The next witness for the prosecution was Amelia Laurer, who had run a combination gas station and general store on Philadelphia Avenue in Egg Harbor City for twenty-five years. She testified that Ernie had tried to purchase .30-caliber carbine ammunition at her establishment in late October or early November. William and Mary Kolbe, who owned a sporting goods store on French Street in Hammonton, later told the court that the accused tried to buy the same type of ammunition from them on a Wednesday afternoon in November. Kolbe said he told the defendant that kind of ammunition was military-issue and, as a result, was unavailable in retail stores.
Marie Coia confirmed her husband's testimony when she later took the stand. She related the events that had occurred the day before the shootings and Ernie's arrival at their house on the night of Friday, November 17, 1950. She recalled meeting Ernie for the first time in August 1948 and said she often saw him after that either at the Mazzoli farm or at her house. When Sahl tried to prove that there was bad blood between the two families, she denied his claim that her husband was not speaking with Pearl Mazzoli in 1948. According to Marie, "In the wintertime we did visiting a little more often, but in the summertime they have a big farm and they are busy, and we were busy, and we didn't see each other too often." Despite the defense counsel's continuing effort to trip her up during cross-examination, Marie maintained that the two families were on good terms.
In order to refute Sahl's position that Ernie was mentally unfit and incapable of planning such a heinous crime, Hannold then called the defendant's former employer to the stand. Tony D'Augustine, a Vineland resident for about twenty-five years, had opened his appliance store in Landisville in 1945. He sold a range of General Electric appliances, as well as televisions and hot water heaters. Tony testified that he first met the defendant in 1948. Ernie started working for him parttime in December 1949, but four months later, Tony hired him full-time. He explained that Ernie had attended a four-week school run by General Electric in Philadelphia to become better acquainted with the distributor's products. Ernie quickly proved that he had a knack for fixing appliances, so on March 25, 1950, Tony hired him as a serviceman for $1 an hour. Since he seemed equally skilled at selling, Ernie received a ten percent commission for every appliance he sold.
According to Tony, the accused was so good at his job that he laid off another worker and gave Ernie almost complete charge of the store during the day. Tony testified that he usually did not arrive at the store until evening, after he finished work at the clothing factory. The witness told the court that Ernie opened each morning at nine, except on Wednesdays, but if he was needed on a service call during the day, Tony's wife Emma would mind the store. He added that the defendant never gave him or his customers any trouble and that he was very conscientious about completing repairs in a timely fashion. If necessary, Ernie even worked on Wednesdays, when the store was closed to customers, to make sure he finished all needed repairs each week.
"Ingenito was one of the best workers I ever had," Tony said.
Ernie apparently enjoyed the challenge presented by machinery and the autonomy of setting his own schedule. Unfortunately, his domestic problems soon bled into his job. He complained to Tony that he wouldn't get a hot meal if he got home too late from work. Instead of talking with him, Tessie preferred to watch television. Ernie became moody and irritable, and often tried to discuss his home situation with his employer. While Tony was sympathetic, he explained that everyone had problems, and it was important for Ernie to concentrate on his job. The younger man apparently didn't listen. The day before the shootings, he put in a twelve-hour day. He complained that he was feeling ill and asked Tony to phone the Mazzoli farm to try and persuade Mike and Pearl that they should meet. Tony reluctantly dialed Ernie's in-laws, but when no one answered, Ernie said he would stop and see Henry Coia Sr.-perhaps he would be able to help. Tony testified that Ernie then told him, "This job is getting on my nerves. I think I'll quit."
Despite the fact that Ernie was a good worker, Tony didn't argue. When he was questioned by the prosecutor, Tony admitted that he had previously received a call from Mike Mazzoli, who urged him not to keep Ernie as an employee. Mike described his son-in-law as unreliable and added that he was liable to quit without notice. Tony told the court that he had heard Pearl in the background during that conversation, saying Tony should fire their son-in-law. After being paid in full that Thursday by his employer, Ernie turned in his keys to the store and disappeared. Then, at about 4:30 that same afternoon, Ernie returned to the store and asked Tony if he could have the keys. He said he had reconsidered and promised Tony he would be at work the next morning. The younger man seemed calm and controlled as he left the store. Tony told the court that he never saw Ernie later that night when he returned and spoke to Henry Sr. because he was busy helping customers in another part of the store.
Tony confirmed that Ernie had at one time tried to rent the apartment over his store because he was planning to reconcile with his wife. The matter was dropped when Tessie refused to leave her parents' home. Tony said that Ernie had purchased several items from the store, including a clothes dryer that he had given to his in-laws in an effort to win their approval. Sahl also elicited testimony from him that Tessie and the children always rode with her parents to family gatherings, while Ernie would drive alone in his car. According to the defense counsel, this was yet another blatant sign of disrespect for his client by the Mazzolis.
Tony told the jury there had been a misunderstanding that apparently made Tessie jealous, planting a seed of suspicion in her mind about her husband and other women. Tessie had discovered a woman's green sweater in Ernie's car one day, and both she and Pearl had confronted him about it. Tony said the sweater belonged to his wife, Emma, who frequently borrowed Ernie's car to run errands during the week. Tony denied that Tessie had ever phoned him or questioned him about the sweater.
