By Jaimie Julia Winters
More than 50 years after Kearny resident Nicholas James “Nicky Gary” Maschuci disappeared without a trace, the Kearny Police Department is renewing its investigation and asking the public to come forward with any information that could help solve one of the community’s oldest unsolved missing person cases.
Maschuci was 60 years old when he was last seen on Sept. 18, 1974. According to police and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), he left his Kearny home for what was described as a business meeting in Brooklyn, New York, and was never heard from again.
Historical FBI records indicate Maschuci left his home at approximately 3:30 p.m. and was reportedly headed to a meeting with James “Jimmy Nap” Napoli. The purpose of the meeting has never been publicly confirmed.
At the time of his disappearance, Maschuci was driving a white 1974 Mercury Grand Marquis borrowed from a Union City automobile dealership, according to a missing persons report.
According to a 1975 FBI memorandum, the vehicle was later recovered by New York City police near East 28th Street in Manhattan. Investigators found the car had been stripped and the trunk forced open.
Police said the case remains open and is listed in NamUs as case MP9701.
“After more than five decades, Nicholas Maschuci’s family still does not have answers, and this Department has not closed the book on his case,” Sgt. John Fabula of the Kearny Police Department Detective Bureau said in a statement. “We’ve been back through this case, and we believe there are people who remember more than they realize. A conversation, a name, something that seemed unimportant in 1974 could matter now. We’re asking anyone with a memory of Nicholas or that time to reach out. Let us decide what’s useful.”
Maschuci was described as 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing about 210 pounds, with gray hair, blue eyes, gold-rimmed bifocal glasses, and an artificial right eye. He was last seen wearing a white ribbed polyester zip-up shirt, gray polyester bell-bottom pants, white-patterned leather Beatle-style boots, a white gold watch, a silver Blessed Mother medal and a white gold pinky ring set with a large diamond.
Investigators say the passage of time may make witnesses more willing to come forward and believe someone may still have information that could prove valuable.
Anyone with information about Maschuci’s disappearance is asked to contact the Kearny Police Department’s anonymous tip line at 201-283-5656 or email tips@kearnynjpd.org. Information can also be mailed to Sgt. John Fabula, Kearny Police Department, 237 Laurel Ave., Kearny, NJ 07032.