LISTEN UP: Jeffrey and Michael Gentile spent an hour Sunday, December 3, 2017 talking to Richie Zie on WCGO 1590 AM Chicago about Mob Adjacent: A Family Memoir and our lives at the intersection of Hoodlum and Gangster. We took Richie from the accidental beginning of our "mob adjacency" in 1943 and down a seven-decade journey. Sam Giancana, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, and others stopped along the way.
What does it mean to be "mob adjacent?" For Mike Gentile (right), our father, it meant growing up in Chicago's Little Italy at Grand and Ogden with the next generation of post-Capone mobsters. Future mob bosses John DiFronzo (left) and Joe Lombardo (center) were just a couple of kids at Wells High School with Dad. While DiFronzo and Lombardo later went on to serious Outfit careers -- at one point both men shared the top leadership position -- Dad chose a different path. It's not that he had any moral objection to crime or criminals. He didn't want to work for any boss in any industry. Dad use to say (only half kidding) that as long as a man worked for someone else, he was just a money dancing on the organ grinder's chain. Growing up mob adjacent also meant hanging out at places like Patsy Restaurant, owned by "Patsy" Spolitro, father of hit man, Tony Spilotro. It was said Patsy's had some of the best Italian food in the city. It was also ground zero for that next generations of hoodlums and gangsters. It was at Patsy's Restaurant that Dad met another future mob boss, Jackie Cerone, and other members of the Cerone family. Over the following decades, no man held more sway in what happened to our family (good and bad). It was Jackie who lent a hand when Dad opened his Northside bar on Clybourn after the Korean War. Jackie cleared it with Ross Prio, the man who ran the Northside, then considered the jewel in Chicago's crown, and pushed aside the bureaucracy at City Hall to help Dad get a liquor license with the usual graft payments. Instead of having to grease palms, kiss asses, and wait six months, Jackie made one phone call and got Dad's liquor license within 24-hours, and for the actual $40 fee. And it was Jackie who helped Dad reach his highest heights when he told Dad about a new joint on Mannheim Road. The newspapers called it Glitter Gulch.
Read more about it in our book, Mob Adjacent: A Family Memoir. For the most part, the legendary mob bosses, foot soldiers, and capos that populated organized crime families weren't highly educated people. They came up hard on the streets, and the streets provided a wisdom no school taught. No one may ever call them role models, and we make no excuses for the crime, violence and intimidation, but they sure had some good points to make.
Can we all agree that Hollywood is truly screwed-up when a legendary film director like Martin Scorsese can’t get a theatrical distribution deal? Nowadays, a big-budget drama doesn’t stand a chance, and multiplexes are awash in virtually identical superhero franchises, cross-overs, origins stories, and reboots. They make billions, but it’s come at a cost to thought and intelligence. Scorsese found a home for his $100-million Jimmy Hoffa story, The Irishman, at the place that reinvented what was known as “television” – Netflix. His gangster epic, The Irishman, based on the Charles Brandt book, I Heard You Paint Houses, tells the story of Jimmy Hoff’s mysterious disappearance. Robert DeNiro plays Frank Sheeran, the man who claims to have murdered the union boss (played by Al Pacino). Oscar winner and fellow Scorsese alum Joe Pesci came out of retirement to play the role of Russell Bufalino. "I heard you paint houses" were the first words Jimmy Hoffa spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran. For those who didn’t grow up mob adjacent, to “paint a house” is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that spatters on the walls and floors. Over nearly five years of recorded interviews, Sheeran confessed to he handled more than 25 hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa. Below, author Charles Brandt (right) talks yo Frank Sheeran. Sheeran told Brandt that he learned to kill in the U.S. Army, where he saw 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for crime boss Russell Bufalino. When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, he did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself. Take a look at the real people. Now check out their on-screen doppelgangers. The Irishman start streaming around the world in 2018. And before Pacino becomes the definitive Jimmy Hoffa, let's take a moment to recall Jack Nicholson in 1992's Hoffa.
