Minnie Richetti

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Sustik and Richetti Family History</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sustik and Richetti Family History"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bartolomeo Elisabetta Richetti">Bartolomeo & Elisabetta Richetti</A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Joe Richetti">Joe Richetti</A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Clemantine Richetti">Clemantine Richetti</A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="David V. Richetti">David V. Richetti</A>   |   <B>Minnie Richetti</B>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adam C. Richetti">Adam C. Richetti</A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eva Richetti">Eva Richetti</A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fred H. Sustik">Fred H. Sustik</A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Charles Pretty Boy Floyd">Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd</A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Verne and Vi Mathis">Verne and Vi Mathis</A>   |   <A HREF="id137.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rose and Beulah Baird">Rose and Beulah Baird</A>   |   <A HREF="id173.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="John Lazia">John Lazia</A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad2c00dkelyh.png"> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="minnie_eva_adam"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><IMG SRC="3dcb60a0.jpg" border=0 width="182" height="266" ALT="Minnie 10, Eva 6mo, and Adam Ricchetti 7yrs old" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Left to Right Minnie 10, Eva 6mo, Adam 7yrs old.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="minnie_12_yrs_old"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><IMG SRC="3d77bc40.jpg" border=0 width="123" height="196" ALT="Minnie Ricchetti Sustik 12 yrs old" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Minnie 12yrs old</div> <div>  <A NAME="eva_fred_minnie"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><IMG SRC="07873d50.jpg" border=0 width="115" height="213" ALT="Eva Ricchetti Simpson, Fred H. Sustik, and Minnie Ricchetti Sustik" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Eva, son Fred, and Minnie Sustik</div> <div>  <A NAME="minnie_school"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><IMG SRC="07ab6710.jpg" border=0 width="182" height="113" ALT="Back Row 3rd from left, Minnie Ricchetti, Lehigh High School" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Back Row 3rd from Left Minnie Richetti, Lehigh School</div> <div> <IMG SRC="07cb6b90.jpg" border=0 width="182" height="185" ALT="Jack Freer, Clemantine Ricchetti, Minnie Ricchetti Sustik, Henry Sustik" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Left to Right:  Jack Freer, Marie Smalley, Minnie Sustik, Henry Sustik</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="sustik_richetti_family"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><IMG SRC="07eb6b30.jpg" border=0 width="182" height="179" ALT="Sustik and Ricchetti Family" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Sustik and Richetti family members</div> <div> Send your questions or comments to:  <A HREF="mailto: fsustik@hotmail.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto: fsustik@hotmail.com">fsustik@hotmail.com</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family History The Beginning">Sustik and Richetti Histor</A>y</div> <div> <A HREF="id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI Files and Records">FBI Survielance on the Sustiks and Richettis</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Story">My Story</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fred H. Sustik">My Father's Story</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Trial of the Kansas City Massacre">The Trial of Adam Richetti and the Kansas City Massacre</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eva Richetti">Eva Richetti's Story</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id137.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rose and Beulah Baird">Rose and Juanita Baird</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Charles Pretty Boy Floyd">Charles Pretty Boy Floyd</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Verne and Vi Mathis">Verne Miller & Vi Mathis</A></div> <div> <A HREF="robert_unger_interview.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Robert Unger Interview">Robert Unger Interview</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id173.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="John Lazia">The Kansas City Connection</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="References and Links">References and Links</A></div> <bR> <div> Send your questions or comments to:  <A HREF="mailto: fsustik@hotmail.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto: fsustik@hotmail.com">fsustik@hotmail.com</A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="13f2acc3.jpg"> <div> <I>Minnie Richetti</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>DOMINICA</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"MINNIE"</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Richetti</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>SUSTIK</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="16089d00.jpg" border=0 width="137" height="208" ALT="Minnie Ricchetti Sustik" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Minnie Richetti</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Dominica "Minnie" Frieda Richetti </B></I><B>was born on 1 Feb 1906, in Davies W.Va. She was the 4th of the Richetti children. Minnie grew up in Lehigh, Oklahoma where she attended school and was the only Richetti child to complete high school. There while in Lehigh she met Henry Sustik (born 12 July 1899 in Raj, Checz) whose family would eventually move to Jug Run a small hollow just</B><B> </B><B>outside of </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="#dillonvale_oh" TITLE="Minnie Richetti"><B>Dillonvale, Ohio</B></A></FONT>. </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="3daa6e80.jpg" border=0 width="166" height="232" ALT="Minnie & Henry Sustik" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>It was there that Minnie and Henry walked the railroad tracks into town on 10 November 1923 and were married. </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id97.