mob speak

Married at the the Mob Museum

2012-01-27T13:13:00.001-05:00

The following story appeared January 27, 2012 in the Las Vegas Sun:

MARRIED AT THE MOB MUSEUM: The Mob Museum, National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Vegas.com have announced Married at the Mob Museum, a promotion to award seven couples with a unique opportunity to wed, renew vows or formally commit to each another at the Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day.
Former Mayor Oscar Goodman, who is chairman of LVCVA’s host committee, will conduct the ceremony. The winning couples will be flown to Las Vegas courtesy of LVCVA and receive a three-day, two-night stay in the Cabana Suites at the El Cortez once owned by Bugsy Siegel. The prize package also includes flowers by Gaia, photography, a champagne brunch at Mob Bar after the morning ceremony and a $250 shopping spree at Fashion Show. Winners also receive expedited marriage licenses on Feb. 13.

Want to know more about Las Vegas's Mob Museum? Check these links for more info:

http://themobmuseum.org/ and http://www.lvrj.com/news/mob-museum-changes-identity-131487083.html

Crime Beat Radio: Hot new topics

2012-01-07T17:13:00.002-05:00

Crime Beat Radio Show

Crime Beat Radio Show
www.artistfirst.com
crimebeat123@yahoo.com

Strategic Media Books 
803-366-5440 
strategicmediabooks@gmail.com 
www.strategicmediabooks.com

Crime Beat Radio Show's Upcoming Schedule for January 12, 2012, through March 8, 2012, features Tupac’s murder Investigation, International arms trafficking, the Montreal mafia, Chicago’s Outfit, Mexico’s War on drugs, and much more

January, 2012— Crime Beat: Issues, Controversies and Personalities from the darkside on Artist First World Radio Network is pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule for January 12, 2012, through March 8, 2012. Topics covered include the Tupac and Biggie Smalls murder cases, the international arms trade, the Mexican border war, Chicago’s notorious Mafia, the Outfit, and more. Here is the lineup:

January 12, Greg Kading, author of Murder Rap: The Untold Story of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations. Kading, an LA detective, worked on both cases and provides an inside look. See Read more..

January 19, The Weasel: A Double Life in the Mob - authors, Marvin Elkind and Adrian Humphries. The remarkable story of Marvin Elkind, who learned that, as a career informant, he was a far better fink than he ever was a crook.

January 26, ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW - Andre Cedilot and Andre Noel, authors of Mafia Inc: The Long. Bloody Reign of Canada's Siclian Clan. See this link for more information. Previous guest Jack Garcia, author of the best selling Making Jack Falcone, will provide an update of his career and activities...

February 2, Luellen Smiley, daughter of Allen Smiley, Bugsy Siegel's best friend and business partner, who will talk about growing Up with gangsters. Read more..

February 9, Sylvia Longmire, author of Cartel: The Coming Invasion of the Mexico's Drug Wars. Border security expert Longmire takes listeners deep into the heart of a dangerous underground that will do whatever it takes to deliver drugs to a willing audience of consumers. Read more..

February 16, Evan Wright, co-author of American Desperado: My Life--From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset. Wright will discuss the remarkable life of Jon Roberts, the de-facto “transportation chief” of the Medellin Cartel during the 1980s and the star of the documentary “Cocaine Cowboys.” Read more..

February 23, Kathi Lynn Austin, arms trafficking, executive director of Conflict Awareness Project who for nearly 20 years has carried out in-depth field investigations into the illegal trade in weapons. Austin will talk about her role in tracking and bringing to justice Victor Bout, history’s biggest arms dealer. Also, previous guest Lou Diaz, retired DEA agent and author of Dancing with the Devil, will provide an update on his life and activities. Read more..

March 1, Frank Cullotta: author of Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Witness. Cullotta will provide an inside look at Chicago’s Mafia, The Outfit.. Read more..

March 8, Stacy Dittrich, award-winning author and decorated 17 year veteran police officer and former detective specializing in sex crime cases, will talk about police work, her writing career and crime issues in the news. Read more...

On the air since January 28, 2011, Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex- mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

Crime Beat is currently averaging 100,000 listeners plus each week, and the figure is growing. Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer and documentary producer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Will Hryb.

Ronald Herd I1, the popular Internet radio host and regular listener of Crime Beat, said: "Crime Beat sounds like an organized crime greatest hits collection...I am loving it!" Tom Hart of Atlanta, Georgia, writes: “I am a BIG fan of your show and enjoy the variety of guests you have on your show.. “Keep up the good work.”

