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.

Inside the Outfit: Frank Calabrese Jr Part Two

Frank Jr soon became fully involved with his father in the crew. The Outfit bosses had two crews that they called on when they need to have someone killed ASAP and right.  They would call on Frank’s fathers Chinatown Crew or Butchie Petrocelli's Wild Bunch Crew. Frank Sr was very good at killing and his preferred method was to strangle them and then cut their throats from ear to ear.

Frank Jr was half Irish and in Chicago that would preclude him from becoming a made man in the Outfit.  The Outfit has a long history of having non Italians in powerful roles so Frank Jr had a lot of upward movement available to him.  In 1988 Frank Sr decided it was time for him to make his bones or in layman's terms kill for the Outfit.  Once you kill for the Outfit, that is it, they own you. The plan was for Frank Jr to shoot his target in a car with his Uncle Nicky.   Nicky Calabrese was Frank Senior’s right hand man and he would later admit to 14 murders on behalf of the Outfit. It was strange that Nicky would speak to Frank Sr and get him to change his mind about Frank Jr doing a hit, but he did!  They never went through with the plan, and that was a huge milestone in Frank Jr's life.

Frank Sr was one of the Outfit’s go to killers because he was good at it.  He would take the order and get it done even when it was a friend like Tony Borsellino. Tony was a friend of Frank’s and a guy who many Outfit guys considered a man’s man.  But when the Bosses gave the order, Frank Sr did what he was told to do.  Frank Sr used a rope to choke the life out of his victims, and then used a knife to cut their throat ear to ear just to make sure they were dead.  

The Outfit was at the top of its game.  Then came the burglary of Levinsons Jewelers on North Clark St just before Christmas in 1977.   The owner was a personal friend of Tony Accardo and he asked if Tony could help him get his jewelry back. Tony sent word to all his crews and since the Outfit has a long history of bringing burglars into the organization they quickly recovered the loot.  Tony stashed it in his home in River Forest while he went to Palm Springs for the holiday.  The buglers then did the stupidest move they could have made, they broke into Tony's home and stole back the loot.  Tony was made aware of what happened and he sent word out to kill every one of the buglers involved in the burglaries.  9 men would be murdered over the one Jewelry Store burglary before it was over. When the robbers were turning up dead the FBI began investigating what happened.  No one ever reported the burglary at Tony’s house and Tony would not admit that he ever had the stash or was robbed.  The caretaker of Tony’s home, and a  friend of 40 years, was questioned in front of a grand jury regarding the murders, and he made the mistake of admitting that the house had been robbed.  On his way to Tony’s house to work, he and his Honda both disappeared never to be seen again.   Frank Sr and his crew did a lot of the work required to dispose of the burglars.  As a result, they began killing every top burglar in Chicago because they were never sure exactly who all was involved and who had knowledge of what had happened.  The FBI devoted many men to bringing down Tony and the Outfit for this killing spree.  This is what started the downfall of Frank Sr and many others but it would be years before they felt the full impact.

Frank Jr  tried many ways to break away from the life.   It was all to no avail because his father would just drag him back into the crew.  Finally Frank Jr decided he needed to take money from his father’s stash spot and escape.  He took a duffel bad with 800 thousand dollars in it to start a few businesses.  Frank Sr tracked him down, stuck a pistol in his face, and threatened to kill him unless he became a slave to him.  

On July 28, 1995 Frank Sr, Frank Jr, Nicky Calabrese, And Kurt Calabrese were arrested after an investigation started at an Auto Repair shop.  They were all sentenced to relatively short stints in prison.  Frank jr had a plan to get his life back on track and make a better life for his family.  He was going to use the time in prison to change his life, kick his cocaine habit and move on to better things.  

