
She is the granddaughter of a known mobster but from an early age Kellyanne Conway was determined to make an honest living.

And while her mother's father reveled in his nickname of 'The Brute' - even having it inscribed on his tombstone - Kellyanne showed an early promise that she would make her mark by going in a different direction.

At 15 she was a pageant princess. Five years later she was proudly named the best blueberry packer in New Jersey.

But now DailyMail.com can reveal she only won the title with an apparent gross violation of health rules. A newly surfaced photo of her victory shows that she held the plastic wrapper in her mouth before putting it directly on the berries.

Five years after Kellyanne Conway was named Blueberry Pageant Princess, she was named the best blueberry packer in New Jersey. Here she's holding the wrapper to the carton in her mouth. Is that sanitary?

She worked packing blueberries for eight years. Kellyanne was only 12 when she went to work for DiMeo's Indian Brands Farm packing the fruit from the blueberry bushes that stretch over acres

in 1987 Kellyanne won first prize at Hammonton's Red White and Blueberry Festival: A plaque and a $25 check

'It was for speed,' said reporter Frank LaMarro who covered the event.

Kellyanne was always one for getting ahead, locals in her home area around Hammonton, New Jersey, remember.

'I'm always surprised that a blueberry packer would make it to the White House,' Bill DiMeo, her former boss at the blueberry farm told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

Kellyanne was always one for getting ahead, locals in her home area around Hammonton, New Jersey, remember

'But if you had told me one of my packers would go to Washington, I would have known it would be Kelly.'

Conway, now President Donald Trump's controversial counselor - with the Secret Service nickname 'Blueberry' - started life as Kellyanne Fitzpatrick in Camden, New Jersey, just over the Delaware River from Philadelphia.

She was born on January 20 1967 - so she turned 50 on the very day that Trump was inaugurated.

Her parents split when she was just three and she and her mother Diane, who worked at an Atlantic City casino, went to live in unincorporated Atco, New Jersey, with her grandmother Antoinette DiNatale and Diane's two unmarried sisters Rita and Marie.

She had little contact with her father John, although his mother remained close, often visiting the family in their single story brick home where the family ran Mama D's Farmstand - and even vacationing with them.

Kellyanne showed promise from her first day in nursery school her mother told The Press of Atlantic City. 'She went one week and said, 'I'm not going back. All they do is play all day.'

Kellyanne was sent to St. Joseph's Roman Catholic High School in nearby Hammonton, where she was a cheerleader, and it was in that town - which calls itself the Blueberry Capital of the World - that she first made her mark.

The senior year photo of Kellyanne from St. Joseph High School She gave the picture to Bill DiMeo who employed Conway as a blueberry picker for eight summers in Hammonton 'the blueberry capital of the world'

Kellyanne did a mean split when she was a cheerleader at St. Joseph High School

'She was the best worker I ever had,' Bill DiMeo, now 73, told DailyMail.com of President Trump's close advisor

She was only 12 when she went to work for DiMeo's Indian Brands Farm packing the fruit from the blueberry bushes that stretch over acres all around the town. She kept the summer job for eight seasons.

'She was the best I ever had,' DiMeo, now 73, told DailyMail.com. 'She was an excellent worker, very dependable.

'She was really driven, even from an early age.'

But she never worried about money, he said. Rather than pay her weekly like all of his other workers, Kellyanne waited until the end of the season to pick up a lump sum payment for the whole season.

And as the workers were paid by the piece rather than by the hour, Kellyanne always earned more than the other kids that toiled on the farm.

'I remember signing one check to her for $2,700 one year and another for around $3,300,' said DiMeo. 'She liked to get her money in one lump at the end of the season.'

Kellyanne, holding Charlotte, now 8, and her mother Diane Fitzpatrick

At 15 Kellyanne entered the Blueberry Queen Pageant organized by the North American Blueberry Council, and to this day it still rankles DiMeo that she was only elected one of two Blueberry Princesses, rather than getting the crown as Blueberry Queen.

'Our farm wasn't big enough. The Blueberry Queen always came from one of the big farms. It was a political decision,' he said. 'She should have won.'

But in 1987 she did get first prize — a plaque and a $25 check — for winning the blueberry packing champion at Hammonton's first Red White and Blueberry Festival.

