Career
Born in Italy, Sgroia immigrated with his family to New York in 1901 at age 15. At some point, Sgroia became an enforcer for the Navy Street gang, a street gang in Brooklyn associated with the Camorra criminal organization. Unhappy with the meeting outcome, the Navy Gang decided to kill the Morello family gang boss Nicholas Morello (né Nicolò Terranova).
In March 1917, Sgroia participated in the murder of Generoso Nazzaro.
In May 1917, a Navy Street gang member became a government witness and implicated Sgroia in the Morello murder. Sgroia was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Sgroia eventually testified against the gang and received a shortened sentence. After his release from prison, Sgroia was deported to Italy, where he lived a normal life with his family, where he died on 10 May 1940, aged 53.