Someone had to be first. Long before Sammy "the Bull" Gravano turned on John Gotti, Joseph M. “Joe Cargo” Valachi holds the dubious distinction as the first mobster to acknowledge, in public, on television, and under oath, that organized crime was real at a time when even J. Edgar Hoover still denied its existence. Valachi’s testimony gave a face to a world of organized crime the public knew nothing about. Valachi, who also used the aliases Charles Charbano and Anthony Sorge, was born 1903, in East Harlem. He started as a criminal by joining a burglary gang. Valachi was charged with grand larceny in 1921 and served nine months in jail. During the final years of Prohibition, Valachi found work with the Reina crime family, (now the Lucchese family) and served as a soldier during the Castellammarese War, one of the bloodiest periods in U.S. Mafia history. The trouble started when Salvatore Maranzano, head of one New York family, resisted attempts by Joe Masseria, to consolidate all families under his control. Valachi picked the winning side, fighting for Maranzano. After Masseria was murdered (likely at the decision of Lucky” Luciano) Maranzano appointed Valachi one of his bodyguards -- until Maranzano was also killed, again on the Luciano's behest. He remained a soldier in the Luciano family (now known as the Genovese family) for almost 30 years. In 1959, that streak ended when Valachi was sented to 15 to 20 years in prison on a narcotics rap. Legend says that fellow prisoner Vito Genovese gave Valachi the “kiss of death” because he suspected Valachi of informing. Rather than being famous for his exploits as a criminal, Valchi's fame came from his fame for ratting out his entire family. The reason for his actions have never been clear. Valachi claimed he wanted to help the public. According to Valachi, he panicked when Genovese kissed him and murdered a fellow inmate he mistakenly believed had been sent to kill him. Now, facing the death penalty, Valachi may have agreed to testify in order to secure a life sentence and protection instead. In any event, he squealed to everyone: the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the Justice Department, the FBI and, in testimony broadcast on radio and television, to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The information helped solve several murders. More damaging, it painted a picture of the mob in America that revealed far more than anyone else had ever shared about organized crime, including its Italian name, Cosa Nostra (translated: “Our Thing”). Valachi described the history of the mob, its membership, its inner workings and its language. He also described its organization from bottom to top. Above all, he provided irrefutable evidence that organized crime was real. Robert Kennedy called Valachi’s testimony as “the biggest single intelligence breakthrough yet in combating organized crime and racketeering in the United States.” Valachi spent the rest of his life in prison, fearing for the $100,000 contract Genovese put out on his life. He wrote his memoirs, initially with the encouragement of the U.S. attorney general. But the Justice Department changed course and ultimately blocked publication of the book, in part because of protests by Italian-American group. A writer who interviewed Valachi in prison used much of the information as the basis for a biography, The Valachi Papers, published in 1968. It was later made into a movie starring Charles Bronson. Below, Charles Bronson as Joe Valchi in the 1972 film, The Valchi Papers. Prison life was difficult for Valachi, who tried to hang himself three years after his testimony. No one ever carried out the anticipated hit, and he died of a heart attack at the Federal Correctional Institution on April 3, 1971. Rats became more common after his appearance, but Valchi carries the distibction of being one of the first men in mob history to bite the hand that fed him.
Joseph Valachi’s was buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Lewiston, N.Y. Perhaps one of the most interesting men in the history of organized crime in America is Sicilian-born Charles Luciano (1897 – 1962). The nickname “Lucky” came after he survived an early attempt on his life. He became one of the most powerful and influential gangsters of the Twentieth Century. But there was more to him than sheer, dumb luck. There was a keen intelligence and the ability to see around the next corner. Legend says Lucky recognized early the importance of moving from a crime-based business model to a legitimate business model. He established himself as a creative thug on New York’s Lower East Side in the early 1930s and eventually became a top aide to crime boss Joe Masseria. Lucky lent a helping hand when Masseria’s feud with rival crime boss Salvatore Maranzano. Seeing which side of the bread had more butter on it, Lucky, made a deal with Maranzano and arranged for Masseria’s assassination in 1931. But Lucky didn’t believe in leaving jobs half completed. He then arranged for Maranzano’s murder and became the biggest boss in New York City. With his best pals, Meyer Lansky and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Luciano restructured organized crime. And created an organization that resembled any modern corporation. Lucky’s organization had a board of directors that focused on profits instead of ethnic loyalties and a top-down management style that would be the envy of any Fortune 500 company. The Lansky-Luciano friendship began in childhood, when Luciano tried to beat up Lansky and Lansky stood up to him. Although Luciano was Italian and Lansky was Jewish, they became friends and, later, business partners. Luciano is said to have created the professional assassins known as Murder, Inc. Lucky’s luck ran out in 1936, when special prosecutor (later New York’s governor and famously failed presidential candidate) Thomas E. Dewey charged Luciano with 62 counts of compulsory prostitution (known today as sex trafficking). He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 30-years in prison. But Lucky wasn’t content to sit behind bars until he worked the last angle. In February of 1946, Dewey struck a deal that released Luciano from prison and deported him to Italy. The details of their "arrangement" have never been made clear. While in Italy during World War II, legend says Luciano used his contacts to help the U.S. government fight the Nazis. (Where’s the movie based on that story?) Luciano turned up in Cuba in 1947 and was again deported to Italy by U.S. officials. As he aged, his influence in the world of organized crime faded, but his celebrity status as one of the most flamboyant and creative criminals in modern history remained. His friends included celebrities like George Raft and Frank Sinatra. Luciano died of a heart attack at an airport in 1962.
