Introduction
Andrew Scarduzio was born around 1897 to Italian immigrant parents. The Scarduzio family had moved en masse to Camden’s Eight Ward by 1930. Members of the family became active in politics, real estate, law, and on occasion were caught up in situations involving them with law enforcement.
Politics in the Eight Ward was not a game for the faint of heart. One political leader, Joseph “Mose” Flannery, was gunned down on September 14, 1928. Flannery was known to be involved in various underworld activities, primarily connected with illegal slot machines. A Scarduzio relative, Joseph “Cuzzy” Scarduzio, was present when Flannery was shot, and was held as a material witness.
The 1924 Camden City Directory shows Andrew Scarduzio married, working as a laborer, and living with his wife Cecelia at 1910 South 4th Street. The 1927 Directory shows him married, working as laborer, and living at 1909 South 7th Street. This directory states that his wife’s name is Jennie. Mr. and Mrs. Scarduzio are not listed, however, in the 1929 City Directory.
By September of 1933 Andrew Scarduzio was living at 1804 South 4th Street. On the 18th of that month he was charged with atrocious assault and held for the grand jury.
In 1934, younger brother Nicholas Scarduzio led a “victory parade” in the wake of the May 17th primary election to determine control of the Republican Party in Camden County. The parade turned into a riot when the participants stopped in front of the bar owned by opposition candidate William Tansky. At least two shots were fired, several arrests were made, and Nicholas Scarduzio was reported to have been badly beaten.
On December 24, 1939 Andrew Scarduzio was in the company of his younger brother Nicholas, a former Camden summer policeman and political worker in the Eighth Ward. The brothers tried to enter a taproom in Bellmawr NJ long after closing time. Andrew was shot to death. One month later Nicholas Scarduzio was arrested and held without bail after a shooting incident at a restaurant at 1806 Broadway by County Detective Wilfred Dube on orders of Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando. Orlando ordered County Chief of Detectives Lawrence Doran to launch an investigation, while Camden Director of Public Safety Mary W. Kobus ordered then Chief of Police Ralph Bakley to conduct a similar probe after reading the incident reports filed by Camden Police Officers Carl Fredericks and Oliver Morgan.
In April of 1944 another Scarduzio relation, Albert “Swifty” Scarduzio, was questioned in relation to the gangland murder of Vincent “China” Scola, who had been implicated in the sale of counterfeit gasoline ration stamps.
Cop Arrests His Brother on Various Charges After He Is Attacked
Camden Morning-Post —
Named: Andrew Scarduzio, Richard Scarduzio, South 4th Street, Fillmore Street, and Ferry Avenue.
Woman Accuses Two of Assault in Home
Camden Courier-Post —
Andrew Scarduzio, 35, of 1804 South Fourth street, and Edward McCloy, 29, of 50 Yale road, Audubon, are being held without bail pending a hearing in police court today on charges of atrocious assault and battery preferred by Martha Kuchinski, of 47 Jasper Street.
The woman told police they broke down the door of her home at 3 a.m. Saturday and assaulted her.
2 Held to Grand Jury on Woman’s Charges
Camden Courier-Post —
Charged with atrocious assault and battery, two men were held without bail for the grand jury yesterday by Police Judge Pancoast.
Andrew Scarduzio, 35, of 1804 South Fourth street, and Edward McCloy, 29, of 50 Yale road, Audubon, were arrested early Saturday on complaint by Martha Kuchinski, of 47 Jasper Street.
The woman testified the two men broke down the door of her home and assaulted her. They denied the charge.
Police Seeking Hidden Motive in Bar Slaying
Camden Courier-Post —
Doubt ‘Brawl’ Explanation in Fatal Bellmawr Shooting of Andrew Scarduzio
COUNTY DETECTIVE CHIEF ORDERS MORE QUIZZING
Police sought a “hidden motive” for the slaying early Sunday of Andrew Scarduzio, Eighth ward political worker, in a Bellmawr taproom.
Little credence was given to the story that the shooting occurred during a brawl which followed the barring of three men from the taproom at 5.30 a. m.
