The Two Franks

This is another Mafia tale but this is not one of honor or loyalty. This is a story of greed.

The two Franks.

Frank Smith was a Colombo Associate who was very close to Teddy Persico Jr.  Frank was so close to Teddy that he used go to the Persico Family Fun Farm in upstate New York. He went many times in his teen years.  When Frank was 16 and Teddy was 17 they were at the farm with two young girls who they asked to ride on ATVs with them.  They raced around the farm until they came to a long paved road bordered by trees.  They began to race and pop wheelies until Frank lost control and veered off down a grassy hill where he smashed into a tree causing the girl to be ejected into the tree with the ATV on top of her, massively injuring her.  The Persico's were sued and lost.  They appealed.

When Teddy went into the family business Frank was right there with him. Frank who is Irish wanted to be a feared Irish gangster like Jimmy "The Gent" Burke, the famous Irish mobster who engineered the Lufthansa Heist.  Frank had met Jimmy when he did some time.  

"BF" Frank Guerra

In 1987 Frank received a huge assignment from the Joe "Waverly" Cacace. The Colombo Boss Carmine "Gimpy" Persico had just been sentenced in the Commission case to life imprisonment.  He reached out to Joe Waverly because he wanted the prosecutors Rudy Guliani and William Aronwald killed.  This is a huge break in Mafia protocol and it is against the rules. The rules have never applied to any Persicos so this should come as no surprise.  Joe Waverly gave the hit to The Brothers (Enrico and Vincent Carini) and Frank Smith. He handed them a slip of paper with the name Aronwald on it.  They went out and killed Aronwald but there was a big problem.  They had killed the wrong man!  They had tracked down and killed the 78 year old father of William Aronald who was an Administrative Judge who handled parking tickets. Enrico and Vincent were found inside cars by Sheepshead bay but Frank Smith was spared.  Teddy Persico and Allie Boy Persico went to bat for him.  He was soon arrested in a take down of Teddy Persico's drug crew and charged with selling cocaine.

BF & BA (Big Anthony) Facing the Music

Francis Guerra also known as BF or Big Frank has been in the news lately because he was found not guilty of participating in two murders.  One of the murders was a man who was dating the ex wife of Allie Boy Persico who was murdered in 1992 in Staten Island. The other was the murder of Joe Scopo one of the leaders of the rebel faction of the Colombo Family in 1993.  Francis was given the order at Teddy Persico's grandmother’s wake when Teddy was leaning over her body while shackled because he was on leave from Prison.  He was convicted on charges of selling his own Oxycontin pills over a year period.  He had a prescription for an old injury but he made the mistake of selling them.  The Judge in the case cited his life of crime and the likelihood that he was guilty of being involved in the murders. So she gave him a 14 year sentence which might seem long, but as you will see what goes around comes around.

Big Frank and Big Anthony in Better Times

BF was close to a guy who lived near him named Anthony Russo Aka Big Anthony.  They did a lot of dirt together.  Big Anthony was a big man when he had these guys behind him and things went his way. Anthony even was upped to Capo.  Then he got taken down on Mafia take down day and he rolled over fast!  Big Anthony was the guy who was very vocal about Rats and flipping prior to following suite.  I know and talk about why I became a rat, this life is and always will be a waste and its all an illusion there is no honor.  Big Anthony gave detailed accounts to the FBI about the Joe Scopo hit and Frank’s involvement.  Big Anthony had at one point prior to flipping told a guy who was wearing a wire that his hat was shot off when the shooting of Joe Scopo started and missing shots sprayed everywhere, and BF could not stop laughing! The FBI always knew Frank was involved but now they had proof.

John Pappa

Frank Smith had served a dozen years for a drug deal that Frank Guerra actually did, not him.  BF had his head up Allie boy’s ass so Frank Smith just sat inside.  A Lucchese Family member was dating Frank Smith’s sister, so he tried to help.  He had a sittdown with Allie Boy trying to get them to do the right thing.  Allie came back with "We don't do that over here" he was okay with Frank Smith sitting in the can.  Frank Guerra even told Frank Smith’s mother at her husband’s funeral that he wanted to do the right thing, yet he did nothing.  It all came down to the fact that Frank Guerra was giving Teddy 500 a week from his drug dealing so Frank Smith had to suffer.

