Samuel Rizzo De Cavalcante
Convicted in 1970 of Travel Act extortion offenses arising from a 1966 meeting at his office in Kenilworth, N.J.; the Third Circuit reversed two convictions and ordered a new trial on the third in 1971. Court records only.
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state.
On the record
- 30 September 1966 — 440 F.2d 1264: six gamblers robbed at a Trevose, Pennsylvania motel "met with De Cavalcante and Vastola at De Cavalcante's office in Kenilworth, New Jersey," where he said he had persuaded Vastola "to accept $12,000 in 'settlement.'" Court's summary of the evidence.
- 22 May 1968 — 440 F.2d 1264: indicted with Gaetano Vastola and Daniel Annunziata.
- September 1970 — 440 F.2d 1264: convicted after an eight-day jury trial of conspiracy to extort and two substantive Travel Act counts; sentenced to "three consecutive terms of imprisonment of five years each."
- 10 March 1971 — 440 F.2d 1264: the Third Circuit reverses his convictions on counts one and two and vacates count three for a new trial, holding that no conspiracy was proved.
No family or role is given. The 1971 opinion makes no finding about organized-crime membership. It reports that one witness was “always told” by another man that De Cavalcante “was the big boss of rackets in New Jersey,” and holds that this hearsay could not be attributed to him; the defense called him “a friendly arbitrator.” The family that later opinions call the “Decavalcante” family is described on the pages for 541 F.3d 94 and 464 F.3d 346, which do not mention him.
No opened record gives his birth or death. The FBI’s recordings of his office, published commercially in 1970, were not opened and are not used.