officially reported to, one thing is for certain, Marchitto was well-placed and knew most everyone there was to know in the mob, especially in Northern New Jersey.

Tony Marchitto as he steps off the docks

Fellow Mafia members Marchitto associated with over the years included such men as caporegime/underboss Anthony (Tony Bender) Strollo, John (Johnny Duke) DeNoia, Mauro (Morris) Manna, Anthony (Little Pussy) Russo and his brother John (Big Pussy) Russo, Angelo (Chippo) Chieppa, Armand (Cokey) Faugno, Charles (Charlie the Blade) Tourine Sr., and many others.

Other known associates and contemporaries included such prolific waterfront goons as the Irish “Arsenal Mob” leaders Edward (Eddie) McGrath , Cornelius (Connie) Noonan, Albert (Acky) Ackalities, Thomas (Teddy) Gleason and Joseph P. (Joe) Ryan as well as Joey Fay, Frank (Biffo) DeLorenzo, Frankie Mitchell, Augustine (Augie Dee) DeAcutis, Vincent (Barney) Brown, George Donahue, Patrick (Packy) Connelly, and Walter (Sharkey) Maszinski,

Bustin' Heads

On May 5, 1952, Marchitto was among 13 longshoremen and known hoodlums charged with the beating of three union organizers that took place in Lodi, NJ that previous February. Future Genovese Family bigwig Louis (Bobby) Manna, who was only 22 years old at the time, was among those arrested.

Also nabbed in the case was an up-and-coming mafioso out of East Harlem, New York by the name of Pasquale (Big Patty) Pagano. He was the brother of the equally notorious Joseph (Little Joey) Pagano. The Pagano brothers will forever be remembered as the proteges of the deadly Genovese Family soldier, later turned informant, Joseph (Joe Cago) Valachi.

Later, young Patty Pagano would gain infamy as a top international narcotics trafficker and pal of Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese for another two decades until his own untimely disappearance and presumed murder in 1972.

Notorious waterfront hoodlums Vincent (Cockeye) Brown, Anthony (Kid Boston) Lepore, and Vincent (Jimmy) Mattiello were also charged.

All those arrested were hit with three counts of “atrocious assault and battery,” and bail for all defendants was set at $5,000 each. They were specifically accused of having attacked and viciously beaten three men with brass knuckles in a union dispute at the Eisen Metal Products Company Inc., located at 175 Main Street in Lodi, where the three men worked at the time.

The hoodlums were arrested after John Trusavage and two other Eisen employees named George Martin and Henry Schnieder swore out criminal complaints that Marchitto brought a busload of union goons to Eisen on February 25th and attacked them. The three men claimed they were attacked because they had shown interest in joining a C.I.O. local trying to take over representing the Eisen company’s workers.

But nothing would ever come from these criminal allegations.

Side Note: Coincidently, the same day Marchitto and the others were arrested, another one of their codefendants, twenty-six-year-old Nicholas J. Amodio was being charged in a separate case for vehicular manslaughter. He was unable to make his court appearance in the union assault case because, at that very same time, he was standing before Judge James A. Coolahan to plead innocent to the charge.

Amodio was accused of slamming his automobile into a car driven by an off-duty NJ patrolman and his wife, causing her death. But months later, in May, after the case went to trial, County Court Judge Paul J. Duffy issued a directed verdict of automatic acquittal after citing a lack of proof of “wanton and willful” criminal negligence, as required by law, to sustain a conviction.

More Head Crackin'

On November 24, 1952, Marchitto was overseeing the hiring of that day's stevedores at Pier B on the Jersey City docks. That morning, he had replaced Anthony Szborney with a guy by the name of Joseph (Joe the Beefer) Wyckoff as hiring boss even though Szborney had been handling hiring on the docks for the previous several days. When another hiring boss by the name of Michael (The Groundhog) Myslinski learned of the replacement, he wasn't too happy.

Side note: Wyckoff just happened to be under indictment for the bombing of Local #1247 ILA headquarters office in Union City back in 1951 - the same bombing that eventually "put" Marchitto in charge of the union. Wycoff was later acquitted.

Joseph (Joe The Beefer) Wyckoff

According to reports, about 40 men were to be hired that day to unload a ship that was planning to dock at the Claremont terminal. Myslinski was known to hire New Jersey-based men over NYC-based men that Marchitto supposedly usually hired, and many of the men in the crowd vying for a job that day were allegedly from New York.

