Cento Amici (100 Friends) was founded 30 years ago by Thomas Zito, executive director of the Bayonne Housing Authority, and Robert Zito, then an executive at the New York Stock Exchange. The two had been members of Tiro a Segno, a New York organization that was both a private dinner club and a nonprofit that raised money for scholarships. With other members of Tiro a Segno who lived in New Jersey, the group formed a similar group to support education in New Jersey.