During his cross-examination, Sahl once again tried to show that Pearl had a difficult personality and did not always enjoy a good relationship with other family members. The defense attorney questioned Tony about a disagreement he reportedly had with Pearl about some electrical work at her house, but the store owner was unable to recall any argument. Sahl asked the witness about the fact that Pearl had not spoken to her sister, Carmeline, for five years, but Tony denied any knowledge about the matter. What Sahl didn't understand was the depth of family loyalty that would not allow Tony to speak of family problems, even if they had existed. That was the last thing he would ever admit, least of all to an outsider.
Eighteen-year-old Sonny Coia, who had worked part-time with Ernie at the appliance store, testified that he and Tony saw the defendant in his car on Railroad Boulevard in Landisville at 5:00 P.M. on the day of the shootings. After Marion P. Reed, owner of the gas station in Downstown, was sworn in, he said that Ernie, a regular customer, stopped at the station at about 8:15 P.M. that same night and bought gasoline. Reed, who lived next door to his business, said the car was headed toward Malaga at the time, which was in the opposite direction of Piney Hollow Road. The witness also testified that he noticed a blanket covering something on the front seat of the old Ford.
When sixty-year-old Mary Clevenger took the stand, the Downstown native was so nervous that it was difficult for her to answer Hannold's questions. Like some of the preceding witnesses, she was asked several times to speak louder so the jury could hear her testimony. Clevenger told the court that Ernie had first become a customer at her store shortly after it opened in May 1949, but she had not seen him during the night of the slayings. She recalled speaking to the Pioppis and Pearl Mazzoli on November 17 around 8:00 P.M. and described them as "very happy and contented."
"Did Ernest Ingenito ever ask your daughter Patricia to go out with him?" Hannold asked, in an effort to show Ernie as an unfit husband.
"I don't know," replied Clevenger.
During cross-examination, Sahl asked Clevenger a series of apparently unrelated questions: Who made up he
r household? Had she ever seen him (Sahl) before? Why hadn't she spoken to him when he contacted her about giving testimony during the trial? Although the store owner gamely answered him, the strain of giving testimony finally got to her. Clevenger collapsed on the witness stand and, after being given first aid, was carried out of the courtroom in a chair.
Al Rulis was the next witness called by the prosecution. The thirty-four-year-old butcher had moved to his house on the Black Horse Pike in Cecil about five years before with his wife Kay and their young son and daughter. Rulis, who had worked for a butcher in Philadelphia for four years, told the court that he first met Ernie in March 1946, during Ernest Sr.'s birthday party at the Ingenito home in Cecil. That same year, Ernie's father and his second wife had moved to Cecil, where they ran a combination gas station and lunchroom, and Ernest Sr. also worked as a building contractor. Rulis recalled that Ernie performed many different jobs, ranging from pulling stumps and chopping down trees to minding the lunchroom and pumping gas.
Rulis testified that after Ernie married, he and his family usually visited Ernie and Tessie and their sons about once a month. When asked how the defendant had become a boarder at his home, Rulis answered, "He came in on a Wednesday, the day he had off. He seen my wife and he asked if I would let him move in with us for a while and live with us. The wife told him to go back and come back in the evening, when I came home from work." Ernie turned up on their doorstep around nine that same night. "He asked if it was all right for him to live with us. I told him I would have to talk it over with my wife and we decided we had a spare room and I then told him all right. I told him to give us a couple of days to straighten up the room a day or so and he can move in on Friday. He did that."
According to Rulis, Ernie explained he was separated from his wife; she was getting a divorce from him. Ernie expected to live with them for a while "until he could get himself arranged." But a few minutes later, he claimed that he thought the arrangement would be temporary-at least until he could persuade Tessie to leave her parents. During the month that Ernie boarded with the Rulises, he rarely ate there. Ernie came and went as he pleased, but was usually in around 11:00 P.M., because he had to go to work at nine the next morning. Al and Kay didn't see much of him; they went to bed early because Al's work day started at about 5:30 A.M.
Rulis identified the guns that had been submitted into evidence as similar to the ones owned by his boarder. Ernie's defense counsel would later try to prove that his client had a long-standing interest in guns. Rulis testified, however, that he was the one who suggested gun collecting as a hobby to Ernie after the younger man moved in with him and his family. The two men enjoyed setting up cans and wagering on whom was the better shot.
Rulis testified that he and the defendant had used the same weapons for target shooting that were found on Ernie the night of the murders. The butcher told the court that Ernie had brought the Mauser home first and that he saw him with the German Luger about a week later. Since he had children in the house, Rulis asked his boarder to make sure he kept the guns unloaded and locked away in his room-a request that Ernie conveniently chose to ignore. Rulis owned two .22s and two 12-gauge shotguns that he and Ernie also took out for target shooting at least once a week. After Ernie got the Mauser fixed, they would shoot with that gun as well.
Rulis testified that he arrived home from work at the usual time, about 7:00 P.M., on November 17. When Ernie came in about an hour later, he was sitting in the darkened living room, watching television, while Kay was putting their two children to bed.
