Giuseppe (Pepe) Sabato – Genovese Family Capo

A biography on Genovese Family capo Giuseppe (Pepe) Sabato.

Giuseppe (Pepe) Sabato - aka “Joseph John Sabato,” “Pep,” “Little Pipi,” “Peppe Sabato,” “Joseph Marino,” “Charles Martucci," and “Joe Martucci” was born in Enna, Sicily, on August 5, 1907.

He had three brothers named Matteo, Charles, and Alfredo, all of whom were also engaged with him to some degree in various gambling operations.

In 1952, he had an apartment at 310 Hillside Avenue, Leonia, New Jersey. By the late 1950s, he was residing at 2259 Spruce Street, Trenton, New Jersey. By the late 1960s, he had relocated to 2352A Linwood Avenue, Apt # 1D, in Fort Lee, NJ.

His last known address was documented by the FBI in 1983 as 519 8th Street, in Union, NJ.

FBI # 1259885, Trenton-NJPD # 19442, SBI # 101588, DCJS # 1200688H

Sabato was said to have lived expensively despite no obvious means of legitimate income, but it seems that he was not a flash. In 1965, he was known to drive a modest automobile - a black 1965 Ford Galaxie-500.

The FBI listed Sabato as a “soldier” in the northern New Jersey wing of the Vito Genovese Family. Over the years, Pepe was documented as an official made member by numerous law enforcement agencies.

Conflicting FBI reports have stated that Sabato was ‘inducted’ into the Genovese Family along with James ( Jimmy Nap ) Napoli in 1967, but other reports state he was, in fact, inducted many years earlier.

The fact that we now know the “books” had been closed during the 1960s era lends credence to Sabato having been “brought into” the borgata many years earlier.

In his senior years, Pepe was alleged to have been elevated to serve the borgata as one of their top ‘capo di decina,’ overseeing one of approximately five of their New Jersey crews.

Although not known to ever engage in legitimate business, in the mid-1960s he was connected “unofficially” with the Silco Vending Co., a cigarette machine supplier to local New Jersey businesses.

In the mid-1960s, the FBI identified him as the key man among a group of Genovese-based racketeers who started utilizing the Englewood County Golf and Country Club as a meeting place and hangout. Among others who frequented that location was acting boss Tommy Eboli and Joe Doto Jr., the son of the infamous Giuseppe (Joe Adonis) Doto who Sabato was said to have been very close to before Adonis was deported back to Italy.

Giuseppe (Joe Adonis) Doto Sr.

The local hoods frequented the club regularly where they played cards and mingled with the guests, some of whom were well-known businessmen and celebrities. The Genovese hoods soon found it a great way to rub elbows with legitimate businessmen and to infiltrate higher society.

Among the steady card players who indulged in various card games for money, Sabato, in particular, was said to be one of the best card players in the area. He was known as a “card shark” who lured unsuspecting legitimate wealthy “suckers” into games and then beat them for large amounts of money.

Pepe allegedly beat popular comedian and television personality Buddy Hackett for $20,000 during one such card tournament. The card games played ranged from bridge, pinochle, gin rummy, and poker to Hollywood gin.

Side Note: It was later thought by the FBI that Sabato had in fact been the “point man” for the Genovese Family’s infiltration of this renowned country club after the new owners had fallen into financial straights.

It’s thought that they approached Pepe for money to “float” them while they established the business and that he supplied them with a substantial ‘shylock loan’ to tidy them over. Once given, this loan opened the door for Genovese Family domination over the entire country club and membership. It was all the excuse Sabato and his mafiosi friends needed to call the place their own. Before long, the country club became the Genovese borgata’s home away from home.

Proof of the mob’s intentions regarding the club became obvious once the FBI checked the membership lists of the country club. The FBI quickly determined that several well-known mafiosi and racketeers had become annual club members.

These included soldier Charles Chiri of Palisades; acting boss Tommy (Ryan) Eboli of Englewood Cliffs; capo Patsy (Ryan) Eboli of Fort Lee; bookmaker Frank Ericson of Manhattan; soldier Dominick Imperata of Greenwich Village; garment center racketeer Joseph ( Joe Stretch ) Stracci of Manhattan; and soldier Ralph Dolce of Englewood Cliffs.

After many years of local law enforcement generally ignoring Sabato as a “nobody” among the New Jersey underworld, the FBI started to take a closer look at this “nobody” who just happened to be closely affiliated with some of the country’s top mafiosi.

