Hopewell to Greenwich

About six months ago while pruning the Family Tree of errors, I used Ancestry.com and looked for any matches for Cappiali. I do this periodically because they are constantly updating and other people are constantly adding to all of the online information. I was surprised and pleased to find images of Tony's WWI, John Sr.'s WWII and Paul Anthony's WWI and WWII draft cards. I also found Peter Cappiali's WWII draft card. I have attached them to the blog. The images are small, but if you save them to your pictures you can blow them up using any picture viewer.

It is interesting how their data changed over the roughly 25 years between the wars. Giovanni is single and a laborer for Dupont in Hopewell in 1917. Paolo is also working for Dupont in Hopewell as a trackman. Their address is the same. Twenty-five years later, Paolo is now Paul and he is working for Roma Meat Market in Hopewell. Mary Cappiali is his closest relative. He has anglecised his first name, but not his second.

It appears that Pietro did not register for the draft in WWI. He is just that much younger than Paolo and Giovanni that he was not eligible. The first documentation found is the WWII draft card that shows his residence as 12 Grigg St. (St. Roch Avenue now) and lists his wife, Andriana as his closest relative. He has already anglecized his name and is known as Peter. It lists his employer as Mr. McKinley at the Town Farm in Greenwich.

Meanwhile, Giovanni Antonio is not listed for a WWII card. But Giovanni Paolo has become John with no middle name. This is John Sr. and he is living in Greenwich at 38 Grigg St. This was before they renamed it to St. Roch Avenue. His closest living relative is his wife. The interesting thing about John Sr.'s card shows that he has become two years younger than Giovanni Antonio, but it shows the same birth date. On Tony's card, he states that he was born February 28, 1892. It is interesting that they are all using Cappiali with two P's, instead of Capiale which Paul Antonio had put on his gravestone. Part of the story was that the boys left Sardinia under visas from another family with a name similar to their own. It has been passd down that the correct spelling is Capiale and that Paul Antonio wanted to be buried with his correct name.

We know that John Sr. lived for a time in Philadelphia after he married. This was verified by Silivo Benedetto, the realtor in Greenwich. He remembers because his father and John Sr. used to run illegal liquor between Philadelphia and Greenwich during Prohibition. The story is that Benedetto Sr. would come to Philadelphia, purchase a truck from John Sr. and drive it back to Greenwich. After a week or so, John Sr. would come to Greenwich, pick up the truck and take it back to Philadelphia. After a few weeks had past, Silvio Sr. would go to Philadelphia, buy the same truck again and drive it back to Greenwich. Silvio Jr. remembers that this went on for a long time.

Obviously, this was not an arms-length transaction. John Sr. and Maggie were manufacturing illegal hooch, bottling it, and then hiding it all over the truck. Silvio Sr. would come to Philadelphia, buy the truck, and drive it back to Greenwich and unload the booze. This was done during the era of Tammany Hall, when all of the corrupt officials from New York City were living in Connecticut and running their road houses. Silvio Jr. did not have a list of who the customers were, but it is safe to assume that there was a ready market in Greenwich for the product.

We must check as to when Tony moved to Philadelphia. Since our present Anthony is still living in Philly, it would be great if he could add to that part of the saga.

By the time, WWII came around, John Sr. and Maggie had moved to Greenwich. Prohibition was over and that put an end to the lucrative liquor distribution system they had enjoyed. It was also a family tale, that they had become "hot" in Philadelphia police circles. According to the story, they were never caught because they had hinged the baseboard in their house and slid the bottles into the wall and pushed up. It would work much like the vending machines of today if I understand it correctly. The police raided them periodically, but could never find the alcohol in the walls.

There was also some talk about their home being connected to a church in some way, with the police in Philly raiding the church as well. That may be true or simply embellishment for the telling of the tale. We would have to find their address in Philadelphia to check that story further.

It is also family lore that toward the end, the Gambino crime family became involved and they were forced out. Just another case of the large retailer coming into the market and squeezing out the little guy, I guess.