S2E6: Vito Gerardi - Murder in the Family

This episode was sent to me by Adriana Gerard, whose great-great grandfather Vito Gerardi killed his wife and daughter and Adriana's great-grandfather Dominico witnessed it all.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

The records don't lie, but your ancestors might. Welcome to the criminal genealogist, where true crime and genealogy intersect.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hi, my name is Adriana. I have a second great-grandfather named Vito Girardi. He was born in 1877 in southern Italy, and uh he lived in Manhattan, had numerous run-ins with the law. In 1906, he shot a fellow barber over a workplace dispute. It's a little unclear why. Um the man refused to identify Vito as the perpetrator, so he appears to have not gone to prison for that. He was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm in 1912, contracted tuberculosis in the tombs, returned home, wouldn't work, was sick. They sent him to a sanitarium to recover. He came home again, still wouldn't work, uh, was begging for money to gamble, got into an argument with his wife, my second great-grandmother Conchetta. He shot her in the back during the argument, and then shot his daughter in the back as she ran toward her mother, killed both of them in front of my great-grandfather Domenico. And there's more criminality in that line. My great-grandfather also committed many crimes.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Whoa, your ancestor did that?

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Scandalous. Welcome to the Criminal Genealogist Podcast. I'm your host, Michelle Bates. It's been a few weeks since my last episode, as I've been attending courses with SLIG and Abgen Institutes, and of course, working because someone has to pay the bills. But I'm back with a new episode sent to me by Adriana Gerard about her great-great-grandfather, which we will get to shortly. First, I have a huge announcement that I am excited about. Yours truly will be teaching her first course this spring 2023 at the Applied Genealogy Institute, also known as APGEN. The course will be about criminal records, duh, and how to find them and use them in your genealogy research. There are limited spots, so if you're interested, then mark your calendars for registration, which opens on January 18th and closes on the 24th. I will put a link in the show notes and also have a link on my website. It's going to be a fun and informative course, and you get to spend four nights over four weeks hanging out with me. Working on today's episode was fascinating, as you heard from the earlier soundbite. Adriana sent me a voice message via the website and I had to know more. She had a plethora of information about her great-great-grandfather and what her great-grandfather had to witness. Tragic family stories like this make me sad, to be honest, but I do think it's important to talk about them and remember those who were tragically killed at the hands of another. The fascination with true crime isn't one I hold because I like criminal behavior, but because I'm fascinated with human behavior. My dad asked me the other day how I even became interested, and from the first time I saw Silence of the Lambs, I wanted to be Clarice. I wanted to get into the minds of serial killers and figure out what made them tick. If we can figure that out, maybe we can stop these outcomes. But alas, my dreams of being an FBI agent didn't occur, but here we are now, and I still get to dive into the minds of criminals from the minor offenses to the ones we would like to forget our ancestors had any role in. If you have your own criminal ancestor and want to feature them on the podcast, send me a message either via my website at thecriminal genealogist.com or you can email us at the criminal genealogist at gmail.com. Don't forget to save the website to your bookmarks and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. TikTok is coming soon with content, but you can go ahead and follow us at criminal genealogist. The podcast can be found on every major platform, so open your favorite app, find us, and make sure to follow. I appreciate the support more than you can imagine. All of the show notes and links are on the website. Luckily, I have Allitude to help me put it all together into a succinct podcast episode. They make it so easy to record and edit my podcast episodes and upload them directly to my host site. AllaTu is a podcast maker like nothing you've seen before. Automate the sound engineering and get simple tools to do the rest, giving you more time to focus on growing your show. Give it a try using my referral link in the show notes. Now let's talk about Vito Girardi. Vito Girardi was born April 12, 1877 in Aviglanio, Potenza, Italy, to parents Domenico Girardi and Caterina Nole. Excuse my awful Italian accent. The family immigrated to America. First, Domenico arrived in 1883 and then sent for his family who arrived January 31, 1887, which included Vito, his mom, and his sister. Vito's naturalization papers state that he arrived in 1886, but the manifest for the ship Britannia does state it arrived in 1887. The family arrived and lived in New York. Wasn't able to find them in the 1900 census, and the 1890s census was not available. New York did have state census records for several years, including 1892 and 1905, but it didn't include every region. So the family couldn't be found in those either. Vito married Maria Conchetta Lana on March 25, 1896 in Manhattan, New York. She