Post by dena on Mar 31, 2008 17:26:17 GMT -5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Im not sure where we are putting the info or discussions about the Cerardi/Schippell gang anymore. We have been discussing them often on but in various threads. But I think I might possibly have found something new & possibly (hopefully ) significant so I thought maybe a new thread might be appropriate. Hope this was okay, Michael. Also, I have found more info since I first began this thread yesterday & since nobody had responded yet I just modified the post with my new info.
The gang that rented the house on Mt Rose from Charlie Schippell was led by one "Joseph Cerardi". Or Enrico Cerardi, Carmelli, etc. This is the same guy who kept his wife hostage in Ridgefield Park NJ for two years and also followed the Lindbergh baby(allegedly) to North Haven Maine. He was a former boxer-middleweight, according to newspaper articles from 1934 when Cerardi & his "housekeeper" Mary Griffin were arrested for having kept Cerardi's wife Sophie (formerly Sophie Maran) kept in a boarded up room, naked with only a dirty blanket & mattress, & starved down to 53 pounds. Sophie Maran Cerardi had a son, Charles Maran, who was nowhere to be found but might have also been party to his mothers situation.
I do not think it unfair of me to label Cerardi a sociopath. Even if he was absolved of all guilt in her case because he testified that he had kept his wife Sophie Maran Cerardi locked up for her own good because she refused to wear clothing in public. This doesn't explain however why she weighed 53 lbs when found. Or why he didnt call a physician. (I cannot BELIEVE He got away with this! )
Cerardi was also questioned as a suspect in the Lindbergh kidnapping.
I have had a hard time figuring out which was the alias. Which was not. But as he was supposed to be prosecuted by Bergen Co Prosecutor Nathan Allyn in 1934, as "Joseph Cerardi", Im sticking with the surname of Cerardi. But I have found an Enrico Cerardi in the Bronx in 1922. The age corresponds exactly with the age given by articles from his 1934 arrest. And "Enrico" is one of the aliases that Cerardi admitted to.
The 1922 Bronx Address for Enrico Cerardi, aged 22, is 864 East 169th St. The Bronx. And if this address sounds familar it is probably because the home Ellen Condon, Jafsie's mother, lived with her family in for many years (I have to double ck but Jafsie may have lived in this home himself at one time) was 882 East 169th st, The Bronx. At least she lived there in the 1900 Census. In 1910 she is listed as being in an apt at 630 East 169 th St, # 237, The Bronx. Since this was an awfully short move, did Condon or his family own several dwellings within a several block radius perhaps? Would this account for Ellen Condon's move (along with her five adult children) from 882 East 169th in 1900, to an Apt at 630 East 169th st by 1910?
I know that Jafsie owned City Island Realty. Along with his companion Al Reich. But did he also own real estate and have an income from rental properties as well perhaps? Was this how he put two sons through Law School on a teachers income?
Some coincidences in this case I can dismiss. Not this one. Certainly not yet anyway.
I find it hard to believe that if is the same Cerardi who rented the Mt Rose Shack & was questioned in the Lindbergh case, he did not know Condon because of sheer proximity of the 169th St addresses. In addition, while Jafsies mother may even have been dead by 1922, surely out of the four or five of Condon's siblings remaining, someone continued to reside at an adddress on East 169th St. And surely Jafsie sometimes visited them there. Indeed, I am beginning to wonder if perhaps Jafsie may have even been landlord to Enrico Cerardi.
I am trying now to find a way to link Cerardi & Condon beyond all doubt. I want more than just another circumstansial geographic "coincidence". I believe that if I could do so, it would be proof that Condon was actually an active participant in the planning & follow through of this crime. And not just the kindly hearted "go between" he put himself forth as being. Because even without reading any of the archives at NJSP museum , Im pretty sure that if it turns out there was a link of some sort between Cerardi & Condon that can be proven, Ol' Jafsie never offered this particular info to law enforcement. That he actually KNEW one of the suspects who had been questioned.
Anybody out there have any ideas on how to establish this connection? Or any opinions? Advice? I would also really appreciate someone playing Devil's advocate for me too.
Needless to say, if I lived in New York I would literally haunt the various archives available until I had gone through the property records of every single person who has ever owned property on East 169th St.
