The Early Years

THE EARLY YEARS is part one of a biography about growing up in New York City during the 1930's and 40's. This part spans approximately 80 years, including the 1930’s depression years, the rise of the mafia, and the author's brush with it.

The first immigrants came from Caggiano, a small Italian village in the south of Italy, near Pompeii and Sorrento. Settling in the East side of NYC along the East River, the family is confronted with mafia hoodlums almost immediately, and the mafia continues to plague the Caggianos for three generations.

The depression years are very harsh requiring everyone to contribute to support the family, including scavenging at the local garbage dump. Sickness is commonplace and early deaths are every day events. Half the children born will die before reaching age 10. Those that survive the terrible hardships, two world wars, and the Korea war, will find a bright future.

Part two spans 60 years, from the mid 1950's to the present, and includes the author's professional life in research at Johns Hopkins University and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. This section also includes a brief description of the author’s part in developing the Global Positioning System (GPS) that we have come to accept and use almost daily.

After his business in the new area of Biomedical Engineering fails, Vincent buys a decrepit marina in Virginia to embark on a new career in boating enterprises. After 30 years of an unhappy marriage and sexual frustration, the author finally succumbs to an extra-marital affair which, fortuitously ends the marriage.

On the cusp of starting a new life, the author is faced with a new dilemma, caring for his aging parents, alone, since his sibling sister refuses to assist in their care.

Struggling back from the abyss of complete nervous breakdown, he gradually emerges to find a well deserved, but unfortunately, temporary happiness. His adult children refuse further association with him. This is the ultimate price to pay for survival, extreme duress, and family disintegration.