Frank Smith finally had enough, so he flipped.  Frank Smith is a man and very tough. Too bad these guys didn't return his loyalty.  They never even helped him or his family even after it was clear he was doing the time.  So what goes around comes around, have a good 14 years Frank Guerra!

To give you an idea of how petty and low BF is, his family owns L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn.  A former employee allegedly stole the “Secret Sauce” recipe and opened his own pizza place in Staten Island, so BF went over there with some Colombo Family muscle and allegedly beat and threatened the man before allegedly settling the dispute for $4000.00.  

Ken Eto

T

his week’s story begins when Executive Order 9066 was signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942.  This order gave US Military Commanders the right to order people of Japanese descent out of the so called exclusion zones. The zones included the whole West Coast from Mexico to Canada.  The US Justice Department opened 27 Concentration camps.  Japanese were not the only ones held in these camps there were Chinese, Eskimo's and other Asians also held against their will.  The US also had other countries deport its Japanese residents to these camps from places like Mexico and Peru.

My Father and my family were some of these held in the camps.  My Father was held in the Minidoka War Concentration Center in Idaho along with another Japanese American named Ken Eto.   What does this have to do with the Mafia?  Stay with me and you will find out. Ken Eto was born in Livingston, California on October 19th 1919 and his father had become a minister because he had witnessed the toll that Gambling had taken on the Japanese Railroad workers.  

I’ve read in the past where people have cited a couple of early arrest as proof that Ken was a criminal. The arrests were for being Japanese or breaking Curfew for a Japanese in Tacoma, Washington. He was soon sent to Minidoka until the US decided that the Japanese Americans were not a threat.

Ken Eto was very intelligent and high school bored him, so he dropped out.  He would never attend another day in school and the ministry was not for him.  It was not until the US decided to make criminals out of all the Japanese Americans that Ken learned how to Gamble.  It has been said that he learned how to play craps on a train to the camp and once there he became a skilled poker player.  After he was released from the Camp he drifted to Montana where he was involved in games of chance and he was referred to as Montana Joe.  He soon made his way to Chicago where a lot of relocated Japanese including my father made their new home.  Once in Chicago his gambling skill attracted the attention of the only people who matter in Chicago gambling and that is the Outfit. Chicago has always been on the cutting edge of racial equality, meaning they worked with a number of ethnic groups and leaders.  Murray Humphreys, known as Einstein was Welsh but he was the Outfits Corruption specialist.  Gus Alex, a Greek, help run the Outfit when Joey Doves was away.  Jake Guzik a Jew was the man who could move money. The outfit list of non Italians is huge and that is why they controlled the rackets in Chicago for so long.  Ross Prio the Outfits North Side Boss took an interest in Ken Eto. Ken Eto began to run some small card games and he was bringing in cash.  It would not be until the mid fifties that he would hit his stride.  He began to work with the Outfit to take over the Bolita from Puerto Rican operators.  Bolita is a Spanish game that refers to 100 little balls with numbers placed in a bag and then picking 3 balls at random.  The three numbers are the winning numbers.  In later years the winning number was the handle or amount of money taken in by horse parlors. Bolita is a poor mans lottery, so It is like Numbers in New York or Bolito in Tampa that the Cubans played.  It was a huge money maker for the Mafia that DutchShultz first realised in New York when he took it over from Black Policy Banks.  In 1958 Ken set up a Puerto Rican operator who refused an offer by Fifi Buccieri to join his Outfit run game.  The operator was soon chopped up the Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra and his brother Jimmy "the Lapper"

Ken then began to work with Black Policy Bosses so he could consolidate their numbers games for the Outfit.  He was bringing in so much cash that he was paying the police over 3,000 a week in payoffs to protect his game.  

He also started working with Black Street gang leaders to expand his business, this would prove very lucrative.  During the 1960's he set up three more rivals to the Outfits Bolita games for execution.  That was it and the Outfit would enjoy years of monopoly in the gambling game. Ken was able to bring in between 150 and 200k a week from his numbers game.  He also ran a number of floating games but he did not stop there.  He muscled his way into the food purveying business by taking over a company named Caliendo which had a meat plant. He used threats and intimidation to run the business and when that would not work he used cash to payoff people.  He would be on site in the plant with a white butchers smock but he was no butcher he was the boss or just Joe as he was called by the workers.  The FBI began to target the business because it was illegal for anyone with a felony conviction to run a Federally licensed meat plant. Caliendo also lost money on the books but purchased beef from all over far exceeding its sales.