went by the name Jenny, and she was born November 30th, 1880, in Perserno, Potenza, Italy to parents Odo Lano and Rosa Castle. Vito was naturalized in 1900 in New York. Vito, Jenny, and their children are found living in Manhattan, New York in the 1910 census. It states that they had been married 14 years and had eight children, but only six of them were living. One of the known children that died was Caterina Durardi, who died at one day old in 1903. The living children on the 1910 census were Domenico, age 13, and listed as born in DC. Now Domenico is Andrea's great-grandfather, the one who sent us the story. The other children were all born in New York, ranging from ages 11 to 2. Their names on the census were Tony, Molly, or Mallie, Annie, Joseph, and William. There's also a Beatrice Girardi listed with the family and as the sister to Vito. She's 19 years old and born in New York, quite a bit younger than Vito, who was 33. Vito's occupation was Barber, and his sister was a candy maker. Looking in from the outside, you'd think that this is the American dream for immigrants from Italy, living in Manhattan with their beautiful family. But all is not what it seems with the Girardi family and shows that we never really know what's going on. Vito's criminal act started in 1906 prior to that 1910 census and prior to two of his children being born. So Adriana sent me a criminal timeline for her great-great-great-grandfather. And um the first known one was on May 19th, 1906. Vito was the foreman of a barber shop on Spruce Street in Lower Manhattan. A fellow barber, Petro Leduccia, was allegedly fired that morning, and Vito was responsible for his firing as he was the foreman. According to newspaper articles, uh Petro and Vito exchanged words before Petro left. That night, it is alleged that Petro came back, and Vito shot at Petro three times on the corner of Park Row and Frankfurt Street. One of the bullets lodged near Petro's temple, according to newspaper articles, and it was extracted from his lip. So allegedly, what happened is the bullet hit, and then a bone basically flattened it, and it went down and through his lip. Miracle, somebody was watching over Petro for sure. So fortunately, he survived. And during the chaos of the shooting, uh patrolman Dribben saw Vito running away from the scene and captured him. Vito said absolutely nothing. And Petro refused to identify who shot him when questioned by the police whether Vito was a shooter. Quote, no, it wasn't him. I don't know him anyhow, end quote. Despite this, the police arrested Vito and charged him with felinous assault. He was held on a $1,000 bill. Adriana had contacted the municipal archives of New York City, and the archivists couldn't find any court records. Likely this is because charges were dropped if the victim refused to identify Vito. There were accounts, though, of a witness who identified Vito running and tossing the gun, which the witness brought to the police. So it's kind of interesting like what happened there, and obviously they probably didn't have enough evidence to convict him. Now in 1912, Vito received a 40-day sentence in the tombs for concealed carry of a weapon. He contracted tuberculosis in the tombs, and a charity provided him money to go to a sanatorium outside the city, but he gambled the money away. He did raise some more money, apparently partially funded by his wife Conchetta's wages as a scrub woman, and he spent time in Liberty, New York. And we assume that he was in the Loomis tuberculosis hospital, but can't confirm exactly where he went. Now, three years later, in February of 1915, news accounts vary considerably. But what we've been able to gather is that Conchetta wouldn't let Vito live with her because he basically was a bum. He wouldn't get a job and he gambled her money away. They appear to have separated after he left for the tuberculosis hospital. And after returning to the city, he would drift in and out of the family's life, asking his wife for money. Around dinner time on the 6th, Vito and Conchetta argued again about money. She refused to give him any. Vito pulled a gun and Conchetta tried to flee, but he shot her twice in the back. Daughter Anna screamed and ran toward her mother. Vito then killed Anna. This all unfolded in front of Adriana's great-grandfather, Domenico Gerardi. Vito told the police that he had planned to commit suicide but had run out of bullets. An officer walking by on the street heard the commotion and responded to the scene immediately. While newspapers say that he spent time at Clinton Correctional, we couldn't find any evidence of that. He ended up dying at Sing Singh in Asing, New York in July of 1915 of tuberculosis. The Sing Sing prison register shows that he pleaded guilty and was sentenced June 14th for the second rookie murder of daughter Anna. Sing Sing admitted him on the 15th. And he died less than a month later. Now, when he was admitted to the prison, he weighed only 90 pounds due to the tuberculosis ravaging his body. What's interesting is he listed his uncle Antonio Gerardi as his nearest relative, not his father, his sister, or any of his children. After the murders, the eldest sons, Domenico and Antonio, lived with a maternal grandfather, Odo Lano, until he died in 1918. Daughter Carmella was in a TB sanatorium in Otisville, New York, but her granddaughter communicated with Adriana that she was in an orphanage for a time. Giuseppe and Gugalami were in St. Agnes Convent Orphanage in Orangetown, Rockland, New York. Adriana has the children