Web UpdateMob ties suspected in abandoned baby case

Authorities ‘vey anxious’ to talk with Millstone man

By: Vic Monaco
Vic MonacoManaging Editor
   TRENTON – Rosario "Roy" Digirolamo flew to Italy five days after his baby son was abandoned in Delaware and one week after the mother of the child disappeared.
   And law enforcement officials are looking into possible ties between the missing Millstone man and the mob.
   "An organized crime connection is one of the many aspects we are investigating," Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, said Thursday.
   Mr. Digirolamo became the proverbial "person of interest" this week as law enforcement officials, now including the FBI, continued to wonder about the whereabouts of his mistress, Amy Giordano of Hightstown.
   The investigation included the execution of at least three search warrants in the last week – at Mr. Digirolamo’s East Windsor workplace and home, and at Ms. Giordano’s apartment.
   "We’re very anxious to talk to Mr. Digirolamo," Mr. Bocchini said to several reporters gathered Wednesday at a new conference at the old county courthouse.
   Asked if he thinks the 27-year-old Ms. Giordano is still alive, he responded, "I have no idea."
   Earlier in the week, the Prosecutor’s Office had confirmed published reports that Mr. Digirolamo, who worked at ConAir in East Windsor, had flown from Newark Liberty airport to Milan, Italy, on June 14. On Wednesday, Mr. Bocchini continued to refuse to say whether he flew alone. He also would not confirm published comments, attributed to Hightstown Detective Ben Miller, that Ms. Giordano did not have a passport or a driver’s license.
   The prosecutor was no more illuminating when asked if Mr. Digirolamo, 32, has relatives in Italy.
   "I would assume most Italians have relatives in Italy," he said with a smile.
   Asked if law enforcement officials believe Mr. Digirolamo remained in Italy, he said, "We have reason to believe that he hasn’t come back to the United States." Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Meidt told reporters after the press conference that Mr. Digirolamo "could be anywhere."
   The prosecutor’s new news Wednesday was twofold:
   • the FBI had become involved in the case in the last 24 hours because of the "multi-state nature and international aspects" the case had taken on; and
   • New York City police on Wednesday evening found the car Mr. Digirolamo was reported to have been driving, his wife’s 1998 Lexus, parked on a residential street in Staten Island.
   He said law enforcement officials did not know of any relatives of the missing couple living near the parked car but he indicated that the vehicle had been there about a week. The car revealed no obvious signs of foul play but, he said, it would be searched after a warrant is issued.
   At the time, he said Mr. Digirolamo’s home on Stevenson Avenue had not been searched.
   "At this point, we don’t have a crime," he gave as a reason.
   But later that day, law enforcement officials did execute a search warrant at the home, removing some belongings.
   Asked at the press conference if Mr. Digirolamo’s wife, who reportedly knew nothing of her husband’s relationship with Ms. Giordano, is cooperating with police, Mr. Bocchini said, "His wife is cooperating with us to the extent we’ve had contact with her."
   ConAir Vice President John Mayorek last week told the Herald that Ms. Digirolamo was looking for a lawyer to ensure her assets are secure. The lawyer he suggested refused to comment. Attempts by the Herald to reach Ms. Digirolamo have been unsuccessful.
   A published report in The Times of Trenton states that the Digirolamo family’s large, two-story house used to be the home of Stefano Vitabile, the imprisoned former consigliere of the DeCavalcante family, which some believe was the inspiration for "The Sopranos" television show. Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said Thursday that he could not confirm that information.
   Monmouth County tax records indicate that the couple bought the house on 1.8 acres in July 1999 from Lena Vitabile.
   Law enforcement officials also executed a search warrant Tuesday at Ms. Giordano’s apartment at 108 Mercer St. and, according to the prosecutor, they may continue to search there for evidence. He would not say what was removed during the execution of the warrant, which came about three weeks after her disappearance.
   Another warrant was executed June 22 at Mr. Digirolamo’s workplace, ConAir, at which time personal belongings of Mr. Digirolamo were confiscated.
   Mr. Bocchini said Mr. Digirolamo has no criminal record but he became a person of interest because he is the father of the abandoned baby and he had paid the rent for the missing Ms. Giordano.
   The single mother had asked landlord Mike Vanderbeck in April to be let out of her two-year lease so she could move to Twin Rivers. On June 7, she, Mr. Digirolamo and the child were seen shopping at the ShopRite on Route 130 in East Windsor. The next day Mr. Digirolamo called Mr. Vanderbeck and asked that he not show the apartment to prospective tenants for the next few days because Ms. Giordano was sick. That same day, June 8, was the last time anyone heard from Ms. Giordano, as she spoke to her 6-year-old son who lives in New York with her ex-husband.
   The next day, June 9, a baby later identified as 11-month-old Michael Digirolamo was found unharmed outside the Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del. His toys, other belongings and medicine for a skin rash had been left behind in the borough apartment. So, too, were credit cards of Ms. Giordano and Mr. Digirolamo, New York identification cards of the mother and a Mercer County voter registration application signed by the young woman and dated June 5.
   On June 11, Mr. Digirolamo, a computer technician, went to work at ConAir for the last time.
   Ms. Giordano has been described as 5 feet tall, weighing 130 pounds with long, straight hair, usually worn in a ponytail. She wears wire-framed glasses and is a chain smoker, usually smoking Parliament 100s.
   Law enforcement officials ask anyone with any information related to the case to call either Hightstown police at (609) 448-1234 or New Jersey State Police at (609) 584-5000.
   "We need their eyes and ears," said Mr. Bocchini.
   Asked what he thinks has happened to Ms. Giordano, the prosecutor said:
   "What I believe doesn’t matter. It changes day to day."