The Casino Skim

This is a story about the Mafia in its heyday.  If you have watched the movie Casino then you got a lesson in how the casino skim went down.  This is about the real men behind the skim of the Stardust Casino.

In the 1970’s a clean cut man in his 30’s, Allen R. Glick, first bought the Hacienda Hotel and Casino for somewhere around 5 million dollars.  He did well with it and he showed promise as a casino operator.  

Glick controlled the ARGENT company that soon got a Teamster loan for 140 million dollars to purchase the Stardust, Fremont and the Marina Casino’s.

He then put Lefty Rosenthal in charge of the Stardust, but he was really the point man for the Chicago Outfit, Kansas City and the Milwaukee families. Lefty had one job and that was to increase the skim and keep it coming.

The Outfit was not happy with the skim coming out of Las vegas because they had been hit hard by the Feds and it had become harder to get cash from their own casinos.

When Bugsy had built the Flamingo a casino owner could just walk into the room where they brought all the cash before it hit the count room and grab stacks of cash.

They could go to a table and sign a marker, play and then cash out.  Later they would have the marker disappear.

In the 1970’s a casino owner was not allowed in the count room and all the cash had to be accounted for that came in or went out.  

They could no longer gamble at their own casinos.

They had to come up with a better method.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

They had to go low.  Instead of going for the bills, they went for the coins.

The slots were bringing in so much cash that they could not count it everyday.  So they purchased scales that could weigh them in bulk.  They then recalibrated the scales to under weigh the coins.

They had the coins from the other three casinos brought to the Stardust everyday. They then had a guy to set the scales so they registered 10% less when they were weighed.

They started to do this with the dollar tokens and silver dollars that the dollar slot machines used back then.

So now they had a steady stream of cash coming in.  How did they get it in a form that they could spend?  Coins might be legal tender, but nobody is going to walk around with hundreds of dollars in coins.

The key was the change girls that used to walk around the floor taking customers bills and swapping them out for rolls of coins.

The girls used to get the coins from the cashier's cage, but the Stardust installed coin cabinets along the walls that had coins and a dropbox for the bills.

They also set up a change booth that was not accountable to the gaming control board.  

They filled both places with the 10% skim coins and they got back bills!  

They were able to steal three hundred thousand dollars a week using this system.  It is believed that they had this going for 5 years, with fifteen million dollars a year going to the mob families.

These guys took down seventy five million that they know about.

Sonny Franzese still a threat at 98 years old

The name Sonny Franzese was much better known on the street to those who were in the life, than the name John Gotti.  Sonny was very respected and feared by everyone, including the government. This distinction has caused him many years of grief.

Sonny has now earned the title of the oldest inmate in the federal prison system, and, if he lives to his release date, he will be released just after his 100th birthday in 2017.  Sonny has spent the last 40 years in and out of prison, much of the time a result of his bank robbery conviction in 1970 for which he was given 50 years.  The case was a obviously a set up by the prosecutors because they had Sonny working with a crew of junkie bank robbers who didn't even know him.

Sonny has been released many times by the parole board, only to be violated for associating with known felons. He would be out for enough time to be given his position of capo in the Colombo family back, and then he would be sent back.

When Colombo family underboss Jackie Deross went away for life, the family upped Sonny to underboss.  The position was short lived because the government already had its sources in place.  Sonny finally caught a new case after a guy wearing a wire caught him on tape.  The case was backed up by his son John Franzese.  Sonny was sentenced to 8 years in 2011 for the new case, and that should by all means be the end of his story.

The government is now going after the wheelchair-bound incarcerated man's prison commissary account.  It would be funny if it were not true.  

The same government who let the wife of con man Bernie Madoff keep $2.5 million of their stolen cash.  Unlike Ruth’s stolen loot, the money in Sonny’s account was given to him by relatives for his use to live.

They want to seize his $10,089 in the account that he uses to buy cup-o-noodles and hygiene items like soap, shampoo and shower shoes.  He buys ice cream every once in awhile and the rest he uses for phone calls.  The US wants to seize the cash to pay on his judgement that was part of his sentencing.  They claim that neither Sonny nor his co defendant Joseph DiGorga have paid a dime of what they owe. I would like to point out that Sonny is locked up in federal prison, so it would be pretty hard for him to earn money to pay anything and this is why inmates have accounts. They want to take his money and leave him with $250 to last the next two years.  Joseph DiGorga was release in 2014 and I am sure he is on parole.  He would have to pay back something every month even if it was 25 dollars a month.