listed with different names depending on uh what was in the 1910 census to what the names that they were born with. So we know of Domenico, who was also known as Daniel Girard. He is Adriana's great-grandfather. Uh Antonio Girardi was also known as Anthony. Maria Carmela Girardi was also known as Mildred. Now she is the one that was listed on the 1910 census as Mallie. Now Caterina was the one that died at one day old. We've got Anna Girardi, also known as Annie. Giuseppe was also known as Joseph. Gugliamo Girardi was also known as William Girard. And I'm sure I totally butchered all of these names. Adriana shared with me that her great-grandfather Domenico also had an extensive criminal history: assault and battery, aiding at abetting a lottery, and disorderly person, quote, lottery slips. And 1937, Dominico was involved in a huge election scandal. The Democratic mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, Frank Haig, accused a Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lester H. Clee, of hiring known criminals and swearing them in as election officers to plant at Hudson County, New Jersey, polling places for legal purposes. Dominico was one of the hired poll workers. As we stated, Domenico was the oldest child who also was known by Daniel Girard. He was born March 12, 1897, in Washington, District of Columbia. And he died in 1963 in Miami-Dade, Florida. Antonio Girardi, who was also known as Tony or Anthony Girard, was born March 24, 1899 in Manhattan, and he died November 22nd, 1973, in Passick, New Jersey. Maria Carmela Girardi, also known as Mildred, and Mally in the 1910 census. She was born November 9th, 1901 in Manhattan, and she died August 12, 2003, in Rutherford, Bergen County, New York. We talked about Katerina Girardi, who died one day old in 1903. Annie Anna Gerardi, she was born December 10th, 1904 in Manhattan, and she was tragically killed by her father on February 6, 1915 in Manhattan. Giuseppe, who is also known as Joseph, he was born October 26, 1906 in Manhattan, and he died April 19th, 1999, in Ashbury Park, New Jersey. And the last son was William Girard, and he was born September 12, 1908, and he died in New Jersey. A newspaper article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on Sunday, February 7th, 1915, is titled Kills Wife and Daughter, and it reads, Vito Girardi, a barber 31 years old of 303 East 59th Street, Manhattan, was arrested last night, charged with the murder of his wife and his 11-year-old daughter. He was locked up in the East 67th Street station. Passerby's passerby informed the police that shots had been heard in the top floor apartment, and they found Girardi hiding under the bed with a revolver from which five shots had been fired in his hand. Mrs. Girardi was found lying on her back, and the daughter was lying in the dining room with two shots in her face. Both were pronounced dead. A quarrel was given as the cause. Now what's interesting about this article is this is in 1915 and they have Vito listed as 31 years old. But in the 1910 census, he's listed as 33 years old, which was five years prior. So is he 31 or is he 38? So this is one of the things I like to point out whenever you're doing research, is just because it's in print doesn't mean it's correct. So make sure you're validating. It's oftentimes newspaper articles get information wrong. And as you'll see when you research any ancestor, whether it's a criminal or not, and they make the news, different news outlets, different newspapers, and you know, and modern daytime and our life on news stories on TV have conflicting information. The ages will be wrong, the locations might be different, um, the details of how and where they were shot, whatever. So, you know, it's all kind of speculation, even though it's in the newspaper. Since newspaper articles have conflicting information, some say that the daughter, like this article, that she was shot in the face. Other articles state that he shot his daughter in the back. And maybe he did both. And it's just not clear in the newspaper. So just beware of that whenever you're doing research, that you know, Girardi obviously in 1915 was not 31, he was older. And we know this because we know he was born in 1877. We have his his birth record um from Italy. And so we know that in 1915, which is the year that he ultimately dies as well, uh, that he would have been, he would have been 38 years old. The newspaper article has his age wrong by seven years. Quite a quite a huge difference. And I found that, you know, whenever I was pulling research on this this case, that Vito's name would appear differently in newspapers and NBOCR. So if you know anything about newspapers.com, you know, it reads the article, AI is reading it and then transcribing it. And then so when you do the read the search, whatever you're searching by, if it can't find that, then it's not going to necessarily pull the article up. So you need to be creative. And I found other ways to search for him. I searched by the the barber in the first story uh that he allegedly shot, and then searching by the wife's name or the daughter's name, searching different versions of the spelling of Girardi, maybe it was Girard or Girardi E with an E instead of an I, different ways to be able to search, to be able to find him. Because this was, you know, this was a story that would have made the paper, of course, because it was something that was scandalous. Even though this happened in New York, you may find articles in other states because it's probably a part