The prison sentence was his chance to get away, have a few years off and make a clean break.  That was all true until Frank Jr got a transfer to the same prison as his father.  Once together, they talked it out and Frank Sr promised to make a fresh start and leave the Outfit behind.  Frank Jr wanted to believe this and he did until he started hearing about things his father was still doing out on the street.  Frank Jr then took the boldest and most deadly step he would ever take, he typed out a letter to the FBI.  The letter said that he wanted to help them keep his father off the streets and that he wanted no reduction in time.  The FBI followed up on this and soon Frank Jr was wired up in the yard.  They had a belt buckle wire and a headphone wire because everyone on the yard used to wear headphones around their necks.  The one time he came close to getting caught was when the FBI's other wires did not work so he was forced to wear an old school wire that was hidden in an underwear rig.  (I know this device well because one time I was forced to wear this kind of wire and after about an hour it got burning hot and I thought my balls were fried. I ran to the bathroom and that was it for that rig.)  Frank Sr asked to see Frank Jrs new Tattoo on his back, this would mean opening his shirt on the yard, which would mean his microphone would be exposed.  The FBI does not use broadcast wires, they record only.  So there was no back up and on a prison yard he would die quickly if found out.  Luckily, the wire was not discovered and Frank Jr lived.

Frank Jr got all he needed that day about the murders he did and other things.  The tapes would be the basis for the Family Secrets case against the Outfit's top guys.  It would also mark a first with Nicky Calabrese becoming the first made guy in the Outfit to testify in court.  Nicky was caught up after Frank Jr told the FBI about a hit he did where he lost a glove during a struggle for a pistol.  The FBI came to to his cell took his DNA and it was a match.  Nicky knew he was finished once he found out about the DNA, so he too went with Team USA.

People can judge and say what they will about Frank Jr, but they never walked in his shoes.  They have no idea the hell he had lived with as his father became more and more violent towards the family.  He suffered years of abuse and had his life ruined in the process.  He did the only thing he could do to escape the cycle of violence he was caught inside, he flipped on his father and on the Outfit.  

Read all about Frank Calabrese in his book Family Secrets.

Inside The Outfit: Frank Calabrese Jr part 1

The mafia in Chicago was once known as the Capone Organization by Law Enforcement because they had no idea how the mafia worked. Known as the Outfit by those on the street it was a highly successful Criminal Empire. The man who led the Outfit into the new age was Anthony Arcardo also known as Joe Batters. He ruled with an iron fist, yet he never spent one night in jail.  He may also have been responsible for the decline of the Outfit. So what was it like in an Outfit Crew? Read on...

Family Life in the Chicago Outfit.

Recently Frank Calabrese Jr and I were talking about the life and he said one thing that rang true for me also.  He said at one point in his life he bought into the life fully, he was a true believer. That is how I felt and also so many of my friends who have since left the life.

Frank Jr.’s story starts when he was in 3rd grade and his family moved to Elmwood Park into what was known as the Compound. It was a three story home and the family lived on the top two stories.  The basement was a family room that they referred to as the Garden Department because it was just below ground level.  A couple of years later they would add a huge addition to the house with more rooms and a professional gym and sauna.

Frank's father was Frank Calabrese Sr AKA “Frankie The Breeze” a Capo in the Chicago Outfit.  He had worked his way up from associate to made guy under Angelo J. "The Hook" LaPietra the boss of the Outfit’s Chinatown crew.  Frankie would later lead this crew and he knew how to make cash.

Frank Jr and his brothers were raised to be tight lipped about his family.  One day he came home from school and he asked his father what he should say that he did for a living.  Frank Sr told him to say he was an Operating Engineer.  What his father really did was make Juice Loans.  These were loans that required no credit checks and no collateral except yourself.  He was a Shylocks’ Shylock and he would make everything from a knockdown loan (Principle and Interest) to an interest only loan at 2.5 percent a week.  I personally think people are better off with a juice loan than a payday loan or a title loan because these local lenders would work with you if you fell behind.

Frank Sr also ran a huge sportsbook and during the Arcardo years Chicago Bookmakers were organized into one huge book.  This was highly effective because they had a lock on the lines and the players.  Frank Sr schooled Frank Jr on how to basically rate a player’s credit.  They would look at the player, what they did for work and then decide how much they could play a week.  The main reason was so nobody got in over their head because it could turn out real bad if a wife got scared and ran to the FBI.  If a player did not pay there were no threats, they would just cut him off and there was no place he could bet.  He had his name out there and no Outfit book would deal with him. Frank Sr would eventually drop the bookmaking and just collect a fee of 1000 dollars a week from every bookmaker.  This was a lot less work and he didn't have to deal with politics or numbers of the liars and cheats that ran the books.  It was a flat fee and it got rid of the drama and bullshit.

