Coney Island

Iconic Coney Island restaurant Gargiulo’s hosts family reunion

Owners Gather for Milestone Celebration

April 26, 2017 By John Alexander Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Generations of Russo and Mastellone family members gather at Gargiulo’s restaurant for historic reunion. Eagle photos by Arthur De Gaeta
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Brooklyn’s infamous Gargiulo’s Restaurant at 2911 West 15th Street, Coney Island, celebrated a milestone on Sunday, April 23, as generations of family members — children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins —  traveled from all across the country to return to Coney Island for the gathering.

Gargiulo’s, one of New York’s oldest restaurants, was established in 1907 by the Gargiulo family. It was originally operated by Gus Gargiulo, who was later joined by his brother Louis and sisters Tessie and Angelina, along with other family members. Throughout the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, the Gargiulo’s Grand Ballroom hosted numerous weddings and other social functions.

But the story actually begins earlier, between 1879 and 1906, when husband and wife Aniello Mastellone and Teresa Esposito of Meta and Piano di Sorrento, Italy had 14 children, 13 of whom lived to adulthood. Ten of those children migrated to Coney Island in 1900. The descendants of these children comprised the majority of attendees at Sunday’s reunion.

Two Mastellone sisters, Assunta and Rachele, married two Aiello brothers and Frank Mastellone married an Aiello sister. “My great-grandparents were Frank Mastellone and Maria Aiello,” explained Al Jacobsen. “They are most well-known for owning an Italian Deli in Bensonhurst on 18th Avenue and 86th Street.”

The Aiello side of the family is famous in its own right. According to Jacobsen, one of the Aiello siblings that immigrated to the U.S. was Rose Aiello. She married a man named Joseph Pollio, aka Guiseppe Pollio. The story goes that in 1899 they started a cheese business in Brooklyn called Pollio Cheese. However, because of the negative connotation of the name, it was ultimately changed to Polly-O. The company was bought by Kraft Foods in 1986.

And then it became a tale of two families as the Russos married into the Mastellone family. In fact, two Russo brothers married Mastellone women. Victor married Teresa Mastellone and Giacomo (Nino) married Teresa’s first cousin Teresa “Tina” Aiello in 1956.

“At Nino and Tina’s wedding, Nino introduced his younger brother Victor Russo to Tina’s first cousin Theresa Mastellone, daughter of Michele [Mike] Mastellone and co-owner of Mastellone Brother’s Salumeria on Union Street,” explained Rachael Russo.

In June 1965, the Russo brothers (Michael, Victor and Nino) acquired the restaurant from the Gargiulo family. The Russo family, like the Gargiulo family, came from Sorrento, Italy and chose to keep the Gargiulo name.

Victor and Teresa Mastellone had five children, Louis, Rachael, Mike, Nino and Anthony Russo, who currently run the business. Nino, is named after his uncle.

Teresa Masters, a first cousin of the two Teresas on the Mastellone side,

is among the first-born generation in America. Masters, who traveled from her home in California to attend the reunion, recalled, “I made a trip last June to visit every first cousin I could. Two have since died, including the mother of the Gargiulo’s owners.”

“It was such a memorable event. Cousins got to meet cousins that they’d only heard stories about,” said Joni Mac Lellan Staiano, a Russo cousin. “Sixty-five people turned out and a great time was had by all.”

“I spend so much time studying my deceased ancestors that it is easy to overlook the extended family still very much alive today,” Jacobsen added. “The reunion provided such an amazing opportunity to connect with these special loved ones.

“I met [my] cousin [who was the] priest that married my parents almost 40 years ago, I met first cousins of my grandmother who knew her as ‘Tessie’ and I learned that there were two fellow students I went to high school with in Rockland County that were actually my third cousins. What a fantastic day this was!”

 

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