James Torelli

Picture of James Torelli with priests, c. 1992

James "Jimmy Ears" Torelli was born in Messina, Sicily on August 24, 1908. He moved to America in 1927. His criminal career began soon after, when he began to manufacture and sell prohibited alcohol. James is best known as the leader of the Torelli crime family.

Torelli has been responsible for ordering at least 80 murders, with several being committed by his own hand. A known adulterer and alcoholic during his life, Torelli was mistaken in the public light as a philanthropist due to his many donations to charities. Torelli was a noted sociopath and narcissist who disregarded the wellbeing of his wife and children, two of which were murdered because of his criminal activity. He was responsible for the deaths of thousands of drug users, and the impoverishment of the hundreds of business owners he exalted his criminal wrath upon. He betrayed his own subjects on numerous occasions, and placed greed over the value of human life.

## Early Life

James Torelli was born on August 24, 1908, in Messina, Italy. When James was a child, he was known to fight other children and vandalize property. James' father became indebted to an unknown crime syndicate, and when he failed to pay his debts, he was killed, alongside James' mother and older brother.

James escaped to America in 1927.

## Criminal History

James Torelli started many criminal rackets in 1927, including extortion, bootlegging, protection and gambling rackets in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His syndicate quickly rose to prominence within the underworld, and was widely known throughout southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania by the mid-1930s. James was allied with the Chicago Outfit and The Commission.

James Torelli's family grew throughout the Great Depression, but the onset of World War II stalled the growth in some areas. By the 1950s, however, the family rose back to prominence, and began to expand into other parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The family remained secretive and attempted to avoid press attention, even after the the Apalachin meeting in 1957 which led to the acknowledgement of a nationwide criminal conspiracy by J. Edgar Hoover.

James Torelli's family grew drastically in the 1960s and 1970s, and expanded into other north-eastern states, including Maryland and New York. This is also when the family began to become heavily involved with the illegal narcotics trade, a decision that James Torelli would not have allowed at an earlier age. In the late-1970s, the family expanded to include smaller outfits in parts of California, as well as in Empire Bay.

The family reached the peak of their success in the 1980s. However, after the nationwide news coverage of John Gotti, more legitimate and illegitimate clients of the Torelli crime family began to cease business. Alongside the mafia-scare was the crackdown on organized crime from the U.S. Justice Department due to a rise in mafia-related homicides, which led to the arrest and conviction of numerous Torelli crime family members, including James Torelli himself.

On November 4, 1992, James Torelli was arrested on the grounds of the RICO statute. James Torelli, Jr. supposedly operated the family during Torelli, Sr.'s absence. In 1993, he was found guilty by the Grand Jury of the charges brought against him and sentenced to 20 years in prison, to be served at FCI Morgantown in West Virginia. However, in 2001, he was released early due to his old age (93) and deteriorating health due to Parkinson's Disease caused by severe exposure to mercury.

On June 9, 2009, James Torelli suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. In the early hours of June 16, he had a heart attack and died minutes later. A private funeral was held in Newark, New Jersey.

James Torelli, Jr. succeeded him as boss of the Torelli crime family.