Crime Beat airs weekly every Thursday at 8 P.M. EST on the Artist First World Radio Network at artistfirst.com/crimebeat
To contact the Crime Beat radio program for interviews, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com or call 803-366-5440.

Crime Beat Radio: Latest mob stories and more

2011-12-24T11:40:00.004-05:00

Hailing all true crime afficianados:

John Gotti, Sr. & son

CRIME BEAT RADIO SHOW’S UPCOMING SCHEDULE FOR NOV 10, 2011, THROUGH JANUARY 5, 2012, FEATURES HIT MEN, MANHUNTS, JFK ASSASSINATION, AND MAFIA LESSONS FOR LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES

November, 2011— CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE on Artist First World Radio Network is pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule for November 10, 2011, through January 5, 2012.:Topics covered include hit men, a sensational Canadian murder investigation, Mafia lessons for legitimate business, the JFK Assassination, manhunts, and more.

Here is the lineup:
November 10—David Gibb, investigative journalist and author of Camouflaged Killer, the shocking double life of Canadian Air Force colonel Russell Williams. Read more..
November 17—John Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. Read more..
November 24—Rick Porrello, author of To Kill an Irishman, which has recently been made into the Hollywood movie, Kill an Irishman. A command appearance. Read more..
December 1—Benjamin Runkle, Author of Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to Bin Laden. Read more..
December 8—Larry Mazza, Tommy Dades and Bob Mladnich discuss the Colombo Mafia war of the early 1990s...Dades was a detective during that period and Larry Mazza, a hitman. Mladinich is writing a book on the topic. Read more..
December 15—Anthony Amore and Tom Mashberg authors of Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists, and Eric Rasmussen, author of The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios. Read more..
December 22— Lou Ferrante, author of Mob Rules: What the Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman. Read more..
December 29— Tim Donaghy, former NBA referee and author of Personal Foul, a book about the gambling scandal that rocked the NBA. A command appearance. Read more..
January 5— Wahida Clark, best-selling urban fiction author and entrepreneur who honed her writing skills behind bars. A command appearance. Read more..

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

Crime Beat has been on the air since January 28 of this year and is currently averaging 100,000 listeners plus each week, and the figure is growing... Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer and documentary producer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Will Hryb.

"Your radio format is great,” write Mark Christopoulus of northern California.

“Crime Beat is over the top, gentlemen! The show is on late in the afternoon out here, and me and my buddies from work get a chance to listen to it over a beer at our favorite watering hole before heading home."

Ivo DeLorenzi of Thunder Bay, Canada, writes: "I love your show... you guys manage to get top-calibre guests every week ... fascinating and remarkable, all rolled into one".

***

For more information or to listen to the archives of Crime Beat, go to the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network at www.artistfirst.com.

To contact the Crime Beat radio program for interviews, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com or call 803-366-5440.

P.S. Check out Mob Writer's controversial interview on Crime Beat Radio http://artistfirst.com/. Then click on "authors-first" (left side of screen) and scroll down to the "Rs." Click on Cherie Rohn.

Italian mafia boss found in bunker

2011-12-07T09:32:00.001-05:00

The following story was posted by BBC World:

7 December 2011

Mr Zagaria had been living in hiding since the 1990s.

Italian police say they have discovered the notorious chief of a Naples mafia clan, Michele Zagaria, who has been on the run for 16 years.

Police said they had found him after digging through a secret bunker in his home town of Casapesenna near Naples.

Described as head of the powerful Casalesi clan, he was sentenced to multiple life sentences in absentia.

The Casalesi clan has been involved in drug trafficking and corruption in the construction industry.

There was jubilation among the security forces who finally managed to detain Mr Zagaria, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome reports.

"You won. The state has won," Mr Zagaria told anti-mafia investigators as he was being arrested, according to the AFP news agency.

Italian Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri hailed the arrest as "a huge success by the state", adding that it would be a blow "not only against the Casalesi clan, but against the entire Camorra organisation."
'Near home'

The Casalesi clan is one of a number of groups within the Camorra criminal network, which dominates the underworld in the Naples area.

Mr Zagaria had probably spent his years as a fugitive near home because mafia bosses "can only exercise their power if they're in an environment that protects them," anti-mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso told the AP news agency.

Mr Zagaria is thought to be the most senior figure in the Camorra who was still at large.

