The family is part of the nationwide criminal network known as the American Mafia. The DeCavalcante family operates on the opposite side of the Hudson River from the Five Families of New York, and maintains strong relations with the New York families, especially the Gambino crime family , as well as with the Philadelphia crime family and the Patriarca crime family of New England.
The origins of the DeCavalcante crime family can be traced back to Ribera , Sicily. There were several bosses in North Jersey during the Prohibition era controlling transportation of alcohol and whiskey into New York City, and there were two Mafia families based in New Jersey: the Newark family headed by Gaspare D'Amico , and the Elizabeth family headed by Stefano Badami. In , Vincenzo Troia conspired to take over the Newark family and was murdered.
The Commission decided to divide up his territory among the Five Families and Badami's Elizabeth family. Stefano "Steve" Badami became the boss of the Elizabeth-Newark family. His reign proved to be very disruptive, as members of the Newark and the Elizabeth factions began fighting for total control of New Jersey.
Badami kept controlling the crew up to the s, but he was murdered in in what appears to have been another power struggle between the two factions. Badami's underboss Filippo Amari began to run the illegal operations. Amari was recognized by US law enforcement as being heavily involved with extortion, labor racketeering, loansharking, and narcotics activities in Newark and New York City. He was considered the new head of the New Jersey organization, but his reign proved to be very short, as there were multiple factions operating underneath who all conspired to take over.
He relocated to Sicily and was replaced by Nicholas "Nick" Delmore. Delmore kept running the organization until he became ill in the early s. He died in , and his nephew Simone DeCavalcante was installed as new boss of the officially recognized "DeCavalcante crime family" of North Jersey. He was born in and was involved in illegal gambling, murder, and racketeering for most of his life.