of the Associated Press. You're gonna see the same article over and over in different uh newspapers. So the article that I I just read you was also in the Boston Globe, the Boston Daily Globe, and it literally says the same thing. Oh, wait, no, this one says different. So this article, also from February 7th, 1915, in the Boston Globe, says it's titled Kills Wife and Daughter, but then says Vito Girardi, New York, tries to shoot his son and is arrested on charge of murder. Vito Girardi, a barber, tonight shot and killed his wife and their daughter Anna and attempted to shoot his son, Dominic. Girardi was arrested on a charge of murder. Did he attempt to shoot Domenico as well? Where the other article out of New York didn't state anything about that he attempted to shoot his son. So that's new information. Whether it's accurate or not, we don't know. But it's interesting that if Domenico was there, that he wouldn't have tried to do that. Because he's a witness. Maybe he wanted to murder suicide his family. The New York Tribune, also February 7th, 1915 article says shoots his wife, then his daughter. Barbara commits double murder when allowance is stopped. Weeks of threats accumulated yesterday in the murder of Mrs. Ginny Girardi by her husband Vito in their apartment at 239 East 59th Street. Two of the five bullets he fired struck their youngest child, Annie, 11 years old. She died instantly. The slayer declared afterward that he had not intended to kill the child. Dominic, who is nearly 19, and the eldest of Four children of the couple jumped up as his father began firing, but succeeded only in getting close enough to get powder marks on his hands. As patrolman Greenlee of the 67th Street station burst into the door, Durardi pulled the trigger, but the revolver was empty and he was soon subdued. Vito has been known to the police for several years, and in 1907 he was convicted of a shooting at a fellow barber in a downtown shop. Three years ago, he spent 40 days in the tombs following his arrest for carrying a revolver. It was there that he developed tuberculosis in a dangerous form. On his release, charitable organizations gave him more than $100 and told him to go away where he might be cured. He gambled and lost the money. When arrest was threatened, he raised enough to take him upstate, where he lived on $12 a week sent by his wife until the charities which were making her an allowance learned of it and threatened to stop it unless she refused to send him money. This brought Girardi back to New York in November. Meanwhile, his wife worked at a laundry, and Dominic and a younger boy also added to the family income. Another daughter is now a tuberculosis patient at Otisville. Vita was ordered from the house this week, but effected a truce through his assertion that he had got a job in a shop in 58th Street and was going to work yesterday. He was at the table with his wife and Annie last night when Dominic arrived for his supper. Asked if he had gone to work, he got up, walked a few steps from the table, and then turned and began firing. Coroner Hellenstein learned that three revolvers had been taken from him by his family since his return to New York. And this article is that it says that when the patrolman came in, that Girardi pulled the trigger, but the revolver was empty. And in some accounts, it said that he attempted suicide. In this, it doesn't say he pulled a trigger, but where was he trying to shoot the officer or himself? And in that other article, it said that he was found under a bed hiding. So different accounts, again, of newspaper articles, but it gave a little bit more information about what had gone on with Vito and his previous criminal history as well. You know, it talks about the 1907 shooting, and it said that he was convicted, where we couldn't find any public records of that. Maybe it does sound, but maybe he didn't serve any any jail time. And then it talks about the three years prior to this murder where he spent 40 days in the tombs for his arrest carrying a revolver. So it must have been true that he was convicted because I don't know what the laws were in New York at the time, uh, if it was illegal to carry a revolver, or if it was part of his probation that he wasn't allowed to. It's always interesting to see the different accounts in the newspapers of uh the same incidents. And combined, they probably all tell some. I'll tell the truth. We just don't know which pieces are exactly accurate. Obviously, Domenico was there, and his accounts, even though he was 19, is still traumatizing. And so some of his information to the family over the years, and of course, you know, the game of telephone where versions of stories always kind of change a little bit because you forget details. I've I've done that with my own family. I'm like, what? I I thought this was the story, and then my mom would would correct me and say, no, no, no, that's not how it happened. I'm like, oh, okay. This is why you need to write stuff down and have it documented. Have the your parents tell the stories, uh, record them so that you can make sure that they they stay accurate because it's it's really easy to get it wrong. In the Standard Union out of Brooklyn, New York, February 7th, stating that kills wife and child tries to end own life in a quarrel at the dinner table last night. Vito Girardi, 34 years old, of 239 East 59th Street, Manhattan, an Italian barber shot and killed his wife Jenny, 34 years old, and his daughter Annie, 11, after which he attempted suicide. A bullet passed