TRENTON, N.J. – As New Jersey authorities investigate possible mob ties in the case of an abandoned baby and a missing mother, Delaware cops have issued an arrest warrant for the boy's father over the abandonment of the 11-month-old.
Delaware State Police on Thursday said they were seeking Rosario Digirolamo, 32, a married computer analyst from Millstone Township, on reckless endangering and child abandonment charges.
According to Delaware State Police, Digirolamo made a cell phone call that utilized a signal tower in the area of a Newark, Del., hospital on June 9 — the same day Michael Digirolamo was abandoned there.
It took nearly a week for authorities to identify the baby. By then, Rosario Digirolamo had flown from Newark Liberty International Airport to Milan, Italy, according to prosecutors.
Meanwhile, the boy's mother, Amy Giordano, 27, of Hightstown, hasn't been heard from since June 8, when she had a telephone conversation with her 6-year-old son, who lives in New York City with her ex-husband.
Even with the criminal charges pending against Digirolamo in Delaware, authorities in New Jersey still were not classifying Giordano's disappearance as a criminal investigation, but rather as a search for a missing person, according to Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.
However, New Jersey prosecutors are calling Rosario Digirolamo a "person of interest," and on Wednesday authorities searched the Monmouth County home he shares with his wife and their 1-year-old son. Several items were removed, including Digirolamo's home computer.
Digirolamo's wife, who reportedly never knew about her husband's second family in Hightstown, has been cooperating with investigators, prosecutors said.
Digirolamo did not have a previous criminal record, but authorities were examining possible organized crime links, said Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri.
"It's one of the many aspects of this case that we're investigating," said Onofri, who would not elaborate further.
Digirolamo's Millstone Township home formerly belonged to Stefano "Steve the Truck Driver" Vitabile, the reputed consigliere of New Jersey's DeCavalcantes, believed to be one of the state's major crime families, according to property records obtained by The Times of Trenton. Vitabile was sentenced last year to life in prison for his involvement in mob-related killings.
The DeCavalcantes' criminal enterprises have been considered an inspiration for the hit HBO mob drama "The Sopranos."
Giordano's child has been placed in foster care by the Delaware Division of Family Services.
"He's going to remain in foster care until we locate or get more information on the parents," said Kelly Bachman, a spokeswoman for the division.
Even if the parents are found, the boy will remain in foster care, pending a court hearing on the parents' fitness to care for him, Bachman said.
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