'Beach' Depiro, the Praying Mobster, Gets Bail

Fiumara, here, who died in 2010, used Depiro
as acting capo on the Jersey waterfront.
Stephen "Beach" Depiro, the man at the top of a New Jersey federal indictment that was part of the big January roundup of alleged Mafia members, will be released on bail, according to the My Central Jersey website.

He'll be under home incarceration with electronic monitoring.

A federal judge in Newark ruled Tuesday that Depiro is to be released on a $1.2 million bond secured by four properties.

The 55-year-old Kenilworth resident has been described by prosecutors as a soldier in the Genovese crime family. He allegedly ran a racketeering enterprise connected to the waterfront that engaged in extortion and illegal bookmaking.

Depiro has pleaded not guilty.

According to published reports, since the 1990s, Tino Fiumara's influence in New Jersey was so strong that the Genovese family was considering him as a candidate for boss of the entire family. He controlled unions from the Newark/Elizabeth Seaport and had been involved in loansharking, extortion, gambling, union and labor racketeering throughout New Jersey counties of Union, Essex and Bergen.

Fiumara had been using Stephen Depiro as acting capo to control and handle operations on the New Jersey piers and docks.
As reported here earlier, Depiro is a major player in the New Jersey underworld, as well as a man who goes to mass every day, according to an article on Philly.com.

"Court documents filed by his lawyer as Depiro, 55, tries to win release on bail after his arrest last month offer a different picture of the man the FBI has listed as one of the highest-ranking Genovese crime family soldiers in the state," the article reads.

"Depiro, according to his lawyer, goes to Mass every day. But authorities allege that he has used violence and intimidation to enforce the mob's control of gambling, loan-sharking, and labor racketeering along the waterfront."

In a letter to the court supporting Depiro's request for bail, three priests and a deacon at his church - St. Theresa's in Kenilworth - cited "his sincerity" and his "participation in pastoral programs" and added that "some of our parishioners . . . told us they are inspired by his prayerful attitude and kindness."

God does help those who help themselves!

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