The Old Man of Mulberry Street – Vincenzo (Jimmy Alto) Altomari

This is an interesting profile about a little-known Genovese Family soldier named Jimmy Altomari who lived and operated in Lower Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood for many decades.

Button Guys hope you enjoy his biography.

Jimmy Alto - Early Life

Vincenzo (Jimmy Alto) Altomari - aka “James Alto” and “Vincent Altomari” - was reportedly born to Calabrian parents on November 19, 1894, in Mangone, Italy.

His mother is listed as Raffaella Soniavalle, but there is no listing of his father’s name. Years later, by the 1920s, his mother was reportedly living in the Village of Cosenza, Calabria.

Jimmy Altomari was thought to have immigrated to the United States as a young man because, by the 1910s, he was already residing in Detroit, Michigan.

In 1917, Altomari listed his home address as 219 Canton Avenue. In 1919, he listed his address as 71 Washington Boulevard. Both addresses are in the City of Detroit.

By at least the 1930s, it was thought that Altomari had relocated to New York City. He resided for years in a small apartment located at 116 Mott Street in Manhattan’s famed “Little Italy” neighborhood.

Jimmy’s apt., 10 Monroe St., in Knickerbocker Village

By the early 1960s, Altomari had moved to a nearby apartment located at 10 Monroe Street within an area known as the “4th Ward” District of Lower Manhattan near the Lower East Side docks and Fulton Fish Market section. (Mulberry Street falls within the 6th Ward which is only one neighborhood over.)

At some point, Jimmy Alto also became a naturalized American citizen. This might have occurred automatically due to Altomari’s early U.S. military service.

In later years. he also maintained a summer home out on Long Island along the South Shore community of Long Beach.

This particular town was a notorious hotbed of mob activity. Many fellow members of the Genovese Family either lived there full-time or spent their summer months there.

Through the years, Altomari listed three different addresses within the City of Long Beach at either 100 Indiana Avenue, 38 Maryland Avenue, or 43 Kentucky Avenue.

Known as Vincent Alto

Altomari stood about 5-feet 6-inches tall and was heavyset at 170 pounds. He reportedly had a full crop of thick back hair that had turned salt-and-pepper by his early sixties.

He wore eyeglasses and had a dark olive complexion. He also sported several tattoos he had gotten back in his youth. One was of a heart with a dagger through it tattooed on his forearm. The second was his initials “J.A.” tattooed on his other forearm.

In addition, he sported a 6-inch scar mark across his right side from an early lung operation.

“Jimmy Alto” was also said to be a very dapper dresser.

New York’s Little Italy neighborhood

Although technically born with the surname of Altomari, during his lifetime Jimmy generally listed his official surname as “Alto.” So, for all intents and purposes, he was always known as Vincent Alto.

Note: Government records show that, in fact, Vincent Altomari served in the United States Army under serial number #2021924, from September 7, 1917, until July 18, 1919. He was honorably discharged after the U.S. Armed Forces demobilized military operations.

New York City Municipal Records show that on September 27, 1945, the then-fifty-year-old Alto settled down and got married.

He was said to have been married years earlier as well, but his first wife passed away in 1943. This second marriage lasted until October of 1962 when his wife filed for and was later awarded a legal separation on the grounds of desertion. The Altomaris reportedly never had any children together.

The Old Man of Mulberry Street

Dating to the 1940s, the New York City Police Department recorded that Alto was the owner-operator of a cafe located on Hester Street off Mott Street in Little Italy.

This same report went on to say that Altomari was known as a member of the “Unione Siciliano” which later became better known as the Mafia or Cosa Nostra.

In 1942, an unidentified informant told his FBI handler that this organization, at that time, was being operated from its headquarters at 90 Elizabeth Street.

In 1963, another FBI informant reported that Jimmy Alto was a highly respected old-timer among the underworld in Little Italy who was commonly referred to as “The Old Man of Mulberry Street.”

By the early 1960s, Alto was already in his late sixties and considered retired from the rackets.

He was not then reportedly “answering” to any particular capo or faction but was still looked upon as a respected and sought-after mafioso for consultation by the younger and less experienced members of the Genovese family.

This same FBI 302 report quotes the informant as referring to Alto as an old “greaseball” whose connections dated back to the early days of the “combination” and that Alto was, at that point in time, in very ill health.

