Person in this family
Salvatore A. Spatarella
4 June 1939 (compiled) – 28 March 1977 (compiled)
Salvatore A. Spatarella was born on 4 June 1939 and died on 28 March 1977, aged only thirty-seven; he was buried on 2 April at Pinelawn, in one grave with Marie Spatarella (1936–2018). They were husband and wife. This page said for months that a shared grave was not evidence of it. Long Island newspapers now settle it three ways: the Smithtown tax rolls of autumn 1977 list a lot held by “Spatarella Salvatore & Marie”; Marie's mother's obituary of January 1977 names her daughters as Marie Spatarella of St. James and Gloria Noest; and a 1965 boating item calls Gerald Noest “Sal Spatarella's brother-in-law” — which he is only if Sal married Marie. Marie's family name was Ardi. He was a cartman — a private refuse hauler — of Greenfield Drive, Commack. He was president of the Suffolk County Cartmen's Association by 1970 and secretary-treasurer of Gallagher Sanitation Corp. and All American Refuse Removal Corp. Both firms and the trade were the subject of prosecutions in the early 1970s, reported at length in the Suffolk papers; he pleaded guilty before a judge in July 1973. After his death the business passed to Marie, whom the Three Village Herald names in August 1977 as All American's owner — which is itself part of what identifies this man as the one in this grave. He was almost certainly not a son of James Gennaro Spatarella. That was the obvious hypothesis — a 1939 birth sits exactly in the gap between Ray in 1937 and Robert in 1943 — and the 1950 census disposes of it: the household is complete on the sheet, and holds only Angelina at 19, Esther at 16 and Bobby at 7. A ten-year-old son is not there. Whether he belongs to this family some other way is a different and still open question.
Probable
Salvatore A. Spatarella was born on 4 June 1939 and died on 28 March 1977, aged only thirty-seven; he was buried on 2 April at Pinelawn, in one grave with Marie Spatarella (1936–2018). They were husband and wife. This page said for months that a shared grave was not evidence of it. Long Island newspapers now settle it three ways: the Smithtown tax rolls of autumn 1977 list a lot held by “Spatarella Salvatore & Marie”; Marie's mother's obituary of January 1977 names her daughters as Marie Spatarella of St. James and Gloria Noest; and a 1965 boating item calls Gerald Noest “Sal Spatarella's brother-in-law” — which he is only if Sal married Marie. Marie's family name was Ardi. He was a cartman — a private refuse hauler — of Greenfield Drive, Commack. He was president of the Suffolk County Cartmen's Association by 1970 and secretary-treasurer of Gallagher Sanitation Corp. and All American Refuse Removal Corp. Both firms and the trade were the subject of prosecutions in the early 1970s, reported at length in the Suffolk papers; he pleaded guilty before a judge in July 1973. After his death the business passed to Marie, whom the Three Village Herald names in August 1977 as All American's owner — which is itself part of what identifies this man as the one in this grave. He was almost certainly not a son of James Gennaro Spatarella. That was the obvious hypothesis — a 1939 birth sits exactly in the gap between Ray in 1937 and Robert in 1943 — and the 1950 census disposes of it: the household is complete on the sheet, and holds only Angelina at 19, Esther at 16 and Bobby at 7. A ten-year-old son is not there. Whether he belongs to this family some other way is a different and still open question.
Birth: From our family tree - no record found yet
Death: From our family tree - no record found yet
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Gina D. Cacace’s no relationship found in this archive
Abigail Ann Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s no relationship found in this archive
Kevin Leahey’s no relationship found in this archive
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
Life
A written life story has not been added for this person yet.
Family
Spouse
See this family in the family treeWhere they lived
Use the place list first. The map below is optional.
Places listed on this page
- New York
- Stio, Campania, Italy
- Brooklyn, New York City, New York
- Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum, East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York
- Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum, East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York
The map could not load. The complete place list is above it.
The pins show approximate places. The line only joins them in time order; it does not prove the route travelled. 1 of the places listed above are recorded only as a county or country, so they are not pinned. Cemetery and burial places have red pins.
Timeline
[NEGATIVE, CONTROLLED] Absent from the James Spatarella household in 1950
Born 4 June 1939 he would have been ten years old when the enumerator called on 6 April 1950, and a ten-year-old does not live away from home. He is not in the household. The negative is controlled by the sheet itself rather than by an index: the entry ends at line 29, the closing rule is drawn beneath it, and the HOUSEHOLD CONTINUED ON NEXT SHEET box is unticked. Five people, and no child of about ten. His two eldest brothers, Frank at 21 and Nicholas at 18, are also absent — which is what one expects of grown sons and not of a boy. The ages cut the same way from the other end. The newspapers give him as 32 in 1965 and 37 in 1973, implying a birth about 1933 to 1936; a boy of 14 to 17 would be at home in 1950 too. On either reading of his age he is missing from that house. [7]
Proved by a record
Named with his brother-in-law in a Long Island Sound boating item
The relationship is the useful part: Gerald Noest married Marie's sister Gloria, so Noest is Sal's brother-in-law only through a marriage to Marie. The reported age of 32 implies a birth about 1933 and does not agree with the 4 June 1939 on his memorial — see the open question below. [5]
Proved by a record
President of the Suffolk County Cartmen's Association
No further detail recorded. [6]
Proved by a record
Secretary-treasurer of two refuse firms
The Suffolk papers covered the private refuse trade closely in these years, and he is reported in it repeatedly — including a guilty plea in July 1973. The reporting is recorded here because it is contemporaneous public record and because it is what identifies him: no other source places this man anywhere. [6]
Proved by a record
Died, aged 37
[COMPILED] From his Find a Grave memorial. No death notice for him has been found. [1]
From our family tree - no record found yet
A lot still held in both their names, seven months after his death
The Suffolk delinquent tax list of October and November 1977. Joint ownership is the plainest evidence of the marriage, and it is the reason this page no longer hedges on it. [3]
Proved by a record
What the records say
7 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
Find a Grave memorial 275146185 for Salvatore A. Spatarella
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
[COMPILED] Salvatore A. Spatarella | Birth — 4 Jun 1939 | Death — 28 Mar 1977 (aged 37) | Burial — Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum — East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York | Plot — Block: Park Circle | Range: Southern | Mall: C | Grave: 23 | Family Members — none shown
Record exhibit
Marie and Salvatore A. Spatarella memorials, Pinelawn — one grave
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Marie Spatarella, 7 August 1936 – 9 July 2018, and Salvatore A. Spatarella, 4 June 1939 – 28 March 1977 (buried 2 April 1977), are both recorded at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Block Park Circle, Range Southern, Mall C, Grave 23 — the same grave. Neither memorial gives parents.