[reprinting allowed]

Back from a lengthy mystery trip

2011-12-06T15:33:00.001-05:00

Sorry about the long silence. If I told you about my research trip, I'd have to kill you...

Look for a new posting SOON.

Yours truly

Crime Beat Radio: JFK Assassination

2011-11-09T11:36:00.000-05:00

Crime Beat Radio Show
www.artistfirst.com
crimebeat123@yahoo.com

Strategic Media Books 
803-366-5440 
strategicmediabooks@gmail.com 
www.strategicmediabooks.com

CRIME BEAT RADIO SHOW’S UPCOMING SCHEDULE FOR NOV 10, 2011, THROUGH JANUARY 5, 2012, FEATURES HIT MEN, MANHUNTS, JFK ASSASSINATION, AND MAFIA LESSONS FOR LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES

November 10—David Gibb, investigative journalist and author of Camouflaged Killer, the shocking double life of Canadian Air Force colonel Russell Williams. Read more..
November 17—John Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. Read more..
November 24—Rick Porrello, author of To Kill an Irishman, which has recently been made into the Hollywood movie, Kill an Irishman. A command appearance. Read more..
December 1—Benjamin Runkle, Author of Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to Bin Laden. Read more..
December 8—Larry Mazza, Tommy Dades and Bob Mladnich discuss the Colombo Mafia war of the early 1990s...Dades was a detective during that period and Larry Mazza, a hitman. Mladinich is writing a book on the topic. Read more..
December 15—Anthony Amore and Tom Mashberg authors of Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists, and Eric Rasmussen, author of The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios. Read more..
December 22— Lou Ferrante, author of Mob Rules: What the Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman. Read more..
December 29— Tim Donaghy, former NBA referee and author of Personal Foul, a book about the gambling scandal that rocked the NBA. A command appearance. Read more..
January 5— Wahida Clark, best-selling urban fiction author and entrepreneur who honed her writing skills behind bars. A command appearance. Read more..

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

Crime Beat has been on the air since January 28 of this year and is currently averaging 100,000 listeners plus each week, and the figure is growing... Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer and documentary producer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Will Hryb.

"Your radio format is great,” write Mark Christopoulus of northern California.

“Crime Beat is over the top, gentlemen! The show is on late in the afternoon out here, and me and my buddies from work get a chance to listen to it over a beer at our favorite watering hole before heading home."

Ivo DeLorenzi of Thunder Bay, Canada, writes: "I love your show... you guys manage to get top-calibre guests every week ... fascinating and remarkable, all rolled into one".

For more information or to listen to the archives of Crime Beat, go to the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network at www.artistfirst.com.

To contact the Crime Beat radio program for interviews, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com or call 803-366-5440.

Online Gambling soon to be legal?

2011-11-01T09:48:00.000-04:00

Check out the Las Vegas Review-Journal for details:
http://www.lvrj.com/business/boyd-mgm-join-european-online-gaming-titan-132944738.html

How Did Marilyn Monroe Really Die? Part II

2011-10-23T17:19:00.000-04:00

This past August 15, 2011, I posted the first of three parts titled "How Did Marilyn Monroe Really Die?" I told interviewers Burl Barer and Howard Lapides on their True Crime Uncensored radio show http://outlawcrime.com, that Slick's best friend, Leroy, knew who the killers were because Leroy worked with one of them, a guy named Mugsy Tortorella.

I also told the two interviewers that Tortorella as one of the killers was given further credence based on the FBI files that were now in the public domain. However, when I later looked up the FBI website in order to quote from it, Monroe's killers names had mysteriously been blacked out. So I ordered the CD titled "FBI Files - Marilyn Monroe" The disc had even less info on it regarding Monroe's murderers.

During the writing of our book, Thief, Slick told me that stories floated around among mobsters for years about who actually killed Marilyn and Mugsy Tortorella's name always came up. Slick took all those stories with a grain of salt until his friend Leroy Smolen, now deceased, verified that Tortorella was indeed one of the murderers.

