Robert (Bobby Basile) Occhipinti: Trusted DeCavalcante Family Soldier

Robert (Bobby Basile) Occhipinti wasn’t just a soldier in the DeCavalcante Family -- he was one of Sam DeCavalcante’s most trusted confidantes. From the bustling streets of Brooklyn to the luxury high-rises of the Jersey Shore, Bobby played a key role in mob operations that included labor racketeering, gambling, extortion, and even large-scale real estate schemes.

Robert (Bobby Basile) Occhipinti -- aka Bobby Bear and Simone Robert Occhipinti (TN) -- was born on February 15, 1920, in Brooklyn to Italian immigrant parents Michele (Michael) and Carmella (nee Basile) Occhipinti. He served in the Army during World War II.

By the early 1950s, Bobby Basile had moved to New Jersey. In 1968, he resided in unit #9B at the exclusive Harbor Towers, a luxury nine-story oceanfront high-rise apartment complex at 675 Ocean Avenue in Long Branch. By the 1980s, he had again relocated to 15 Harbor Way in Monmouth Beach.

Robert (Bobby Basile) Occhipinti

It was later brought out that the Harbor Towers apartment complex had been a Mafia “scheme” all along.

A dilapidated complex, law enforcement later alleged that through arson, threats, labor bid-rig contracts, municipal corruption, etc., Sam the Plumber's boys, with Bobby pivotal to the scheme, gained control of and erected these luxury buildings, making the Family a ton of money in the process. Bobby also made sure to get one for himself at a “bargain” price.

FBI # 222049H, SBI # 136356A

A September 1967 cover feature in Life Magazine titled “Brazen Empire of Organized Crime” reported that “In Long Branch, for example, a town of 26,000 on the Jersey shore, Russo told an informant that the Mob had taken charge. He bragged they had fixed elections and maneuvered the ouster of a city manager.

“What we got in Long Branch is everything,” Russo was quoted as telling the informant. “Police we got. Councilmen we got, too. We’re gonna make millions.”

Side Note: A neighbor of his in Apt #8B was fellow made man Anthony (Little Pussy) Russo, the Genovese capo. Both Basile and Russo lived there “rent-free” for years!

The Inner Circle

Occhipinti was a direct blood cousin to Family Boss Simone (Sam) DeCavalcante. A long-time confidante and top aide to DeCavalcante, Occhipinti was identified as a top “associate” and considered a “proposed” candidate for membership in that Family.

Once the membership books opened by the mid-1970s, “Bobby Basile” was one of the first inductees. He had, of course, been sponsored by “Sam the Plumber” himself. He iwas identified as an (inducted) “soldier.”

Occhipinti's activities included gambling, labor rackets, shylocking, extortion, smuggling, enforcer, and Sam’s key top aide.

His criminal associates included Sam DeCavalcante, Frank Cocchiaro , Frank Majuri, Luciano Larasso , Frank Nigro, Joseph Ippolito, Joseph Covello, Anthony Costanza, and Anthony Russo .

Anthony (Little Pussy) Russo

He partnered with Sam in a plumbing contracting firm and various other businesses. Bobby also handled Sam’s day-to-day appointment schedule and was his top confidant and aide. Sam confided and trusted in Bobby very much as is clearly evident from an FBI “bugged” tape recording made in their plumbing office during 1965.

Known as “The Sam the Plumber Tapes,” approximately one year of court-authorized electronic surveillance picked up virtually everything from mob minutia to mob murder. They were devastating!

They exposed the very inner workings of not only the DeCavalcante Family membership but also Cosa Nostra’s inner workings, the other New York Families, The Commission, murder, mayhem, and other mob mischief.

Originally, they had been sealed by the court, but after a request by Sam DeCavalcante’s lawyers, who thought they might be useful in defending their client, the tapes were released to defense attorneys. And in an unprecedented move by the FBI, they were also released to the media.

The newspapers had a field day. Day after day, in local papers nationwide, excerpts of the tapes were printed.

A mob book called Sam the Plumber was also written and released, which basically recited verbatim all the voices and exact conversations held. Bobby Basile was caught talking about sensitive mob business with Sam on dozens of tapes. It was a major embarrassment, to say the least, and a major mistake on the mob’s part.

Subsequently, Bobby Basile was subpoenaed in the coming months and years before both NJ and NY grand juries probing the Mafia.

Slipping Out

In 1969, at the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation hearing in Trenton, both he and Frank Cocchiaro literally walked out of the courthouse during a court recess and never walked back in!

Immediately, arrest warrants for criminal contempt of court were issued, along with a 13-state alarm.

Bobby chose to return 17 days later and pled guilty, facing 3 years imprisonment. He later purged himself of the contempt conviction after agreeing to answer questions before the grand jury.

Big Frankie Coch lammed it to South Florida, where he hid out until being arrested by a Broward County policeman who had asked him for his driver's license after he was involved in a fender bender with an elderly woman.

Big Frankie

When Frank pulled a handful of fake IDS out of his wallet, the cop became suspicious and his true identity was exposed. He was arrested on the spot and extradited back to New Jersey to face the music.

At another state grand jury hearing in 1970, Bobby was cited for “civil” contempt of court for his evasive answers. He was jailed on civil contempt and only released on bond after he testified for more than 10 hours before the commission.

He had been one of three jailed for initially refusing to testify. The other two were Bayonne Joe Zicarelli and Little Pussy Russo. Both remained jailed indefinitely for refusing to talk.

Commission officials declared in Mercer County Court that it was still too early to determine whether Occhipinti had been fully responsive to their questions, thus purging himself of the civil contempt charge that led to his jailing. The officials said that he would be recalled for more testimony and agreed to release him, meanwhile, from the county jail.

However, he was ordered to remain either in New Jersey or with his relatives in Brooklyn.

Occhipinti, who was 49 years old at the time, had another charge against him pending -- a criminal contempt indictment for leaving the commission's hearing in violation of a court order.

Appearing in court in the same dark blue suit in which he went to jail the prior week, Occhipinti pled guilty to criminal contempt. Judge Frank Kingfield continued him on $25,000 bail on that charge.

Bobby Basile

The judge delayed any sentencing on the criminal charge until the commission had determined whether Occhipinti had purged himself on the civil contempt citation. The criminal contempt charge carried a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment.

Commission officials speculated that Russo and Zicarelli had picked Occhipinti to test how tough the Commission was going to be in its questioning. They did not believe that Occhipinti was in any danger for having testified, and his lawyer did not request any police protection.

The Commission was investigating alleged corruption and the infiltration of organized crime into Long Branch, a Monmouth County shore community.

In 1980, he was again indicted by the state grand jury for offering false testimony in 1978 when he denied knowing Anthony (Little Pussy) Russo. At that time, he was residing in Florida due to the indictment.

It seems that most of Bobby’s legal problems were all traced back to those original “bugs” placed in their plumbing office.

Sam DeCavalcante, as well as many of their mafia associates, were also legally “tortured” for years afterward.

Occhipinti eventually moved permanently down to South Florida, where Sam had also settled by the mid-1970s, utilizing John Riggi as the day-to-day NJ “acting boss” for the membership.

Although authorities closely watched Bobby Basile in later years down in Florida, for the most part, they could never again make a criminal case against him.

I think he was happy to keep low-key and away from the limelight. Robert (Bobby Basile) Occhipinti died on November 10, 1999.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Robert (Bobby Basile) Occhipinti: Trusted DeCavalcante Family Soldier

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