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.