Giuseppe De Primo

Giuseppe De Primo was a gro­cer who worked with the Morello gang in con­nec­tion with coun­ter­feit­ing US currency.

On 31^st Decem­ber 1902, the Secret Ser­vice, act­ing on a tip off, fol­lowed Giuseppe De Primo, Giue­seppe Guil­lam­bardo and Isadore Crose as they walked along Main Street. They were sus­pected of pass­ing coun­ter­feit five dol­lar bills in pre­cise imi­ta­tion to the cur­rency issued by the National Iron Bank, Mor­ris­town, NJ. The secret ser­vice wit­nessed the men pass­ing the bad notes and placed them under arrest. On March 12^th 1903, the trial began, the fol­low­ing day, all three men were found guilty. Giuseppe De Primo was sen­tenced to 5 years at Sing Sing.

In April 1903, fol­low­ing the famous Bar­rel mur­der Lt. Pet­rosino vis­ited De Primo in Sing Sing. De Primo told the police the vic­tims iden­tity. The man in the bar­rel was Benedetto Mado­nia brother-in-law of De Primo. Two weeks later De Primo was taken from Sing Sing to the DA’s office in prepa­ra­tion for his appear­ance as a wit­ness at the inquest against the Morello gang. After being given assur­ances to his safety De Primo gave a long state­ment, and the ADA stated that “he would be valu­able wit­ness to the pros­e­cu­tion”, although when he actu­ally appeared in court he was of lit­tle value to the government.

Under the rec­om­men­da­tion of Joe Pet­rosino, De Primo was deported back to Italy upon his release from Sing Sing in 1909. The New York press claimed that De Primo swore to kill Pet­rosino, later caus­ing him to become a sus­pect after Pet­rosino was gunned down in Sicily.