Rain of Bullets: The True Story of Ernest Ingenito's Bloody Family Massacre Read online

  PATRICIA A. MARTINELLI

  To the victims and the survivors of domestic violence with my deepest respect

  Principals

  The Ingenito Family

  Ernest "Ernie" Martin Ingenito, the accused

  Theresa "Tessie" Mazzoli Ingenito, his wife

  Michael Ingenito, their older son

  Ernest Ingenito Jr., their younger son

  The Mazzoli Family

  Michael "Mike" Mazzoli, Tessie's father

  Pearl "Pia" Pioppi Mazzoli, Tessie's mother

  Frank Mazzoli, Mike's younger brother

  Hilda Patella Mazzoli, Frank's wife

  Nola Mazzoli, older daughter of Frank and Hilda

  Barbara Mazzoli, younger daughter of Frank and Hilda

  Frank Mazzoli, son of Frank and Hilda

  The Pioppi Family

  Armando Pioppi, Tessie's grandfather

  Theresa Biagi Pioppi, Tessie's grandmother

  John Pioppi, Tessie's uncle

  Jino Pioppi, Tessie's uncle

  Marion Volpa Pioppi, Jino's wife

  Jeannie Pioppi, older daughter of Jino and Marion

  Teresa Pioppi, younger daughter of Jino and Marion

  Armando "Mando" Pioppi, son of Jino and Marion

  Other Family Members

  Dominick Biagi, Tessie's maternal grandmother's brother

  Eva Biagi, Dominick's daughter

  New Jersey State Police Investigators

  Capt. Howard Carlson

  Lt. Hugh Boyle

  Lt. Julius Westphalen

  Sgt. George T. DeWinne

  Det. Sgt. William Conroy

  Det. Cpl. William B. Piana

  Det. Frank Morrisey

  Det. Carl Dereskwicz

  Tpr. Leonard Cunningham

  Tpr. Nicholas Fagnino

  Tpr. Herbert Kolodner

  Tpr. John Kurtland

  Tpr. Raymond Vorberg

  Tpr. George Yeager

  Additional Law Enforcement Officials

  George Small, Investigator, Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office

  George H. Stanger, Prosecutor, Cumberland County

  Judges

  Judge John B. Wick, Gloucester County Superior Court

  Judge Elmer B. Woods, Superior Court Assignment Judge

  Prosecuting Attorneys

  E. Milton Hannold, Prosecutor, Gloucester County

  Guy Lee Jr., Prosecutor, Gloucester County

  Rowland B. Porch, Assistant Prosecutor, Gloucester County

  Emory Keiss, Assistant Prosecutor, Atlantic County

  Defense Attorneys

  Herbert H. Butler

  Charles Cotton Camp

  Louis B. LeDuc

  Frank Sahl

  Philip Shick

  Wellford H. Ware

  On the night of November 17, 1950, Ernest Ingenito went on a shooting rampage against his in-laws, killing five people, wounding four others, and affecting the course of many lives with his actions. The shootings occurred in South Jersey, an idyllic place to live at that time. A small population was stretched across miles of rural countryside, and everybody knew everybody else. Very few people had money, but that was all right; chances were good most of your neighbors were in the same boat. Nobody locked their doors. Most kids had open fields to run in and cool streams to splash in when they weren't playing games. Adults generally spent their free time watching television, reading magazines, or talking to one another. Occasionally, everyone might pile into the family car and go for a ride that sometimes ended at the local Stewart's for a round of hot dogs and frothy Black Cows. Violence of this type was something that happened elsewhere, usually in "the city." At the same time, such tragedies were simply not as commonplace as they are now, whether you lived in the city, suburbs, or country. Was it a more innocent time? Of course not. Did it feel like it was? You bet.