So, when Marchitto learned of Szborney's dismissal, "The Groundhog" had had enough. He confronted Marchitto and Wyckoff and that's when fisticuffs broke out between the three men. And it seems that "The Groundhog" had the upper hand against "Tony Cheese" and "Joe the Beefer."

During the ruckus that ensued, Marchitto reportedly sustained a bruise over his left cheek, and Wyckoff was cut over his left eye. But waterfront police got wind of what was happening and quickly ended the brawl. Both Marchitto and Wyckoff refused to be treated for their injuries. Myslinski walked away unharmed.

Whether it was because of the fight or for some other reason, the ship that was supposed to be unloaded that day never showed up. And all the men who had gathered at the docks looking for work were sent home.

The Heat is On!

The violence on the docks had been going on for some time, so a Hudson grand jury had been convened to investigate alleged waterfront criminals and racket activity. The first grand jury hearing happened on May 29, 1951, eight days after a 45-year-old North Bergen longshoreman named Nunzio Aluetto was killed in Hoboken in what police described as a "gangland-slaying."

Aluetto's murder would start a cavalcade of law enforcement scrutiny as government officials tried to unravel what exactly was happening on the waterfront. And unfortunately for Tony Cheese Marchitto, he found himself right in the thick of it.

The hearings had been extended four times since the first one back in 1951. And just 10 days before Marchitto's brawl with "The Groundhog," the grand jury had resumed its hearings once again.

On November 14, 1952, Marchitto and several others were subpoenaed to give testimony about dock activities, including Edward J. Florio, the reputed boss of the Hoboken docks and organizer for the International Longshoremen’s Assn (AFL-CIO). Florio was interrogated for more than an hour before Marchitto and his sidekick, Vincent (Cockeye) Brown, who was also an ILA official, had their turn before the grand jury.

Hoboken longshoremen’s boss Edward J. Florio leaves the grand jury room after appearing before a rackets investigating committee.

In March 1953, the proverbial law enforcement “heat” started in earnest once again when another major organized crime probe got underway. Marchitto received another subpoena to testify, this time before a U.S. Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce subcommittee, which had launched an investigation into waterfront corruption in New York and New Jersey. At the time, NY Governor Thomas Dewey was also in the middle of a similar investigation.

One major allegation was that Marchitto had given coveted pier jobs to many unskilled workmen who were sent to him under a political arrangement with then-Jersey City Mayor John V. Kenny and his political friends. Under oath, Marchitto admitted that he did make a deal with Kenny who had promised to “make” him a union business agent if he would support Kenny's quest for mayor back in 1949.

Anthony Marchitto (L) and his pal, waterfront goon Vincent (Cockeye) Brown, wait their turn to be grilled by a NJ rackets grand jury.

Senator Charles Tobey, chairman of the subcommittee, charged that Kenny’s job offer constituted nothing more than “a bribe, the same as cash money.” He added that Kenny had committed a “crime" which was “punishable by the state and nation.”

Deputy Mayor William J. Flanagan later tried to defend his office and responded to the allegations. He claimed that after Kenny took office in June 1949, "a gangster named Frank (Biffo) DeLorenzo became the business agent for Longshoremen’s Local #1247, but that he rose to that post without the help of any commissioners.”

Mayor John V. Kenny

But back in 1952, after a "strike" by Local #1247 longshoremen, Patrick "Packy" Connolly, the ILA vice-president, had replaced DeLorenzo with Marchitto. All this happened after a "special" meeting between Marchitto, Kenny, Connolly, and others, to bring about labor "peace."

Side note: Kenny was also being probed about a secret meeting he had with Genovese capo Anthony (Tony Bender) Strollo back in 1952 to try to keep "peace" on the docks between warring "underworld" factions. Our bio on Genovese associate Joseph Gernie goes into more detail about this meeting.

Putting His Feet to the Fire

In September 1959, Tony Marchitto was once again called to testify before the New York-New Jersey Waterfront Commission. They wanted to question him about a new ILA charter issued to Local #1823 that would help organize white-collar workers at various companies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. By this time, Marchitto was no longer serving as a business agent for Local #1247, but he was still serving as an official of Local #1823.

Although Marchitto claimed the charter was not related to any waterfront activities, the commission claimed the charter was issued to a New York hoodlum by the name of Frank (Machine-gun Sonny) Campbell. They said Campbell was a "vicious" and "notorious criminal and organized hoodlum with a record dating back to 1920.”

After refusing to testify, the judge lays down the law!

But Tony Cheese still refused to testify, claiming the commission had no jurisdiction over non-waterfront activities. The commission was having none of it and charged him with contempt of court, hoping to jail him for 30 days until he agreed to testify.

