Louis
"Blackie"
Bottino

LOUIS A. "BLACKIE" BOTTINO was born August 11, 1911 in Italy. He came to America with his sister and older brother Joseph in 1913. By 1930 the Bottino family, which included Joseph's wife Rose, their three daughters, and Rose Bottino's mother at 232 Pine Street in South Camden. In December of 1930 he gave 1440 South 4th Street as his address when he was questioned about a robbery in Landisville, New Jersey. 

Louis Bottino had several scrapes with the law in the early 1930s. By the 1940s he had settled down and was working as a plumber, and living with wife Betty at 820 South 5th Street. By the mid-1950s he moved to 3087 Highland Avenue in East Camden. A master plumber, contractor, and member of the American Society of Stationary Engineers, he was elected president of the Camden  County Master Plumbers  Association in 1955 and in 1972 was elected president of the New Jersey State League of Master Plumbers. 

Louis Bottino and his wife Betty maintained homes in Camden and Atlantic City, New Jeraey. He passed away in November of 1977. Betty Bottino joined here husband on February 11, 1999. 

'BLACKIE' BATTINO GETS 3 TO 5 YEARS
Sentenced by Judge Shay After Pleading Guilty to Holdup Charge

Pleading guilty in criminal court to holding up two South Camden men last February, and to a gun toting charge Louis "Blackie" Battino, 23, of 805 South Fifth street, was sentenced to three to five years in state prison by Judge Samuel M. Shay yesterday.

Bottino, who was captured in a New York "love nest" on a fugitive warrant after he jumped a $5000 bail bond here, was first arrested by Detective Thomas Cheeseman on the night of the holdup. He was identified by Marvin Johnson, of 926 South Ninth Street, and Louis Puggsley, of 312 Benson Street, who said the man stuck a revolver in a car in which they were seated and robbed them of $28.

County Detective Fiore Troncone and New York detectives surprised Bottino in an apartment at Ninth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street, New York, with a woman. Patsy Costagno, 23, of 2412 South Watts Street, Philadelphia, an alleged accomplice of Bottino, was sentenced April 19, 1932, to serve 13 years in jail on three indictments for participation in the crime and carrying concealed deadly weapons.

C. Lawrence Gregorio, counsel for Battino, pleaded for another chance for his client, pointing out the youth of the prisoner. Judge Shay, however, remained unmoved and imposed sentence.

CAMDEN EX-CONVICT HELD IN DOPE RAID
Four Women Also Seized in Phila. Arrests Due to Break Up Ring

Arrest of an ex-convict from Camden and four women in a Philadelphia dope den yesterday was expected to lead to the smashing of a New York narcotic ring.

One of the women, Anna Morris, 25, at whose apartment at Seventh Street and Girard avenue the raid was staged, confessed, according to police, that she has been disposing of opium in Philadelphia for a year.

Detectives said that in her statement the Morris woman gave names of persons in New York from whom she purchased the stuff and that federal agents and New York police are expected to arrest them. The Morris woman is the sweetheart of Louis "Blackie" Bottino, 25, of South Fifth Street, Camden, who was nabbed ,in the raid along with Anna Brown, 45, of Franklin Street near Vine, Florence Flagg, 37, of Osage avenue near Fifty-ninth, and Jean Cooper, 36, of Girard avenue near Eleventh, all Philadelphia.

Bottino at first was held with the Morris woman as proprietor of the den, but police said her confession cleared him and he will be held only as a material witness. The other three women are being held on suspicion of being addicts.

Three "toys", or about four and a half ounces of opium, and a quantity of yenshee, opium ashes, were found in the raided apartment.

Detective William Leinhauser, head of the Philadelphia narcotic squad, said he knew the place was a Philadelphia outlet for a New York distribution ring for some time I but had been unable to make a raid until today.

Bottino was paroled from Rahway Reformatory last March after serving two years of a three-year term for holding up two alleged numbers racket "runners" on February 13, 1932. His accomplice in the crime, Patsy Constano, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 13 years.

At his trial, Bottino told Judge Samuel M. Shay, then in Common Pleas Court, that he staged the hold-up in revenge after he had hit the numbers but failed to collect. He and Constano were sentenced February 3, 1933. 

At the present time, Bottino is waiting trial in Camden on an indictment charging him with holding up a  restaurant at Second and Benson Streets two months ago. He pleaded not guilty to this charge a week ago.

The Cooper woman got out of jail in Philadelphia recently after serving a sentence as a narcotic peddler.

PHlLA. WOMAN FREE AFTER DOPE DEN RAID

Arrested Wednesday in a raid on an alleged Philadelphia dope den a woman who gave her name as Florence Flagg was released yesterday by Magistrate Nathan Beltel, a short time after he had held her husband in $1500 bail on another charge.

The woman was arrested as she walked into a house at Seventh Street and Girard avenue, Philadelphia, while police were in the place.

Three other women and a man were nabbed. The man is Louis "Blackie" Bottino, 25, of 518 South Fifth Street, Camden, who was paroled from Rahway Reformatory last March after serving two years of a three-year term for holding up two alleged numbers racket men here in 1932. At the present time, he is awaiting trial here on an indictment charging him with holding up a restaurant at Second and Benson Streets two months ago. He is being held as a material witness as a result of yesterday's raid.  

The other two women are Anna Morris, 25, whose apartment was raided, and who is charged with disposing of opium in Philadelphia for a year, and Jean Cooper, 36, Girard Avenue near Eleventh. As the hearing for the Flagg woman was in progress, a man who identified himself as Charles McDonough, 1908 Wallace street, Philadelphia, identified her as his wife. Magistrate Beltel held him in $1500 bail on a charge of drunken driving and discharged.

Camden Courier-Post
November 26, 1977