Slick revealed another story in Thief that further convinced him that Marilyn died from a mob hit. The excerpt from the book takes place around the early 1970s at Arlington Racetrack near Chicago when Slick bumps into an old mob guy named Mousie who says:

     "So, you two know one another, eh?" [meaning Slick and Mugsy Tortorella] Mousie was clearly impressed that I knew Mugsy.
     "Yeah, he worked with a couple of friends of mine," I answered. [the friends being Leroy Smolen]
     "Did those friends know that Mugsy thought Marilyn Monroe's ass was the best he's ever seen?"
     Now, any ordinary outsider would have said to himself, "Where did that remark come from?" But I knew how mob guys talked. Mousie was testing me, but he had to do it in a roundabout way. He couldn't come right out and ask, "Do you know Mugsy was the guy who killed Marilyn Monroe and put dope up her ass to make it look like she died from an overdose?" No. Mousie and I both would have been hit--him for talking and me for knowing too much. So, Mousie used this indirect way of finding out how much I knew. I'd heard about Marilyn being taken out by the mob through extremely reliable sources, but I never let on to anyone. Okay, there was only one way to play this if I wanted to live a few more years.
     "Gee, I never heard that one." I managed to sound like maybe Mousie was making a joke and I didn't the punch line.
     He glanced at me with those watery eyes that seemed to take in my every thought. Apparently he was satisfied I didn't know anything because he let the subject drop. I was itching to ask a ton of questions like, was the FBI in on it?...and were they afraid she was getting too close to JFK?...but I just nodded. The less you said to these Outfit guys the better.

***

I have one more source to check out, a book titled Assassination of Marilyn Monroe, before I make the final entry in this three part post on how Marilyn Monroe really died.

Check out these websites for more information: http://zoey24.hubpages.com/hub/The-Death-of-Marilyn-Monroe and a very interesting blog on the topic: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3716&st=60-.

Henry Hill on Crime Beat Radio

2011-10-11T12:08:00.000-04:00

CRIME BEAT RADIO SHOW’S UPCOMING OCTOBER 13, 2011, PROGRAM FEATURES HENRY HILL, LEGENDARY FORMER WISE GUY AND GOODFELLA

Henry Hill with actor Ray Liotta

October, 2011--This year marks the 25th anniversary of Wise Guy, Nicholas Pileggi’s true crime masterpiece and a book that has been described as “the best book on organized crime ever written.” Wise Guy chronicles the life of legendary former gangster Henry Hill, the working-class Brooklyn kid who grew up to live the highs and lows of the gangster’s life. Hill’s story became the basis for GoodFellas, Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece. In Goodfellas, Henry Hill, the narrator, famously says, “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”

CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE on the Artist First World Radio Network is pleased to announce that on October 6 at 8 pm. EST, Henry Hill will be a special featured guest. Mr. Hill will discuss his former life inside the Mob, the book and the film, as well his current life and activities.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb.

"Your radio format is great,” write Mark Christopoulus of northern California.

“Crime Beat is over the top, gentlemen! The show is on late in the afternoon out here, and me and my buddies from work get a chance to listen to it over a beer at our favorite watering hole before heading home."
Ivo DeLorenzi of Thunder Bay, Canada, writes: "I love your show... you guys manage to get top-calibre guests every week ... fascinating and remarkable, all rolled into one".

For more information or to listen to the archives of Crime Beat, go to the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network at www.artistfirst.com.
To contact the Crime Beat radio program for interviews, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com or call 803-366-5440.

"The Most Potent Voice of the Streets"

2011-10-08T10:22:00.000-04:00

Seth Ferranti, author & Gorilla Convict creator

Gorilla Convict has been called "the most potent voice of the streets." This website, which features stories on prison life, street legends, street and prison gangs, the Mafia and street lit and true crime writers is a fusion of the ghetto, criminal and prison cultures that is vividly expressed in the lyrics of gangsta rap and hip-hop artists rhymes, in graffiti and tattooing, and in the worlds of drug dealers, gangbangers and organized crime. At Gorilla Convict we focus on the urban core and beyond.

There is something deep within the human psyche that intrigues and fascinates us with all thing dangerous, powerful, mysterious and extreme. Gorilla Convict is tailor-made for anyone who worships Brian De Palma's Scarface or any of the other litany of gangster movies like Goodfellas, New Jack City, Belly or the King of New York. Gorilla Convict juxtaposes the outlaw realness of Iceberg Slim with such critically acclaimed shows like Oz, The Wire and The Sopranos.

Gorilla Convict immortalizes the modern day urban outlaws such as those featured on BET'S American Gangster series, and in street magazines like Don Diva, F.E.D.S. and As Is. We tell the tales the mainstream media can't get because we are in prison with the people we interview. We talk to the giants among men that awe us with their immense self-certainty and utter ruthless- ness. They made their own law and are now paying the consequences. The blood they drew from each other reflects their great male courage and the intensity with which they lived their dangerous lives.

