The Everything Mafia Book (35 page)

Philly Breaks Down

There was little brotherly love for Philadelphia mobster Ralph Natale. He was the first Mafia boss to turn rat while still on the job. Not that a rat in the family was unusual for Philly, though usually the rats were small-time operators. This violation of Omerta was just the latest blow to the faltering Philadelphia family, a group that endured mob wars, RICO cases, and the turning of some of their top capos.

The Old-School Don

Prior to Natale turning traitor, the big boss of Philadelphia was the old-school Angelo Bruno. He was nicknamed “the Docile Don,” because he was more loath to use violence than any of his predecessors or contemporaries. Under his leadership the Philly family maintained an even keel, making millions from gambling, loansharking, narcotics, unions, and other rackets. But Bruno’s ambivalence toward Atlantic City angered some of the New York families, while his underlings wanted a bigger slice of the pie. The low-level punks in the Philadelphia family were either jumping ship or getting a piece of the lucrative drug trade. Bruno was losing power and influence, and the boys in New York finally ordered his assassination. He was murdered in 1980.

Power Grab

The resulting fallout from Bruno’s assassination set a series of events in motion that rocked the underworld for the next twenty years. Underlings scrambled to be the top banana in the days after the Docile Don’s demise. Over thirty New Jersey and Philadelphia mobsters were murdered in the bloody battles, including one of Bruno’s killers, Antonio “Tony Bananas” Caponigro, and the man who replaced Bruno, Phil “Chicken Man” Testa. By the time Nicky Scarfo and his successor, John Stanfa, were put behind bars, the Philly family was under the thumb of Ralph Natale.

Two of the victims in the endless Philly mob war of the early 1980s were members of a loosely affiliated Hellenic crime group, referred to as “the Greek Mob.” Led by Steve Bouras, the Greek Mob was engaged in many of the same rackets as the Philly family. There were also Greek crime figures in New York City, Chicago, Philly, and Tampa.

From Cop to Capo

The Natale-Merlino reign was a shaky one. One of the thorns in their side was a hoodlum named Ron Previte, who had been, interestingly enough, a Philadelphia police officer for ten years. He was the capo of a New Jersey crew.

Previte was unhappy with the leadership of Natale and Merlino, and their dynasty was built on sand. Previte turned back from the Dark Side to the Force. In this case, the Force was the FBI. He “wore a wire,” meaning a recording device on his person. Hours of damning evidence was handed over to the feds. Natale and Merlino were indicted on drug charges.

Boss Rat

Feeling the heat, Ralph Natale became a federal informant and witness for the government. His former partner in crime, Merlino, and ten others were indicted, and the charges were expanded to include attempted murder and murder in the first degree. Merlino and most of his men were sent to prison, and Natale was shipped off to an undisclosed location. After Natale left, Joe Ligambi allegedly took control of the family. But if past history is any indicator, Ligambi’s reign will be a short one.

The Bosses Start to Sing

In the early years of the rat phenomenon, many of those who chose to work with the government were low-level associates with the occasional soldier. But as time went on the turncoats came from higher and higher ranks. By the mid-1990s, former bosses and underbosses were jumping ship. But when Ralph Natale turned, all bets were off. From then on the top guys in the family were as apt to turn and the mob would never be the same.

Gaspipe

Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso was the underboss of the Lucchese family. He led an ostentatious life, wearing top-dollar suits, living in a mansion in Brooklyn, and going out to the top restaurants in Manhattan. When the boss of the family, Vic Amuso, went to prison in 1991, Casso became the acting boss. But he was hiding out from charges against him. When the police found him hiding in a shower in a mob safe house, his reign was over. Casso decided to take the easy way out and become a cooperating witness. The feds had high hopes. Casso disappointed. He became unreliable as a witness and was kicked out of the Witness Protection Program.

Big Joe

In the late 1990s the Bonanno crime family, which just a decade before had been kicked out of the Commission and was facing extinction, was back as one of the top Mafia families in the country. A big part of that reason was the leadership of Joe Massino. Joe took over in 1993 and brought the family back to underworld prominence. Wary of electronic surveillance, Joe took trips overseas with his brother-in-law and underboss, Salvatore Vitale. But the feds caught up with Big Joe in January of 2003. When he came to trial the following year, there was a stable of rats ready to pounce on the big cheese, including his own brother-in-law. Massino saw the writing on the wall and helped the feds nab his successor, Vinny Gorgeous. Massino is serving life in prison, but his testimony and cooperation with authorities saved him from the death penalty.

