# Bottlers, gangsters and Kingston, NJ



## jerrypev (Oct 7, 2011)

For the sake of Ken Burns prohibition documentary I'll tell this interesting local story:
 Leo Salamanda was an Italian immigrant and Trenton bottler whose family were prominent liquor distributors in the early 1900s. Leo made the NY Times when he was killed in a shootout with Newark gangsters in 1920. Leo along with some associates were delivering a load of liquor when they were approached by four armed men in a Cadillac touring car about three o'clock in the morning at Kingston, NJ.  When the smoke cleared Leo and one of the gangsters were dead of gunshot wounds to the head and the gangsters fled toward Newark at high speed. They wrecked their car near New Brunswick and eventually captured. 
 One day my bottle digging friend laid his hat down next to where I was standing. I poked my digging tool in the ground next to his hat and hit something. It was a blob soda bottle from the company of Emilio Grandi of Kingston, NJ. It was the first bottle I remember finding by Grandi and as always was inspired to dig into his background.
 Kingston is a small town just outside Princeton, NJ. Many Italian immigrants came there during the late 1800s because of the stone quarry which supplied Princeton Uni with building stone. I found that Italian born Grandi had arrived at Ellis Island on Dec 2, 1895 from Le Havre France aboard the Normande. He was to become the first of other Italian bottlers to settle at Kingston. John Rosso and his son John Jr had emigrated from Italy earlier and operated a fruit market at State and Greene Sts before starting a bottling business in Kingston around the turn of the century.
 The most well known Italian bottler in Kingston was Joseph Catelli. Joseph immigrated in 1897 settling in Kingston at the turn of the century. He married Emilio Grandi's daughter and his company prospered, lasting well up into the 1930s.
 An obituary stated that Grandi died at the home of his daughter in Allentown, PA, 95 years old in 1950.


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## CWBookAuthor (Oct 7, 2011)

Thanks for the material. It was a good read!

 Mike


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## Wheelah23 (Oct 7, 2011)

Love all the research you've done about these NJ bottlers, it's of particular interest to me! I think you'll all be astonished once I publish my website, which will be about all the bottlers from Essex County minus Newark. I love researching just as much as I like digging the bottles!

 I only know of one bottler who was Italian here, I've seen a blob of his. It was Petro Scola from Glen Ridge. I'm sure it's incredibly rare. There was a court case against him for selling beer without a license. Hope I can get one eventually...


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## KBbottles (Oct 7, 2011)

Thank you very much for taking the time to post this.  I will be printing out this info for my own personal collection background.  I'm away til Sunday but can post some of my Kingston stuff as well.  I'm still looking for the catelli bottles believe it or not.  Thx again your posts have been incredible to read especially since I am local.


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## cyberdigger (Oct 7, 2011)

That was a good read indeed!
 KB, I've got a small tooled crown Catelli if you're interested..


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## KBbottles (Oct 7, 2011)

Hi Cyber,

 Very interested!  Let me know if you wanna do a trade or something or PM with price.  Im going to be a seller at the next south river show..   Wasnt there something you liked that i dug and posted a while back?


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## cyberdigger (Oct 7, 2011)

I wish my memory was so good.. let's take it to PM land.. This is a great story by Jerry, I wish there were more posts like this!!


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## jerrypev (Oct 7, 2011)

For KBbottles: I have an extra Catelli tall blob and matching crown top I dug here near the house. They have the same mold number. You can have them if you need them. I also have a Catelli short soda with slug plate dated 1931 on the bottom.


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## KBbottles (Oct 7, 2011)

Jer,

 That would be awesome!  Let me know if you want to meet some time since were both pretty local.  Also let me know how much you want for the Catellis.  These would be a great addition to my Kingston collection!!

 Many thanks,

 Kenny


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## jerrypev (Oct 7, 2011)

For KBbottles: 
 I'll be helping at the Cranbury Museum on Park Place at Main St. Cranbury Saturday October 30, day of the Cranbury House tour. I'll bring the bottles, also I'll show you three of the four MA Rue bottles including the one my friend Mike found on a pile of dirt by Old Trenton Rd. No charge for the Catelli bottles or looking at my rare and valuable Rue bottles.
 Jerry


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## KBbottles (Oct 7, 2011)

Thx Jerry,

 Im around that day so will definitely stop by!  Cant wait to see the Rue bottles in person as well.   Thanks you very much for your time and for the Catellis!!


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## surfaceone (Oct 8, 2011)

Hey Jerry,

 Great Roaring Twenties tale, and some excellent research, sir. You've brought some delightful new bottles (love the Leo Salamanda), and perspective to the ole blue pages. I'm lookin forward to further show & tell. Thanks. 

 I missed two thirds of the Burns Prohibition double header, ya think there'll be re-runs. I dunno, having missed most of it, but thought Mr. Burns might have been a bit off his game. I learned about it first reading a RedGinger post in Chat while the first installment was nearly over. Did you see the whole magilla? Was it worthy?


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## jerrypev (Oct 8, 2011)

Two articles were printed in the NY Times about the incident at Kingston, another in a local paper. The story didn't stop with the death of Leo Salamandra. An investigation uncovered an extensive bootlegger network in Newark which led to dozens of arrests. The gangster Salamandra shot through the eye turned out to be Frank Walsh leader of the gang.
 There was some effort to cover up Salamandra's part in the affair but from what I can glean from the articles the Salamandra family was eager to sell off a large amount of liquor stored in their warehouse in Trenton. It had to be a setup robbery because the Newark gangsters knew too much about the local area.
 The robbery started just as Salamandra's truck started up the hill into Kingston on the old Lincoln Highway (Route 27). Salamandra and his brother were following just behind in their car when the Cadillac approached them. Salamandra and his brother were taken to a remote area of Rocky Hill to be killed when the shooting started. Apparently Leo got in the first shot and killed Walsh before Walsh's associate shot Leo in the head.


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## jerrypev (Oct 9, 2011)

Found an article from the NY Evening World of June 29, 1903 reporting the murder of Kingston, NJ bottler John Rosso Jr. Article titled "Died with Secret of His Shooting, Jerseyman Made his Will and was Conscious to the End but Refused to Give Police a Clue to His Slayer".
 Gee, I never new that quiet little town was such a violent place?????


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## jerrypev (Oct 10, 2011)

Article about murder of Kingston bottler John Rosso Jr, 1903.


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