After he died, Luciano was allowed back into the United States: he is entombed at St. John’s cemetery in New York City. 9Carlos Marcello (1910 – 1993) ruled the New Orleans crime family from 1947 until the 1980s. Credible sources believe Marcello masterminded the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in retaliation for prosecution that threatened his $2 billion organized criminal activities across Louisiana and Texas. Marcello appeared before the U.S. Senate's Kefauver Committee on organized crime in 1951 and pleaded the Fifth Amendment 152 times. The Committee called Marcello "one of the worst criminals in the country. In 1981, Marcello was convicted of bribing state officials in a multimillion-dollar insurance scam. His conviction was reversed after serving six years. He died after a series of strokes.
As we worked on Mob Adjacent: A Family Memoir, we talked to people in the family -- actual relatives and honorary ones. We wanted their stories. Our cousin mentioned photos. She thought some of the men were mobsters but couldn't remember when or where they were taken. A few weeks later, she sent a gift -- two vintage photos. I couldn't identify the people in one photo, but I was transfixed by the other, above.
Generations of the Chicago Outfit's top leaderships pose casually at a black-tie event in the mid-1960s. Standing on the right is future Outfit boss Joe "Doves" Aiuppa. The identity of the woman is unknown. Next is Paul "the Waiter" Ricca, former Outfit leader. Center is another future Outfit leader, Jackie "the Lackie" Cerone. Photo-bombing is Outfit chairman of the board, Tony Accardo. The name of the couple on the left has been lost in the mist of history. I showed the photo to a surviving Outfit old-timer. He identified Auippa and Ricca and expressed amazement at the assemblage. In particular, he couldn't believe the camera-averse Accardo injected himself into a photograph. Such was the power of good scotch, perhaps. Beyond the historical value, the photo validated our core belief: Normal is what happens every day. And when you grow up surrounded by people considered criminals by other people, things looks different. Some people look through old photo albums and smile at warm memories of Aunt Louise, Uncle Joe, and Grandma. But when you grow up mob adjacent, you open old photo albums and find killers, convicts, and crime lords. Allen Dorfman (1923 – 1983) owned an insurance agency and consulted with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. Dorfman was a close associate of longtime Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa and associated with the Chicago Outfit. As a result, Dorfman controlled the cash pipeline that fed Outfit investments around the country, most notably in Las Vegas, where pension money financed at least half a dozen casinos. Born to a working-class family, Dorfman enlisted in the US Marines and won a Silver Star at the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was perhaps the man least likely to become the mob’s banker. But in fact, Dorfman was second-generation Outfit. His stepfather, Paul "Red" Dorfman, led the Chicago Waste Handler's Union and served as an Outfit kingpin. Red opened doors for his stepson. In early 1949, Jimmy Hoffa set up the Michigan Conference of the Teamsters' Welfare Fund. Two years later, he persuaded the funds trustees to move the fund to the Chicago branch of Union Casualty Agency. The branch was owned by Allen Dorfman's mother, Rosemary. Allen Dorfman had no insurance industry experience but now controlled hundreds of millions in union money. Before long, Teamster fund accounts comprised 90 percent of the branch's contracts. During the first eight years of fiduciary management by Union Casualty, Dorfman made more than three million in commissions and service fees. In one instance, Allen took $51,462 in premiums and simply deposited it in a private account. The were no complaints from the Teamsters. Dorfman's rise coincided with a massive expansion in Teamsters' ranks, along with spectacular growth in the union's pension funds. Dorfman made loans worth $160 million to Argent Corporation, which owned a group of casinos, including the Stardust. The casinos served as a cash cow for mob bosses across the country. The process for “skimming” profits is chronicled in Nicholas Pileggi’s book and the fictionalized movie version, Casino. The