Went to a NJ wedding at a restaurant that was supposed to be mob owned.
In terms of the Mafia, I’m two degrees of separation. A relative worked with a member of the Bonanno family. Note: not “family” but actually a Bonanno. Yes, the relative did end up getting cheated out of some money. No recourse, naturally.
For other groups, met a couple of members of a motorcycle gang. Was briefly related by marriage to one of them.
I grew up in a mostly Italian neighborhood in the mid fifties. While I can not say for sure that anyone I knew were “Made Guys” I certainly knew associates. When I was in the 4th grade I was walking home from school. The guy at the barbershop knocked on his window and motioned for me to come inside. He gave me an envelope and told me to take it down to Tony at the pool hall and that Tony would give me a quarter. the buying power of a quarter to a school kid in 1957 was equivalent ro about $10.00 today. I did this a few times a week for a couple of months and then, all of a sudden, Tony was gone. For a while I was the richest kid in the neighborhood.
Had a NJ uncle who said he was pretty sure his big apartment was used by a mob guy in the past.
I grew up in a mostly Italian neighborhood in the mid fifties. While I can not say for sure that anyone I knew were “Made Guys” I certainly knew associates. When I was in the 4th grade I was walking home from school. The guy at the barbershop knocked on his window and motioned for me to come inside. He gave me an envelope and told me to take it down to Tony at the pool hall and that Tony would give me a quarter. the buying power of a quarter to a school kid in 1957 was equivalent ro about $10.00 today. I did this a few times a week for a couple of months and then, all of a sudden, Tony was gone. For a while I was the richest kid in the neighborhood.
My family is out of NYC, I had 2 Great Aunts that were involved in the numbers game apparently. They more or less took over from their late husbands. I don’t remember these Great Uncles. More recently, my cousin married someone that was without question a very minor player in the Mafia. He got shot under mysterious circumstances one night. He survived, they divorced and a year or two later he got shot dead under less mysterious circumstances.
So these were connections on both sides of my family. I met a few others over the years that were most likely connected, including an old retired guy connected to illegal sport betting. He was a really nice guy but had some interesting stories.
So lets see, Italian heritage, born in NYC & grew up in NJ. Not really surprising there was some overlap.
I doubt anyone I met was a made man, but I don’t think that is advertised anyway, at least not outside their circles.
A grade school classmate was Carmine Persico’s son. That son was indicted on racketeering charges (and brothers imprisoned up to life) but that was decades after I knew him, and I never actually met his father.
That was on Long Island. Later when we lived in northern NJ there were kids at school whose families were supposedly ‘mobbed up’, including a girl in HS who was supposedly the equivalent of Meadow Soprano (many years before that show). But those were rumors which could easily have been exaggerated. Carmine Persico and sons were real Mafiosi.
I met Sammy Davis Jr. Does he count as an ‘associate’?
I was on a train headed for Osaka seated across the aisle from this big Japanese guy. The train was quite full, but no one seemed to want to take the window seat next to him. Up the aisle comes this American guy who spots the empty seat and squeezes by the guy. At this point I see the missing finger tip. The American guy sees me, starts a conversation and slowly begins to lean over and encroach on this Japanese guy’s space and he is not happy about it. I try my best to end the conversation so the guy would sit down, but he keeps talking. Finally the American’s stop is next up and he leaves. I say to the Japanese guy, “Sorry” (in Japanese) and without looking at me, he loudly says, EEAA! (no).
I live in Italy and know someone who used to be involved and did time for it, one of my best friends. I know because he told me. He regrets it. Those people are awful, not glamorous and continue to do serious damage to Italy as a country and beyond. Sorry to preach, but the reality is they’re shitty people that prey on vulnerable young people.
Yes, back in the 70s I worked for a guy in NYC with connections. He was a total low-life sleazy character and I suspected our small company was a front. He hired a hooker as the receptionist, and had her sit, wearing a mini-skirt and no underwear, on a transparent chair with mirrored floor covering.
When I quit, he threatened to shoot me in the face if he ever saw me again.
I’ve met at least two people who have extensive mob stories to tell. In fact, you can’t shut them up about it. I don’t know if that makes their stories more believable or not. One was a casino worker in Vegas and the other was a truck dispatcher from the Bay Area. Most of the stories involve fat envelopes of cash for “looking the other way.”
My step-grandmother’s BFF was married to an ex-mafia guy. They lived in Alaska, with houses in Tucson and a condo in NYC. They were always very well dressed, dripping in jewels (I still distinctly remember his massive pinky ring), and always brought presents. Supposedly, they lived this life on the proceeds from her small boutique. Sure.
My grandpa’s first wife (mom’s mom) is from Chicago Polish mafia. I don’t know much about him, other than he had been military before coming to the States, spent a fair amount of time here on one of the mafia vacation lakes up here. In fact, whenever I go to our cabin, I drive past their cabin, still standing 110 years later.