The Outfit was not the type of Family that encouraged the sons of made guys to join.  Most of the guys in the Outfit made sure their sons went on to bigger and better things.  This was not what Frank Sr had in mind for Frank Jr. Frank Sr started to see some of himself in Frank Jr so he started off having him do little things and showing him what the life was about.  He learned how to make the loans and how the interest rate worked.  He would do the books for the juice loans and Sports Books.

Then Frank Sr got his hooks into a porn guy who owned 8 adult bookstores with booths to watch a loop.  These were huge money makers, bringing in all quarters.  The skim on these booths are huge. Frank Jr would go and collect the quarters from the machines.  This would average about 4,000 a week and he would set aside 1800.00 for the Outfit. Frank Sr did not want to put a dime back into the business and he was so hard on the guy who owned them that the guy fled in terror.  He probably could have had a bunch of stores if he just was a little nice, but nice was not in Frank Sr’s makeup.  Frank Jr would order more loops for the booths and his father would get pissed that he wasted any money “investing”. He would also get pissed when the stores were down and not hitting the numbers he expected.

This is when Frank Jr stepped up and threw himself into the life full force.

Frank Sr’s crew was one of the two crews that did all the hits for the Chicago family.  They had even killed the Spilatro brothers in a scene made famous in the movie Casino.  Another series of killings they took part in, was killing some of the burglers that hit Anthony Arcardo’s house.  These burglars were tortured and their faces were blowtorched.  They had been warned to give everything back and refused to listen, and that was their punishment.  This was the crew that Frank Jr was about to join.  Now that you know a bit of the background, next week stay tuned for more on Frank Jr’s experience growing up gangster.

Buy Frank's Book on Amazon

Los Angeles Gangland, Part 3: 1940's

The Way Things Work

Before I continue the story of the war on Mickey Cohen, I will explain how the Cosa Nostra worked and continues to work.  The Cosa Nostra was in a huge growth period from Prohibition until the Kennedy Era.  There was almost no law enforcement attention.  The Bureau of Narcotics had files on most of the guys in Organized Crime, but did not share this information.  The FBI did not do undercover operations and J. Edgar Hoover did not publicly admit there was a Mafia, until years later.  Local law enforcement was able to take down the low level street guys who were replaced before they had even set bail.  Criminals that operated on a higher level knew that there was a group who called the shots in underworld.

This group was the Cosa Nostra or “Our Thing” and they were divided up into families all across the US.  There were 26 Families and there were many more satellites around the country.

Cosa Nostra in its current form was set up by Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and other forward-looking young men.  The way it was before they killed off the old bosses or " Mustache Petes" was much like warring clans with one strong leader who became the Boss of Bosses.  That did not work because you had a lot of unhappy guys under their thumb, and constant uprising.  

Lucky set it up so that all the bosses around the country were equal.  That means that Providence, Rhode Island Boss was on the same level as the Chicago Boss.  Each Boss was the Absolute Boss of his family.  They set up what was called the Commission to oversee territory disputes and rules, but they never had anything to do with internal family matters.

There existed a criminal enforcement arm that was known as The Brooklyn Combination or, as the press called it, Murder INC.  They took "contracts" all over the country.  One of their famous kills was Dutch Shultz who defied the orders of the Bosses in New York. It was later broken up by law enforcement and many of the men were absorbed into crime families.  The Jewish gangsters went with Meyer Lansky, who had his own gang. The Jewish gangsters were very cunning and smart during their time in the rackets.  They ran most of the gambling joints for Cosa Nostra. They branched into garment trade and other legitimate enterprises. They would pay taxes on twenty percent of what they made in the rackets.  The Italians paid none and did not care.  The Jewish gangsters would be gone in a generation and their children would grow up to become legitimate, successful citizens.