Federal government started asking questions about how the mob got the vast amounts of money it used to build Las Vegas and other investments. In 1974, Dorfman was indicted for fraud involving $1.4 million in loans, along with Joseph Lombardo, Anthony Spilotro, Irwin Weiner, and several others. Irwin Weiner (a prominent bail bondsman, Outfit associate, and personal friend of Jack Ruby) purchased stock in the company and received $1.4 million loan backed by a $7,000 deposit. The government's case collapsed after their main witness was murdered in September 1974. In 1979, the FBI’s hidden microphones in Dorfman's insurance agency led to the indictment of Dorfman and four others in May 1981. He was convicted in December 1982. Three days before his sentencing, he was murdered outside the Lincolnwood Hyatt parking lot in Lincolnwood, Illinois, perhaps to prevent him for cooperating with authorities to avoid a 55-year prison sentence.
Alan King portrayed "Andy Stone" in Casino, based on elements from Allen Dorfman's life. Santo Trafficante, Jr. (1914 – 1987) was one of the last of the old school crime bosses. A key player in the gambling business in Florida and Cuba, Trafficante lost big when Castro’s revolutionaries seized power on the Caribbean island. He maintained links to the Bonanno crime family, in New York City, but was more closely allied with Sam Giancana in Chicago. Trafficante was involved in several unsuccessful plans to assassinate Castro. In 1978, both Trafficante testified before of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations investigating links between Lee Harvey Oswald and anti-Castro Cubans. Caught in the “Donnie Brasco” sting in 1986, Trafficante escaped conviction. He died at age 72.
Martin Scorsese's 1990 film, Goodfellas, included the story of the Lufthansa heist at John F. Kennedy International Airport. An estimated $5.875 million ($21.6 million today) was stolen, with $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewelry, making it the largest cash robbery committed on American soil at the time. Here's the rest of the story.
It began on December 11, 1978 at 3:12 A.M. The heist was planned by Jimmy Burke, an associate of the Lucchese crime family, and carried out by several associates. The plot began when bookmaker Martin Krugmamn told (future rat) Henry Hill about millions in American currency arriving on Lufthansa plane and then stored in a vault at Kennedy Airport. The information came from Louis Werner, a worker at the airport who owed Krugman $20,000 for gambling debts and from his co-worker Peter Gruenwald. Werner helped Krugman with the planning. A van would be used to transport the cash and a "crash car" would accompany the van to run vehicular interference should the plot be interrupted and a police chase ensue. Burke decided on Tommy DeSimone, Joe Civitello Sr., Louis Cafora, Angelo Sepe, Tony Rodriguez, Joseph M. Costa, and Burke's son Frank James Burke as inside gunmen. Paolo LiCastri, a representative of the Gambino crime family, which had been promised a tribute payment to sanction the crime. On December 11,, cargo agent Kerry Whalen spotted a van backed into the ramp door. When he walked toward the van to investigate, two men without masks or gloves struck him over the head with pistols. Soon after, senior agent Rolf Rebmann heard a noise by the loading ramp and went to investigate. Six armed, masked robbers forced their way in and handcuffed him. They then used a Werner's key and walked through a maze of corridors to round up the two other employees. Then the gunmen burst into the lunch room and showed a bloodied Whalen as an example if anyone got out of line. Next, they made John Murray, the terminal's senior cargo agent call Rudi Eirich on the intercom. (Eirich was the only guard on duty who knew the vault's combination.) He later reported that the robbers knew all about the safety systems in the vault. The robbers ordered him to open up the first door to a 10-by-20-foot room. Once inside, they ordered Eirich to lie on the ground. Finally, they began hurling parcels of cash through the door. Around 40 parcels were removed. Eirich was then made to lock the inner door before unlocking the outer door. Two of the gunmen were assigned to load the parcels into the van while the others tied up Eirich. The employees were told not to call the Port Authority until 4:30 a.m. When