County Detective Chief Lawrence T. Doran today ordered the questioning of two women, one a resident of Camden, who were at the establishment when the shooting occurred.
Fresh Quiz Ordered
Doran also ordered further questioning of Dale Rose, proprietor of the saloon where the shooting occurred, on the Black Horse pike, at Bellmawr.
A third man was taken to City Hall early today for questioning by police, but whether he was held was not disclosed.
He is Joseph Romanowski, 28, of Mt. Vernon street, near Orchard street. According to Doran the latest man questioned denied he was present at the time of the shooting of Scarduzio, but was there two hours before when there was an argument over who was to pay for the drinks.
Romanowski was taken into custody in a tavern near his home by Detective Sergeant Thomas Murphy.
“I was at the Bellmawr saloon at 3 a. m., when the bartender closed the place for the night,” Romanowski told Doran, the detective chief said. “But I did not return at 5 a. m., when the murder was committed.”
Two Others Held
Police said the only criminal record against Romanowski was an arrest 10 years ago for carrying concealed deadly weapons. Disposition of the case is not on record.
The second man questioned and held in connection with the investigation is Joseph Lenkowski, 29. According to Dominic “Mickey” Hanley, bartender, who had an argument with five men over payment of drinks at 3 a. m., Lenkowski was one of them. Lenkowski is being held as a material witness.
Stephan Jaskiewicz, 22, a criminal registrant who came here from Pittsburgh in 1937, was held for investigation Sunday night.
Two other men are being sought. They are believed to have been members of the trio which forced its way into the Black Horse pike tavern, engaged in a free-for-all battle, fired seven shots from three guns and ran out.
Scarduzio, Eighth ward political worker, was shot in the groin and the ankle and died several hours later in West Jersey Hospital. The dead man was a brother of Nicholas Scarduzio, recently employed by City Commissioner Mary W. Kobus, director of public safety, to check parking law violations. Nicholas was a witness to the shooting.
Lenkowski, who was arrested yesterday, first broke into police records in May, 1931, when he was convicted of being one of four bandits who broke into the old Bridge Cafe at Front and Pearl streets. One of the bandits was killed by Policeman Everett Joslin. A jury convicted Lenkowski and on its mercy recommendation he was sent to Rahway.
Still Seeking Motive
When arrested by Chief Doran and City Detective Harry Kyler, Lenkowski gave his address as 535 South Eighth street. He was booked after being taken to Bellmawr for identification.
Hanley told the police that when the men refused to pay for what had been served to them, he said: “Okay. It’s my mistake and we’ll call it a little Christmas party on the house.”
A. B. C. Enters Case
No guns were flashed on the first visit and no reports of threats by the departing quintette have been made public.
Three agents for the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission entered the case yesterday to determine why Rose’s place was open at 5.30 Sunday morning. The agents are William Brooks, Bayard Sullivan and Roscoe Lockwood. They went to Bellmawr and took statements from Rose and others who were in the tavern at the time of the shooting.
The A. B. C. entered the case after the borough council at a special meeting Sunday afternoon suspended Rose’s license pending investigation by the council, mayor and county officials.
Gunmen in Philadelphia Murder Colozzi in Numbers War
Camden Courier-Post —
Westmont Victim Reported to Have Been Aide of Klosterman
Scarduzio Death Tie-Up Also Seen
A reputed employee of Fred Klosterman, Camden numbers baron, was shot and killed in Philadelphia last night in what police there believed was an inter-city fight for control of the numbers racket.
The dead man was Joseph Colozzi, 49, of Westmont, known in the underworld and police circles as a “cheap thief.”
While Captain John Murphy, of the Philadelphia vice squad, expressed belief the slaying of Colozzi and shooting last Sunday of Klosterman were related, County Detective Chief Lawrence T. Doran was working on another angle.
Visited Colozzi’s Home
Doran said Colozzi had been closely associated during the last 10 days with John Lenkowski, 22, a fugitive wanted here in connection with the murder of Andrew Scarduzio.