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Henry Sustik"><B>Henry Sustik,</B></A></FONT><B> and Minnie (Ricchitti) lived out their lives in Jug Run, Ohio working in the area coal mines and in Dillonvale OH. They adopted</B><A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fred H. Sustik"><B> </B></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fred H. Sustik"><B>Fred L. Simpson</B></A></FONT><B>, Minnie's sister</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eva Richetti"><B> Eva</B></A></FONT><B>'s son. Henry retired from the coal mines and died in DEC 30, 1970 at 71 from black lung. Minnie remarried Joe Chrobak, Henry's cousin. Minnie died in Jun 1992 at 87 in her sleep. She was the last and oldest surviving Richetti of that generation. Joe Chrobak her last husband died on April 21, 1998. He was born on February 21, 1912, in Lazy, Austria, a son of John and Anastazie Pollak Chrobak, who was Henry's cousin.</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="dillonvale_oh"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><IMG SRC="45836c40.jpg" border=0 width="310" height="196" ALT="Dillonvale, Oh circa 1900" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Dillonvale, OH circa early 1900's</div> <bR> <div> <B>Minnie and Henry's lives were affected by her youngest brother and sister, </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adam C. Richetti"><B>Adam </B></A></FONT><B>and</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eva Richetti"><B> Eva</B></A></FONT><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>As the years passed by Minnie and Henry were unable to have children of their own. Minnie's youngest sister Eva whose marriage was failing, and had run into trouble with the law, had lost her son Fred to the Kansas Children's Home in 1932. Once the family had found out about those circumstances Minnie and Henry decided to help out.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Eventually through a petition to the courts, The Department of Public Welfare in Ohio, through the </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Adoption Ltr"><B>Kansas Children's Home run by Miss Shirk </B></A></FONT><B>located at 617 Mulvane St., in Topeka, Kansas on 29 March 1932, contacted Minnie and Henry Sustik, to care for her sister Eva's son, Fred L. Simpson Jr. Shortly thereafter Minnie and Henry Sustik where to travel to Topeka, Kansas to pick up their nephew at the children's home. After four and a half months, Judge Kaster agreed to issue a final order without any further appearances and on April 11, 1932, Henry and Minnie Sustik called at the office and took their nephew to Oklahoma with them to visit </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bartolomeo Elisabetta Richetti"><B>Minnie's parents</B></A></FONT><B> before returning to Ohio. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>On January 23, 1933, Minnie and Henry Sustik adopted Fred, and he became Henry F. Sustik Jr. Henry F. Sustik Jr. who was called Junior by everyone, grew up like most other kids during that era, poor but happy. He attended school at Tiltonsville and Dillonvale, Ohio. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Minnie's brother Adam had affected her and her families life also. Already she had adopted her sister's son because of Eva's involvement with Adam and Charles Floyd. The</B><B> October 1934 </B><B>Steubenville Herald Star, reported the local sheriff as saying that the FBI had been in town since sometime in late summer of 1933, shortly after the June 1933 massacre in Kansas City, to keep </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id118.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI Oct 6, 1934"><B>surveillance of the Ricchette, De Matte, and Sustik family</B></A></FONT><B> in the area as they were sure Adam and Charles would show up eventually. Several strangers were seen in and around Dillonvale, living in an upstairs apartment in town at that time. It is known that J. Edgar Hoover had contemplated sending out a pick up order or wanted poster of Adam around the 1st of March 1934. In that order he had told his agents to tap all of the phone lines and monitor the mail of everyone associated with the Richetti, Sustik, and De Matte family from Texas, Oklahoma, to Ohio.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>It is around this time that the families started to learn that something was going on. Minnie had told me that she had even became afraid of the </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id102.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI June 25, 1934"><B>local mailman</B></A><B> </B></FONT><B>and feared that  not only was thei</B><A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI May 18, 1934"><B>r</B></A><A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI May 18, 1934"><B> </B></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI May 18, 1934"><B>mail</B></A></FONT><A HREF="id125.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI May 18, 1934"><B> </B></A><B>being opened, but that people were watching every move they made.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>On October 18, 1934 Rose and Beulah Baird had purchased a new car with the money that Charles Floyd and Adam Richitti had given them and headed south. Several days before, J. Edgar Hoover had </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id135.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI Oct 18, 1934"><B>intercepted a letter</B></A></FONT><B> from Minnie Richitti Sustik that she had sent to her mother and father in Lehigh, Oklahoma.