Ken moved the business and changed its name to Taco Si to keep it going after the FBI investigated.  

Ken had his hands in many criminal enterprises by the 1980's and the FBI had its eyes on him.  He was soon busted on a gambling charge but he kept his mouth shut and reported to his new Boss Vince Solano who took over after Ross Prio passed away.  Ross believed in Ken but Vince did not have much faith in Ken and he knew Ken was there when he strangled a Bolita rival to death in the 50.s.  Vince sought and was given permission to kill Ken after he pled guilty to gambling charges. Vince set up a meeting with Ken at their usual meeting place IHOP.  When Ken parked Vince was already in the parking lot and he asked to take a walk talk.  Vince asked about his plea and then told Ken to appeal it.  He then told Ken that Rush Street crew member Johnny Gattuso wanted to buy a Pizzeria and that he knew Ken's wife had a shuttered cocktail lounge for sale. He told him to charge between 50 and 60 thousand for the lounge and that Jay Campise would be Johnny's partner.  Vince then said something that put Ken on edge he told him not to worry about getting the cash because he would handle it.  Vince had burned him on a nightclub deal in the past by having him sign over a lease and then never paying him.

On February 10 1983 Ken was instructed to meet two members his crew to be taken to a meeting with Vince Solano.  This came after 30 plus years of loyal service to the Outfit and after he had brought in millions from street gambling.    They called him and asked him to meet them at his closed lounge at 8pm, when he arrived he was with a friend so they told him he was late and they would arrange another meeting.  Ken was told to meet Jay Campise and Johnny Gattuso to be taken to dinner with Vince Solano.  Ken smelled a rat right away because in the 30 years of knowing Vince he had never been asked to dinner.  He showered and put on his best suit, he told his wife where his life insurance was located and then he told her this maybe the last dinner I have.  Ken had to go because to not go when sent for was automatic death.  He arrived at the American Legion hall parking lot and he spotted Jay and Johnny waiting for him.  They walked over and got into his car and instructed him to drive to a nearby Italian restaurant near the train tracks.  When they arrived at the place they told him to park near the side of the building and right after he parked, he heard a loud bang followed by a massive blow to the back of his head.  He would hear a couple more and then lose consciousness when he awoke he was a bloody mess when he stumbled into a nearby pharmacy and asked for help.

The two men had made a huge mistake by using sub loads in the 22.cal plus a silencer,  A sub load is a shell with some of the powder taken out so it is not as load.  The problem is that combined with a silencer which slows the bullet down as gasses escape so the sound is much lower the bullets did have enough velocity to pierce the skull.

Ken would now become a government witness against the Outfit and the two hitters would pay with their lives. They became trunk music and Ken Eto would live a long life with a new name in Georgia.

Danny Cutaia

I have written a lot about John Baudanza and people always want to know more.

John married a girl named Danielle Cutaia who had a father who was a Capo in the Luchese family.

Dominico "Danny" Cutaia

Domenico Cutaia aka Danny had come up in the Luchese family under the legendary Capo Paul Vario who will forever be known as Paulie from Goodfellas.  Paul Vario was a real gangster who had a vast criminal empire that even brought him to California where he had his hands in a porn business and a card club.  Danny was his trusty driver and served him well. So Paul did right by him and he was made into the family.  I’ve spoken to a few guys and they have no idea how or why he was made.  He was made and later he was made a Capo and he even served on the panel that ran the family.  Danny was a bookmaker and he had some scams, cash on the street, shylock but what did he do?   This was a question I asked some guys from Brooklyn and they had no idea.  They said either he was really good and had it going on or he was doing nothing.   Danny liked to drink and he used to be at  Turquoise in Bayridge getting his drink on while John Baudanza kissed his ass.   To be fair to Danny he had guys who brought in cash like Robert Arena, John Baudanza and his son Sal who was a bookmaker.  He was also close to some very rich legitimate guys.