“Both of them were convicted of similar offences—thievery, and they apparently were hooked up together lately. I could not say whether either of them ever was in the numbers racket.”
Philadelphia police, however, seemed certain Colozzi was shot as a result of a new “numbers war.” They said they had information that the dead man apparently was in the employ of a Camden numbers bank.
Credence was given the report that local numbers barons are attempting to “muscle in” on the “Philadelphia play” when Irving Bickel, 34, who admits being friendly with Klosterman, was arrested yesterday.
New Setup Alleged
Bickel, Murphy said, declared he had been contacting numbers writers in Philadelphia to inform them of a “new setup” and invite them to join.
Detective Sergeant Benjamin Simon and Detective Edwin Mills questioned Bickel in Philadelphia yesterday and said he admitted “knowing Klosterman” but denied he worked for him.
Simon and Mills were in Philadelphia again today working on the Colozzi shooting to ascertain whether there was any connection between the slaying and shooting of Klosterman on Sunday. Simon said he would investigate to learn if the slain man ever had been in the employ of Klosterman.
A theory advanced yesterday by police that Klosterman had been shot by killers hired by Atlantic City gamblers brought on an expression of surprise from shore police.
Detective Captain Frank Feretti said he did not know of any gambling house near the Union Station in which Klosterman may have been interested. He said no request had “been made by Camden police for an inquiry at the resort.”
Colozzi was murdered at Eleventh and Carpenter Streets, South Philadelphia, last night. The top of his head was blasted by shotgun slugs to end a career in crime that extended over 30 years, with at least 30 arrests.
Colozzi’s body was found lying across the trolley tracks in a darkened section near the Bartlett Junior High School.
Police of the Seventh and Carpenter streets station a few minutes before received an anonymous telephone call that “there’s been a shooting at Eleventh and Catherine.” The caller hung up.
No One Sees Shooting
Homicide squad detectives under Acting Captain William C. Bugle rounded up a number of persons in the neighborhood but could locate no one who admitted he saw the shooting. That was what the police expected, for the section has been the scene of unsolved gang killings in the past.
Captain Engle admitted the possibility that Colozzi may have been allied in some way with Jersey gamblers attempting to poach on Philadelphia territory, and had met sudden death for that reason.
Though Captain Engle described the murdered man as a “cheap thief” he wouldn’t deny the possible link to the threatened outbreak in a numbers war between rival operators as evidenced by the Klosterman shooting.
“I won’t say there’s a tie up, and I won’t say there’s not,” said Engle. “We can’t tell, right now.”
Syndicate Under Way
But the story told Captain Murphy, head of Philadelphia’s vice squad, by a Camden man known to be a pal of Klosterman, put further credence in the rumored attempts at revision along the numbers front.
The man is Bickel of a hotel at Delaware Avenue and Market street, who yesterday was held in $1000 bail for a hearing next Tuesday by Magistrate Thomas Connor in Philadelphia’s central police court on suspicion of being connected with the numbers racket. He was picked up in Germantown.
Captain Murphy said Bickel admitted to him he was contacting various numbers writers for the purpose of having them pool their resources.
“He admitted verbally he had the names of several Philadelphia writers and that he was trying to line up the boys,” Murphy said. “He is trying to coerce them with a new numbers set-up. That will cause a revival of gang warfare.”
Although the murdered man was never known to have had theatrical connections police said he often boasted he was an entertainer in a New York cabaret.
Brother of Philadelphia Cop
The body of Colozzi, brother of a Philadelphia policeman, was identified by the officer’s wife at the Pennsylvania Hospital, Eighth and Spruce Streets. Five bullets had penetrated his skull.
Police said Colozzi lived at 113 Westmont Avenue, Westmont, since his last release from prison, some time during September 1939.
He lived with his wife Rose and most of their eight children.
In Colozzi’s pocket, when a police ambulance arrived at the scene, was a card bearing his name and the Westmont address.
He was one of two brothers of John Colozzi, whose police record was said to be longer even than Joe’s, and is being sought.