through his right jaw, but it is said he will recover. He is held at police headquarters. This article also says that he tried to kill himself, but that he actually hit himself, whereas the other articles state that he ran out of bullets. So, again, with the varying stories, and his age is wrong. But in the end, we know that he killed his wife and his daughter, and his other children, at least Domenico, witnessed what happened. Ultimately, Vito uh pled guilty. And looking at his indictment papers from the state of New York, which are quite interesting, there's one witness, and that is listed as Domenico. It didn't go to trial because he pled guilty. The case was the people versus Vito Girardi in two cases: murder in the first degree. It says that he pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree on June 14th, 1915. On the sixth day of February in the year of our Lord 1915. So that's the indictment. That there is a newspaper article in the New York Times. So of June of 1915, the New York Times has an article that says Wife Slayer admits guilt. Girardi, who has tuberculosis, is sent to Danamora prison. Uh Vito Girardi, who was indicted for killing his wife and 11-year-old daughter on February 6th, after pleading in vain with his wife to live with him, pleaded guilty yesterday to murder in the second degree for the killing of his daughter. Girardi has tuberculosis and has slight chance of recovery. He was ordered sent to Danamora prison where he will be placed in the hospital ward. And if he recovers, he will be tried for the murder of his wife. He expressed regret for having killed his daughter. Assistant district attorney Edwards told Judge Wadhams that Girardi had been arrested for carrying a revolver about a year ago and was sentenced to the tombs for 40 days. Upon his release, he asserted that he had contracted tuberculosis in prison. A charity organization gave him $100 to go to the mountains, but he gambled it away. An additional allowance of $10 a week was made to send him to Liberty. While he was away, his wife separated from him, and the shooting occurred when she refused to live with him. It's interesting that he was sent to Dan Danmora prison, uh, but he has a sing-sing file. So let's look at Danmora prison, which is the what's now called the Clinton Correctional Facility in Danmora, New York. Clinton Correctional Facility today, it's a New York State Department of Corrections, a community supervision, maximum security state prison for men located in the village of Danmora, New York. It's pretty close to the Canadian border where this uh facility was at. Sing Sing is in New York City vicinity. And so the Clinton Correctional Facility is about four, almost five hours away today. He was probably sent to Sing Sing and then sent to Danmora because he was sick. Vito Girardi's Sing Sing Prison Admission Book uh has him listed as inmate number 66151. He was sentenced and received on June 14th, 1915. And he was received from New York City. And his his term for second-degree murder was 20 to life. Says that he was born in Italy and that he was age 38. Interesting. It says widower, yes. Well, yes, because he killed his wife. Says he was 5'3 and weighed 90 pounds. Education is listed as he can read and write, and he was Catholic. And that his father was living, his mother was dead, and number of children five, which should have been six, but he killed one. And again, uh the name of his relative is listed as his uncle Anthony Girardi. Didn't list his other children, or even his father. He listed his uncle. All the little other details are just things that we're just never really gonna know. Whether he really attempted to kill himself, whether he actually hid himself, was he hiding when the police showed up? We don't know. And uh and Domenico isn't here to to tell us and and relive the story. So, you know, what the family has has been told over the years, and and and that's what you have to go with. I mean, you can try to cooper corroborate as much as you can with newspaper articles, but there's always going to be pieces of information that we're just never gonna know. But in the end, the family knows that this tragedy occurred and it affected everybody. It affected Domenico and he witnessed that. And, you know, prior to this, you know, was Domenico already on the path of getting in trouble, or did this trigger him to be uh that we don't know. Um, but as we've talked, it kind of seems like a theme over the past couple of episodes that understanding where the families, where what our ancestors have gone through and the things that have happened, and that generational trauma and being able to stop it, knowing what happened with our ancestors and helps us kind of understand where we're at in our lives, and we don't even realize what an impact it has on us. But uh, you know, and obviously this isn't true for everybody, you know, our ancestors have have been through a lot, and tragedies have happened, and it was a one-time thing, and we never saw that generational trauma, but it is very real for some people, and especially if they've witnessed trauma as a child, and continuing that into their own lives, into their own adulthood is very much a real thing. Thank you, Adriana, for sharing the family story of your great-great-great-grandfather, Vito Girardi, and your great-great-grandfather Domenico. And thank you to everyone for listening to the podcast. I appreciate your support more than I can tell you. And until next time, remember the records don't lie, but your ancestors might.