The Early Years

By Vincent Caggiano

THE EARLY YEARS is part one of a biography about growing up in New York City during the 1930's and 40's. This part spans approximately 80 years, including the 1930’s depression years, the rise of the mafia, and the author's brush with it.

The first immigrants came from Caggiano, a small Italian village in the south of Italy, near Pompeii and Sorrento. Settling in the East side of NYC along the East River, the family is confronted with mafia hoodlums almost immediately, and the mafia continues to plague the Caggianos for three generations.

The depression years are very harsh requiring everyone to contribute to support the family, including scavenging at the local garbage dump. Sickness is commonplace and early deaths are every day events. Half the children born will die before reaching age 10. Those that survive the terrible hardships, two world wars, and the Korea war, will find a bright future.

Part two spans 60 years, from the mid 1950's to the present, and includes the author's professional life in research at Johns Hopkins University and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. This section also includes a brief description of the author’s part in developing the Global Positioning System (GPS) that we have come to accept and use almost daily.

After his business in the new area of Biomedical Engineering fails, Vincent buys a decrepit marina in Virginia to embark on a new career in boating enterprises. After 30 years of an unhappy marriage and sexual frustration, the author finally succumbs to an extra-marital affair which, fortuitously ends the marriage.

On the cusp of starting a new life, the author is faced with a new dilemma, caring for his aging parents, alone, since his sibling sister refuses to assist in their care.

Struggling back from the abyss of complete nervous breakdown, he gradually emerges to find a well deserved, but unfortunately, temporary happiness. His adult children refuse further association with him. This is the ultimate price to pay for survival, extreme duress, and family disintegration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vincent Caggiano
• Release date: Feb 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301425389

Vincent Caggiano

Vincent Caggiano is a graduate of The University of Maryland with degrees in electrical engineering and applied math. He was inaugurated into the honor societies Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu, and continued with post-grad work at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in Biomedical Engineering. While continuing his studies, Vincent worked at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab starting as an academic scholarship in 1955, and later as a research engineer, he worked on missile programs, artificial intelligence, space studies including a Mars probe, and early satellite programs. During the latter, he was a member of the team that developed GPS, a story that he hopes to write about in another book. During this period he also taught computer logic in the University of Maryland graduate school. His interest in artificial intelligence led to an offer to join a team at The Walter Reed Institute of Research in Washington DC, to study single brain cells. His innovative approach resulted in the development of new instruments to record single brain cell activity, and later he was part of several teams studying Parkinson disease, physiological shock, patient monitoring systems, and a variety of other programs, where he developed additional new instruments. Vincent founded Biomedical Electronics, a small company devoted to the development of patient monitoring and medical instruments. This company was integrated into ILC Industries, the supplier of the early space suits for astronauts. After retiring from scientific areas of endeavor, Vincent's attention turned to boating and marine activities in Virginia, then retirement. Vincent is now retired and lives in Florida but continues to write, mostly fiction, a new venue for him. He has previously published 25 technical articles and research papers as well as chapters in books, and a text book on computer logic.

Book preview

THE EARLY YEARS

Vincent Caggiano

Copyright © 2013 Vincent Caggiano

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition

ISBN 9781301425389

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PREFACE

It is always difficult to determine relevant inclusions to a biography. To write this life in a single volume would entail over 600 pages so I have broken it into three parts. Part one covers an unhappy childhood through teen years, all spent in New York City. This includes a bit of ancestral history and immigration during the middle 1800’s through 1950.

Part two covers my professional and married life. This period was happy and successful in part, as well as sad, ending in misery, despite the heroic efforts to hold together for 30 years. This was the inevitable consequence of an unlikely marriage of two people mismatched from the beginning. The one major ingredient missing throughout this period was a loving intimacy.

Many mistakes are made during one’s lifetime and part two holds back nothing, including the mistakes of the mother, the mistakes of the (adult) children, and lastly in part three, the mistakes of the father.

This narrative is a poor attempt to chronicle a seemingly worthless existence that brought so little contribution to society. Others have gone before me with little or no contribution as well, but many have gone before, and surely many will come after, who have, and will, contribute great advances to modern man.

But, perhaps, I may be judged not by how much I contributed, but simply who I am.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Two people deserve special thanks for encouraging me to write about my life. Jayne Berlin, a longtime companion, who suffered through my long hours of writing while I often ignored her needs. Then there is Bonnie Brands who always wanted me to tell my story, or tell me a story. Bob and Karen Knopes repeatedly encouraged me to write about my early life in New York City.