Tony Cheese didn't budge and appealed the decision. Another court found him guilty but stayed the conviction, fined him $50, and released him on $2,500 bail. But it was to no avail. Shortly thereafter, the New Jersey State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the commission, and Tony Cheese was sent to jail until he agreed to testify.

On June 4, 1960, he finally agreed to testify, but the commission didn't get the answers they were looking for. In fact, they got no answers at all. Marchitto took the Fifth Amendment. And despite the commission trying to hold him on contempt charges again for pleading his constitutional right, that was the end of that. Marchitto never did have to appear before the commission again on that particular subject.

All Bets Off!

More than a decade later, on July 21, 1972, "Tony Cheese" found himself in trouble again when he was arrested along with 22 others after investigators from the Hudson County prosecutor's office raided several "long-running" gambling operations in Jersey City. Authorities said the gambling ring grossed over $10,000,000 per year in numbers bets.

A notorious local gambler by the name of Joseph (Newsboy) Moriarty, who authorities called a kingpin of the ring, was also arrested. Authorities said that aside from Marchitto, "Newboy" Moriarty was among the "biggest fish" to be nabbed in the raids.

In addition, five members of Marchitto's own family were also arrested. Authorities said they were "ringleaders" of the operation and added that the entire operation “was basically family-run.”

Joseph (Newsboy) Moriarty

Nearly 40 law enforcement officers were involved in rounding up the suspects from 17 different betting locations across the city, and most of them were arrested at their homes. They were all charged with conspiracy to violate gambling laws. Some received additional charges of possession of lottery slips, possession of a pistol, and assaulting an officer during the raids.

Prosecutors told newspapers that the investigation had been ongoing for several months and utilized not only physical surveillance but also wiretapping devices in order to secure the arrests and support the charges.

Martin Greenberg, chief of detectives in Jersey City, told reporters, “We’ve been investigating several significant illegal policy gambling operations in the county which all filtered into Jersey City. It is our belief that the people arrested are the kingpins of those operations.”

Side Note: A top gambling figure for decades, “Newsboy” Moriarty made headlines back in July 1962 when over $2.4 million, believed to be his, was discovered in an abandoned automobile inside a Jersey City garage located at 127-131 Oxford Street.

For years since that day, the federal government and Hudson County officials fought in court over who should get that money. The court case became known as “Moriarty’s Millions.” A notorious gambler, Moriarty had been arrested nearly 50 times over 40 years and served two prison terms.

The Policy Racket

At the time of his arrest, prosecutors described the then 61-year-old "Tony Cheese" as a brother of the late Christopher (Lefty) Marchitto, whose name figured into an alleged payoff and bribery scheme involving former Mayor Thomas Whelan in another criminal investigation case called the “Hudson Eight.”

Side note: Whelan became mayor of Jersey City 10 years after John V. Kenny resigned from the office in 1953. Both Whelan and Kenny were prosecuted and convicted in the "Hudson Eight" case in separate trials in 1971 and 1972, respectively. Whelan was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his part in the scheme. He served 7. Kenny received a sentence of up to 18 years and was sent to a federal prison hospital. He served 4 months before being released and died in a nursing home in 1975.

Moriarty and Marchitto, the two "biggest fish" of the bust, were held in lieu of $20,000 and $10,000 bail, respectively.

Six of Tony’s relatives, including his wife and daughter, sister, brother, and other relatives were also charged in the case. They were identified as Mildred Marchitto (53), Eleanor Marchitto (65), Adrient Marchitto (65), Louise Marchitto (61), Theresa Marchitto Nardone (53), and Joseph Marchitto (62). The judge set similar bail bond packages for each of them at $10,000 apiece.

Also arrested in the case were Emilio (The Colonel) Pinelli and his wife Eunice; Charles Montalbano and his wife Gilda; John Mazza; Lena Cuccio; Philip Colasurdo, and his sister, Marie Colasurdo; Eleanor Adrient; Jenny Mays; Jessie Wilborn; Nicola (Nicky) Perrotta, and his wife Gertrude; Ann Kelly; and Evelyn Hodgins. They were each held in lieu of $5,000 bail.

In January 1975, the case finally went to trial against 20 defendants.

During nearly three hours of opening statements, prosecutors explained to the jury that through the use of three court-ordered wiretaps and subsequent recorded telephone conversations, enough evidence was gathered that the defendants were then arrested at various Jersey City and Hoboken locations. Authorities said that the “principal focus” of the policy racket centered on a confectionery store located at 417 Monmouth Street in Jersey City, which just happened to be owned by Anthony Marchitto.