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The letter had been written in Italian, which Hoover had translated. </B></div> <div> <A HREF="id135.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI Oct 18, 1934"><B>The letter read</B></A><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Dear Parents,</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>I have received your letter and I have been very glad to know that you are all at home. Every day I think of you and I was hoping to receive your letter from the postman. Dear Mother, do not cry, I do not do anything wrong and if Arthur comes here I will not have him in my home because my home will not shelter robbers. I am enough dishonored without having him here, and I do not think he will come because he knows I am not his kind. Stolen goods do not last long!</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>I feel sorry and I often cry for Jack Smalley whom I love so much, he is a good boy but I cannot keep him because of the bad life he leads. I think it is too late not to do anything for him. I had a letter from Eva who tells me that the trial will be the 1st of October and that she will come to Ohio.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Dear Mother, I do not want to have people that steal. I am always told that my brother is a robber and Junior tells me the same. I cry every day, I have no one to speak to except you. I have no one left to console me.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>I am tired of living and tired of working although no one believes that I work very hard. I pray God that he may give me good health and enough to eat and I try to rear Junior so that he will become a good man. Henry treats me well and I cannot say anything against him.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>The old man speaks of selling the farm and I am praying that he will sell it. No one has lived like me for eleven years. His daughter does not work for him like I do, and she always tells me that I am cheap, but I do have to work like a beast.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Dear Mother, do not cry for me, I am well and not as dumb as I was. When people speak ill of me I answer them I am tired of it all and I threaten to leave them. I am always thinking of you and I would love to speak to you for I have no one here. I have been to Ralph's home, but I do not go to Devi's. Sophie has bought dresses for the baby. Anna goes to Sophie's home to take care of Devi who is ill. Sophie says that she cannot be bothered with him. That is another thing in which Devi shows his stupidity.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Mother, write me soon and a long letter but do not mention that I have written you because Frances may read the letter and ask questions. We are all well and hope the same of you. Geraldine is well and goes to school this year. Write soon and do not mention anything I have written you. Junior is a beautiful boy and loves Henry. We have had rain every week but too late to do anything to the garden. I have 500 jars of fruits and other vegetables from the garden.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>I am sending a dollar, this being Henry's pay day, you can buy some coffee with it. Burn this letter. Do not write to Frances. Write soon, best wishes from Henry.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Your Daughter Meni</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Four days later On Monday, October 22, 1934, after her brother Adam had been caught in Wellsville, Ohio, at 6am, two car loads of department of justice agents agents came to Martins Ferry accompanied by Patrolmen George Helt and Edward McElfresh including Melvin Purvis rushed into the Dillonvale area and immediately conducted an investigation at the homes of Minnie and Henry Sustik, and other relatives living in the Dillonvale area, looking for Floyd. They proceeded to investigate the area for approximately 5 hours as to the whereabouts of Charles Floyd and questioned them at length concerning their knowledge of their brother and his friends. Fred H. Sustik remembered the Agents going to the barn on the Sustik's farm and going through the hay with pitch forks. Purvis and his men were so afraid that they had family members lead the way into the barn, using them as a human shield. There were no arrests made of the Richetti, Sustik, or </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id121.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FBI Oct 23, 1934"><B>De Mattes</B></A></FONT><B> in connection with their involvement with Adam and Floyd, however it was well known that it could happen, as it did with the Dillinger's and Barrow's families. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Upon learning of their brothers capture in Wellsville and after they had been searched, Minnie, Dave and Bill De Matte raced to his side. Minnie would eventually secure several personal articles from Adam while he was in the Wellsville Jail which she passed down to me.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Minnie died in Jun 1992 at 87, she was the last of the Richetti family and DeMatte family.</B><B>Minnie was born in Davy, West Virgina on Feb 1, 1906.  She was a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Dames of Malta. </B><B> </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Minnie Richetti</TITLE> <LINK REV="made" href="mailto:fsustik@hotmail.com"> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Adam Richetti; Minnie Richetti; Dave Richetti; Marie Richetti; Eva Richetti; Henry Sustik; Fred Sustik Joe Richetti"> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="The history of Dominica Freda Minnie Richetti"> <META NAME="author" CONTENT="Fred S. Sustik"> <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="ALL">  </HEAD>  </B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>