  I had grown up in South Jersey knowing the bare bones of this story, because it was related, literally through marriage, to my own extensive family. Like most kids, I gave it only nominal attention; for me, there were so many other, more important things to worry about in those days. But in recent years, as I began to write about crime on a regular basis, it seemed like a subject that deserved further exploration for a number of reasons. As a former newspaper reporter who for many years had covered similar stories in the region, I recognized this case as a classic example of what happens when domestic violence explodes.

  In addition, telling this story gave me, a second-generation Italian-American woman, a chance to explore the world of the Italians and their children who settled in South Jersey in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Having grown up very close to my roots, which ran deep throughout the area, I have written about a world in which I feel comfortable. In this book, I specifically address the perspective of the Italians of South Jersey, because they were primarily involved in what happened, and because their life experiences colored the events accordingly. The immigrants and their children were a very close-knit group of people; their descendants, even sixty years later, remain the same, often reluctant to discuss on the record what happened all those years ago. When they did talk, passions were sometimes still as strong, as if the murders and assaults had occurred the day before.

  Finally, I felt it was important to tell this story because it reveals, at its heart, just how complex human beings are as a species. As a student of history, I have always been fascinated by human behavior. I am not pretending, however, that this book will resolve any of the questions that have plagued civilization since the beginning of time. I doubt that anyone will ever really know the contents of another person's heart, let alone understand why we are unable to treat each other better during the short time we are here. I do not spend a lot of time theorizing about why Ernest Ingenito decided to pick up his guns and start shooting that night. I do not make judgment on his morality, character, or sanity. I will let each reader make up his or her own mind on the matter.

  Many of the people who were directly involved in the case passed away before I began my research. Fortunately, their memories live on through others, who were kind enough to share their perceptions about those friends, colleagues, and family members who are no longer here to speak for themselves. Many records remain-some generated by Ernest Ingenito himself-allowing me to reconstruct the chain of events that occurred in the weeks preceding the night of November 17, 1950, and the trials that came afterward. Not surprisingly, there are a few gaps, but none, I think, that have an adverse affect on the story. I have kept the courtroom testimony in the order it was presented, but some of it has been condensed to avoid repetition and irrelevancy. I was not concerned about the number of stenographers who were present in court each day. Sometimes, I left witnesses out completely. This is because I wanted to tell a story and avoid sounding like a trial transcript. For the record, the prosecution called more than forty witnesses to testify against Ingenito; the defense attorney called eight, including the accused, to speak on his behalf.

  Sadly, a lot of questions were raised about this incident that may never be adequately answered. Besides the obvious one-why did he do it?-I had difficulty trying to figure out the prosecution's reasons for the way it initially presented the case. In light of the seriousness of the crimes, I was unable to understand why Ingenito received the sentences that he did, which resulted in his serving a relatively short time in jail. I was truly surprised to learn that he was never prosecuted for any of the assaults on those who survived. Even some of the legal experts I
consulted were puzzled as to why Ingenito was spared from the electric chair at a time when other murderers, some of whom had killed only one person, received the ultimate punishment. For example, Howard Auld, a thirty-oneyear-old former paratrooper and chauffeur from Bellmawr, was executed in the electric chair at 8:06 P.M. on March 27, 1951, at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. He received this sentence in 1945 for the brutal murder of one woman, twenty-three-year-old Margaret McDade, a waitress from Philadelphia who had refused his advances.

  It is my intention to help the reader see that there were a variety of factors at work on the night Ingenito picked up his guns, some of which continue to resonate even now among those he left behind. For the people who lived through the experience and were willing to share their memories, I hope this book brings, if not a sense of closure, at least an opportunity to shed light on the specter that has lingered for so long in the shadows of their lives. Maybe, by setting events down in black-and-white, I can help them achieve a small degree of peace. For those who still cannot speak about that night, all I can say is, I did my best.