Joseph Massino

Courtesy of AP Images/US Attorneys Office

Joseph “Big Joey” Massino, the head of the Bonanno crime family for fourteen years, is seen in this undated file photo released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Massino, sixty-one, has become the first family boss ever to turn cooperating witness.

The King of the Rats

James “Whitey” Bulger ran South Boston for the Winter Hill Gang. Rising through the ranks of the predominantly Irish mob group, Bulger became one of the most feared crime figures in Beantown. But every time the state police started to get close to capturing the gangster, he seemed to get wise to their operations. Whether it was a found bug or a snitch who disappeared, Bulger seemed one step ahead of the law. But things were coming to a head.

Who is Whitey Bulger’s brother?
Whitey’s brother is Billy Bulger, a controversial, yet popular, Boston politician. Billy was the president of the University of Massachusetts, the president of the Massachusetts State Senate, and president of the Boston Public Library. He is also on the board of various museums, hospitals, and banks.

In 1995, a joint task force comprised of Massachusetts State Police, the Boston Police Department, and the DEA closed ranks around Bulger’s organization. They arrested the top leaders of the local mafia and the Winter Hill Gang, but Bulger was nowhere to be found. As it turned out, Bulger had been an informer for the FBI for over twenty years. In exchange for information he gave the FBI about the Mafia, they allowed him to continue running his criminal operations. In fact, Bulger developed such a close relationship with his field agent that he was tipped off about the impending DEA task force indictment.

Bulger fled on January 5, 1995, and disappeared with his longtime mistress. He met with his underlings a few times in Boston and Chicago. He lived for a while in Louisiana and Florida. He has also been seen in Ireland and England, and there was a false sighting of him in Italy, which made international news. As of January 2009, Bulger was still on the run. He is number two on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted, right behind Osama Bin Laden.

CHAPTER 17
Making Money

The single goal of the Mafia is to make money. That is the driving force behind many of their decisions. “It’s not personal, it’s just business” is a mantra that pop culture tells us is the principle by which mobsters live. But as with the distorted notion of honor, sometimes it is personal—usually if it involves the stealing of money from another mobster! The Mafia makes it money in a number of ways. This chapter looks at some of the more common schemes, scams, and rackets.

Policy, Numbers, Lottery, Bolita

Many nights, across the country, state governments run their lotteries. A collection of balls, numbered 1 to 100, are put into an air machine that mixes them up and spits out three balls, or six balls, or a number of other combinations. Millions of Americans bet money on what the combination of the balls will be. From this, the government takes in tens of millions of dollars to fund education and other programs, though no one really ever seems to figure out exactly where all the money goes. But the lottery was used by the mob for decades before states made it legal. Known as policy, numbers, or
bolita
, it was one of the mob’s most profitable rackets.

Bolita

Bolita (“little ball” in Spanish) came to America via Tampa. It was brought there by Manuel Suarez. By the 1920s the game was flourishing. It was similar to the lottery. Balls numbered 1 to 100 were tossed around in a sack and the winning number was chosen. It wasn’t long before gangsters started fixing the games, making it easier for certain numbers to be drawn. After that, the operators started taking their numbers from the Havana lottery or the stock market.

Where was the best place to make bolita bets?
Everywhere! During bolita’s heyday in Tampa you could make bets at the local grocery store, the butcher, in the street, at work, and in any number of bars, cafés, and restaurants. Bolita was so widespread that you could even give bets to the ice cream man while your kid was buying a frozen treat!

The numbers racket was a popular game in the poor sections of many cities. Black gambling kingpins amassed fortunes running these games. People would make bets, then the operators would get the winning number from the stock market, or the winning numbers at the dog track. This random selection made it more difficult to fix the numbers. But that didn’t matter. With so many people making small bets, the profits were enormous. Even if a number hit and a bunch of people won, the organization would have enough money to cover it.

Wanna Bet?