Now that I’ve got digital cable and something like 800 HBOs, I can watch Sopranos just about any damn time I want to. Which got me thinking about my Mob ties – I went to elementary school with a Mob lawyer’s son, and Dadoccasionally had legitimate business dealings with “made men” (he sold 'em cigars). Mom worked as manager for an outlet of a catalog store chain, which eventually got acquired by a reported gangster. Mom left shortly thereafter.
So, any of you got ties to 'da Family?
Yup. They film a lot of the show in places I used to work/live. It’s like living in my hometown all over again.
“HAY! I used to get gas there!!” and “HAY! I stopped there for bagels!!”
Tripler
But I ain’t gonna tell yous about no ties. . .
Yes, I have mob ties. I generally prefer the silk, but there’s a really nice blue pattern with tiny tommy guns that I wear when I attend funerals.
Seriously, I’m distantly related to Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, but he went to the chair before I was born.
I could tell you, but then they would come for you
They used to call me Totoro “babyface” Bambino.
That is, my parents did. When I was 2, and had a babyface.
Alright, I’m a liar.
I’m not alowed to say…
My Grandfather owned a bar when my mom was a kid. He was approached by some [supposed] (I insert “supposed” due to the nature of this board, but my family has always taken it at face value.) members of the mob, asking to use the place for some business operations. He refused and they left with no hassel and no harrassment to follow. He reports them as being perfect gentlemen. He was also the regional head of the Italian Catholic Federation at the time, as well, so I don’t know if that had anything to do with their innocuous behaviour. The stereotype is that many of those mobsters were very god-fearing. Who knows what the truth really was.
In my senior year of high school, I met the parents of a friend of my sister’s (my sister was in 7th grade at the time). They were the nicest family. I’ll call the dad “Tony.” The guy was forever offering favors to my dad. Nothing weird, just like regular buddy stuff. My car (an old beater we’d gotten used) broke down. It was the transmission. Tony told my dad he knew a guy who owed him a favor, and would fix my car for the cost of the parts. So, my car got fixed. The next time I saw Tony, I thanked him for getting his buddy to help out. He asked how the car was running, and I said it was great.
My dad kept telling me that I had to stress to Tony how wonderful a job the guy had done on my car. Finally, I said, “Dad, I know I need to be polite, but what the heck? I’ve thanked him five times tonight!” My dad pulled me aside and said, “The mechanic said to me, ‘Please, tell Tony that I did a good job. I don’t want a gun in my face again.’” My jaw dropped.
There were other things my dad mentioned later, but that just freaked me right the hell out! I went to Tony and told him the car was running like a brand new vehicle.
If I told you I’d have to kill you…
I know a drug dealer who’s got some contacts in the Russian mob. He doesn’t talk about it much anymore. There was a time that, when I ever brought it up, he’d give me a swift beat down. I don’t talk about it much anymore, either.
(This is all true!)
Yes. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to publicly come clean.
I am distantly related to Jimmy “The Big Furry Bunny” Chiella. You may recall he testified before a grand jury after an unsuccessful assassination attempt by Dino “Cottonelle” Baccardi and Willis “The Slurpee” McAngus.
I can’t remember what my mob name was a couple weeks back, though.
Well, here in the small Bellingham burg, we have nothing of interest to the mob. As far as I know, anyway. The closest thing we have to the mob is the hoards of people who converge on the mall at Christmas. Now THAT is a mob!
Scotti
Well, my step-father (100% Sicilian) worked for Andy Capasso (sewer contractor known for sullying former Miss America Bess Myerson’s image, before that whole shop-lifting thing) for a summer.
I used to work in a privately owned restaurant that bizarro things regularly happened in. For instance, the owner held a private “benefit” for the families of Detroit police officers, Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers who were convcted (2nd degree murder) of beating Malice Green to death.
My real father is friends with a man who’s daughter was put into a wheelchair by a drunk driver. The drunk driver was shot and killed under mysterious circumstances a relatively short time after that.
I used to live in New York City. Queens, to be specific. Around 1986, I was working for a plumbing supply house in Ozone Park. I managed an auxilliary warehouse that was a few blocks away from the main office. We used to get a lot of deliveries by tractor-trailer, and the trucks sometimes had difficulty turning the corner off 101st Avenue if cars were parked down at that end of the street.
One day, a truck driver just couldn’t make the turn, so I had to find out whose car was parked right on the corner, and see if they could move it for a minute. I checked a couple stores, and finally the guy in the bakery on the corner said the car was from the place next door.
The place next door was a “Social Club” run by John Gotti. I used to see him sitting out front once in a while, with the stretch Mercedes limo parked on the street, and the rather large Italian gentlemen standing around him. It turned out that the car in question was owned by one of his “associates”.
Guess who had to knock on John Gotti’s door that day?
I have to say, I was just a little freakin’ nervous. I knocked, explained where I worked and what the dilemma was. I didn’t see the Teflon Don (whew!), but his goombahs were quite friendly about the whole thing.
“Sure, no problem! Anytime you need a favor, just ask!”
Umm, thanks fellas, but I think I’ll pass. :eek:
Almost everyone in my town and surrounding areas who is involved in polotics is in with the mob. One of the leading behind the scenes men is a huge player in the mob scene…and my parents frequently have lunches with him! They always have their specail table at the swankiest Italian resteraunts and all of the other pleasures of mob life…but its still pretty freaky. AND his granddaughter is one of my good friends. Hows that for a connection?
They’d call me Merky “Two-times”, because I would annoy everybody two times.
Who wants to hear about my foreskin, foreskin?
I sometimes used to tell people I was related to Jimmy Hoffa. It’s not strictly true, but there are two interesting coincidences: firstly, my mother’s family name is Riddle (Jimmy Hoffa’s middle name); secondly, most of the Riddle family is from Huntingdon, PA, hometown of Hoffa. (Some of the scenes from the movie Hoffa were shot in Huntingdon).
Uncle Tony (my mom’s uncle, actually) put out a hit on Aunt Rosanna when she left him. When I was a little kid, he’d always try to give me large wads of cash at family weddings and my mom would always march over there and give it back to him. I don’t know many details about his background, but from what I do know he’s shady as hell.
A blood relative of mine married a blood relative of “The Big Tuna” Accardo. But the branch of the family that he is from cut ties with the “The Big Tuna” because of his mob involvement so my by-marriage relative didn’t know him.
But when I was a kid, one of my best friend’s sister was married to a guy that I found out got good contracting jobs because of his ties to the mob. It completely freaked me out when found out. I had been in their house! (I think I watched too many movies and Kojak episodes as a child.)
Yes. Dutch Schultz (real name Artie Flegenheimer) was my mother’s cousin. That makes me…what, third cousin? Something like that. Mom has letters & pictures from him to her parents from the 30’s; he moved to the States from Germany before they did. (Jewish Mafia.)