Good Morning Gloucester Exclusive

The family of Cigar Joe Frontiero brings Good Morning Gloucester these treasured recordings of smuggling liquor into the Essex River and into Annisquam in the first of a multi-part collection of recordings.  I’m happy that the family entrusted GMG with these priceless recordings and am proud to be able to have the platform in which we can archive and share with the community.

Cigar Joe Frontiero born in 1898 these tapes were recorded in 1981 when he was 83 years old.  Cigar Joe lived to be 96 years old and had whiskey and cigars at his nursing home every day til the day he died according to his granddaughter Josie Cary.

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Cigar Joe (Charlie Lowe Photo)1975

Ray Witham and Joseph “Cigar Joe” Frontiero land an 18 foot basking shark after it got tangled and died in a mackerel net off Rockport.

The history behind the tapes: Someone had asked Cigar Joe for an interview for an oral history project but Cigar Joe decided to do the recording himself. At the time he was having trouble with circulation in his legs and spent most of the time at home so he bought a tape recorder. He had trouble with the tape recorder and threw all of the tapes away. His mailman took the trashed tapes, spliced them, and made copies. He gave Cigar Joe copies and kept backups (with Cigar Joe’s consent) in case the originals were lost. This occurred in 1981.

Look for part 2 of the recordings Monday April 1st at 6AM