AUTHOR’S STATEMENT

This book is a work of non-fiction. As in all works of non-fiction, the literary perceptions are based on the experience of the author. All names, places characters, and incidents are products of the author's personal experience and may differ from other persons living in a similar time and place. No reference to any person, place, or incident is intended to be disparaging, and none should be inferred. Print Edition available at Amazon.com

PART I -- THE EARLY YEARS

CHAPTER 1 ------------------ IN AMERICA 1866-1934

CHAPTER 2 ------------------ EARLY MEMORIES 1930’s

CHAPTER 3 ------------------ GRANDPA’S HOUSE 1930’s

CHAPTER 4 ------------------ HARD TIMES 1930’S

CHAPTER 5 ------------------ MAFIA YEARS 1940’S

CHAPTER 6 ------------------ TEENAGE YEARS 1944-1950

CHAPTER 7 ------------------ TWO LIVES

CHAPTER 8 ------------------ THE ARMY 1950

CHAPTER 9 ------------------ REASSIGNMENT

PART II -- SINS OF THE MOTHER

Work in process

PART III -- SINS OF THE FATHER

Work in process

If I have given you delight

By aught that I have done,

Let me lie quiet in that night

Which shall be yours anon:

And for that little, little span

The dead are borne in mind,

Seek not to question other than

The books I leave behind

The Appeal by Rudyard Kipling

CHAPTER 1

IN AMERICA

Photo Commune Di Caggiano today

There is a small village called Commune Di Caggiano in the southern part of Italy. It sits atop a rocky bluff overlooking farm fields and vineyards. My grandfather, Vincenzo (my namesake) was born here in 1864. His father was Rosario and his mother was Alizabetta Sarle. The largest city in the area is Salerno, about 25 miles southwest. Salerno is on the Gulf Di Salerno and is the gateway to the vast fishing areas of the bay of Naples and Capri. About 35 miles further north are the ruins of Pompeii, which is reputed to be the original home of the Caggianos.

One of the folklore tales suggests that they were slaves of the Roman rich in Pompeii 2000 years ago, who survived the purge of the early Christians and the Vesuvius eruption, and then fled to the mesa where the village now stands. Another version says that they were Greek artisans and craftsmen, and remained free exercising their skills for the wealthy Romans in Pompeii. Still another version of the village history is that the first inhabitants were survivors of the brutal crackdown by Crassus, the Roman general, who ended the slave rebellion initiated by Spartacus in 73 BC. After Spartacus was defeated in 71 BC, the few survivors roamed the countryside and settled in the area. In either case, they apparently escaped the demolition of Pompeii when the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius buried the city in 67 AD.

The Caggiano family crest

The village of Caggiano has a recorded Christian history dating back over 1100 years, while relics of pre-Roman habitation suggest man's existence in the area as far back as 5000 BC. The population of Caggiano has been approximately 3000, for a thousand years.

I visited this beautiful village and actually found cousins who knew of the Caggiano family that emigrated. Indeed, I spoke with Lucia and her father Guiseppi Caggiano. He was elderly but remembered clearly his grandfather speaking of the relatives who left to go to America. He told me that there were only two families left now, the other being Giovanni Caggiano, the mayor of the village, while the remainder have gone to America many years ago. Lucia’s friend, Josephina, was also there. Josephina told us that she went to America with her new husband five years ago but returned to Caggiano after her husband died in an auto accident. Her husband, a Caggiano, was one of the emigrants moving to America in recent times.

I visited the tiny historic church and met with Father Guiseppi who spoke no English while I spoke only a few words of Italian. This limited our conversation to bare essentials, but I was able to see the historic register of Caggiano names and families. The first Lord of Caggiano was William Cauciciano, appointed in 1092 by a grant, which is still preserved in the Abbey of Cava. From then on, first-born sons of each Lord continued the line. In 1246, the two ruling brothers took part in a conspiracy against Frederick II. However, when they lost the insurrection, they were confined to Rome for protection lest Frederick execute them. From that time on there have been any number of defeats and victories by various claimants until Garibaldi finally united Italy to bring a lasting peace to the region.

