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billfromlaketravis

By billfromlaketravis
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TexPx

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csb: My great-grandfather used to play piano in Hot Springs, and the speaks around that area, for Capone and various other mafioso that frequented the area. Sometimes, they'd pick him up in Hot Springs, blindfold him, and drive him out to whatever hideout/juke joint they were hanging out in that particular weekend. 

55413273864ece91b0053ab57debc6fb.jpg
Good read on Hot Springs back in the day.
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High Plains Drifter

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On 8/29/2021 at 11:32 AM, Gil Bang said:

Apologize for the slight diversion:

I've long been interested in another type of "mob", the outlaw biker gangs.  Hell's Angels, Mongols, etc.


Several great books in that genre, including "Under and Alone".  

It's slightly-less-organized crime, mostly because many  of the criminals are dopers.  I don't think that the italians tolerate that much. 

 

 

On 8/29/2021 at 7:22 PM, billfromlaketravis said:

Probably my favorite motorcycle gang book: 

Paperback Hell's Angels : A Strange and Terrible Saga Book

 

2nd this. Its dated, but its very very good.

 

 

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Jiggy-Z

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Back in the early 90's I had a coworker who was literally married to the mob. His wife was the daughter of some low level wise guy.  He said these guys would show up at family functions etc. and were kind of a joke.  He said they had bad cologne, bad wardrobes, cheap watches, and shitty cars.

My BIL has a lake cabin up in north central Wisconsin on a small lake.  One of the older cabins up there was a mob hide out back in the day.  I always make it a point to trespass and go fish off of their dock with a heavy lure that drags bottom, hey you never know.

One of my fishing buddies who is in his late 70's used to work at a bowling alley owned by one of Al Capone's nephews.  It was a mob deal, but my fishing buddy loved working there.  The nephews name was "Bottles" Capone, on account of his thick eye glasses what that he wore on his mug.

My grandfather on my mother's side was a bootlegger, but for personal, medicinal and sacramental purposes only. 

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lateshow

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47 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Pod on the Colombo arrests: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/colombo-crime-family-and-ny-underworld/id1467014230?i=1000536264085

I listened to that this week. Good stuff. Like Burnstein, I just don't believe that  Persico was a rat. The dude was in prison from '87 until he died in 2019. What exactly did he get out of the deal? 

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billfromlaketravis

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Just now, lateshow said:

I listened to that this week. Good stuff. Like Burnstein, I just don't believe that  Persico was a rat. The dude was in prison from '87 until he died in 2019. What exactly did he get out of the deal? 

I think Persico was MAYBE providing information on rivals in the 60s. There's some kind of initial form FBI agents file for potential informants to get approved. The name escapes me. I believe this is what the Persico document was. My guess is that The Snake had a quid pro quo type conversation with a FBI agent, and the agent wanted to score points with his boss and filed the form. 

The Colombos are probably the most violent of the Five Families, which makes them one of the most interesting. 

Many Third Colombo War headlines made it into the final seasons of the Sopranos. There's plenty of rich material there for a television series. There's also the murder of Wild Bill Cutolo in 1999, one of the last big mafia hits in New York. That would make for at least 3 good seasons of TV. 

 

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MaybeACoordinator

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I'll take 'Things my lawyer hates me saying on wiretaps for $500, Alex."

 

Quote

“I’m a criminal … Everything I do is criminal...I need like $250,000 a year, or two, to break even,” boasted Joseph Servidio, a reputed foot soldier for the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra crime family.

“That’s what I need. So I got to do other (criminal) things, ’cause I don’t make enough money....There’s nothing better than making money. I make money every day, illegally.”

 

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Johnny Sack

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On 9/25/2021 at 11:12 PM, billfromlaketravis said:

Idiots talking on the phone : 

 


Paulie hated phones. He wouldn't have one in his house. He used to get all his calls second hand, then you'd have to call the people back from an outside phone. There were guys, that's all they did all day long was take care of Paulie's phone call.

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11487

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55 minutes ago, lateshow said:

I've always wondered how guys like Michael Franzese and John Pannisi get away with being so public after they've flipped. Does the mafia not take these guys out anymore? Or would that bring too much attention nowadays?

Franzese claims he never ratted, just left the life. I buy it. The only record I can find of him testifying is against booking agent Norby Walters. Walters was using Franzese's name to coerce college athletes into signing management contracts. Franzese was Walters silent partner in a business they owned together. Walters wasn't a wiseguy. 