One night I went out with John Baudanza, his buddy Nicky, Dayton, Belladonna and Keith (Eddie Garafolo's cousin). We were in the city and we hit a few clubs and while at one John had a little problem, so Nicky and I took the guy down.  We left the club and headed to the Westin Times Square where we had two rooms.  Nicky and John were so drunk they had no idea how to get there, so I drove us all there.  It was John and Dayton, Belladonna and me, Nicky was just there for the ride.  When we got there John made me check the room to make sure it was okay. Then they started drinking in Dayton’s room and John was trying to get rid of Nicky. I left to chill with Belladonna next door.  This was at about 3am on a weeknight.  I started getting calls about 5:30am from George Fenelli, Craig Marino and then Eddie Garafolo asking where John was and to get him home.   John's wife was calling everyone and at this time Danny was doing a short stretch for a gambling beef so his wife was living at John's home.  I finally went next door and pounded on Dayton’s door but I got nothing.  I was called again by Eddie and this time I kept pounding on the door until Dayton opened it.  John was passed out but I told her that he had to get home.  She woke him and I went downstairs to get him some hair gel so we could put him in a town car.  I caught a lot of shit from the Colombo's for John's mess, but I just laughed it off.

Dominico "Danny" Cutaia 

A month later John was holding Court at his place Plush in Bayridge on a Wednesday night.  He had his whole crew there and even his father Carmine came by the place.  Dayton was the only female present and I was surprised that the now free Danny was also there!  John was no longer bringing in the big bucks from his Pump and Dump stuff or the Phone company scam.  He had a party store and they were trying to get a new weed business going.

Steve "Wonder Boy" Crea

Danny had come along way from being  Paul Vario's driver.   After Paul passed away Little Al D'Arco took over the crew and he became Danny's boss.  Little Al had done time for Heroin dealing but now he was a huge shylock with over a million dollars on the street.  He was a rising star in the family because his friend Vic Ammuso had stepped up as the boss of the Lucchese Family.  The Commission Case had taken out the top leadership in all the New York Families.  They lost not only their leaders but the brains behind the incredible run of the Mafia in America.  Little Al was soon dealing with the Unions and Danny was learning first hand how to deal with them. Steve Crea was the main guy in the family that worked the construction trade and this brought in the most cash.  Vic Amusso and Gaspipe Casso were soon on the run and Little Al was now the acting boss, so he appointed Danny to help run the families construction panel.  He also had Danny take over a Brooklyn crew and now Danny was a Capo. He was always jealous of Brooklyn Gambino Capo Nicky Corrozo because Nicky was a stone cold gangster.   The family went through some really bad times with Vic and Gas soon Danny was the main guy who gave orders from Vic to the rest of the family. I guess this was Danny's stroke of luck.

Things do not look good for Danny.  He is finishing up his sentence in a Federal Medical Facility where he has suffered a stroke, advanced MS and Alzheimer's but we all know about Mobsters and their health problems. I suspect this one is for real, it is all the years of hard drinking and hard living catching up to him.  He will be free in October of this year.

Dominico "Danny" Cutaia

John Baudanza better hope he lives long enough to set him up in something good.

FBI Surveillance Photo

Mob Con 2013

Andrew DiDonato, Me, Frank Calabrese Jr.

This weekend was Mob Con 2013 and it was fun! Great audience and so many good speakers.  

I spent most of my time with Frank Calabrese Jr and Andrew DiDonato, great guys!

Frank told a story about how he was taken down by the FBI in Chicago. He was downstairs in his place and his family was in their beds, when the FBI knocked on his door and asked for him to come out.  Frank got his shirt on and then went to his front closet, because his alarm box was in the closet, and he noticed Agents watching him warily through the window. Frank yelled “I'm just turning off the alarm!” to assure them he wasn’t reaching for a gun, and then he opened the door. They told him that he was being arrested.  As he was getting cuffed his wife came to the top of the stairs and asked what was going on.

Frank: Its the FBI, I’m just getting arrested.  Go back to bed.  

Wife: What?  What should I do?  

Frank: Call my Father.  

FBI: We already got him, Frank.

Frank: Okay, call my Uncle.  

