Dominic Torelli

Photo of Dominic Torelli, c. 1959

Dominic Torelli was an American criminal and soldier in the North Jersey faction of the Torelli crime family. He was the eldest son of James Torelli.

## Death

In the summer of 1967, Dominic Torelli became indebted to the Howe Avenue Gang, a criminal outfit loosely connected to the Jewish Mafia. He had borrowed money to bet on horse races, and according to Frank Rosenburg, had failed to pay them back on the proper deadline. In late-1967, after several non-violent coercion attempts, Dominic's house was burglarized by the Howe Avenue Gang while away on a business trip. His wife was in the house and was beaten with pistols by the burglars.

When Dominic Torelli ordered a mock execution of one of the assailants named Benjamin Wozniak as a response to the burglary, Torelli's car was vandalized and his race horse named Claudia was poisoned, but survived. In retaliation, Dominic hired black gangsters to drive several cars into the home of Howard Broder, a close associate of the Howe Avenue Gang's leader Joe Stern, during a private dinner party held in honor of the birth of Howard Broder's third daughter.

In mid-July 1968, Joe Vincent, a burglar closely associated with the Wilson Gang of Staten Island, was supposedly approached personally by Joe Stern. He attempted to hire Joe Vincent to assassinate Dominic Torelli by placing a bomb under his car, but for an unknown reason the plan fell through and the hit never happened.

In late-July of the same year, Newark hitman Frank Rosenburg was approached by an unknown associate of the Howe Avenue Gang. Frank was hired to assassinate Dominic Torelli by placing a bomb under his car, but this method of assassination also fell through. In early-August, the plan changed to assassinate Dominic Torelli at a meeting with financial organizers of Saint Basilica's Cathedral in Newark, scheduled to take place at Bendix Diner in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Some theorists believe one of these organizers tipped off the Howe Avenue Gang about the meeting.

On August 9, the day of the meeting, Frank Rosenburg waited across the street from the diner. The meeting was supposed to take place at noon, but was postponed until approximately 6 o'clock. Dominic Torelli arrived in a car with three of the financial advisors at 5:50, with the second car supposedly behind by about 30 minutes. After Dominic had sat down at a table with them, Frank Rosenburg entered through the front door of Bendix Diner and fired three shots into Dominic Torelli's head, killing him instantly. One of the bullets fragmented and hit a waitress, but she sustained no severe injuries.

Police arrived soon after, and witness reports were taken. For some reason, the second car containing financial advisors never arrived, leading investigators to believe in a conspiracy on the part of the financial advisors, but this conspiracy was later dropped. Investigators concluded that the firearm used to kill Dominic Torelli was a Colt .45, but no murder weapon was ever found.

## Alternate Death Report

According to Staten Island-based burglar Joe Vincent, Frank Rosenburg was not the perpetrator of Dominic Torelli's death, but instead himself. He claimed that the popular story of the murder at Bendix Diner was true except for Rosenburg's part in it. Joe Vincent claimed that Rosenburg couldn't have committed the murder due to him being in Chicago at the time, a claim backed up only by Rosenburg's wife, Maria.

Joe Vincent claimed that Howe Avenue Gang leader Joe Stern approached him to kill Dominic Torelli with a car bomb, but the plan was scrapped. He said they had planned to kill Dominic in a mock-burglary attempt, but this plan was also scrapped. He claimed that the Bendix Diner plot was finalized after a tip off from a parishioner who overheard the financial advisors scheduling the meeting with Dominic.

Joe Vincent claimed that after the attack, he threw the pistol into Newark Bay. He claimed that the pistol wasn't a Colt .45, but instead a Smith & Wesson Police Special.

Investigators and expert journalists are split among whether they believe Joe Vincent's story or not.