As in many old European villages, it would be difficult to locate a specific person by name because many residents bore the same name. One needs to know the profession of the sought after name, for example, Caggiano, the stonemason, or Caggiano, the carpenter, or the wine maker etc. So it was that I could find Caggiano, the stonemason, who seemed like a good candidate to be my great grandfather.

The village has only a few residents who still bear the Caggiano name and as a visitor from America who is a descendant of the original Caggianos, I was somewhat of a celebrity. As I walked through the town, I saw a placard in the window of a newspaper office (which was closed) describing an annual celebration that took place earlier in the summer. The placard displayed a photo of the players who took part in a show depicting the history of Caggiano. The photo caption indicated that the players used authentic clothing worn by the clan in years past. My visit was a wonderful and delightful experience that I hope to repeat again soon.

Arriving in Caggiano September 1999

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It is from this family village that a number of Caggianos emigrated during the last half of the 19th century. I do not know the details of Vincenzo’s family but we do know that he had an older brother, James, born in 1861. James immigrated to America in 1880 (perhaps with, or a little later than, another older brother or uncle, named Guiseppi. There are records of Guiseppi settling in Brooklyn and the younger Vincenzo (my grandfather) visiting him there when he (Vincenzo) emigrated in 1880 at age 14. Vincenzo stayed with Guiseppi for a brief period and then later worked with James, and then on his own when he was 17. James was a trucker hauling building materials with his horses and wagons, while Vincenzo was a skilled mason. They both worked to build the Queensboro Bridge (59th street) which connects Queens with Manhattan over the East river.

James became reasonably successful and acquired a small piece of land in Long Island City, a section of Astoria, Queens, not far from the bridge construction area. At this time, Queens was not part of New York City but was considered an outlying suburb. This despite the fact that one could look across the East river and see Manhattan, which was the infamous East side of New York City. This particular neighborhood was called Ravenswood, essentially a slum.

My father’s mother, Carmella Curcio was born to Guiseppi Curcio and Nicolette Lorenzo in Naples (area) on 21 July 1869. She immigrated to America at age 16 with Carmine Curcio, perhaps an older brother. There is no further record of her parents in the US so it is likely that the children emigrated alone, as did many young people during that period.

Piazza Lago in Caggiano, picture taken from the castle

Many Italian immigrants reached NYC and never left the area, while many others scattered about the country to start new Italian communities as far away as San Francisco. Some Caggianos did move further north in New York State; some went west, but most stayed within the area of NYC, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. Of course, by the time the third generation started families, the Caggianos were scattered about the country from Florida to the state of Washington. In 1995, there were in excess of 10,000 Caggianos worldwide, more in the US than any other country, including Italy. As mentioned above, the original Commune Di Caggiano still exists with 3000 residents but only two Caggiano families, clearly a minority.

Vincenzo settled in what is now the Harlem district of Manhattan, first on 109 Street, and later 409 East 112 Street. Carmella lived on 133 Street and then later, in the same tenement on 109 Street. That is how the two met to begin the union as my grandparents. They were married (cannot verify date) and lived in the tenements of the east side of NYC at several addresses until moving to Queens.

Vincenzo applied for citizenship on October 25, 1892 but there is no documentation to prove that he became a citizen. It is not clear that Vincenzo ever became a citizen although he did reapply in 1910 and Carmella in 1912. During that period, it was sufficient for the husband to become a citizen and the wife was included. Since she reapplied two years later indicates that she did so in her own right. There is a record indicating that Vincenzo returned to Italy briefly, to see his parents or attend one of his parent’s funerals, and returned to NY for the last time in 1899.

It appears that Vincenzo and Carmella had 11 children, although this is not certain because the records are muddled in the 1910 census. There was a time when Vincenzo‘s children were living with James and his wife, Mary, so that the census is not clear and may have mixed the two families. One thing that struck me when I researched my past heritage was the given name of one or two family members. Many Italian names have a strange but melodic tone to them but a few, like Mary, James, and John are distinctly American. This reflects the determination of these immigrants who tried so hard to become Americans, and a trait that I remember so clearly, when my mother banged her fist on the table and said, We are in America long time now, we no more speak Italian, only American.

Cousin Lucia Caggiano-Marcigiano, and Josephina, September 1999

Records after 1900 have been found for:

Vincenzo: 1866, died December 3, 1925 (My grandfather, died before I was born).

Carmella: July 21, 1869, died September 26, 1933 (I have a vague memory of her).