This fact as well as Alto’s advanced age reportedly contributed to him being largely inactive in the day-to-day racket affairs of the Vito Genovese family.

But back in his time, Alto was said to have been actively connected to both labor-union corruption and local gambling rackets centered around his Little Italy neighborhood.

At one time, he was officially listed as serving as the salaried vice-president of Local #224, of the Amalgamated Workers Union (Independent), located at 225 Lafayette Street in Lower Manhattan.

During the 1940s Jimmy Alto was reportedly also the owner and operator of an eatery named the Columbus Restaurant, located at 23 Baxter Street, between the Little Italy and Chinatown sections.

A Near Shadow

Although he was very well known among his fellow mafiosi, the low-key Alto maintained a near-shadow profile among New York’s law enforcement community.

He was such a low-key hoodlum that his only known arrest by the New York City Police Department was on February 1, 1961. But by that point in time, Alto was already well into his mid-sixties.

He was charged with a misdemeanor count of having violated New York State Penal Law # 722-2PL (operating a dice game). This arrest came about after local police raided a private social club where Alto was running a steady daily crap game.

That same day, on February 1st, Jimmy Alto pled guilty to the charge, was fined $300, and then quickly released from custody.

For the judge to have whacked him with a $300 fine back in 1961, which was a huge amount of money for that era, that dice game had to have been pretty significant in volume.

Side note: At the time I wrote this profile about Altomari, there was still no available photograph or police mugshot for him. I think it's a testament to Jimmy’s low-key profile all his life that no photograph, not even a driver's license photo is available of him.

Big Money Games

Alto was said to have been most prominently engaged in various illegal gambling activities centered around both the 4th and 6th Wards in Lower Manhattan.

Over the years, it was reported by a handful of federal informants that he controlled various dice, card, and Ziganette games (a very popular Italian card game) along Market and Madison Streets near the Fulton Fish Market.

Jimmy’s social club, The 115 Cafe-featured

He was also said to control a big-money game around Hester and Mott Streets in Little Italy as previously mentioned.

Other activities he allegedly engaged in included rackets such as horse and sports bookmaking, shylocking, and criminal receiving and fencing of stolen goods.

He operated for years from a little social club known as the 115 Cafe, located at 115 Mott Street.

Other favored hangouts included Vincent’s Clam Bar located a few doors down at 119 Mott Street, and Tommy’s Cafe which was located right next door at 121 Mott Street.

A Friend of Jimmy Blue Eyes

Among the many top mafiosi Altomari was known to be affiliated with over the years, he was said to be a very close associate of the Bronx-based Genovese family “Caporegime” Vincent (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Alo .

Vincent (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Alo

In fact, it was believed that “Jimmy Blue Eyes” was actually Altomari’s direct superior within the overall Genovese family hierarchy.

Other close associates of Alto’s included old-timers such as caporegimes Vincenzo (Jimmy) Generoso, Peter Defeo , and Frank Celano.

Capo Jimmy Generoso allegedly held a hidden-ownership interest in the famous Vincent’s Clam Bar for decades.

Vincent Clam Bar, 119 Mott Street

Side note: In the 2013 book Mob Boss by Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins, future Lucchese acting boss Alphonse (Little Al) D’Arco spoke of his early association with Altomari during the 1960s when D’Arco was first coming up in New York’s underworld.

D’Arco said while was living on Spring Street in Little Italy, he worked for the older, established Jimmy Alto in several card games.

D’Arco also spoke of his great admiration and respect for Altomari’s mob stature, as well as his low-key persona and knowledge of proper mob protocol and decorum.

Alphonse (Little Al) D’Arco

Vincent (Jimmy Alto) Altomari died of natural causes on January 20, 1964. He was waked for one day only at Vanella’s Funeral Home on Madison Street.

After a funeral service and mass at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church located at Madison and Catherine Streets, he was buried the next day on January 22nd. Jimmy Alto was sixty-nine years old.

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

The Old Man of Mulberry Street – Vincenzo (Jimmy Alto) Altomari

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The Old Man of Mulberry Street – Vincenzo (Jimmy Alto) Altomari

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You May Also Enjoy

Angelo (Gyp) DeCarlo

Joseph (Joe Swede) Paterra – “The Swede of Harlem”

John (Buster) Ardito

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