Posted on 08/20/2012 5:17:49 AM PDT by AtlasStalled
Matthew "Matty The Horse" Ianniello, the one-time acting boss of the Genovese crime family who was involved in the gay bar industry in New York City from the 1950s through at least the mid-1980s has died at his Long Island hiome in Old Westbury, NY as reported by Anthony M. DeStefano for Newsday.
According to former Daily News reporter and editor Thomas Collins Jr. in his 2002 memoir NewsWalker, Ianniello "was sponsored into the Genovese crime family by Frank 'Funzi' Tieri."
Ianniello perhaps is most infamous for the dozens of gay bars and discos he was behind during New York City's sleazy days, and he was convicted in 1985 with several associates for skimming profits out of several establishments including the tranny bar Gilded Grape and the hustler bar Hay Market. With respect to the Haymarket in which Ianniello had an interest, Collins writes in NewsWalker:
"The crowds were at the gay bars, which cops told me the mobsters opened in a cynical attempt to attract a clientele from an underserved market. I got to the Hay Market, at 772 8th Ave. just before midnight. The bar was five deep with men and boys hustling, talking, laughing—and drinking. Lots of drinking. The air was thick with cigaret smoke. The jukebox played loud pounding rock music. Patrons moved unselfconsciously to the beat. The bar was long and thin, with a shelf of liquor lined against the back wall. Against the opposite wall hustlers were seated against a railing, some of the boys looking as young as 15. One was staring into space, his thin frame covered with a faded denim jacket, scruffy jeans and black boots. Several of the men from the bar across the way were watching. Several of the boys wore varsity jackets with leather sleeves. Others had shiny plastic jackets. They were all working. One of the men at the bar in his early twenties wore an elegant camel's-hair jacket, black pants and silk ascot. A portly, balding man in a business suit sat next to him. He wore rimless glasses and could have passed for an accountant at any midtown office. Another boy came up to the balding man and whispered in his ear. Two stools down, a handsome man smiled at the mirror. Behind him stood a goon wearing a T-shirt with barbells stenciled on front, with the sleeves rolled up. His arms were folded across his chest and he flexed his biceps. In the doorway, a young boy with a woolen stocking cap blocked the way, forcing everyone who came in or walked out to ask him to move."
Indeed, no man had more of an instrumental role in gay nightlife in the Big Apple than Ianniello, and the city's Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce probably should send flowers to his funeral.
GRTB
RIH
I thought gays died young....hmmmmmm. Well prayers for his family.
Back in the day, the NY Mob ran the gay bars, they sold pornography, they ran gambling joints and imported narcotics.
Now VERIZON sells you pornography, Native American Indians control gambling, doctors are selling pot and men are marrying men!
Is this progress?
“I thought gays died young”
Ianniello was straight . . . he just made a fortune off the gays.
Matty was NOT gay. Was an organized crime big (Also very big/ heavy himself). “Ran” gay bars(skimmed money,etc). Had “interests” in various restaurants.
“RIH”
LOL! (First time I’ve seen that one; what GRTB?)
Well, it isn’t a true “mafia monopoly” anymore. They’re spread the filth, deviancy and degeneracy around a bit... lots of “beaks getting dipped” these days. Heh.
Meh...I should read the article before I post.
Good advice to me.
Matty the Horse did not horse around in the gay bars he extracted money from.
And,as my dear old Irish mother once noted about what “was wrong” with the world was that....the women all want to become priests and the priests all want to become women!!!!
Wonder what democrat congressman will resign to fill the job opening?.
The Stonewall raids weren’t because they were gay bars. But because the were Mob bars.
Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish in Hell?
***Patrons moved unselfconsciously to the beat.***
Can I unimagine what has just been imagined?
.
True. But the arrestable offence was serving booze to minors, not the ownership.
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