Each Cosa Nostra Family would be set up along the lines of a Roman Legion.  At the top would be the Sottocapo, or Boss.  Next to him would be an important part of the family who had no crew. The Consigliere or Counselor.  He would would often be a senior member of the family who no longer participated in street activities. He would advise the Boss, and he would be a buffer for men in the family.

The Underboss reported directly to the Boss. He would get reports from a Streetboss or Caporegime's.

The two families I was with during my time on the street had Streetbosses but not all the families have them.

A Caporegime or Capo, sometimes referred to as a Captain, oversaw a crew of around ten Soldato or Made Men.  The Made Guys would have their own crews and associates. The FBI always equated a number of sixty associates for each made guy.

A guy who was not made but worked with the family referred to as "With" the family.  They were expected to abide by the same rules as a Made guy and not all associates were equal.  Take Meyer Lansky, he was so important to the Cosa Nostra he had his own guy Jimmy “Blue Eyes”
Alo, whose only job was to take care of Meyer.  So, if a guy in a crew had a problem, he would take it to his Capo, would then take it to the Underboss, who would take it to the Boss, and the Consigliere.  A made guy could go directly to the Consigliere if he had a problem, but it had better be significant.

The rules were you come in alive and you leave dead.  You can never betray the Cosa Nostra.   The Family comes before anything else.  That means when you were called, you come.  You can never violate the wife or children of a member.  No involvement in Narcotics.  In the old days, you had to be a hundred percent Italian.  Later, the rules were changed by the Commission because guys like John Gotti and Junior Persico wanted their sons to be Made into the family.  The penalty for any breach of these rules is death.

Every man is expected to kill without question when given the order.  You are never paid for this in anyway.  You do it because it is a part of the life and you gain status. Most men had killed or participated in murder before they were made. So, you have a group of killers and outlaws.  There is no way you can berate or abuse a man and get away with it.

This is why Movies like the Gangster Squad are not even close to accurate. Mickey was a leader of a gang that had maybe a dozen paid members.  The LA Family had over Sixty made men. They could call for assistance from any family in the US.  Chicago was in charge of everything in the west.  The Outfit as the Cosa Nostra was called in Chicago was huge and controlled everything in the Mid West.

Gambling and the Migration to the West Coast

Gambling is the lifeblood of the Cosa Nostra. It is socially acceptable, reaps huge profits and leads to other revenue streams like shylocking loansharking.

Two men named James Regan and Moe Annenberg started Nationwide, a racing wire in Chicago and St Louis. This wire was very important for Bookmakers to do their business. Each Bookie had to have fast, up to the minute information on the horse races running across the country.

Western Union could only transmit race information when it was completed.  This could mean a fifteen minute delay before the results were known.  Nationwide gave results right away.  The Bookies paid for this service and soon the two men were rich.  They were brought up on tax charges and they had to divest themselves of the business.  James Regan only did it on paper. The man he left in charge worked closely with the Outfit in Chicago and soon they expanded all over the country.  James Regan came back to Nationwide and this did not sit well with the Outfit. The Outfit, along with the New York Families, started Trans America race wire and they soon had bookies signing up for it.  James Regan balked at this, so they gunned him down in the Chicago streets. He survived, but while he was recovering, he was poisoned in the hospital by a dose of Mercury.

The Cosa Nostra had expanded into California.  Jack Dragna was the Boss of the Los Angeles Family and the Outfit worked closely with him.  The Outfit had infiltrated the movie studios and were making big dollars shaking down the studio's and naturally some of this flowed into Dragna’s hands.  Mickey Cohen helped the Cosa Nostra find bookmakers to switch their wire service to Trans America.  That was his role in Organized Crime and while he was Jewish he was not part of Meyer Lansky’s crew.

After Mickey and his men were picked up and released on bail for the beating of the repairmen, the Cosa Nostra decided to hit him where it hurt.  The pocket book.

The first of Mickey’s guys to go was Frank Niccoli.  Dragna had tried to persuade him to leave Mickey and when that failed, his time was up.

It was set up over Labor day weekend 1949 at Jimmy Frattiano's home near LAX.

Frank Niccoli parked his car in front of Jimmy's and walked to the front door.