Im not sure where we are putting the info or discussions about the Cerardi/Schippell gang anymore. We have been discussing them often on but in various threads. But I think I might possibly have found something new & possibly (hopefully ) significant so I thought maybe a new thread might be appropriate. Hope this was okay, Michael. Also, I have found more info since I first began this thread yesterday & since nobody had responded yet I just modified the post with my new info.
The gang that rented the house on Mt Rose from Charlie Schippell was led by one "Joseph Cerardi". Or Enrico Cerardi, Carmelli, etc. This is the same guy who kept his wife hostage in Ridgefield Park NJ for two years and also followed the Lindbergh baby(allegedly) to North Haven Maine. He was a former boxer-middleweight, according to newspaper articles from 1934 when Cerardi & his "housekeeper" Mary Griffin were arrested for having kept Cerardi's wife Sophie (formerly Sophie Maran) kept in a boarded up room, naked with only a dirty blanket & mattress, & starved down to 53 pounds. Sophie Maran Cerardi had a son, Charles Maran, who was nowhere to be found but might have also been party to his mothers situation.
I do not think it unfair of me to label Cerardi a sociopath. Even if he was absolved of all guilt in her case because he testified that he had kept his wife Sophie Maran Cerardi locked up for her own good because she refused to wear clothing in public. This doesn't explain however why she weighed 53 lbs when found. Or why he didnt call a physician. (I cannot BELIEVE He got away with this! )
Cerardi was also questioned as a suspect in the Lindbergh kidnapping.
I have had a hard time figuring out which was the alias. Which was not. But as he was supposed to be prosecuted by Bergen Co Prosecutor Nathan Allyn in 1934, as "Joseph Cerardi", Im sticking with the surname of Cerardi. But I have found an Enrico Cerardi in the Bronx in 1922. The age corresponds exactly with the age given by articles from his 1934 arrest. And "Enrico" is one of the aliases that Cerardi admitted to.
The 1922 Bronx Address for Enrico Cerardi, aged 22, is 864 East 169th St. The Bronx. And if this address sounds familar it is probably because the home Ellen Condon, Jafsie's mother, lived with her family in for many years (I have to double ck but Jafsie may have lived in this home himself at one time) was 882 East 169th st, The Bronx. At least she lived there in the 1900 Census. In 1910 she is listed as being in an apt at 630 East 169 th St, # 237, The Bronx. Since this was an awfully short move, did Condon or his family own several dwellings within a several block radius perhaps? Would this account for Ellen Condon's move (along with her five adult children) from 882 East 169th in 1900, to an Apt at 630 East 169th st by 1910?
I know that Jafsie owned City Island Realty. Along with his companion Al Reich. But did he also own real estate and have an income from rental properties as well perhaps? Was this how he put two sons through Law School on a teachers income?
Some coincidences in this case I can dismiss. Not this one. Certainly not yet anyway.
I find it hard to believe that if is the same Cerardi who rented the Mt Rose Shack & was questioned in the Lindbergh case, he did not know Condon because of sheer proximity of the 169th St addresses. In addition, while Jafsies mother may even have been dead by 1922, surely out of the four or five of Condon's siblings remaining, someone continued to reside at an adddress on East 169th St. And surely Jafsie sometimes visited them there. Indeed, I am beginning to wonder if perhaps Jafsie may have even been landlord to Enrico Cerardi.
I am trying now to find a way to link Cerardi & Condon beyond all doubt. I want more than just another circumstansial geographic "coincidence". I believe that if I could do so, it would be proof that Condon was actually an active participant in the planning & follow through of this crime. And not just the kindly hearted "go between" he put himself forth as being. Because even without reading any of the archives at NJSP museum , Im pretty sure that if it turns out there was a link of some sort between Cerardi & Condon that can be proven, Ol' Jafsie never offered this particular info to law enforcement. That he actually KNEW one of the suspects who had been questioned.
Anybody out there have any ideas on how to establish this connection? Or any opinions? Advice? I would also really appreciate someone playing Devil's advocate for me too.
Needless to say, if I lived in New York I would literally haunt the various archives available until I had gone through the property records of every single person who has ever owned property on East 169th St.