Prosecutors said that Marchitto, his wife Mildred, and daughter Angela Nardone, all engaged in numerous telephone calls between the store and their home concerning an illegal numbers-lottery business they were allegedly operating.

The gamblers took numbers bets and operated from several storefronts and coordinated the entire operation from a master policy “bank” located at 357 First Street, where winning and losing policy plays were tabulated daily and subsequent payouts and financial accounts were handled. During the raids, over $20,000 in cash was found and confiscated at several locations.

Authorities alleged that the entire gambling ring operated under the auspices and control of Tony Marchitto, who through his relatives, maintained tight control.

At the time of the police raids, prosecutors said Moriarty was nabbed just a few doors down from the main numbers “bank” located in co-defendant Eleanor Adrient’s home at 348 Fifth Street. During his arrest, Moriarty was found in possession of 20 envelopes containing policy betting slips. He also had $2,100 in cash on him.

The trial lasted a whopping 13 weeks, and on April 2, 1972, prosecutors gave their final summation to the jury. It took them almost five hours to complete.

We know that during the trial, Joe Moriarty had his case severed due to illness, but Button Guys could not learn the final verdict or disposition for the remaining defendants in the case, including that of Tony Cheese.

Back to Basics

Despite his recent criminal trial, it seems that Tony Cheese was no worse for the wear because he remained the president of two union locals, #1478 and #1478A. In fact, just a year after his trial, he was able to negotiate a brand-new, three-year contract for employees at the Hoboken plant of the Maxwell House Coffee Division of General Foods.

Marchitto made a public announcement about the deal on April 29, 1976.

The new agreement included a $1.96 hourly wage increase over three years as well as substantial improvements in pensions and medical plans. His union was also able to negotiate a three-cent increase in work shift differential.

As current union president, Marchitto had to have overseen all negotiations and ratified and approved the new contract and stipulations. Obviously, he wouldn’t have held his union office or even been around for these union negotiations had he been convicted and jailed on that gambling case the previous year.

At the end of his announcement, he told the assembled crowd, “Union members of Locals 1478 and 1478A have every reason to be proud of the steady advances made by their union and of the positive relationship existing between the union and the company.”

Took A Lickin' But Kept on Tickin'

Five years later, in February 1980, Tony Marchitto was still at it, fighting for the working man (and woman.) At the time, the country was at the beginning of a major recession, but the then sixty-nine-year-old union president and mafioso was working hard to provide some sort of relief for the people in Hudson County.

He had teamed up with the Hudson County Central Labor Council to bring to fruition a variety of major development projects that would help increase employment in the area, especially in the much-needed building trades.

Edward Pulver

In an announcement, Edward Pulver, who was president of the Labor Council, told reporters that the "potential growth for labor in Hudson County in the coming years is fantastic.” At the time, construction of the now-named Meadowlands Arena was near completion, and the union and council were working to build up the areas around it.

But red tape was causing a lot of delays with the planned projects, and the addition of the growing recession was causing "low" morale among union members. Marchitto told reporters that although "morale is still basically low, there is still optimism among our union members."

“The 1200 members of the Industrial Employees Local #1478 in Hudson County are hopeful (that things will turn around),” he said.

Side note: In 1984, Pulver was named an "Honorary Italian" by the Hudson County Colombus Association. Although his ethnicity was American Indian and Dutch, he had been active in the labor movement since the early 1940s. At the time of the award, not only was he president of the Hudson County Central Labor Council, but he was also secretary/treasurer of the New Jersey AFL-CIO. In a statement, he said, "Being chosen Honorary Italian of the Year is an extraordinary privilege."

Sticking His Toes in the Sand

In his waning years, the aging Tony Cheese seems to have finally stepped back a bit from his nefarious daily gangster and labor union activities. He and his wife moved down to the Jersey Shore where he seems to have taken it easy from then on. No more was ever heard about Tony regarding any criminal endeavors.

Anthony Michael (Tony Cheese) Marchitto passed away on July 14, 1997, in Ocean County, NJ. He had reached the respectable old age of 85. And considering his chosen “profession”… I’d say that Tony had reached a very respectable old age, indeed!

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

Anthony (Tony Cheese) Marchitto: NJ Waterfront Kingpin

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Anthony (Tony Cheese) Marchitto: NJ Waterfront Kingpin

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You May Also Enjoy

Notorious Corona Gambler – Genovese Soldier Ralph Serpico

Genovese Soldier & Waterfront Rackets Boss: Philip “Philly Katz” Albanese

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