the robbers left, it was 4:16 a.m. From start to finish, the robbery took 64-minutes and was the largest theft of currency ever committed on American soil at the time. When Burke arrived at the safehouse with the stolen money, he realized the true scope of the robbery: he expected to bring in $2 million. He had nearly $6 million haul. The stolen cash and jewelry were never recovered. The Outfit put great value on trust, and terrible retribution sometimes followed when their trust was broken. Rage against the Kennedy family became a popular theme among the mob connected and mob adjacent, and we heard a lot about it when Dad’s pals visited in the early 1960s. Certainly, President Kennedy was not a popular figure among the people in our world. As children, we couldn’t understand the anger directed at our nation’s handsome, young leader and his beautiful camera-ready family. Of course, we didn’t know that President Kennedy’s victory had been made possible in part by fraudulent votes in Chicago, a fraud perpetuated by Sam Giancana in collusion with Joe Kennedy. Fake Chicago votes tipped the Illinois Electoral College into Kennedy’s Democratic column and turned the election away from a pasty-faced, beady-eyed Republican Richard Nixon. It amazes us now to realize that people we knew changed history. Our small world sometimes had a long reach. The trouble with the Kennedys started a few years earlier. An ill-wind blew in from Washington, D.C., when the Outfit came under a legal microscope in the late 1950s. The storm started gathering force a few years earlier when the Kefauver Committee made it clear to America that organized crime did indeed exist – despite J. Edgar Hoover’s repeated insistence to the contrary. An embarrassed Hoover jumped on the bandwagon and started biting the Outfit hand that had been feeding him tips on fixed horse races. The John McClellan Committee began investigating organized crime in 1957, with Chief Counsel Robert F. Kennedy again trying to make a name for himself. One can only marvel at Kennedy’s audacity given the fact that his family’s fortune traced back to the sordid days of bootlegging and its wealth directly related to old Joe’s connection to organized crime. Opinions about Bobby Kennedy were never very high. Conservative activist John Roche called Kennedy “a political mechanic who couldn’t distinguish a principle from a fireplug.” Former Congressman and Vice President Adlai Stevenson referred to Bobby Kennedy as “the Black Prince.” Lyndon Johnson observed that Bobby had “the bad judgment to have disgraced himself as one of [Senator Joseph] McCarthy’s toadies.” Entitled, arrogant and supremely hypocritical, Kennedy felt certain he had the power to shut down the Outfit. Over a period of thirty-months, the Committee focused on allegations regarding the theft of union funds (true), the union history of racketeering (also true), and examined the inner workings of the Outfit and its top bosses. Want to know what they proved after thirty-months of bullshit? Nothing. Political grandstanding at its finest. In one of the most dramatic moments, Sam Giancana faced a frothing Bobby Kennedy. As Kennedy battered Giancana with questions, the unflappable mob boss could only laugh. At one point, Kennedy tried to bait Giancana. Responding to the Outfit boss’ laughter at his questions, Kennedy remarked, “I thought only little girls giggled, Mr. Giancana.” Mr. Sam kept laughing and ultimately exercised his Fifth Amendment right thirty-four times, the legal equivalent of giving the finger to that buck-toothed prick. Sam Giancana’s brother Chuck shed some light on one of the most infamous government and mobster interactions ever caught on film. He alleged that the night before his brother appeared before the Committee, Sam met privately with the Kennedys to discuss political backing for Jack Kennedy’s planned presidential candidacy. The next day, Bobby Kennedy went on the attack in public. The cameras caught Giancana laughing at the staggering hypocrisy of this defender of American virtue. Two years later, an unabashed Joe Kennedy would reach out to Sam Giancana for help getting Jack elected President, which the Outfit will provide. Joe Kennedy promises that with Jack Kennedy in the White House, the Outfit could look forward to a cornucopia of lucrative government contracts, appointments, and a blind eye to their operations.