  I have attempted to be as accurate and objective as possible in telling this story. Since much of it was gleaned from newspaper accounts, magazines, and books, as well as people's memories, I used my judgment, honed by many years of experience in researching and writing, to present the incidents from the most believable resources with the greatest amount of evidence. Some of the previously printed stories about Ingenito conflicted with the official record, but have been considered anyway to show the amount and type of publicity generated by the crime. Even then, some reporters were not above stretching the truth just a little to lend more color to an already dramatic story. But any dialogue that you read was either spoken, written, or attributed to its source by others who engaged that person in direct conversation.

  They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, this particular "child" was nurtured by the following people, who have earned my sincere thanks for their support and assistance.

  At Stackpole Books, editor Kyle Weaver developed the project and editorial assistant Brett Keener carried it through the production process.

  For interviews and research, I relied on Ernest Ingenito Jr.; Mary Ann Larro, research assistant; Sean Dalton, Gloucester County Prosecutor; Bernard Weisenfeld, Public Information Officer for the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office; the staff and volunteers of the Gloucester County Historical Society; the staff of the New Jersey State Archives; Tony Ficcaglia, retired psychologist; Deidre Fedkenheuer, spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Corrections; Judge George Stanger, retired; Judge Ernest Alvino, retired; Mark Falzini, archivist at the New Jersey State Police Museum; Allen "Boo" Pergament, Atlantic City historian; Gretchen McLain, Franklin Township Historical Advisory Committee; Susan Mounier, Director of the Newfield Public Library; Terry Glen Tucker, Esquire; Connie Schuchard; and, as always, the staff of the Vineland Public Library.

  Then there are the brave souls who served as my readers: Karen Smith, Ruth Tucker, Ngaire Smith, and Suzie Carano.

  In addition, I appreciate that the following people were willing to share their memories: Nola Mazzoli Siciliano, Barbara Mazzoli Trommello, Frank Mazzoli, Teresa Pioppi Sanford, and others who preferred to remain anonymous.

  "I'm sorry about them naturally, but I do not feel as though I'm at all responsible."

  Ernest Martin Ingenito January 5, 1956

  ight fell hard and fast in November. Deep in the heart of the dense Pine Barrens, which stretch across the lower half of New Jersey, the stars that were splashed across the black velvet sky cast a bright light on the scattered farms below. There was a hint of water in the air but it was still too warm for snow. Not that it would matter. The crops had long since been harvested and trucked off to the local produce auction for shipment to markets in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and New York. Now was the time for settling accounts and taking care of all those farm chores that took second place when every waking moment was spent in the field tending the crops.

  Some said a violent nor'easter was brewing. The storm threatened to reach hurricane proportions by the following week. But the air was still and cool on Friday, November 17, 1950, at a little before nine at night. The only sounds were the raccoons rustling their way through the backyards in search of food and the occasional hoot of an owl nesting in a nearby tree.

  There was a lot more quiet to listen to in those days, especially on Piney Hollow Road, a heavily forested stretch on the eastern boundary of Franklin Township in Gloucester County. Bordering the tiny towns of Landisville and Downstown, the road ran roughly south to north, twisting through a landscape of trees and houses that were strewn about like abandoned toys across a carpet of open fields. It was one of those blinkand-you-miss-it places that few people had ever heard of and still fewer could find. The bright lights of Philadelphia to the west and Atlantic City to the east were only about an hour's drive away. At the southern end of Piney Hollow Road, where it connected to Route 40, or the Harding Highway, the names on the mailboxes that dotted the roadside were predominantly Italian, often related by blood or marriage. A generation or two before, Italian immigrants were first drawn to the region by the promise of owning their own farms, an opportunity that never would have been possible in their homeland.

  At the heart of Piney Hollow Road was the Pioppi farm, a sprawling fifty-seven-acre spread west of the road that had been settled about forty years before by Armando and Theresa Pioppi. By 1950, the farm was prospering under Theresa's management, with the help of their two sons, John and Jino. Unlike some of their neighbors, who still used horses to pull their plows, the Pioppis could afford modern equipment, like a tractor, which allowed them to till the soil and harvest their crops more quickly and efficiently. At eighty-two, Armando was happy to let Theresa, fifteen years his junior, and the boys take care of the business. Although thirty-one-year-old Jino was their youngest, he had a good head on his shoulders and his mother relied on him to get the work done. Like his father, Jino stood more than six feet tall. Dark-haired and handsome, he was lean and well-muscled from years of hard work. At forty-six, John was already going gray; although he was a little slow when it came to understanding some things, he was a hard worker who willingly tackled any job.