FBI We picked him up already too.

Frank: Okay, then just call my brother.  

FBI: We got him tonight also.  

Frank: Honey, just wait for me to call.  

Frank’s story is not just a Mafia story, it is the story of a dysfunctional family and the evil that is Organized Crime.  I highly recommend his book Operation Family Secrets.

Andrew DiDonato had some great stories about being a working street guy in a Gambino Crew. One of those stories was about when he went on the lam.  He was out on parole and one night he got a call from his parole officer who wanted to see him the next day in his office.  Andrew instantly knew that something was wrong because he had already checked in once that week and he had never been asked to come twice.  So he shows up to his P.O.s office and he is sitting there when two guys he knew where FBI agents were buzzed in to the office.  They were giving him the hard stare when they went into the inner office and then the front door buzzed and Andrew made a split second decision and he scrambled through the door. He had his lawyer call his P.O. that night and arrange for his surrender but the P.O. would not tell him a thing.  So his lawyer said fine you find mister DiDonato and hung up.  That started Andrews last 14 months on the street as a Gambino associate.

This was a great weekend because all of us have a kind of support system and its nice to speak with people who have been through the same things in life.

Andrew DiDonato wearing a "Breakshot: The Game is Rigged" Shirt

I was thinking a lot this weekend about all the times I was in Las Vegas with the LA guys.  Hitting Nicky Blairs with Jimmy Caci. Eating at Johnny Mashes place with Steve Cino or meeting up with Steve before he was put in the Black Book.  Watching Keely Smith and Bobby Milano put on a great show.  Old times and even some good times. The good times were good but it does not change what the life was and that was and always will be a dead end.

I have a Las Vegas story that I will tell.  I went with Fat Steve Cino to a Blueberry Hill restaurant in Henderson NV.  Steve could go to Blueberry Hill because they had tables, not just booths, as he was too big to fit into booths.  I liked Steve because he was a gentleman, but he was way, way, way overweight! He was so big that he used to go to his friends salvage yard drive his car onto the scale and they would weigh the car.  He would get out and they would weigh it again!  That was how big he was then!

We were meeting John Bronco and Tony Angeletti at Blueberry Hill for a talk about everything that was going on in Vegas.  They brought a guy with them named Tony Muso who at one time had worked for Ted Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino.  John Branco had two things he wanted to get out.  One was he and Tony claimed that Herbie Blitzstien was a rat. They had a card made of a rats body with Herbie head on it and had brought a newspaper article about Herbie going into some jewelry store for the Cops.  They claimed that this made Herbie a rat.  

They wanted to do something to him. This was their idea and they were pushing it.  Steve Cino told them to chill out but they kept up. Steve told them that he was doing things with Herbie.  They then moved onto Ted Binion who John Bronco wanted to rob.  John owned a lawn service, so he mowed Ted's yard. These guys were petty and between John and Tony Muso they had the whole Binion heist planned.  I left with Steve and both of us shook our heads. I found out later that Ted Binion was warned by Law Enforcement that there was a threat to rob him, but Herbie was never warned.

What a waste.  

Vegas brought back old memories, good and bad, and we created some new ones. It was great swapping stories with Andrew and Frank and I'm already looking forward to doing it again at MOB Con 2014 next year!

New Women's Breakshot Shirts

Selling shirts at Mob Con 2013

Frank Calabrese Jr and I on stage speaking at Mob Con 2013

Las Vegas: Operation Thin Crust

The last Las Vegas Mafia cases were Operation Button Down and Operation Thin Crust.  Operation Button Down was a nationwide assault on the leaders of the Mafia.  Operation Thin Crust was an FBI operation started in Las Vegas aimed at Mafia crews working in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is what is known as an open city in the Mafia world.  The Chicago Outfit ran the city for many years because they had the most interest in Casinos because they used Teamster loans to finance the Casinos. So when you see any film or something written and they say the Las Vegas Mob it is written by someone that has no clue.  The big rule for many years was that you were never supposed to kill in town because it would disrupt the Casino business.  