“Frank! Nice to see you,” Jimmy said as he opened the door to let him in the house.  They shook hands and Frank walk over by the kitchen. “Can I get you a beer?”   

“Sure thing,” Frank answers and Jimmy brings him a beer.

The house is empty.  Jimmy's wife and daughter were away for the holiday.  Frank and Jimmy exchange small talk.  Frank drains his beer and Jimmy asks him if he wants another.  Jimmy is getting him another when there is a knock at the door.  Jimmy opens the door, and its a
large man named Joseph Dippolito.  

“Joe Dip! How are you?  Come on in,” Jimmy said as he opened the door wide.  Frank starts to shake Joe Dips hand.  Joe instead grabs him in a bear hug embrace.  Through the open door enters Nick Licata, Carmen and Sam Bruno.  They come in fast.  Nick pulls out a piece of rope.  Jimmy takes it and wraps it around Franks neck while Sam grabs the other end.  They soon manage to choke the life out of him. While he is struggling, his bladder lets go and he pisses all over Jimmy's floor.

Once he is dead, Joe Dip pulls his car into Jimmy's garage, and they stuff Frank into a canvas bag.

He will disappear, buried in an unknown location.  Sam Bruno drives Frank’s car away, and that is the last anyone sees of Frank.

The next guy from Mickey’s gang to go is Dave Ogul.  He was walking on Sunset and Holloway when he disappeared.  He was set up by the LA Family’s guy inside Mickey’s gang.  Dave Ogul was never heard from again.  Mickey was now on the hook for their bail bonds.  Mickey had put up his home and other property as a guarantee for the bail bonds on himself and his men after they beat up the repairman.  Now the LA Family was going after his men and making them do a “ Houdini” also known as “disappear you”.  

Many writers have never been in “the life” or take the time to research how people really act in the mafia world.  They fail to grasp the scope and power of La Cosa Nostra.  It is international in scope and no individual “gangster” is bigger than the organization, and that includes Mickey Cohen.

The LA Family had killed two of Mickey’s men, and he had done nothing to the LA Family.

For more information on the Los Angeles guys please see: 

Anthony Fiato 

@LAmobslugger

kickass blogger - hollywood goodfella

Hollywood · http://af11.wordpress.com/

The Real Dirt on "The Gangster Squad"

I saw The Gangster Squad last night and it was not even close to what really happened.  It goes to show you that "Based On A True Story" is not really real.  It is Hollywood real.  Which is some person writing these stories that has no idea about what he writes.  Okay they read books, speak to a few old coppers and then put their own spin on events and it is now real! The problem is that these people have no idea how real people act.  What motivates a Gangster?

The movie is full of guys holding Tommy guns with drums blazing away one handed.  Pick up a Thompson Sub Machine empty. It was made out of steel and wood.  When you add the fifty round drum it is almost fifteen pounds.  They have a forward grip because when fired it begins to climb.

Hollywood loves Mickey Cohen!  He was the only Gangster in Los Angeles.  Wrong!
Micky was a Gangster with ties to Chicago and New York.  He had no rank because he was Jewish.  He never muscled anyone from Chicago.  La Cosa Nostra was the strongest during these years. The Chicago Outfit was an organization with so much power that Micky Cohen could not even look at them wrong. The Outfit was extorting movie studio's during the 1930's. 

There were two much more powerful groups in Los Angeles at this time.  Hollywood chooses to ignore the facts. Los Angeles La Cosa Nostra Family then under the Boss Jack Dragna. Jack Dragna was tough and he was a cousin of Tommy Lucchese one of the heads of the Five Families in New York.  So powerful was Tommy Lucchese that the family still bears his name today.  Jack Dragna had over sixty made men at that time and many more associates.  The LA Family decided they wanted what Micky Cohen had in terms of rackets.  They killed his men who were out on bail and made some disappear so Micky was on the hook for the bond.  They blew up his house.  They shot him, they even shot a policeman that was protecting him.  Some of the best accounts can be found in Jimmy Frattiano's book  "The Last Mafioso"  Jimmy Frattiano along with Charles "Charley Bats" Battaglia are the one's that really killed the Two Tonys aka Tony Brancato and Tony Trombino. Micky Cohen had nothing to do with it.  Jack Dragna died of a heart attack long after Micky Cohen was locked up, Cohen never took shots at him or killed him as the movie portrayed. Micky Cohen never made him bark like a dog and never spoke bad to him. The way they had Sean Penn snarling and cussing was a joke.  Lets use logic.  Micky Cohen was a Gangster surrounded by guys who were muscle for hire.  they have no blood bond, no oath, they were just paid.  How could a man slap, talk down to or even kill these outlaws?  Come on!  Louis Tom Dragna the former boss of the Los Angeles Family is alive today at 92.

