An era has come to the end for the New Jersey mafia and the DeCavalcante crime family with the death of long time boss Giovanni “John the Eagle” Riggi.
The longtime New Jersey mob godfather took over officially as boss in the early 1980’s controlling the family for decades. Riggi’s passing at age of 90 leaves an opening atop the DeCavalcante family at least in an official capacity. The day to day operations has been run by various acting bosses appointed by Riggi over the last several years as he served a extended prison sentence ending in 2012. Now the thrown sits vacant in New Jersey and many wonder who are the leading candidates to take over.
“John Riggi (front)”
Current reputed Decavalcante family acting boss Francesco “Frank” Guarraci is thought by many to be the leading candidate to take over as official boss. Frank Guarraci has a long history in the DeCavalcante family becoming a made man in the New Jersey mafia in 1989 inducted by Riggi himself and is believed to have become a capo in the family somewhere around 2005-2006 according to law enforcement. The Sicilian born mobster was then appointed to control the family’s daily operations as acting boss by Riggi back in 2007-2008 after convictions of various members of families leadership. He is also believed to have ties to the powerful Gambino family of New York.
Another main candidate to become the new mafia boss in Jersey is Charles Majuri a powerful captain in the family for several years and believed by some to play a role in families leadership currently. Majuri himself has a deep history in the mafia with his father Frank Majuri serving as the families consigliere and underboss. Majuri even at 75 remains a power with in the family and many believe has enough backing with in the family itself to make a play for boss. With links to both the Lucchese and Genovese families from his North Jersey ties he could definitely make his case along with Guarraci if he has the desire to move up the ranks of the family as his father did years ago.
The Gambino crime family of the New York mafia have had long standing ties and held influence with in the DeCavalcante family for years. Its believed by many mob experts and law enforcement sources that Guarraci has the full backing of the current Sicilian leadership of the Gambino family and this in itself makes him the most likely candidate to be installed as new official boss. Sicilian mobsters have a long history with in the DeCavalcante family dating back to the families origins and if the Gambino family has input on who’s next to lead then Guarraci seems to have the inside track.
The DeCavalcante family remains a viable Cosa Nostra family and rumors of late even have the family expanding its membership and re-establishing its power base. These rumors are still unsubstantiated but the family still remains in control of profitable mafia rackets all the same making the top spot one of the more coveted outside of the New York families. Many will be watching the mob in New Jersey to see what happens next as the family transitions past the Riggi era. Could multiple members make a play for the top leading to a rift with in the family ? It seems unlikely but the if and when questions remain and mob history definitely tells us anything can happen when power is up for grabs.