Operation Thin Crust

John Branco

The Operation was started by the FBI using a Fat Con Man named Tony Angeiletti and an undercover Agent that was called Charlie Morone.  Fat Tony opened up a Social Club behind the Rio in an industrial area and he was soon sucking up to the LA Families Underboss Carmen "Flipper" Milano.  Fat Tony named his club The Seabreeze after Carmen's Sea Breeze Distribution.  Carmen was the underboss and when I was in Las Vegas I would go see him with Jimmy Caci or Steve Cino. We would often meet at an Italian Deli owned by a Gambino guy named Johnny Mash.  The FBI soon realized that Fat Tony was a lying con man so they changed directions in their investigations. Fat Tony and another street hood in Las Vegas, John Branco, both were informants and neither knew that Charlie Morone was an undercover Agent.  John Branco was a long time low level street hood who was still trying to play the tough guy.  He was a big guy who would beat up smaller men but he could not do any work.  He was also an informant and had worn a wire for the FBI when his daughter was involved in killing her husband in Chicago. He was locked up in Boron Federal Penitentiary and he was released to get the murderers on tape. Jimmy Caci knew this and so did the others. John Branco used to collect money for Herbie Blitzstein's shylock business and he also tried his hand at extortion.  He tried to extort the owners of escort businesses in Las Vegas.  One night he confronted an escort operator and a fight broke out and one of his wannabees pulled a pistol.  John was arrested and his bail set but he had no way of making bail and Herbie told him to sit it out.  John flipped and began working with the FBI.  He soon began giving information on Charlie who was in Las Vegas to pursue criminal opportunities.  They soon revealed that Charlie was an FBI Agent and they started working together.

The Las Vegas FBI planned on taking down Fat Herbie in the case, and they had a bug in his house. Meanwhile John Branco and Fat Tony were going around telling people that Fat Herbie was a rat.  They wanted him hurt because they owed him money and they wanted what he had.  I have written before that Herbie was known to carry large sums of cash and he had a large shylock business.  The LA guys Steve Cino, Jimmy Caci, Carmen Milano and Bobby Milano all liked Herbe but they would still take a cut of his business.  The only LA guy who did not like Herbie was Louie Caruso, a Capo under Pete Milano.  Louie did not like Herbie because Herbie had him moved out of a booth at a stripclub in Las Vegas.  Louie is a short man who pumps himself up like a mini bodybuilder but he is no tough guy. He brought some bikers to a family sitdown in Los Angeles in a breach of the rules. Later he would be beaten up by some bikers.  

Jimmy Caci and I were making our rounds in LA one day when we had to go meet a friend named Abe at Starbucks across from the Beverly Connection. Abe brought a friend named Eddie to the meeting. Ori Spado ended up at the meeting, which I did not like.  Eddie had these really good Visa travelers checks that could even be run through a machine and they would come up real. He gave us four as a sample, Ori tried to take them but I got them.  A week later, Ori got Jimmy arrested and Jimmy was locked up.  Jimmy told me to take them to Las Vegas.  Rocky Zangari and John Demattia (members of another crew of the LA Family) heard about it from their guys in Vegas and decided to get in on it and shook down Abe. They started to bring them to Las Vegas.  We had a huge sitdown in Culver City where guys came from Las Vegas and Palm Springs. Jimmy's lawyer went to see him and brought back word that we were to drop it and let Rocky deal with it because it was a waste.

So Louie Caruso and Rocky Zangari dealt with John Branco and Charlie.  Louie Caruso really did want to make John Branco into the family.  I met him with Jimmy and Ori in Palm Springs at Club 340 one afternoon. I was there with my girlfriend and Louie brought his girlfriend so they hung out while we had our talk.  Louie brought up John Branco and how he wanted to to bring him into the family. Jimmy flipped out because Louie brought it up in front of me and that he would even consider it.  Jimmy told him John Branco was a rat and had worn a wire.  Louie was shocked and embarrassed but like a lot of Mob guys he liked easy cash and he got it from John Branco and the FBI.  I took a picture of Ori at that meeting and it is all over the web check it out.

A few weeks later I met Steve Cino in Las Vegas at Marie Calendars and we spoke about Herbie and Louie Caruso.  The real wiseguys did not want Herbie killed it was the wannabee guys but a mob killing makes the news.  Never mind that no made guy took part or was convicted for the murder.  Yet writers keep writing about the Mafia killing Herbie.