Salvatore was born in Palermo, Sicily and was the patriarch of the Dippolito family. Dippolito first became involved in organized crime in New York where he was associated with members of the Lucchese crime family and became an influential figure. He built a power base in Brooklyn and Queens with tentacles stretching into portions of Harlem and New Jersey. Alternately loved and loathed yet universally feared for his strength of conviction and ruthless business practices, Dippolito made a considerable fortune during prohibition which he parlayed into diamonds during the Great Depression. Upon his arrival in California, Salvatore invested the proceeds from his diamond and prohibition activities to finance the purchasing of vineyard property in the Fontana, Ontario, Cucamonga and Lytle Creek