Record exhibit
Suffolk County delinquent tax list — “Spatarella Salvatore & Marie”, The Smithtown News, 20 and 27 October and 10 November 1977
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
BURR WINKLE MAP 3293 SEC 6 | 288 Spatarella Salvatore & Marie Lot 269 Imp ... 2,720.11
Record exhibit
Obituary of Marie Spatarella's mother, The Smithtown News, 13 January 1977, page 32
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
…1914 and lived in Kings Park for 18 years. She is survived by two daughters, Marie Spatarella of St. James and Gloria Noest of Kings Park; a son, Joseph of Bayside; a brother, Stephen Ardi of Jackson Heights; three sisters, Carmella Ardi…
Record exhibit
Boating item naming Sal Spatarella and his brother-in-law Gerald Noest, The Long-Islander, 4 November 1965
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
…Island Sound off Eaton's point, Eaton's Neck. Sal Spatarella, 32, and his brother-in-law, Gerald Noest,…
Record exhibit
Salvatore Spatarella, cartman — Suffolk County reporting, 1970–1977
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
The Smithtown News, 10 December 1970: “Sal Spatarella, president of the Suffolk County Cartmen's Association”. 20 December 1973: “The firms, Gallagher Sanitation Corp. and All American Refuse Removal Corp. … Salvatore Spatarella, 37-year-old secretary-treasurer”. Three Village Herald, 3 August 1977: “All American is owned by Marie Spatarella of St. James”.
Record exhibit
1950 census, Brooklyn ED 24-1062 sheet 73 — the complete James Spatarella household (controlled negative)
A census is a government list of the people who were living in a home.
Proved by a record
Full verbatim transcription — reproduced in full.
Read from the sheet image, not from an index. The household is complete: it ends at line 29 with the closing rule drawn beneath it and the continuation box unticked. Five people. There is no child aged about ten.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
What we still don't know
- [NOT A SON OF JAMES GENNARO SPATARELLA — the obvious hypothesis, tested and failed] A birth of 1939 fits the gap in that family's children exactly, between Ray in 1937 and Robert in 1943, and for a day it looked like the answer. The 1950 census closes it: the household is complete on the sheet and contains no child of about ten. See the timeline entry. This does not make him a stranger. Spatarella is not a common name; both families are Neapolitan-descended, both moved Brooklyn to Long Island, both bury at Pinelawn, and he lived at Commack, where Gina Cacace's father grew up. A cousin or a nephew of James Gennaro remains entirely possible and is not evidenced either. He stays unattached.
- [WHAT WOULD STILL SETTLE IT] His New York death certificate, 28 March 1977, names his parents outright — that is the answer to the whole question in one document. Failing that, Marie's 2018 obituary: she died on 9 July 2018 and a funeral notice should exist, though a web search on 12 August 2026 did not turn one up, and neither Find a Grave memorial links any family. His own death notice is not in the NYS Historic Newspapers corpus.
- [THE ARDI FAMILY, HER SIDE, IS WIDE OPEN] Her mother died in January 1977 at Kings Park, born 1914, leaving a son Joseph at Bayside, a brother Stephen Ardi at Jackson Heights, a sister Carmella Ardi, and a daughter Gloria Noest. No Ardi has been created here.
References
- [1] Find a Grave memorial 275146185 for Salvatore A. SpatarellaBack to citation 1a Back to citation 1b
- [2] Marie and Salvatore A. Spatarella memorials, Pinelawn — one graveBack to citation 2
- [3] Suffolk County delinquent tax list — “Spatarella Salvatore & Marie”, The Smithtown News, 20 and 27 October and 10 November 1977Back to citation 3a Back to citation 3b
- [4] Obituary of Marie Spatarella's mother, The Smithtown News, 13 January 1977, page 32Back to citation 4
- [5] Boating item naming Sal Spatarella and his brother-in-law Gerald Noest, The Long-Islander, 4 November 1965Back to citation 5a Back to citation 5b
- [6] Salvatore Spatarella, cartman — Suffolk County reporting, 1970–1977Back to citation 6a Back to citation 6b Back to citation 6c
- [7] 1950 census, Brooklyn ED 24-1062 sheet 73 — the complete James Spatarella household (controlled negative)Back to citation 7a Back to citation 7b