Hearing of October 9, 1963, pp. 332–333: New Jersey Assistant Attorney General John J. Bergin on the bodies of Samuel Monaco and Louis Russo, found September 13, 1931
John J. Bergin testified from New Jersey records that Samuel Monaco was reported missing on September 10, 1931, and that on September 13 his body and that of Louis Russo were found in Newark Bay, one ashore at Bayonne and the other at Kearny, their heads crushed and throats cut. Monaco's car was found on 46th Street in New York.
- Date
- 1963-10-09
- Kind
- hearing
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- Rights
- A work of the United States Senate, printed by the Government Printing Office. Public domain in the United States. 17 U.S.C. § 105. The NCJRS cover sheet records reproduction permission as "Public Domain / U.S. Senate."
Printed pages 332 and 333 of Part 1 (NCJRS PDF pages 359 and 360), October 9, 1963. The witness is “John J. Bergin, assistant attorney general, director of criminal investigations, New Jersey” (printed page 327). Counsel Jerome Adlerman asked him about two New Jersey killings Valachi had described, those of “Don Steven” and of “Monaco.”
Bergin answered that Valachi had testified “to a Sam Monaco being killed in New Jersey by being thrown into the Passaic River,” and that “A search of the records discloses that a Samuel Monaco and a Louis Russo were found in that area at that time. A missing person on Samuel Monaco was sent out by the East Orange Police Department on September 10, 1931. On September 13, 1931, two bodies were floating in what is Newark Bay. Both the Passaic and the Hackensack River empty into Newark Bay. One body washed ashore or was pulled ashore to Bayonne, N.J., and was identified as Samuel Monaco. The other body, Louis Russo, wound up in Kearney, N.J. The cause of death was identical in both, both had their heads crushed, their throats cut. They were wrapped in sashcord and weighted down with sash weights. Ultimately, Sam Monaco’s car was discovered on 46th Street in New York. He had been missing since the 10th of September.” Asked how this related to Maranzano’s killing, he said: “They were found 2 days later or 3 days later.”
He went on to Stefano Badami, “also known as Don Steven,” stabbed to death in a Newark restaurant on March 31, 1955, and said that a Frank Monaco, held as a material witness in that case, said his brother Samuel Monaco “had been in business with Don Badami prior to his death in 1931.”
Bergin is a state official testifying from records; he does not say who killed Monaco and Russo, and no charge is mentioned. “Kearney” is the transcript’s spelling of Kearny. Valachi had called the man “Sam Monica” and said he was killed the same day as Maranzano (pp. 227–233). The rest of Bergin’s testimony on these pages, about a 1952 interview of Valachi and about immunity statutes, is not part of this record’s subject.
Page images: printed p. 332 (stored above) and p. 333.