They soon realized that Sabato was much more than the petty gambler they were first led to believe about him. In fact, after consulting their informants, the FBI came to consider Sabato as a close friend and top subordinate of Joe Adonis. They realized that he was Adonis’ main representative in New Jersey.

With this new information in hand, Sabato soon became a primary focus for the feds, and both the FBI and IRS were said to be delving into his affairs. In fact, around that same time, he received a notice by mail from the IRS requesting him to list all of his personal assets, possessions, and yearly earnings for their review.

This letter was said to have unnerved him and led him to try and keep a lower profile in a futile attempt to avoid further law enforcement scrutiny down the road. In the coming months, agents started following him trying to uncover his activities. They tracked him to several places he steadily frequented such as the Den, a neighborhood tavern located at 651 Anderson Avenue in Cliffside Park.

Another constant hangout where he conducted his gambling business was The Golden Cue, a billiard parlor located at Hillcrest Place and Palisades Avenue, also in Cliffside Park. It was thought that this location was where several of Pepe’s ‘runners’ would meet him to ‘settle up’ the bookmaking accounts weekly.

Among his favorite haunts when visiting New York City was the famed Roma Bakery located at 385 Broome Street in Manhattan’s Little Italy. This business was owned by Eli (Joe the Baker) Zeccardi and Benedetto (Benny Red) Cinquegrana, both known borgata members and top hoodlums.

On several occasions, this bakery is where Pepe was spotted by FBI agents meeting with top capo/future borgata boss, Philip ( Cockeyed Phil ) Lombardo.

Philip (Cockeyed Phil) Lombardo

These meetings only served to confirm for law enforcement that, at this point in time, Sabato was dealing with the very top level of the Genovese Family hierarchy. Not only was he already a controlling figure in Northern New Jersey for their clan, but he was directly reporting to Lombardo, the Genovese’s man in the shadows who was orchestrating and overseeing it all.

Despite his central involvement for well over 60 years in the local underworld of both New Jersey and New York, Pepe had an amazingly limited criminal arrest history. In fact, the only public record of any brush with the law occurred back in 1961 when he was charged for minor gambling offenses.

On September 4th of that year, Sabato was picked up and charged on two counts for bookmaking and possession of lottery records. He paid a small fine and was immediately released from custody. Case closed.

His criminal file was so limited that there wasn’t even an available photograph of him for this biography. That's how low-key he kept himself. This was for a man whom the FBI admitted was a top hoodlum and organized racketeer dating back to the 1930s.

Sabato was a known mafioso, who had been the top aide to Joe Adonis, one of the biggest names in organized crime until his deportation back to Italy in 1950. A man who would rise to become a top ‘capo di decina’ himself and hold sway over a cadre of dangerous men under his regime who were some of the most notorious gangsters in the Garden State and the entire country for that matter. And a man who dealt at the highest echelons of the Mafia until the day he died.

During his lifetime, Pepe numbered among his closest associates such iconic NJ-based Genovese members as the aforementioned Giuseppe Doto Sr., and the following mob luminaries:

• Thomas ( Tommy Ryan ) Eboli • Gerardo (Jerry) Catena • Eugene (Gene) Catena • Anthony (Tony Adonis) Doto • Joseph (Joe Adonis Jr.) Doto Jr. • Angelo ( The Gyp ) DeCarlo • Anthony (Tony Pro) Provenzano • Joseph ( Joe Peck ) Pecora • Thomas (Timmy Murphy) Pecora • Dominick (Cokey Dom) Alongi

Dating back to the 1930s and 1940s era, Sabato was said to have started out inauspiciously as a fledgling gambling runner and pick-up man for Adonis. He must have greatly impressed his superior because within a short time Pepe was being tapped more and more to act in Adonis’ stead.

By the mid-1940s, he had gained a reputation as Joe’s eyes and ears. By the time of Doto’s deportation, Pepe had become his proxy, overseeing anything that the deported capo had going for him in Jersey.

Sabato’s position was very similar to that of another Genovese soldier named Joseph ( Joe Shep ) Schipani of New York City. Born in Brooklyn, Schipani was considered a very close friend and partner of Adonis.

Joseph (Joe Shep) Schipani

After Adonis relocated back to Italy, he made it known that ‘Joe Shep’ was acting in his stead, and talking to Schipani was like talking to Adonis himself. In the years that followed, both Schipani in NYC and Sabato in NJ were the two ‘key’ proxies of Joe Adonis.

They each oversaw the extensive racket and business operations he had left behind and funneled the resultant monies and profits from those activities to him in Europe accordingly.

