Single mom missing; dad in Italy; mob ties possible
By: Vic Monaco
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, now including the FBI, 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, declining to elaborate.
Mr. Digirolamo became the proverbial "person of interest" this week as law enforcement officials 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 Millstone home, and at Ms. Giordano’s borough apartment.
"We’re very anxious to talk to Mr. Digirolamo," Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini said to reporters gathered Wednesday at a news 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, had flown from Newark Liberty International Airport to Milan, Italy, on June 14. On Wednesday, Mr. Bocchini continued to decline 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."
Trenton FBI Special Agent in Charge Bill Evanina said late Thursday afternoon that FBI agents in Italy had been contacted Wednesday.
Mr. Bocchini revealed two pieces of new information at Wednesday’s press conference:
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 said 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. That search was expected to occur today.
After Wednesday’s press conference, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at the Digirolamo home at 4 Stevenson Ave. in Millstone.
Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said Thursday that several items were removed including Mr. Digirolamo’s computer, which would be analyzed by the computer unit of the New Jersey State Police. He said Ms. Digirolamo, who goes by her maiden name of Maria Dimaggio, has been "very cooperative" with authorities.
"At this point in time it does not appear that Ms. Dimaggio had any knowledge of the affair between Mr. Digirolamo and Ms. Giordano," he said.
ConAir Vice President John Mayorek last week told the Herald that Ms. Dimaggio 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. Dimaggio have been unsuccessful.
A published report in The Times of Trenton on Wednesday 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. Mr. 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. Mr. Bocchini 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 ConAir, where Mr. Digirolamo worked as a computer technician.
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. He stressed Wednesday that no evidence of a crime had been found.
"We have very serious issues and as a result it becomes more curious," he said.
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 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.
Reporters on Wednesday asked several questions about Ms. Giordano’s family, particularly why they have been silent.
"To the best of our knowledge, she was adopted and is estranged from her adoptive parents," Mr. Onofri said Thursday, while adding that her ex-husband has been "very cooperative."
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."

