Whether organized crime still thrives in the township, though, is a matter of debate.
In 1983, President Reagan formed a commission to study the patterns of organized crime in this country, and in April, the panel released its findings.
In a brief reference, the report said the Cherry Hill area continued to be a center of activity for the Sicilian Mafia, or La Cosa Nostra, meaning, loosely translated from Italian, our thing.
The mention of Cherry Hill refers not only to the township, but also to the area surrounding it. Cherry Hill is but a portion of the mob scene in the area, which includes the home of a reputed mob leader in Pennsauken, a restaurant in Voorhees hit by a suspected mob-related arson, alleged mob residences in Delran and purported hangouts in Gloucester Township.
However, because members of the Gambino crime family (Until 1976, Carlo Gambino was the reputed head of the family, the largest of New York City's five organized-crime families, and was believed to be the model for the main character in The Godfather) lived in Cherry Hill Township during the 1970s and 1980s, the township gained a reputation as a center of mob activity.
That reputation, and the fact that it has persisted, irks Richard Tomlinson. He says Cherry Hill is no longer a center for the mob.
Tomlinson should know.
Since the early 1970s, when members of the Gambino crime family began to settle in Cherry Hill, Tomlinson has tracked the movements of mob figures in the township.
He has sat outside their homes late at night and inspected their bodies in the morgue. He has memorized the names of their children and wives, the colors and models of their cars.
Tomlinson is an investigator for the Cherry Hill Township Police Department's Special Investigations Unit - the only suburban police unit in South Jersey formed primarily to investigate organized crime.