Three stories:
There was a wealthy Central American family that moved into my neighborhood as a kid. Their kids were younger than me, but took the bus with my sister. The dad was eventually convicted of drug smuggling and the rest of the family moved away.
We used to vacation at my husband’s uncle’s place in the Catskills. The house next door was owned by an Italian family that kept to themselves and didn’t talk much to the neighbors. The teenage boys practices shooting in the backyard. We learned the father was in the mafia when he was convicted of drug crimes. My husband’s second cousin had a run-in with the kids after that (when all the neighbors knew they were mafia) and was summoned to a mafia court. Oddly enough, the court found him in the right, and told the teenagers to mind their own business and respect the neighbors. But he was shitting bricks when he was summoned to appear.
My grandfather, a doctor, once treated a known mafioso. The guy had to visit a lot, and became friendly with my grandfather’s receptionist. After he recovered, the receptionist used to get anonymous phone calls telling her to bet on various horse races. Those tips were always right.
Yes, my family is Italian. I’ve met/known actual members as well as people associated with it. My grandfather and one of his brothera are mentioned by name in this book. My mom tells the story of back when her and my dad were dating, they were out one night and my mom asked why there was a car following them…it was the FBI. She thought it was pretty cool, he’d prefer not to remember it. For those of you in Milwaukee, you may remember the name Sally Papia. My dad had to testify before a grand jury about her, IIRC, him getting tailed was part of that.
Since the last Balistreri died a while back, it hasn’t been all that active but there’s still a few floating around that aren’t really part of anything anymore but still maintain some ties to Kansas City.
Also, not that it means much, but there’s still a ton of kids/grandkids/cousins here. So far as I know, very few of them have anything to do with the mafia, but, at least with in my/the Italian community, the names are all very well known. For example, if you look at who the current boss is here, you’ll see he’s still owns (or his brother or cousin or something) a popular bar. Many of the other people are related to popular produce wholesalers* and funeral homes.
*I don’t know if this is just a Milwaukee thing, but there’s a lot of ties between the mafia and the produce business in Milwaukee. Growing up Italian and in the produce business, that’s how I came to meet some of these people, it’s also how my dad got tangled into it.
Growing up in Milwaukee, there was a Probably-Mafioso-Wink-Wink Busalacchi family involved in the produce business… Well, my math teacher was part owner of the “Fruit Ranch” store. The other teachers referred to him as “Banana Joe”.
Yo, Joey, you related to (or even named after) Banana Joe?
And I knew a lot of Balistreris in high school, but you could never get them to tell you if they were “THAT family” or even related to The Dom, Frank Balistreri.
So my answer is “Yeah, maybe…” If so, they were some pretty nice people.
No relation. IIRC, one of the owners is wife of late news reporter Duane Gay. I have no idea who owns the Fruit Ranch currently. My place is over by the airport and very commonly confused with them.
As for Busalacchis, I only know one Busalacchi family and he’s not in the produce business, or the mafia as far as I know. He’s into construction and reloading bullets.
There’s still a ton of Balistreris around here and I know quite a few of them. Some of the Sendiks are owned by Balistreris as well, but I don’t think they’re related, could be wrong. There’s also two different spellings for that name, one related, one has nothing to do with it all.
To a point that’s how it is for me as well. Many of the people I know that are/were in it or associated with it, I didn’t realize until years later when someone would mention it to me.
OTOH, I had a relative that I only met a few years before he suddenly died. He was your classic fiery Italian. Think Paulie Walnuts getting all worked up. You can’t hide your business if you’re on the phone in a crowded bar yelling at someone and telling them you’ll just go down to Kansas City next week and take care of it yourself.
It was strongly rumored that the Italian owner of a restaurant my dad did business with and that we frequented often when I was a kid, had ties to the mob. He could have been spreading those rumors himself though to be interesting and have more cred. Dude LOVED to talk.
We have a local guy in the witness protection plan because he testified against the mob, he was not a member or associate. He talked to the paper but obviously they did not use a picture or his name. I wonder how they knew about him.
A buddy and I were sipping martinis in the bar of an Italian restaurant called “Carmine’s Clam House” on Chicago’s Rush Street. A very large man in a very expensive suit, and his tiny, exquisitely dressed lady friend, came in and sat down next to us. He called over the bartender, ordered a couple of drinks, a large order of fried calamari, and a platter of sausages and peppers. I told him those were excellent choices, and he nodded his agreement. Moments later, his cell phone rang. He flipped it open, listened for a few seconds, snapped it shut. He said to his lady, “We gotta go, babe.” Then he told the bartender, “Give the food to dese guys,” motioning with his head to me and my buddy. And then they were gone.
The food was excellent.