The other group that Hollywood ignores was the Sica Brothers.  They lived in the valley and they controlled vast amounts of rackets in California.  Joe Sica was their leader and he would never take any nonsense from Micky Cohen.  They were tough and smart.  They flew under the radar.

Micky Cohen was like John Gotti, all media!  He was like a reality star today.

There were two race wires for book makers in the 1940's.  One was run by Chicago and the other by New York.

Jack "The Enforcer" Whalen was a tough Irish Hood who was liked by the Gangster Squad because he was Irish and he took no shit from the Italians. Jack met his end not being shot by Micky Cohen in his apartment building.  Jack went to Rondelli’s restaurant in the Valley to confront Micky Cohen over a debt. Jack was unarmed and he was killed by someone hired by Micky.  Micky was there but did not kill him.  In the movie, the grand ending is Micky being arrested for killing Jack, and the star witness is what sent him to Alcatraz.  This is far from the truth, as he didn't kill Jack, and he was sent to jail for tax evasion ten years after the movie portrayed his arrest.

Jack Whalen beat up Los Angeles Capo Mike Rizzi.

Anyone who wants to know what these people were really like should read my friend Anthony Fiato's book and his Blog.    Anthony knew all these men and he can tell you what it was really like.

All truth aside, the movie was an enjoyable one.  Acting was great (minus Sean Penn's overacting), time period portrayal was awesome, costumes and scenery all done well. 

Anthony Fiato

@LAmobslugger

kickass blogger - hollywood goodfella

Hollywood · http://af11.wordpress.com/ 

There are a few guys left from that time.  So find out the truth now!

KENJI OC 

Being Japanese in Organized Crime.
I never considered it a stumbling block to where I wanted to go. In 1986 in my school year book I wrote that I wanted to go to New York and that Yeyo was king. That became my goal and I reached my goal. When I was in the cocaine business being mixed race helped me. When in Mexico or south I would not stick out. When smuggling cocaine or cash I did not look like a drug smuggler. I did have help and I knew what the DEA was looking for and I made sure I did not fit the profile. I was called names over the years, but it never bothered me. I knew I stuck out when I was in Brooklyn. Those people were among the most racist people I ever met. I guess the movies were true. I think it helped me get in with these idiot Mafia people. If I was an Italian I would have to come up with family, where I grew up etc. This way I was just a Jap.
I was out in front of a restaurant with Teddy Persico and Eddie Garafolo and some lady threw me her keys and told me to park her car. To her any Asian (they all look the same) in Bayridge had to be a worker. The threatening emails I get are the best! They show how uneducated these people can be.
There was another Japanese guy who came before me in the Mafia. He was with the Chicago Outfit, he was a gambling boss. Ken Eto was with the Outfit for many years and he was loyal until they put some bullets in his head. The only problem? Ken Eto lived! He went on to testify against the Outfit. He died of natural causes a few years ago.
I guess the Yakuza would have been better for us; then again I am sure that is a waste also.
Times have changed.
The Feds made a deal with Big Dino Calabro I bet he gave them some really good stuff. I am sure he let them know where Carmine was hidden. I am also sure he gave them some new cases. He will not walk, but maybe his wife will get to keep something, maybe he will get out in 15 years.
The guys that are away have to be worried! Teddy Persico sr, John Goggles Baudanza and Craig Marino must be worried. Craig’s time will come; he knows that he did Freddy. He knows that he and John got the two brothers and people who flip know. That means that the law knows!
The clock is ticking!
Kenji OC! Flipped A Mobster Tells All!