During a stepped-up investigation of Pepe, while checking their old records, the Newark office of the FBI noticed that Sabato had figured into an old 1946 investigation they had once developed at Ricker’s Bar & Grill on 60th Street in West New York, NJ. A known gambling location, Sabato was repeatedly seen at this location during an interstate lottery gambling probe.

Informants also reported that Pepe was an avid bettor himself and could often be found at the Atlantic City Race Track. A reputedly heavy bettor, Pepe could usually be found at the $100 window.

He regularly sat in a “box seat” between posts 6 and 7 near another top gambler named “Stumpy” Orman. He was known to hang with other heavy, professional bettors such as Sam (Genius) Lewin and a fellow named Linsky as well.

During the same 1940s era, he also enjoyed frequenting popular nightclub owner Paul (Skinny) D’Amato’s 500 Club in Atlantic City - a notorious hangout for hoodlums and top entertainers alike such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. In fact, they were all close friends. Pepe and Skinny were even known to regularly play gin rummy together for high stakes.

Outside Skinny D’Amato’s 500 Club

Top shelf entertainment with Hollywood’s finest at the 500 Club!

In September 1946, agents spotted Sabato’s car at Duke’s Tavern in Palisades. This location was considered the most important “headquarters” of the Genovese Family’s Jersey faction. The hierarchy of the borgata was known to conduct top-level meetings there for years.

In 1962, Sabato was also among a gaggle of top Genovese members seen at a motel down in Miami, Florida.

In keeping with his rising status, by 1963, federal agents noticed that Sabato had also upgraded his mode of transportation. He was now sporting around in a brand new gray Cadillac. He was also repeatedly seen chauffeuring acting boss Tommy Eboli around town and meeting with numerous top-level mafiosi.

Thomas (Tommy Ryan) Eboli

It was thought that Sabato had been put in charge of overseeing several dice and ‘Monte’ games operating in Bergen and Hudson Counties for Eboli and the borgata. Informants also named Genovese members Peter La Placa, Louis (Streaky) Gatto, and Tino (The Greek) Fiumara as working under the supervision of Sabato at that period of time.

By January 1964, investigators identified a large crap game at 606 Paterson Plank Road in Union City, NJ. This game was said to be overseen by Matteo (Little Matty) Sabato, Pepe’s brother, who in turn was said to be running the game under the supervision of Pepe. Partners in this game included Tommy Eboli, Tony Pro, Gyp DeCarlo, Joe Adonis’ brother Tony, and the Sabato brothers themselves.

It was alleged that their respective ownership interests in this particular game were as follows: Pepe had (20%), Matty (25%), Tony Pro (10%), and that as boss, Eboli also received a steady cut. Gyp DeCarlo was thought to actually be “banking” the game.

The location was a second-floor club located above Gorman’s Liquor Store. Named the Sportsmen’s Club Inc., it was ostensibly a local, licensed private social club, and Matteo Sabato was listed as the president of the corporation. It was alleged to be a friendly, private club where members gathered to watch sports on television, could engage in a small friendly card game, and converse with one another.

But in truth, the location was secured by four steel-reinforced entry doors before you could reach an inner room where there was two green felt “crap tables” for play. A “cage” was used to handle and eject the dice as opposed to letting the dice players handle and ‘roll the bones’ themselves. Informant reports described the game as a “well run, high-class game, frequented by a large money crowd.”

The game operated on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights from about 10 pm, and on Sundays from 3 pm in the afternoon. There was a $300 limit on bets, and it was not uncommon to have 70 to 80 bettors all congregating around the dice tables any given night.

During this same point in time, law enforcement also noticed his constant association with Leonard J. Erickson of 387 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Lenny was the brother of the infamous bookmaker and Frank Costello intimate, Frank Erickson. Lenny and Pepe would meet each Monday night for years. Monday nights are well known as the acknowledged day that bookmakers meet one another in order to “settle up” the previous works betting volumes - wins or losses.

In his later years, Pepe Sabato continued with his underworld career in much the same style as he had always done. He remained a low-key and quiet mafioso. He was repeatedly named as a top capo-regime of the New Jersey wing of the borgata. He was even listed in testimony during the 1983 and 1988 United States Senate Hearings on Organized Crime in America. Yet, for all the effort, federal law enforcement was never able to lay a glove on him.

Giuseppe (Pepe) Sabato died of natural causes -old age - in 1999. Pepe was 92 years old!

Until next time…”The Other Guy!”

Giuseppe (Pepe) Sabato – Genovese Family Capo

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Giuseppe (Pepe) Sabato – Genovese Family Capo

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