'Since Hammonton is the unofficial Blueberry Capital of the World the winner is the unofficial Blueberry Packing Champion of the World,' declared contest emcee Phil Sheridan at the time.

In 35 minutes the bubbly blonde, who by this time was a student at Trinity College in Washington, D.C., had packed 39 crates and nine pints according to the local Hammonton News at the time.

The event 'drew such a large enthusiastic crowd that officials had to keep asking spectators to stand back to allow room for the stacks of packed blueberry crates,' the paper reported.

Frank LaMarro, who covered the event for the paper told DailyMail.com: 'I got the impression even then that she was going places. I could tell how intelligent she was just from one short interview.'

Kellyanne Fitzpatrick's studies were going well. She graduated magna cum laude from Trinity and went on to England's prestigious Oxford University and then George Washington University where she earned a law degree with honors.

The Special Agricultural Permit for 12-year-old Kellyanne, from New Jersey's Department of Education

Kellyanne sent her wedding invitation to her longtime blueberry boss

But while Kellyanne immersed herself in blueberries and her university studies, her family life was in turmoil.

Her grandfather, Jimmy 'The Brute' DiNatale had died in 1983 and in 1992 a New Jersey Organized Crime Commission report named him 26 times in a report, most notably for providing a false alibi for Philadelphia crime boss Nicodemo 'Little Nicky' Scarfo and his associates Philip Leonetti and Lawrence Merlino, who were suspected of the gangland murder of Vincent Falcone.

'Scarfo got James 'Jimmy the Brute' DiNatale,...a couple of DiNatale's employees [and another individual] to provide false alibis for them,' the report said.

'DiNatale was an associate of the Family and [the other individual] was a good friend of his. DiNatale owned a couple of bars and [his friend] owned one bar in the Atlantic County area.

'A few hours before they killed Falcone, Scarfo, Leonetti and Merlino ate lunch at the Country Squire Diner, which was located on the Cardiff Traffic Circle in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. While there, they saw and spoke with DiNatale, [his friends and] a few of his workers.

'After leaving the diner, Scarfo, Leonetti and Merlino went back to the office of Scarf, Inc., in Atlantic City and prepared to murder Falcone,' the report continued.

'Shortly after they were released on bail, Scarfo and Leonetti went to see DiNatale at his construction supply company in Egg Harbor Township,' the organized crime report said.

Mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo (right) was convicted in 2014 of multiple counts of federal fraud charges, including racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud

Kellyanne's grandfather Jimmy DiNatale allegedly made his money as a young bootlegger, according to New Jersey law enforcement officials

'They asked DiNatale to lie about the time that he actually saw them at the Country Squire Diner in order to give them an alibi for the time frame of the Falcone murder. They also asked DiNatale to arrange for [his friend] and the workers who saw them at the diner to do the same. DiNatale agreed.

'DiNatale, at least one of his workers and [his friend] then provided a defense team investigator with statements that they saw Scarfo, Leonetti and Merlino at the diner later in the afternoon than they actually did.'

A Trump sticker on a sign outside Mama D's farmer's market owned by the family of Kellyanne next to the house where she grew up in Atco NJ, a town over from Hammonton

Kellyanne returned to her native New Jersey to lead a holiday parade last December but some were feeling bah humbug about it

The report said Republican President-elect Donald Trump's campaign manager returned to her native New Jersey to lead a holiday parade and some are feeling bah humbug about it.

Kellyanne Conway was grand marshal of Saturday evening's Christmas parade in Hammonton,

Scarfo and his gang liked dealing with DiNatale 'because he knew their backgrounds and was willing to accept cash without asking questions,' the report added.

But despite his disreputable connections, Jimmy 'The Brute' was never charged with any offence, PhillyVoice reported.

The organized crime commission report said both Leonetti and Merlino went to Jimmy's wake following his death. Scarfo was in prison at the time and so could not attend.

Kellyanne was last in Hammonton in December when she was grand marshal of the Christmas Parade and was given the keys to the town.

And the mother-of-four's ability to draw controversy was in evidence even then. A small group of placard-waving locals turned up protesting her presence, PhillyVoice said.