Posted on 07/30/2016 11:32:42 AM PDT by Cementjungle
I was pals with Paulie No Legs Hankish who ran with the Pittsburgh mob but who was a confident of Genovese boss Chin Gigante.....the man who shot Frank Costello on Genovese orders
A good man to me.....I’ve known a lot of wise guys
Paulie was tough as hell....nobody ruled him I can promise you except some fine ass women here and there
A rival blew his legs off in a car bomb in Wheeling when he was young just getting started with bootlegging and clubs and bookmaking
He got the guy a few years later in same fashion to make a point
Paulie free of charge helped a close relative of mine out of a jam once because I asked him
The only payback was taking him deer hunting next season
He died of diabetes complications at Petersburg Federal Prison hospital late 90s after getting ratted on for huge bookmaking and fuel tax schemes RICO stuff
wise guys are best just as buddies
No business deals
You’re right. If you can make 200k being a lawyer or 140k begin a Union Electrician, why go down the gangster road?
The mafia in Sicily is still BRUTALLY powerful. Much more so than here or in the mainland.
And many towns are still poor. Quite a few have been sent from those towns to here, to make up for the shortage of reliable men.
This crop is smarter than Gotti. VERY low key. I dont think the FBI knows who’s in charge of some of the families here.
I did what I did when i was much younger, NEVER hurt anybody, but I had a vending machine route and you couldn’t own one without the ok of a family. Of course other families would try to move in on your spots and there would be sit downs and all kinds of garbage, and you’re right. Who wants all that hassle when you get older?
Work in an Air Conditioned Office and make good money from legal gangsters, the investment banks :)
When Aniello Dellacroce died that was the end of the Ravenite days
Angelo Bruno was old school
Scarfo was a pink literally
Stupider than Gotti
And that’s saying somethimg
C41
It's funny, I learned that when I lived in North Jersey in the late '70s. The vending machines were a family operation. I'm not even Italian, and I got told that! Universal knowledge, everyone knew.
I wonder if the new blood feels differently about drugs. I wonder if they learned the lesson. Maybe they did.
Wow. Fascinating story. I know nothig of the crews outside of NYC.
You’re right. Great pals. Not so great business partners.
Before my pop died in ‘82, when I was 14, he told me to never accept jobs or work from ANY relative that offered it, no matter HOW close. I listened to him.
My life didn’t turn out so great so I should have take 60k on the docks when I was 18 :)
Drugs are a different world. The worst thing from having a vending route was that i got fat lol.
I also had to have three sit downs over certain issues. I didn’t sit!! I was a nobody. People I knew sat for me and straigtened things out. Silly ####, like a broken machine, or someone though they got cheated out of commissions, but those things could take off fast into somthing bigger, and a few times they did, hence the sit downs.
The worst thing from selling and doing H is destroyed judgment and #### ups left and right that the bosses wouldn’t put up with.
You can NEVER tame a drug empire (but then the Mexicans do it. I wonder how? Perhaps because they can kill Anybody at Any time with no govt to speak of to stop them.)
So how do you say no?
About all you can do is make damn sure you've got another job.
Boy, you look like a tough son of a #####!!!
Great looking family.
I bet you have some stories :)
And from the heyday, not the fall of the Roman Empire that I witnessed. I’m 48.
Aniello is my middle name :)
And you’re right, he should have been boss.
I have a close friend who's Italian. He wasn't involved in any of that, his family owned a completely legit business.
But he told me a lot of stories about growing up in an Italian family. Grandfather still alive, from the old country. All the uncles and cousins lived on the same block, in a row of houses all right next to each other.
I love hearing his stories.
A lot of them revolve around this: no matter what happened, it is your fault! You're out on a delivery and the truck's tranny blows a gasket, it's your fault. Motor blows out on a mixing machine while you're running it, it's your fault. You fall over in a dead faint while you're inside an industrial oven cleaning it out, it's your f-ing fault.
I think that must be a feature of Italian family culture. Non-Italians look at it from the outside and think "oh, that's so nice, they're such a loving family, it must be so much fun to grow up Italian." Not completely true.
Not completely true but it is a lot of fun. Or was :(
EVERYBODY lived next door or down the block or down that block.
Now everyone is scattered to the wind.
What the #### kind of family life is that??!?!
Christmas and Easter. GTF out of here. It makes me sick.
I’m my pop through and through. Brother is the sophisticatd lawyer in Westchester.
I’m still on Staten Island where I’ll likely die.
What the #### good are nephews and nieces if they’re in butt#### NJ or Westchester or wherever the #### they all moved to!
Times have changed across the country, and not for the better, my friend.
Whattya mean, ya can’t use Skype?
I’m joking.
He told me one story about how one Thursday night he was upset because his mom decided not to make spaghetti that night like she usually did.
So he sneaks out the side door to his aunt’s house, because he knows they’re having spaghetti that night.
When he gets home after dinner, has father kicks his ass.
WOW!!!
How far are we going back!!!
True of first generation and up to maybe the 70s, early 80s latest!!
Mom’s pop was sadistic mafiosa, beyond cruel.
My pop’s pop was a nice guy but would be considered abusive today.
My pop was tough one us but NONE OF THAT ####!!!! I’m 48.
Oh, he grew up in the late 40s and through the 50s. He’s quite a bit older than me.
Not from Sicily. From southern Italy, the arch of the boot.
How did they get a row of houses right next to each other? Simple. They built the houses themselves.
That’s one way to live next to each other :)
40s and 50s Italian pops were a LOT harder on the kids than 80s on pops!
20s and 30s pops, forget about it!!!
I miss my childhood and teen years where everyone was so close together.
The holidays and a few other times a year. WT# is that for Italians. We might as well be any other group.
Well, OK, but I think maybe you're not looking at the whole picture.
I can think of a few other groups that... never mind. I'm not going to say it. Gonna self-censor, once again.
I think social cohesion and family values are breaking down in Italy too. Society is changing all over the world. My wife is Chinese, and they're having family problems over there too. Too much comfort is a problem everywhere.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.