Their children:

John, 1884; although listed here under Vincenzo’s children in the 1900 census, this may be James’ son. If John was in fact Carmella’s son, she would have been only 15 years old at the time of his birth, and conception would have been at 13 or 14, highly unlikely.

Mary, 1888; (I clearly remember Aunt Mary with a crippled leg).

Annastel, 1896; died at about age 16 (I vaguely remember this name being mentioned).

Rose, 1900; (I remember Aunt Rose very well, kind of grouchy).

Giovanni, November 2, 1901; (I vaguely remember Uncle John).

Guiseppi; 1902 (I remember Uncle Joe with a full mustache. Dad says I remember him as my grandfather whom I never knew).

Rosina; October 22, 1903 (I remember Aunt Rose).

Nicola; March 5 1904 (my father).

Luigi; February 13, 1908 (I remember Uncle Looey well, the family drunk).

Alphonso; October 1, 1909, twin of Elizabetta (I knew uncle Al best of all).

Elizabetta; October 1, 1909, died at about two years old.

Two other children, Michella and James (?) died shortly after childbirth. It should be noted that Carmella bore 12 children over a period of 21 years with Mary, the oldest, being 21 years older than Alphonso, the youngest. Mary could have been Uncle Al’s mother.

James moved to Long Island City, across the East River which separates Manhattan from Queens. This was a new area but already industrial since the boats running up the East river from New York harbor could carry coal and other supplies to the plants (like the new Consolidated Edison coal burning power plant) located there. James and his family lived in a small wooden structure at 11 Marion Street. He built horse sheds, stables, and a workshop behind the house. At some point, he (perhaps with Vincenzo) built another house, entirely stone, brick and concrete, next door, which was 13 Marion Street. This later became 38-60 13th street when this area was incorporated into NYC. Queens County became the borough of Queens, one of the five boroughs making up NYC.

Since there were no zoning controls or building codes to enforce, many different houses sprung up, mostly cheap tenement types that unscrupulous padrones built to rent to the new immigrants. The procedure was to find some menial work for the itinerant newcomers, then charge exorbitant rents so they were forever trapped into the serf lifestyle. James refused to be part of that routine and bought his own land and built his own house, and then the second brick house which I came to know (and live in) as my grandfather’s house.

Sometime before 1910, some or all of Vincenzo’s family was also living at the same address, with James and his wife Mary. James already had a married son, daughter-in-law, and grandson living with him but crowded conditions were a way of life back then. It was not unusual for three generations to be living in a crowded tenement and still take a boarder to help pay for the necessities, or to supplement the meager wages. The 1910 census shows that Michail Cheese, and his wife, Theresa, occupied one of the upstairs tenements. Although James and Mary had four sons and one daughter with them, (four other children deceased) they still took in four boarders, Austrian immigrants.

James and Vincenzo built an unusual house in that it was all solid brick. Both were skilled masons with considerable experience laying the cobblestone streets in NYC as well as paving the bridge with stone. Building a mere house was a simple task for them. The house was two stories with two apartments on the upper level. The house included a cellar to accommodate his plans for a central boiler in the future, a veritable luxury in those days. There was neither central heating, a toilet, nor running water but his plans included water pipes to carry water upstairs when city water became available. In the meantime, a hand dug well with a hand pump located behind the house provided water. A hand pump was also located in the sink downstairs so Carmella had a sense of luxury. Second story dwellers were required to tote their water up a flight of steps daily, until the house was eventually connected to the city water system. Except for the addition of city water, this was the same house I would remember when we moved into it, circa 1935.

Vincenzo was 38 years old in 1904, and Carmella was 35 when my father, Nicola, was born. They were still living in Manhattan at 33 East 109 Street at that time, and did not move to Queens for another 3 or 4 years. A curious aside to all this is that Nicola’s birth certificate indicated Cagiano, with a single G, similar to Vincenzo’s crossing out a G on his application for naturalization. Apparently, Vincenzo wanted to separate himself from the rest of the Caggianos for some reason.

There was much tribulation in those days, with disease, sickness, and deaths very common. In this family, three children died shortly after birth, while two others died as young boys. That is almost a 50% mortality rate, which was normal for immigrants of the poor classes. Even those that lived to adulthood died young, such as my uncles Luigi and Guiseppi, who died before age 30. Pneumonia seemed to be the kiss of death and yet this malady is easily treated today.