How is it that the federal government has the resources and time to go after Sonny, when our southern border is open with millions of people crossing illegally every year.  It is a federal crime to come into the United States without going through immigration.  Everyone of these people costs us far more every year than a Sonny Franzese.

When I was still on the street, Teddy Persico Jr. had a guy in his crew that worked at the Hustler Club in Manhattan that Sonny was convicted of shaking down.  Teddy had to go to a couple of sitdowns over two brothers that others wanted to kill because of the club.  The brothers were sons of Gambino family guy who was in Las Vegas for many years. The brothers lived but the Feds never did much about that whole deal.  

If they just released Sonny now, what harm would it do? He can’t walk. he can't see well and he cannot hear.  The glory days are behind him.  They should let him go home for his final days to die.

A note on last week's story.  Mr New Orleans:

The traditional Second Line parade in celebration of Frenchy Brouillette's life will take place beginning at 4PM on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13th in the French Quarter outside of Felix's Oyster Bar off Bourbon and Iberville. Attendees are invited to start collecting around 3:50.

Led by MR. NEW ORLEANS author Matthew Randazzo, the parade will be joined by the Storyville Stompers brass band and Pastor Ray Cannata, who will say a benediction as we begin. The parade will travel to some historic places in Frenchy's life before ending with a memorial toast at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. In addition to Frenchy's friends and fans, all Mardi Gras Indians, baby dolls, Saints fans in full costume, rolling Elvi, and other manifestations of New Orleans are invited to come out and honor Mr. New Orleans with the wildest, most flamboyant second line in French Quarter memory.

It sounds like a great send off!

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.

Frank Cullota

“I liked Jewelry stores because they had a lot of cash.”  - Frank Cullota

Frank was the Leader of the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang, a very success crew that pulled scores in Las Vegas when the Chicago Outfit reigned supreme in Sin City.

Frank Cullota

Frank was born June 20, 1938 in Chicago.  He met the man who would become his best friend in his criminal career when he was 13 years old.  That man was Tony Spilatro.  Tony would work his way up from a street thug to the Outfit’s man in Las Vegas.  

I was speaking to Frank on the phone the other day and I asked him a few questions.

First, I wanted to know about Herbie Blitzstein.  I liked Herbie, I always felt he was a good guy who just did what he knew.  A lot of people refer to him as an enforcer but I never got that vibe when I was around him. The FBI was running Operation Button Down and Operation Thin Crust in 1995 in Las Vegas.  The LA Family was once more trying to regroup and Las Vegas was one of the places they were working on.  

Fat Steve Cino lived there along with a host of associates, so LA Capo Jimmy Caci and I would drive out there frequently.  Jimmy was out on an appeal bond for a Telemarketing deal gone bad, so we were trying to get things moving.  Jimmy and his brother Bobby Milano liked Herbie and so did Steve Cino.  

Jimmy would get picked up by LAPD because he was around an FBI informant named Ori Spado in Beverly Hills.  Ori had gone out on a collection in the Valley and Jimmy was in his car.  Ori went into this business and he started running his mouth selling wolf tickets, the guy had enough of Ori’s crap and he decked Ori with a tape dispenser.  Ori was on the ground and the guy had a pistol out when Jimmy came into the office and stopped the guy.  The guy knew Jimmy from the track so he chilled and he explained his situation.  The guy had a business that went bankrupt everything was in bankruptcy so he had nothing.  Jimmy helped Ori to the car where he dressed Ori down for acting so foolish.  Ori never told Jimmy what he was doing there or Jimmy would not have even gone with him.  

A week later I went to dinner with Jimmy and Ori at Frankie’s after dinner Jimmy went to Ori's apartment.  While there, Ori had to get something from his car.  The next thing Jimmy knew there was a knock at Ori's door.  Ori ran to open it, and it was the LAPD OC Squad.  

Ori lived in a secured building.  