  The rhythm of life on Piney Hollow Road was rarely interrupted. Only once in recent memory had anything dramatic occurred. In the early 1930s, a TWA airplane was forced to make an emergency landing in the Pioppis' fields, a local resident recalled. The craft, carrying actors headed to Atlantic City, tore up the sweet potato crop, which outraged Theresa Pioppi. Some neighbors considered the Pioppis a little money hungry, and they chuckled as she ran out into the fields, screaming at the pilot that his company was going to pay. But it is not surprising that Theresa was upset. The crops were their livelihood-without produce, the bills didn't get paid and the family didn't eat.

  The Pioppis had good reason to be proud of their thriving farm. By 1950, they were successful enough to rent an adjoining twenty-three acres that overflowed with produce each fall. Across the street lived the Pioppis' daughter, Pearl, who had married Mike Mazzoli in 1925. They had twenty-one acres received as a dowry from her parents. Mike's family had settled many years before in neighboring Buena Vista Township. He was a quiet, hardworking man who had spent most of his life farming, and he was still close to his brothers and sisters, who all lived just a few miles away. Although he had his share of youthful indiscretions, Mike was devoted to his Pearl and their only daughter, Theresa, named in honor of her maternal grandmother. Known to everyone as Tessie, she had been a cheerful baby from the time she was born on May 24, 1926, and had grown up to be a gentle, sweet young woman.

  Unfortunately, the families had been having a problem lately. Three years earlier, Tessie Mazzoli had married Ernest Ingenito, an outsider who resented the amount of farmwork his in-laws had expected from him. Tessie, with her shoulderlength dark hair and brown eyes, looked so pretty on her wedding day. She spa
rkled in her big picture hat and white suit trimmed in plaid ribbon. Her groom, in his fashionable brown plaid suit, looked so happy. How had things gone so wrong, so fast? Part of the reason seemed to be that Ernie had grown up on the streets of Wildwood and Philadelphia. He was not familiar with the "old ways," those traditions that demanded individual sacrifice for the greater good of the family. The Mazzolis were sorry they had ever permitted the marriage to take place.

  Ernie never understood why, when he later held an outside job, he was still expected to help out on the farm. Although he had seemed happy enough to work in the fields during his first year with Tessie, his attitude grew increasingly antagonistic, especially toward his mother-in-law.

  Pearl found it difficult to hide her dislike of Ernie. She saw him as lazy and untrustworthy. Perhaps she believed some of the rumors that he had physically abused Tessie during the brief time they lived in Philadelphia right after they married. But Pearl kept quiet and never complained about such matters, not even to other family members. She only knew that Tessie no longer seemed comfortable with the thought of being alone with her husband. So Pearl was always on guard, determined to make sure nothing bad happened to her only child while under her roof.

  The final insult for the Mazzolis came in October when Mike heard that Ernie was fooling around with other women. Although Mike rarely lost his temper, he threw the younger man out of the house one Sunday and told him not to come back. Despite Ernie's pleas, his wife refused to go with him; she was not willing to leave behind the only place she thought of as home. Ernie later persuaded some of Tessie's other relatives to speak to Mike and Pearl on his behalf, but his in-laws refused to budge. There was no way he was ever going to set foot in their house again, not without a court order. The Pioppis firmly supported the Mazzolis' position, and Tessie, like a good daughter, did as she was told. Despite the upset, life went on for the two families, who when not working spent almost all of their free time together. Some of the neighbors saw them as a little too clannish, but the Mazzolis and Pioppis couldn't have cared less. Family came first.