Danielle La Monica La Vecchia Rauso’s ancestors immigrated from Palermo in the 1890s. Her great-grandparents Peter and Mary La Monica started their small fish store at the market on 13th Avenue in Brooklyn in 1923. At the time there wasn’t a Garden State Parkway and very few bridges, so they eventually wound up moving the family operation to the Cape May, N.J., area to source their fish. As is often the custom in Italian families, all four of their children (Virginia, Peter, Anthony and Salvatore) eventually helped in the business.

As Virginia (Danielle’s grandmother) was growing up, she met and married Donato La Vecchia. They went on to have two sons, Daniel (Danielle’s dad) and Michael; and a daughter, Margaret. Daniel and Michael were to later take over the family empire.