Thanks to Ori,  Jimmy was away on January 6, 1996 when some wannabee low class robbers broke into Herbie’s condo and murdered him.

This was not a Mafia crime in anyway shape or form.  The only guys I heard that wanted him dead were the two FBI informants John Bronco and Fat Tony. They both owed Herbie money.  The FBI used it in a RICO case against Steve Cino and Bobby Panera but it was a joke.

Speaking to Frank about Herbie helped me learn some more about Herbie.

Herbie was a bookmaker in Chicago and he made juice loans but he was not a tough guy.  He was in too big to go on scores but he always had money on him.  He would carry 20k in his pockets because the IRS would take anything of value from him.  He owed them for unpaid taxes.  Frank was asked by his boss in Chicago to move out to Las Vegas to help Tony out in the 70's when he got out of prison. It was not an order just a nudge to go out to Las Vegas.  

Tony opened up a jewelry store in Las Vegas called Gold Rush Ltd where they bought and sold Jewelry.  Tony told Frank that he was bringing out the Jew to help, that is what they called Herbie.  Herbie mostly worked in the back room removing jewels from settings and melting down the gold.  He bought hot merchandise.

Frank told me that Herbie was never a hard guy he just looked it.  

I asked Frank who he admired most in his criminal life and he came back with two answers.  One guy he liked was Sam Giancana who was tough and smart.  Sam used to tell him that he was too quick with his fists because Frank was young and angry.  He told him that it would get him in trouble someday.  The other guy is a criminal legend. Tony Accardo, Joe Batters the man who was in the Outfit since Al Capone and never spent a night in jail.  He would see Tony at the Golden Bear Pancake house and after the first time Tony saw him there he would say hello. Nobody got close to Tony but he knew who everyone was everywhere he went. If Tony would have been legit he would be a Billionaire today.

I cannot do justice to Frank’s story on this blog, you can read all about his life in his book Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness. Frank has a lot to say and anyone who wants to gain a better understanding about the Life should attend Mob-Con Sept. 7 and 8 in Las Vegas at the Palace Station.  You can meet Frank and ask him any questions about the life.  Others I have featured on previous blog posts will be there also:

Andrew DiDonato

Andrew Didanato, Frank Calabrese, Tony Montana, Tim Redsull as well as Law enforcement speakers and authors.

Hear from Andrew about life in a crew where one wrong step could mean death and that went for the boss's son John Gotti Jr.

Frank Calabrese

Speak to Frank Calabrese about growing up in a Mafia house hold and then running his father street rackets.  

For more information check out the convention’s website:

http://mob-con.net/

How the LCN Made Money in the 70's & 80's

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates dubbed the Los Angeles Cosa Nostra "The Mickey Mouse Mafia."

It was a funny name and it stuck, but it diminished what they really were - anything but Mickey Mouse.  

In the 70’s Jimmy Frattiano, along with Louie Dragna, had been acting bosses of the family while Dominic Brooklier and his underboss, Sam Scorintino were away (locked up) for just about two years. During this time, Jimmy had been making moves from California and Las Vegas to New York to make the family more known.  

Jimmy put together deals and shook down outsiders operating in the LA Area.  He sent his guys out to scare guys like the Labor Attorney who handled business for the Chicago Outfit.  Jimmy’s guys grabbed bookies from other families that were showing up on the west coast that it was LA Family area and they had better “do the right thing”.  He sent guys not only to FOREX (as told in Iast week’s post) but also to shake down porn kingpins like Rubin Sturman, who was based in Cleveland but was also operating on a large scale in the west coast’s Porn Valley outside Los Angeles.  

Porn was a huge money maker for the Mafia.  While some porn was shot in New York or San Francisco, the majority was shot in the San Fernando Valley just over the hill from Hollywood. The reason?  So many people came to Hollywood to become stars and most never were able to make it.  So you end up with a lot of pretty women looking for work.  These actresses would answer newspaper ads for figure modeling and when they showed up, they were told they could make more money doing it nude. Then came the sell.  They were promised they could make good money and not to worry, no one would ever know that they did it.  That may have even been true back in those days when they shot porn on 35mm or 16mm film to be shown only in adult movie theaters or on stag reels.  The audience was not large but with the advent of video it then became huge. The availability of equipment and those able to operate them also contributed to the growth of porn business in Hollywood.  Most of the people who worked on regular films in Hollywood would moonlight between projects.  It was a gray area business, while not fully legal, it was tolerated.  It was illegal to shoot porn in LA but they printed it here and shipped it out.  Porn sets would have guys with walkie talkies around the street looking for Vice cops who might come bust the set.  There were guys on set waiting on hand in case of a raid.  Their job was to take the shot film and hide it in a trunk a couple of blocks away.  If a raid happened another guy was waiting to run away with the camera and another with the lenses.  

