Nicholas
Scarduzio

NICHOLAS SCARDUZIO was born June 16, 1899, according to Social Security records. Census records and newspaper accounts have him as being a year younger, He was born in Pennsylvania to Italian immigrant parents. The Scarduzio family had moved en masse to Camden's Eight Ward by 1930. Members of the family became active in politics, real estate, law, and on occasion were caught up in situations involving them with law enforcement.   

At the time of the 1930 Census, Nicholas Scarduzio was living with his brother Anthony at 427 Emerald Street in Camden. Both brothers were then serving on Camden's police force. 

Politics in the Eighth Ward was not a game for the faint of heart. One political leader, Joseph "Mose" Flannery, was gunned down on September 14, 1928. Flannery was known to be involved in various underworld activities, primarlily connected with illegal slot machines. A Scarduzio relative, Joseph "Cuzzy" Scarduzio, was present when Flannery was shot, and was held as a material witness.

In 1934, Nicholas Scarduzio led a "victory parade" in the wake of the May 17th primary election to determine control of the Republican Party in Camden County. The parade turned into a riot when the participants stopped in front of the bar owned by opposition candidate William Tansky. At least two shots were fired, several arrests were made, and Nicholas Scarduzio was reported to have been badly beaten. 

At the end of the 1930s, he resided at 419 Webster Street. Nicholas Scarduzio was no longer on the police force when, on December 24, 1939 he was in the company of his older brother Andrew, who was also a political worker in the Eighth Ward. The brothers tried to enter a taproom in Bellmawr NJ long after closing time. Andrew was shot to death. One month later Nicholas Scarduzio was arrested and held without bail after a shooting incident at a restaurant at 1806 Broadway by County Detective Wilfred Dube on orders of Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando. Orlando ordered County Chief of Detectives Lawrence Doran to launch an investigation, while Camden Director of Public Safety Mary W. Kobus ordered then Chief of Police Ralph Bakley to conduct a similar probe after reading the incident reports filed by Camden Police Officers Carl Fredericks and Oliver Morgan.

In April of 1944 another Scarduzio relation, Albert "Swifty" Scarduzio, was questioned in relation to the gangland murder of Vincent "China" Scola, who had been implicated in the sale of counterfeit gasoline ration stamps.

Nicholas Scarduzio lived in an apartment at 1709 Broadway when the 1947 City Directory was compiled. He remained a Camden resident until his passing in August of 1968.