Police of Haddon Township said Colozzi was known to them only as an “innocent” junk dealer, who plied his trade picking up old car parts in and around the section.
Colozzi’s last brush with the law according to the Philadelphia police records, was last Spring when he was implicated in a dress robbery. He was freed in September after serving part of his sentence.
Meanwhile Camden city and county detectives continued their investigations into the pump gun shooting of Klosterman, who remained in critical condition at West Jersey Hospital.
Klosterman was shot down in front of his saloon at Mount Ephraim Avenue and Mechanic Street at 10:00 PM Sunday as he went to the street to drive his car to a garage. The would-be killer sped away.
Seldom In Jail Long
Colozzi had run afoul of the law since early school days, but he often boasted that “with all the friends I got, I can’t stay in jail long.” He invariably managed to regain freedom, only to renew his jostles with police.
The stiffest sentence he ever got was on December 13, 1934 when Judge Frank F. Neutze sent him and an accomplice to state prison for robbing a coat factory at 7 South 3rd Street four months before.
In passing sentence on the much arrested “Manayunk Joe,” Judge Neutze put aside pleas the prisoner was the father of eight children and sent him “up the river” for a term of six to seven years.
“You’re a typical criminal and a menace to the public,” Judge Neutze said in a searing rebuke. “A light sentence won’t do you any good. Your record is one of the longest shown to me since I have been on the bench. You represent a type that is better off behind bars, for outside of prison you are a menace to the public. I’ll go the limit with you.”
Obtained Police Badge
But Colozzi merely nodded, apparently thinking of which “friend” he would call on this time to get him out.
Previously Joe had established a second-hand tire shop on the White Horse Pike at Lindenwold and escaped serious penalty as police held a continuous club over his head for suspected escapades.
On one occasion he diverted his talents to another “profession”—extortion. By some means he obtained a police badge in Clementon township. A few months later he and several other members of the police department were rounded up for wholesale extortion of money from motorists and truck drivers.
Those were the days of Prohibition, and the White Horse Pike was a frequently used highway for passage of beer trucks between Philadelphia and Camden and Atlantic City and other sea shore points.
The extortion continued among other motorists most of them guilty of petty violations. There were times when Colozzi took “anything they had,” police said.
35-Year Police Record
Colozzi’s police record dates back to 1904, when as a child of 12 he was committed to the Glen Mills, Pa. Home for Boys for petty larceny. He served 19 months.
In 1909 he was given a two-month sentence in the Montgomery county jail at Norristown PA, after another conviction for larceny.
Then followed a series of brushes with the law, with Colozzi landing behind bars a dozen times, but invariably obtaining freedom before the expiration of his term.
The record continues: 1914, committed to Philadelphia County Prison, larceny, three months;
In 1915, for receiving stolen goods, Eastern Penitentiary, four years and six months;
In 1919, at Newark, larceny, sentenced to two to seven months and pardoned in December, 1920.
A 10-year stretch followed during which his name failed to appear on police records.
Acquitted of Charge
In 1929, State Police of the Hammonton barracks arrested him for extortion, but he was acquitted in Camden County Criminal Court May 30, 1930.
In 1930 he was arrested in Trenton for breaking and entering and sentenced to a year and six months in Mercer County jail.
In 1933 he was taken in custody by the U.S. Marshal at Trenton. No disposition of the case is listed.
Later in 1933 he was arrested for larceny in Philadelphia, and no record is known further of the case.
Later the same year Camden police arrested him for attempted larceny. No disposition.
In October 1933, he was jailed by U.S. Marshals for violation of the Dyer Act, interstate transportation of a stolen auto, but was placed on five years’ probation.
In July 1934 he was arrested in Camden for breaking and entering and in December of the same year was sentenced to six to seven years in State Prison.
The last time he appeared in local police records was less than a year ago, when he was arrested on a detainer for violation of federal parole and sent to Mercer County jail. A few days later he was freed.