Pennisi is another story. He was a government informant as late as 2018, and he testified against the Lucchese Family's Administration. Plenty of people want him dead right now.

His reasoning: https://nypost.com/2021/06/04/mobster-john-pennisi-said-spirit-of-his-grandparents-told-him-to-turn-rat/#:~:text=In his sworn testimony%2C Pennisi,him as a “rat.”&text=He said the Lucchese clan,They began using the Bloods.”

Pretty good piece on the current state of the family : https://nypost.com/2019/05/30/lucheses-leadership-changed-hands-in-bloodless-coup-orchestrated-from-prison/

 

From what I've observed there's really no reason to kill rats if the defendants can plea it down to 10 years or less. Yes going to prison sucks, but a life sentence for murder sucks worse. I'm not sure the risk is worth the reward. 

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billfromlaketravis

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I think I’m out on the MBA and the Button Man. Pennisi just rambles on aimlessly about pointless mob life anecdotes. He’s much better in interviews with skilled journalists asking him questions. The MBA has no interest on keeping him on track or following up. 
 

Pennisi’s story is interesting. Basically, he says he turned rat because the life wasn’t right for him. He’s pretty ho hum about it. Like he quit his job at Target. 

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lateshow

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11 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

I think I’m out on the MBA and the Button Man. Pennisi just rambles on aimlessly about pointless mob life anecdotes. He’s much better in interviews with skilled journalists asking him questions. The MBA has no interest on keeping him on track or following up. 
 

Pennisi’s story is interesting. Basically, he says he turned rat because the life wasn’t right for him. He’s pretty ho hum about it. Like he quit his job at Target. 

I don't listen to it that often, because the production quality is terrible. The OG podcast is much better. And yeah, Pennisi is much better as a guest on The OG than being a host of his own. 

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billfromlaketravis

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Many Saints of Newark isn't as good as A Bronx Tale which was almost certainly an inspiration. 

I also think The Irishman is a better film. A lot of things that didn't work in The Irishman are related to special effects. Namely the shitty de-aging. The performances and direction are excellent. 

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billfromlaketravis

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46 minutes ago, cmontexas said:

Pretty interesting piece in D Magazine about Benny Binion and the Dallas mob

 

https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2021/october/my-father-the-hitman/

Interesting piece. It reminds me a lot of a pod I listened to Charles Harrelson, Woody’s father and convicted hit man. Not a very bright man, but a career criminal willing to get his hands dirty. 
 

Pretty interesting that Milwaukee Phil was his “sponsor” in the Outfit. Phil was just a front boss briefly, but still pretty high up. I wish the author had elaborated more on their connection. 

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billfromlaketravis

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21 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

From a technical aspect it looked Ike something a film major from Texas state would put together. Horribly edited.

Burnstein had some good points in his review. 

- David Chase doesn't do fan service, and he might have contempt for his audience.

- Chase wanted to make a movie about Dickie and civil rights movement in 1967, but the studio forced young Tony Soprano on him. If Chase had his druthers, the entire film would have taken place in 1967 without Tony. 

- What we got was the art (Chase) battling the studio resulting in an uneven mash up of compromises. 

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MissingInAction

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4 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Burnstein had some good points in his review. 

- David Chase doesn't do fan service, and he might have contempt for his audience.

- Chase wanted to make a movie about Dickie and civil rights movement in 1967, but the studio forced young Tony Soprano on him. If Chase had his druthers, the entire film would have taken place in 1967 without Tony. 

- What we got was the art (Chase) battling the studio resulting in an uneven mash up of compromises. 

All the tony scenes seemed completely disconnected. As if it was a different movie cut in.

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MaybeACoordinator

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45 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Burnstein had some good points in his review. 

- David Chase doesn't do fan service, and he might have contempt for his audience.

- Chase wanted to make a movie about Dickie and civil rights movement in 1967, but the studio forced young Tony Soprano on him. If Chase had his druthers, the entire film would have taken place in 1967 without Tony. 

- What we got was the art (Chase) battling the studio resulting in an uneven mash up of compromises. 

Every creator has contempt for certain components of his audience -- it's just a matter of percentage. Chase is probably on the high side, but he's hardly alone. 