The Mafia controlled the distribution of all these porn films.  As a result, many of the theaters and adult bookstores were theirs.  Any outsiders who tried to sell or make movies would get hurt.

 

Papers and books about how things worked in the mafia were all written by people who have no idea how Cosa Nostra works.  They write what they read in FBI 302's or Police reports.  They write that the LA Family was weak and that other families came and operated freely.  This was not entirely true then and was not true when I was around.  

Every Cosa Nostra family big and small is equal, they run their area and their family.  If Outfit guys came to Los Angeles, they had worked out a deal between the bosses of the families. The rank and file may not be privy to these deals, and they would only be told that it was taken care of.  If the Gambino's wanted to work in LA, they would send word and they would cut in the LA family.  

Jimmy Frattiano had deals going in New York with the Westchester Premier Theater. This was a large entertainment center in Tarrytown just outside New York City.  It was a Gambino-Genovese family business.  Frattiano first got involved through a guy named Tommy Marson who lived in Palm Springs and invested a lot of money in the business. Jimmy was introduced to him because Tommy was afraid he was going to lose his investment.  Frattiano saw dollar signs for himself and the LA Family. The Mafia looted the theater to the tune of over 8,000,000 dollars in the 70's and then it went bankrupt. Frattiano used his wealth to start a Chemical company with Tony Spilatro from the Outfit that would supply soap and other things to the Las Vegas Casino's.  Frattiano used his contacts in Las Vegas to promote the company.

The LA Family also had the Largest Toyota Dealership on the Westcoast. They had "Made" the owner and now he was a soldier in the family.

They had also infiltrated the Garment Center in Downtown LA by using their East coast Union contacts, mainly John Dioguardi aka Johny Dio.  He was a big player in the Unions all over the East coast. First they had to instill fear in some of the Unions that ran the Garment Center, so they wrecked some factories and put the hurt on some people.   He hooked them up with the right people so they could operate sweatshops and have people working in their own homes for pennies.  Then they would wholesale out the Garments at a top price.  They also ran Bookmaking and Loan Sharking downtown.

Did it stop there?  No.  They had successful trucking businesses all over Southern California and this again came from contacts in the Unions and other crime family members.

When the media says that “So and so” controls the drug trade in an area, its crap.  Nobody can control drug trade, there are too many people involved from all over.  A majority of cocaine in the 80's came from the Medillion Cartel, but not all of it.  Today they say the Mexican Cartels control cocaine distribution.  They do not grow the coca plant in Mexico and they do not process the paste.  They simply transport it for the Colombian traffickers.  The majority of the coca leaves come from three countries: Bolivia, Peru and Colombia.

What about gambling?  Again so many people gamble and each ethnic group has their own forms.  The Mafia never 100% controlled Gambling in any town.  They would control the biggest share or large books in cities, but not all.

Things shift, people play different games, so like everything, the mafia changed with the times.

The LA Family was no exception.  They didn't have a large family to begin with, and no talent pool.   So, they became smaller and focused on their specialties.  Many became very wealthy and left the life.  Why would anyone want their kids in the Life?  Nobody who has half a brain wants their child to get locked up or killed, and that is all the life will lead to.

Gangland Los Angeles: Not Like The Movies

If people were only to watch Hollywood movies like LA Confidential, Gangster Squad and Bugsy, they would get the idea that Mickey Cohen was the only real Gangster in Los Angeles.  The writers of these "gangster" movies have no idea how a real Mobster would act or how it works.

One myth I would like to bury is the yelling, threatening crime boss. If you are a boss of a crew  (for example, Mickey Cohen) you are paying guys to be your muscle. Yelling, berating, beating, killing is not done BY the boss.  Also, none of that is done TO the boss.

