# Hearing of October 1, 1963, pp. 188–192: the "contract" on Joseph Catania ("Joe Baker") and the police record of his killing on February 3, 1931

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/mcc-1963-10-01-pp188-192-joseph-catania-joe-baker/

Valachi testified that Maranzano would not make peace until Joe Baker was killed, and described the watch from an apartment in the Bronx. Sgt. Ralph Salerno read the police record: Joseph Catania, alias Joe Baker, 29, shot six times 15 feet west of 647 Crescent Avenue on February 3, 1931, died in Fordham Hospital.

Printed pages 188 to 192 of Part 1 (NCJRS PDF pages 203 to 207), October 1, 1963. Valachi testified that Maranzano held a personal grudge against Joe Baker, whom he said had hijacked Maranzano's alcohol trucks, and quoted Maranzano: "If I don't get Joe Baker, I will never make peace." He described a failed attempt, weeks of watching from a top-floor apartment, and the morning the group entered an empty apartment where three painters were working. He said he left Sally Shields, "Buster" and Nick Capuzzi there while he waited with the car, and that he did not remember whether he heard the shots. He placed it at "183d Street and Crescent Avenue, the Bronx," and dated it "About 1930."

The chairman then asked Sergeant Ralph Salerno of the New York Police Department for the record. Salerno read: "On February 3, 1931, at 11:45 p.m., 15 feet west of 647 Crescent Avenue in the Bronx, one Joseph Catania, alias Joe Baker ..., male, white, 29, while walking in front of that premise was shot six times in the head and body, causing his death in Fordham Hospital to which he was removed. Before he died, in spite of mortal wounds he could not or would not identify the perpetrators of the crime. The case is active."

Two details do not agree and are left as printed. Valachi's year is "About 1930"; the police record gives February 3, 1931, as does the box for "Joe Baker" on the staff chart, [Exhibit 8](/items/valachi-exhibit-8-masseria-maranzano-chart/), which reads "Murdered Feb 3, 1931." Valachi describes a morning, and the printed police time is "11:45 p.m." The chart names the man "James Catania"; the police record names him "Joseph Catania." Asked whether he was paid, Valachi said no: "if this organization finds out that any member gets paid for any killing, he is in trouble" (printed page 193).

Valachi's account is his sworn testimony and is not a finding; nobody was charged with this killing in this record. Catania's home address, printed in the police record, is not repeated here. The page image stored here is printed page 192.

## Sources

- National Criminal Justice Reference Service, scan of the printed hearings (NCJ 119303): https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/119303NCJRS.pdf
- NCJRS catalog record (NCJ 119303): https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/organized-crime-and-illicit-traffic-narcotics-hearing-us-senate