Scarduzio Jailed by Orlando After Gun Play in Restaurant
Camden Courier-Post —
Action Follows Police Failure to Report On Shooting
PROBE ORDERED BY MRS. KOBUS
Nick Scarduzio, 39, former Summer policeman, was held last night without bail for grand jury action on a charge of atrocious assault and battery and intent to kill as a sequel to a gun-play row at 3 a. m. Saturday in a South Camden restaurant.
Scarduzio was taken into custody by County Detective Wilfred Dube on orders of Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando.
Investigation of police failure to report immediately the shooting affray was promised by Commissioner Mary W. Kobus, director of public safety.
“I wasn’t apprised of this case until 4.30 o’clock yesterday,” Mrs. Kobus said. “Ordinarily our policemen aren’t required to report little barroom brawls. This is different. I intend to investigate thoroughly. I shall interview these policemen this afternoon and until I have talked with them, I will await developments.”
Brother Slain December 24th
Scarduzio was a brother of Andrew Scarduzio, Eighth ward political worker, who was fatally shot in a Bellmawr taproom on December 24 during a brawl in which the brothers sought to eject three men who demanded entry to the place at 5.30 a. m. after the cafe had been closed for the night. Andrew was employed as the cafe handyman.
Arrested by Dube on “information received,” Nick Scarduzio, who lives at 419 Webster street, and who has had numerous encounters with police, allegedly went berserk when requested by a patron of Mike Patsourakas’ restaurant at 1806 Broadway to refrain from profanity in the presence of several women diners.
Lawrence T. Doran, chief of county detectives, said he obtained statements of several witnesses.
Doran said he learned Scarduzio entered the restaurant after visiting a nearby taproom and was in a “disagreeable mood.”
Taking a place at the counter, Scarduzio became loud, Doran said he learned, and was accosted by Robert Wolfe, 32, of 1128 Langham avenue, another diner.
Wolfe requested Scarduzio to calm down, witnesses told Doran, whereupon Scarduzio reached across the counter and seized a knife with which he threatened Wolfe and later picked up a heavy sugar bowl and hurled it, striking Wolfe on the head.
Wolfe raised his hands in defense, Doran quoted the witnesses, and Scarduzio whipped out a gun and fired two shots. His aim was diverted when Patsourakas grabbed his arm and Wolfe dashed toward the rest of the place as the other diners scattered.
More Shots Fired
Scarduzio attempted to follow Wolfe, according to Doran, and the fleeing man hid behind a box in a rear room. Scarduzio raced past him into an alleyway where, the detective chief said, he saw another figure and fired two more shots. Wolfe later was taken to Cooper Hospital where three stitches were used to close the wound caused by the sugar bowl.
Doran said three city policemen arrived later at the scene, but that subsequent investigation revealed no account of the incident was on city police records. No report was made to the city detective bureau.
Orlando ordered the county detective bureau to investigate the case and Scarduzio’s arrest followed. Doran also related that the weapon which was taken from Scarduzio by Patsourakas and “broken” was later taken over by city police.
Chief of Police Ralph Bakley, who was taking reports from the three city officers, said there was nothing said by them about taking the gun from the restaurant owner. He will question them on that phase of the case later today, he said.
Was Special Officer
Scarduzio was employed last month by Commissioner Kobus as a special officer making a check on all-day parkers in the city business section. Doran said he learned the man is no longer employed by the city.
The city police report, made yesterday afternoon, according to Mrs. Kobus, follows:
“I have to report that about 3 a. m. Saturday, Jan. 20, we were cruising in scout car south on Broadway. We were stopped by a young man at Broadway and Ferry avenue. He told us there had been a fight in a restaurant located two doors south of Ferry avenue on the east side of Broadway. Officer (Oliver) Morgan and I entered the restaurant and we saw all the patrons sitting down. We asked if there had been any trouble and they said there had been a fight but that it was all over. So we left the place after we searched all persons in the place for a gun, not finding any. ‘One man had been hit on the head with a sugar bowl.’ He refused to make any charge and also refused to go to a hospital.”
The report was signed by Carl Fredericks and Oliver Morgan. Policeman Paul Jackson, the foot patrolman on that beat, made a similar report, Bakley said.