Perhaps Giancana should have known better than to trust a Kennedy. Joe seemed to feel no compunction about screwing over anybody. They didn’t come much filthier than Joe Kennedy – anti-Semite, bootlegger, racketeer, rapist, crook, coward, adulterer, and according to Gloria Swanson, (the mistress he ruined financially), a premature ejaculator. Joe Kennedy’s subsequent double-cross of Giancana would be a contributing factor to the fatal – and very public – consequences for two of his sons. Outside the committee room, the Outfit bosses openly mocked Bobby Kennedy, calling him a “bagman” for his family. But business is business, and in 1960 Sam Giancana put aside his loathing for the little Kennedy with the whiny, adenoidal voice and helped Papa Joe rig a presidential election. Kennedy again assured Giancana that after the election things would quiet down, and everyone could get back to the business of making money on booze, betting, and whores. When that didn’t happen, the bosses fumed over the betrayal. First, they lost the lucrative Cuban casino operations when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Then a plan to invade and retake Cuba turned into a fiasco when Jack Kennedy’s last-minute waffling and failure to provide adequate military backup sent the plan into a military tailspin and created a public relations disaster. The embarrassed President then used the CIA as a scapegoat and threatened to splinter the Central Intelligence Agency “into a thousand pieces.” On top of that, Bobby doubled down on his efforts to destroy organized crime (outside his own family’s). Some have suggested Jack Kennedy’s assassination was a joint CIA/Outfit operation aimed at settling the score as well as protecting the CIA and the Outfit. Chuck Giancana fingers mob-connected Chicago cop Richard Cain as JFK’s actual shooter. Chuck Giancana also asserts most startlingly that Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson were fully apprised of the assassination plans, as was Texas Governor John Connally. Hatred toward the Kennedys grew stronger as Bobby Kennedy’s investigations into organized crime picked up steam – and started racking up convictions. Never mind that the Kennedys were perhaps the nation’s oldest organized “crime family” in the literal sense. In the heady days of Camelot, when the media turned a willfully blind eye to the playboy President’s antics, none of the Kennedy dirt made its way to the front page. Most Americans lived in a bubble of delusion, where the cops were always the good guys in white hats, and the villains were snarling devils. The truth turned out to be a lot more complicated. Depending on whose account one chooses to read (and believe), the corrosive influence of organized crime went all the way up to the Office of the President of the United States long before Jack Kennedy. Chuck Giancana alleges that Joe Kennedy paid Franklin Delano Roosevelt $120,000 to be appointed head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and later paid the same amount to FDR for an appointment as Ambassador to the Court of Saint James in England (a position Kennedy ran from as quickly as his spindly legs could take him when the Nazi bombs started dropping). He also claims the Outfit colluded with the CIA to assassinate JFK after he and his father double-crossed the Outfit. True or false? Who knows? What Michael and I heard when Dad’s friends visited suggested the “lone gunman” theory was the stuff of fiction. We heard names other than Oswald and Ruby. Chuck Giancana isn’t alone in his assertion that the Chicago Outfit, with help from Carlos Marcello in Louisiana, picked Lee Harvey Oswald as the fall-guy for the Kennedy hit, and designated Jack Ruby for clean-up duty. Both Oswald and Ruby spent time on the FBI and CIA payrolls. This connection between law enforcement and criminals is extensively documented, most notably in Burton Hersh’s acclaimed biography Bobby and J. Edgar, which documents the poisonous relationship between the Kennedy family and Hoover’s FBI. Angelo J. "The Hook" LaPietra (1920–1999) was a key player in the Chicago Outfit, involved in extensive loansharking operations during the 1970s and 1980s. He earned his nickname "The Hook" due to the way he murdered his victims—those that did not, or could not pay up. He would take his victim—bound and gagged—and hang him on a meat hook, (piercing the victim's rib cage with the meat hook) and then torture him to death with a blow-torch. LaPietra was a top enforcer under Outfit boss Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa. "the Hook" was later indicted along with Aiuppa, Jackie "The Lackey" Cerone, and other 15 others as part of the Las Vega money skimming operation. La Pietra was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment and fined $143,409. In 1999, LaPietra died of natural causes shortly after his release from prison.
Jackie Cerone (1914-1996) Known as “Jackie the Lackey,” Cerone controlled Elmwood Park and other northwestern Chicago suburbs. He began his OUtfit career as a driver to Tony Accardo and eventually rose to the top spot. Known as "the smiling gambler," it was said Cerone could go from humorous to murderous in a blink. He was rumored to be part of the team that tortured and murdered loan shark William "Action" Jackson. He became boss of the Outfit following the semi-retirements of Tony Accardo and Joe Aiuppa. In 1986 Cerone, Aiuppa, Carl Civella, Angelo J. LaPietra and Carl DeLuna were convicted of skimming $2 million from a Las Vegas casino after Joseph Agosto, Kansas City crime family member and Las Vegas casino worker, turned state’s evidence and testified against the bosses. In 1996, Jackie Cerone died of natural causes six days after his release from prison.