**************************

Mom's sister Anna, called fat Anna

Much less is known about my mother’s ancestors, having a much more fragmented past and lack of cohesiveness. Her mother was Giovannina Giordano, which was her married name from her first marriage. Her husband died and she remarried, to Aurelio Scanapieco, my mother’s stepfather who adopted her so my mother’s name became Scanapieco. My mother was born as Aida Michela Anna Giordano on August 7, 1902 and baptized August 17, 1902. Her sponsors (godparents) were Nicola and Ahmia Puciano. The only children I remember from the second marriage were Romeo and Antonio. When Aurelio died, Giovannina again remarried to (first name?) Corrado and two children were born from that union. One died at a young age and the other was Giovanni who was simply Uncle John. Uncle John was just a little older than my own sister. I came to know him well over the years. My grandmother, Giovannina, is the only grandparent I can clearly remember. Both grandfathers died before I was born and Grandmother Carmella died when I was a bit over three years old.

My mother had seven siblings: Anna and Vrelena from the first marriage, Giordano; Romeo, Antonio, and Charles from the second marriage, Scanapieco; and John and another, (died at an early age) from the third marriage, Corrado. Mom seemed to deflect any questions I asked of her early life as if she were ashamed of it. My grandmother spoke almost no English so it was impossible to learn much from her, and I was not very interested in learning about family history in 1938 anyway.

It was common for the very poor to mortgage their children into a work program, where the child is contracted to work for someone else for a stated length of time or until age 16. Sometimes the child was sent to a poor house where they were indentured to work for their room and board, a practice dating back hundreds of years. So, it was with my mother, who worked from age 8 to 14 sewing clothes and living on the premises in very primitive conditions. From age 8 to 11, she did attend school for four hours each day and worked the remainder. Sadly, Catholic nuns who treated the children as if they were chattel, operated this program. The next three years she spent in the traditional poor house operated by various charities but really owned and operated by unscrupulous businessmen who simply enjoyed very cheap labor. The child labor laws were non-existent during the early 1900's. At the age of 14, mom was finally able to leave the indentured status and return to her family. Her mother, now remarried, had a husband to provide for them, however meager those provisions might be.

During the time before and around 1910, the immediate Caggiano family lived at the same location on Marion Street. Vincenzo lived in the newly built house at 13 Marion Street with 8-10 children crowded into the ground floor flat so the two flats upstairs could be rented. His brother, James, lived next door in the older wood house that he built before 1900, with his entire family including three generations. Sometime during this period, my mother was living in one of the flats upstairs with her remarried mother, stepfather, and stepbrother. WWI was underway so it was possible for young women to get jobs. Thus, it was that mom worked at UNEEDA Biscuit Company. She sat at an assembly line hand packing saltine crackers in waxed paper. Whenever I would cross the 59th street Bridge, many years later, and see the giant sign UNEEDA Biscuit Company, I would imagine my mother, as a young girl, sitting on the assembly line. The building stood for many years after I left New York in 1950 but eventually was demolished.

During this period, there was a great loss to the Caggiano family. A fire broke out in the stables behind the houses and all but one of the horses perished. In addition, at about the same time, the house at 11 Marion street was destroyed, perhaps a result of the same fire. Years later, I learned that the early Mafia enterprises were responsible because neither of the Caggiano brothers would pay protection money. Life was indeed difficult for any law-abiding individuals to remain independent.

There was much sorrow during such a short time. The elder Guiseppi, still living in Brooklyn, died and James passed away as the result of the fire and/or wounds he received from the hoodlums who started the fire. Others say he died of heartbreak because of the terrible loss he sustained. It was never clear if the wounds were fire related or a result of an assault by the criminal elements. At some point during this period, Guiseppi (Vincenzo’s eldest son) also died and it is not clear whether his death was also related to the early Mafia efforts to control businesses. This left Vincenzo, still working, with a single horse and wagon. As the children married and moved into their own flats, and death reduced the size of the family, the crowded living conditions were somewhat improved.

*****************************

Dad, the second youngest, was very handsome and as a teenager was popular with the young ladies. He was the first of the family to complete high school and considered very smart. He learned his numbers

Reviews for The Early Years

[Becca Caggiano · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed the pacing and tone of this book, combined with the fascinating story. I'm sad to say I can't find Part 2 anywhere and I am greatly disappointed, I was really interested in hearing more.