Why? These men are hardened criminals. Why would they let another man talk down to them?  They lose all credibility on the street if it were to get out.  Cosa Nostra: you have men who want to  be in the organization, men that took an oath.  You never yell or raise your hands.

There were three main groups in LA during the time period of Gangster Squad.  One was the Los Angeles Cosa Nostra Family, headed by Jack Dragna. The Underboss was Momo Adamo and they had 60 plus men.  The FBI likes to estimate that for every Made guy there are 10 associates.  The second was Joe Sica or JS and his brothers.  They ran a vast empire from Mexico to San Francisco from their Valley home base. They  would outlast everyone.  The third was Bookmaker Mickey Cohen. Mickey bought his loyalty and soon many of his men would end up dead at the hands of The Cosa Nostra.


The Most Famous Gangland Murder in Los Angeles

Tony Brancato and Tony Trombino aka the Two Tony's. These two guys were bad.  They were freelance muscle and armed robbers.  They were not killed by Mickey Cohen as portrayed in LA Confidential.  In fact, Mickey was already locked up for tax evasion when they were killed. He had nothing to do with it.

The two Tony's had run into trouble because they dared to rob a bookmaker in Las Vegas. Las Vegas at this time is not the family friendly vacation destination. It was an adult playground founded and owned by the Cosa Nostra. The rules were simple, no crime was to be committed in the town by any criminal.  Even the Cosa Nostra took care of business outside the town. They believed that crime would scare away gamblers and that was bad for business.  The penalty for crime was death and it would be swift.

Setting: Los Angeles, The Five O'Clock Club.   This was Nick Licata's bar in Los Angeles.  Nick Licata was a Capo in the family and he used it as a meeting place for his crew. Jack Dragna pulled Jimmy Frattiano, a newly made soldier in the family, aside, "Jimmy, these two guys. Tony Trombino and Tony Brancato - they are no good. They need to be handled. Take care of it," Jack says.  Jimmy says he'll set something up, "I'll reach out to them today."

Jimmy would then reach out to them through a bookmaker in Los Angeles. They were out on bail for the Las Vegas robbery and they were hiding in Los Angeles.

Jimmy met with them and told them about a high stakes poker game they could rob for fast cash. They needed cash because they were facing time.  Jimmy told them he would drive but could not go in because people would recognize him. They went for it, agreeing to give Jimmy a full cut.

Jimmy set up a meet for later that night.

It would go down like this.  Angelo Polizzi would drive Jimmy and Charley Battaglia to the street where they would meet the two Tony's. He would wait down the street.  Leo Moceri would drive the crash car and be a back up shooter in case anything went wrong.

Jimmy and Charley were waiting on the street just off Hollywood Blvd.  The car pulled up with Tony Trombino driving and Tony Brancato in the passenger seat. Charley went in first and was behind Brancato, Jimmy was behind Trombino.

Time stood still for Jimmy as he opened the rear door for Charley. When he got in and closed the door his heart was pounding, a cold sweat ran from his armpits.  Jimmy took a deep breath, relaxed, pulled out his snub nose 38. cal pistol and placed it to the back of Trombino's head. Boom, Boom. Trombino jerked forward and back from the impact of the slugs. Blood and smoke filled the car. Charley was frozen, so Jimmy turned his pistol on Brancato and fired four times.  Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.  Charley woke up and fired his pistol one time.  Boom! He opened his door and ran out. Jimmy, now bloody with his ears ringing, opened the door and walked to Angelo in the getaway car.

This was how the Cosa Nostra handled problems.  It shows how the families worked together. Las Vegas was still an open city to other Cosa Nostra families but New York and Chicago ran it with an iron fist.    Jack Dragna gave the contract to Jimmy Frattiano, the new guy from Cleveland. This would make Jimmy's reputation in the Cosa Nostra,  Jimmy murdered two tough men in a few seconds and later would be picked up by the LAPD. He would walk on the charges but everyone knew he had done the work. This is one of the things most people do not understand about the Cosa Nostra or Mafia.  You do not get paid to kill, you do not ask why, you just do it.  Every guy connected is there to protect the Organization, to protect its rackets and members and preserve the power.  It is part of the life.