Carlo Gambino (1902-1976) was head of the Gambino crime family -- one of New York's famed "Five Families." Born in Palermo, Sicily to a family in the "Honored Society" (akin to the Black Hand). Gambino came to Italy in 1921 and started his climb up the crime ladder. He soon joined a crime family headed by Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila, one of the larger crime families in the city. In the early 1920s, Gambino made a killing in the bootlegging business and established himself as a force in crime. In his last years, Gambino still ruled his family and the other New York families. He died quietly in his home after watching the New York Yankees win the winning the American League pennant the previous evening.
Holidays bring back memories. When Dad left the nightclub business (after a crooked cop shut him down), he happily went back into the produce business. At each major holiday -- Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter -- Dad made a special trip to the South Water Market and bought the holiday foods Italians like. One of the popular items was always fennel. Stalks went into holiday gift boxes Dad sent to the DB Lounge in Melrose Park for the mob bosses as a sign of friendship and respect. I remember Uncle Joe chomping down on a stalk at holiday meals. Here's a super easy recipe for roasted fennel that will fill your house with an amazing aroma and maybe start a new tradition to your holiday meals. ROASTED FENNEL Ingredients
Check out other great recipes on www.simplyrecipes.com.
Meyer Lansky (1902-1983) was a Jewish American gangster known as the Mob's Accountant, Lansky was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States. He built a gambling empire that stretched around the world. Despite nearly 50 years as a member-participant in organized crime, Lansky was never found guilty of anything more serious than illegal gambling. He is considered one of the most financially successful gangsters in American history. Before he fled Cuba, he was said to be worth an estimated $20,000,000 (equivalent to $180,375,940 in 2016). However, when he died in 1983, his family was shocked to learn that his estate was worth less than $10,000, with Lansky saying before he died that Cuba “ruined” him. At the time of his death, the FBI believed he left behind more than $300 million in hidden bank accounts, but they never found any money.
We talk about Italian this and Italian that -- the food, the scenery, the history, the gangsters, the amazing women. But it's impossible to talk about Italy without mentioning its impact on fashion. Italians occupy a "who's who" of world designers -- Armani, Versace, Valentino, and Dolce & Gabanna come to mind. But no single object is the subject of more desire and respect than Italian leather. From shoes to luggage, if you want to best leather, you want leather from Italy. That got us wondering -- what makes Italian leather so special?
One reason Italian leather is highly regarded is because of it’s quality. The very best craftsmanship and care goes into manufacturing Italian leather stock than is put into almost any comparable leather product in the world and that means only the best quality hides are used. Five reasons that Italian Leather is the very best.
Buy the best. Buy Italian. You won't be sorry. Salvatore "Sam" Giancana (1908 -1975) began his criminal career in the "42 Gang," a group of criminally-inclined teens that eventually morphed into the Chicago Outfit. From street thief, he graduated to wheel man and eventually to trigger man. In the mid-1950s, Outfit boss Tony Accardo handed the reins of leadership to "Momo." It's said that Giancana had a key role in making JFK President and later planning his assassination. He also worked secretly for the CIA. His romance with wholesome singer Phyllis McGuire put him on the front pages -- and the bad graces of his Outfit peers. Giancana was assassinated in his Oak Park home by an unknown assailant days before he was scheduled to testify before Congress about the CIA's involvement in an attempted overthrow of Castro's Cuban government.
Like the gangster films of Coppola and Scorsese, The Sopranos is an enduring classic of the genre and a tribute to David Chase's brilliance. We loved the stories and the characters, but we also love some of the behind-the-scenes details that add so much flavor to the show. Consider these gems (Check out #13 to see what Steve Van Zandt is the best.)