"Hello, Butch," Rulis called to the younger man.
Ernie answered "Hello, Al," but did not stop to talk. He went into his bedroom for about fifteen minutes and then headed toward the door. Rulis didn't get a good look at his boarder, because he was focused on the television show he was watching. Although Ernie called out a good-night as he left, Rulis said he wasn't sure if his boarder was carrying anything. The defense counsel would later try to persuade the jury that it would have been impossible for Ernie to leave carrying his guns unnoticed. In a darkened house, where his tired landlord was paying little attention to anything besides the TV, it would not have been very difficult at all.
During cross-examination, Rulis testified that Ernie said, after he married Tessie, he had tried to resurrect his dream of becoming a professional boxer. But the Mazzolis didn't support his plan because he wasn't making enough money at it. Ernie gave up on the idea and went back to work in the bakery, but that change apparently still wasn't enough to please his inlaws. When asked about the Mazzolis' treatment of their sonin-law, Rulis told the court that he was surprised that Mike's attitude changed, because the older man had initially liked Ernie. He testified that he saw Mike one day after the birth of Ernie and Tessie's first child and asked, "Mike, how about being a grandfather again?"
"I don't care how often I am a grandfather so long as it is just once," Mike reportedly answered, apparently not amused by the question.
Sahl then asked the witness if he knew about Ernie's previous attempts to get Tessie to leave her parents' home. Rulis said that the younger man had raised the topic on several occasions, sounding frustrated because the Mazzolis refused to let her go.
Patricia Clevenger, who lived in Downstown with her mother Mary Clevenger, took the stand later that day. She testified that Ernie had been a customer at their store ever since it opened the year before, adding that he had asked her to go to the movies with him in June 1950, but she refused because he was a married man. Patricia said she started work at 10:00 A.M. on November 17 and left the store around 6 o'clock to take a dinner break. She returned about 8:00 P.M. to pick up her mother just as the Pioppis and Pearl Mazzoli were leaving. According to the witness, she didn't see Ernie on the night of the murders, but she saw his car parked at Reed's service station across from her mother's store at that time. After Mary closed the store for the evening, Patricia said she saw Ernie's car heading toward Landisville as they left. He was driving by slowly, which was unusual for Ernie, and peering toward the Clevengers' store as he passed.
When Sahl, who could have given Johnny Cochran lessons in misdirection, approached the witness, he didn't ask her about the events that unfolded the night of the shootings. Instead, he asked her why she, like her mother, had previously refused to speak to him after he had stopped by the store and identified himself as Ernie's lawyer. Then he asked her repeated questions about the night Ernie had asked her to go with him to the movies. The defense attorney made little apparent effort to elicit testimony that related directly to the case.
Patricia's turn on the witness stand was followed by that of Kay Rulis, who confirmed her husband's testimony. Described by a newspaper reporter as a "dead ringer" for movie star Bette Davis, Kay said that during the time Ernie lived in Cecil, he kept a regular schedule and rarely spent much time at the house. When he was with Kay and Al, he often talked about his family and how much he missed them. She noted, though, that on November 17, Ernie deviated from his usual routine. When he didn't get up at his regular time, Kay told the court she knocked on his door and asked him if he was going to work. Ernie said no. He rose around 10:00 A.M., went to the bathroom, and on the way back to his room, said that "some uncle" was coming to see him. Kay didn't see him again until around 2:00 P.M. when he walked into the kitchen and said he was hungry.
Tessie and Ernie Ingenito on their wedding day. NOLA MAZZOLI SICILIANO
Tessie and Ernie's sons, Ernest Jr. and Michael. NOLA MAZZOLI SICILIANO
Tessie with her parents, Michael and Pearl Mazzoli. NOLA MAZZOLI SICILIANO
Tessie's paternal aunt and uncle, Hilda and Frank Mazzoli. NOLA MAZZOLI SICILIANO
Tessie's maternal aunt and uncle, Marion and Jino Pioppi. NOLA MAZZOLI SICILIANO
Ernie's 1941 Ford coupe. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
The Mazzoli bungalow on Piney Hollow Road. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
The front door of the Mazzoli home. Ernie e
ntered here and argued with Mike and Pearl before he started his shooting spree. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
Mike Mazzoli was Ernie's first Victim. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
To the left is the door to the bathroom where young Michael Ingenito hovered. On the right of the china cabinet is the door to the bedroom where Ernest Jr. slept. In 2008, a bullet hole was still visible in the bathroom door. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
The Pioppi home on Piney Hollow Road. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
Ernie shot Tessie's maternal grandmother, Theresa Pioppi, then stepped over her dead body to fire at other members of her family. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
Marion Pioppi, wife of Tessie's uncle Jino, was pregnant with her fourth child when Ernie shot and killed her. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
On the desk is the telephone that Jino Pioppi used to call for help. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
John Pioppi had been sitting at the kitchen table before he picked up a knife to try and stop Ernie's rampage. GLOUCESTER COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
Rain of Bullets: The True Story of Ernest Ingenito's Bloody Family Massacre Page 10