There was plenty of fan service in the movie. Is it Burnstein's contention that he was forced into it? 

The rest seems spot on, even if it didn't matter to me. I guess I am a fanboi.

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billfromlaketravis

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49 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

Every creator has contempt for certain components of his audience -- it's just a matter of percentage. Chase is probably on the high side, but he's hardly alone. 

There was plenty of fan service in the movie. Is it Burnstein's contention that he was forced into it? 

The rest seems spot on, even if it didn't matter to me. I guess I am a fanboi.

Correct. 

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billfromlaketravis

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2 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

Sure but that was a long time ago....I'd kinda like to see a contemporary deal. Seems like the closest we've gotten to that is some scenes in Casino, or did they only follow that back as far as KC? I've only seen Casino once. 

They’re making another Spilotro movie: https://themobmuseum.org/blog/a-new-look-at-tony-spilotro-in-upcoming-movie/

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MaybeACoordinator

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6 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

They’re making another Spilotro movie: https://themobmuseum.org/blog/a-new-look-at-tony-spilotro-in-upcoming-movie/

I'd really like to see some set in New Orleans (where it all began here), Tampa and even Galveston. The Maceos ran such a tight ship they only had to whack about five guys in 25 years -- basically, they turned Galveston into a Sicily with of their own with no competition and ran it benevolently.

And Galveston and Chicago are kind of bound up together: Capone was always tentatively trying to horn in on the Maceos but he soon realized he would not only be fighting the Maceo's muscle guys but the entire power structure of Galveston County. Marcello too -- he'd try to horn in every now and then, but Sam and Rose had that island stitched up tight. 

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billfromlaketravis

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On 11/21/2021 at 10:04 AM, MaybeACoordinator said:

I'd really like to see some set in New Orleans (where it all began here), Tampa and even Galveston. The Maceos ran such a tight ship they only had to whack about five guys in 25 years -- basically, they turned Galveston into a Sicily with of their own with no competition and ran it benevolently.

And Galveston and Chicago are kind of bound up together: Capone was always tentatively trying to horn in on the Maceos but he soon realized he would not only be fighting the Maceo's muscle guys but the entire power structure of Galveston County. Marcello too -- he'd try to horn in every now and then, but Sam and Rose had that island stitched up tight. 

It is pretty interesting that Dallas became a Marcello/New Orleans satellite while Galveston remained autonomous.
 

That said, I’m over Prohibition Era mob films/shows. They were overdone before 1950, and you can count the good ones on one hand. 
 

Everybody is justifiably afraid of making a contemporary LCN show set in the US. The Sopranos was and is the greatest television show of all time. But I’d like to see somebody take a swing. 

If current day is out, the 80s and 90s are rife with good material. The 70s feels a little overdone, but there was a good LCN show within The Deuce. 

I’ve been watching Crime Story on Peacock and it might be Michael Mann’s greatest failure.  The bad guys and cops are so over the top that I thought I was watching The Untouchables with Robert Stack. Also, Dennis Farina is not a leading man. Not even on TV. 

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MaybeACoordinator

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On 11/25/2021 at 8:41 PM, billfromlaketravis said:

It is pretty interesting that Dallas became a Marcello/New Orleans satellite while Galveston remained autonomous.
 

That said, I’m over Prohibition Era mob films/shows. They were overdone before 1950, and you can count the good ones on one hand. 
 

Everybody is justifiably afraid of making a contemporary LCN show set in the US. The Sopranos was and is the greatest television show of all time. But I’d like to see somebody take a swing. 

If current day is out, the 80s and 90s are rife with good material. The 70s feels a little overdone, but there was a good LCN show within The Deuce. 

I’ve been watching Crime Story on Peacock and it might be Michael Mann’s greatest failure.  The bad guys and cops are so over the top that I thought I was watching The Untouchables with Robert Stack. Also, Dennis Farina is not a leading man. Not even on TV. 

I liked Gamorra the film....I don't think I've seen any of the series yet. You watch any of the ones set in Naples / Sicily more or less today?

I also watched some really bleak show set in Ireland that was a combo of mob and the Irish version of The Wire or some shit. It had absolutely zero characters you cared about so it was just one asshole getting whacked after another so you didn't give a shit. Irish mob shit has been crazy the last 20 years -- there are these two kingpins who hide out in Spain and Dubai ordering all these killings over the Dublin smack trade. 

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