We've been broke. How about you? And when you're broke, eating a decent meal can present special challenges. Now that our starving students are (mercifully) gone, we still tend to be frugal where wasting food is concerned. Nothing turns leftovers into something delicious like a few eggs and a sprinkling of cheese. Heat up a skillet, and next thing you know you've got a frittata. We found this great recipe at Bon Appetit and wanted to share it. Whether you're using up leftovers or starting from scratch, nothing delivers that protein punch of a good egg dish.
Ingredients 12 large eggs ½ cup whole milk ¾ cup grated cheddar, divided Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper 2 tablespoons vegetable oil ½ medium onion, chopped ½ pounds fresh Spanish chorizo or hot Italian sausage links, casings removed 1 bunch broccoli rabe, coarsely chopped Preparation Preheat broiler. Whisk eggs and milk in a medium bowl. Mix in ½ cup cheddar; season with salt and pepper and set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet, preferably cast-iron, over medium heat. Add onion and chorizo and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and chorizo is brown, 6–8 minutes. Add broccoli rabe; season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 8–10 minutes longer. Reduce heat to low and pour reserved egg mixture over vegetables. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until edges are just set, 10–12 minutes. Top frittata with remaining ¼ cup cheddar; broil until top is golden brown and center is set, about 4 minutes longer. Cut frittata into wedges and serve warm or room temperature. DO AHEAD: Frittata can be made 2 hours ahead. Let cool, then cover. TIP: Let the frittata sit in the pan for a few minutes after cooking. The top will deflate and the sides will pull away from the pan. Buon appetito from Mob Adjacent! George Moran (1893-1957) was a Depression era gangster in Chicago. He was born to French immigrant parents. While attending a pricey, private school, he dropped out at 18 and turned to crime. His North Side bootlegging activities represented a significant challenge to an ascendant Al Capone. On February 14, 1929, seven members of his gang were gunned down in a warehouse, supposedly on the orders of Al Capone. By simple good luck, Moran wasn’t at the Clark Street garage the night of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, ultimately outlasting Capone. In 1946, Moran was arrested and convicted of robbery. He died of lung cancer a few months into his 10-year sentence.
Think of a movie gangster -- real or fictional. What's the first name that pops into your head? Tell us in the comments below
For those who didn't have the good fortune to grow up mob adjacent, your first exposure to mobsters, hoodlums and gangsters may have come from the movies. Movies have always mirrored real life. As real criminals like John Dillinger rose to pop-hero status during a depression Depression, Hollywood saw an opening for the screen gangster. Dastardly villains met predictable ends in a series of profitable films that catapulted actors like James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, and others to cult status in their lifetimes. But movie genres fade. By the 1960s, television offered a feast of cops and robber shows, and the screen gangster drifted out of style like spats and watch chains. Then in 1970, Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola brought the gangster roaring back to the screen. So did Sergio Leon and Martin Scorsese. The screen gangster is a classic now. But let's not overlook the men who shot up the streets with Tommy guns when it was happening for real on America's streets. Tony Accardo (1906-1992) was known as “Joe Batters” for his skill using a baseball bat for something other than America’s favorite pastime. He became leader of the Chicago Outfit around 1944 after Frank Nitti’s suicide. As a leader, Accardo was without peer. Considered the most powerful crime boss in America, Accardo famously never spend a single night in jail. Fun fact: Accardo is thought to have been one of the gunmen at the St. Valentine’s Massacre. He turned over the leadership role in the mid-1950s to Sam Giancana and became the power behind the throne. He died quietly of respiratory failure at home.
We were talking about taking a trip to Italy and came across something we thought was so great we had to share it. Check out www.bestitalianvacations.com. See the best parts of Italy -- the food, culture, art, history, and adventure. Traveling with a private driver-guide offers the flexibility and freedom to stop wherever you like and get a real feeling of the places you visit. Explore off the beaten path places that only locals know. Visit Medieval villages, towns and valleys. Enjoy culinary adventures with lunches, dinners, wine tastings and cooking classes in typical restaurants, country farms and local wineries. Experience Italy as a traveler, not as a tourist.
What do you want? The Grand Tour from Rome to Venice? How about 10 days up the Amalfi coast? Or maybe a culinary tour of Tuscany. Escape to Venice or Umbia or Portofino? Spend a few days in the wine region or experience the best shopping in the world? We love the idea of designing a custom vacation and experiencing Italy in a way that makes us feel like a part of its storied history. Have you been to Italy? Tell us your favorite experience in the comments below. |
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