Check out the redesigned gorillaconvict.com and tell your readers and friends about it. You can order Gorilla Convict's STREET LEGENDS series from the site.

The ebooks can be bought and downloaded right on the site. Read the stories and get the 411 on prison gangs, the mafia, life in the belly of the beast and the legends from hip-hop's lyrical lore. See the photos and ride shotgun with a hood icon.

Amanda Knox Murder Trial

2011-09-22T17:05:00.000-04:00

Strategic Media Books 
803-366-5440 
strategicmediabooks@gmail.com 
www.strategicmediabooks.com

Crime Beat Radio Show
www.artistfirst.com
crimebeat123@yahoo.com

Crime Beat Radio Show’s Upcoming September 29 program to feature Nina Burleigh and her best-selling book on the sensational Amanda knox murder trial

September 2011—After a high profile trial in December 2009 in Perugia, Italy, American Amanda Knox was sentenced to 26 years in jail for the brutal murder of British student Meredith Kercher. Since then, Knox’s lawyers have appealed Knox’s conviction and her case has attracted international attention. Now Amanda Knox is just a few weeks, perhaps days, from learning if her conviction will be overturned.

Crime Beat: Issues, Controversies and Personalities from the Darkside on the Artist First World Radio Network is pleased to announce that on September 29 at 8 pm. EST, noted journalist Nina Burleigh will be a special guest. In the timely program, Ms. Burleigh will discuss her best-selling book, The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Italian Trials of Amanda Knox, which provides a close up and fascinating look at the Amanda Knox murder conviction and appeal.

In reviewing The Fatal Gift of Beauty, Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and wrote: "[In] this powerful example of narrative non-fiction. Burleigh, who parses how the Knox trial was perhaps tainted, still presents a fair and unbiased portrait of a girl adrift in a foreign legal system and a culture rife with preconceptions about young American women." The Kirkus Reviews praised Fatal Beauty as a “standout among recent true-crime titles.

Ms. Burleigh is also an award-winning author of four books and has been published in the New Yorker, Time, New York and People, among many other publications.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb.

"Your radio format is great,” write Mark Christopoulus of northern California.

“Crime Beat is over the top, gentlemen! The show is on late in the afternoon out here, and me and my buddies from work get a chance to listen to it over a beer at our favorite watering hole before heading home."
Ivo DeLorenzi of Thunder Bay, Canada, writes: "I love your show... you guys manage to get top-calibre guests every week ... fascinating and remarkable, all rolled into one".

Drug kingpins, entertainers, hit men, corrupt cops and more in: Straight from the Hood

2011-09-14T09:01:00.001-04:00

Award winning investigative journalist, documentary film producer and true crime author, Ron Chepesiuk, partners with Scott Wilson, a former New York state corrections officer, in Straight from the Hood: Amazing but True Gangster Tales. The 36 stories are sure to entertain and enlighten true crime aficionados.

Straight from the Hood reveals fascinating facts regarding such international luminaries as Al Capone, Dutch Schultz, Frank Lucas, Frank Matthews and even Denzel Washington.

Recently, I had a chance to talk with the authors:

MS: Ron, you’ve written several Black Gangster books including Black Gangsters of Chicago, Gangsters of Harlem and Sergeant Smack. What drew you to the Black Gangster writing niche?

RC: I had done a book titled Drug Lords, which was about Colombia’s Cali drug Cartel, and I was looking for a subject for my next book. I was watching the film Superfly, one of the so called blaxploitation movies of the 1970s. I really loved those movies, many of which were set in Harlem, and I wanted to know a little more about the background to the movies. But I couldn’t find a book. So I wrote Gangsters of Harlem. This led to Black Gangsters of Chicago because all we read about is Al Capone and The Outfit. I am interested in crime history, and there is lot of history still to be written about black organized crime.

MS: What prompted you to write this book?

SW: Ron Chepesiuk told me about the idea and asked me to be a part of it. I was an admirer of Ron’s work and I thought it would be a great opportunity for me. I’ve always had a fascination with organized crime and the underworld, so it wasn’t hard to be enthusiastic about a project like this. I also thought that I could learn a lot from someone with Ron’s expertise and experience.

MS: How did you decide who to include and who to leave out of your book Straight from the Hood? Was it based on what information was available or other criteria?

SW: We tried our best to include stories that aren’t very well known by the general public. This presented a real challenge, as there is scant information available regarding some of the people and events that we wanted to cover. In those cases we simply had to work with what we had, and lay out the story in the most objective and interesting way possible. We did include a few stories that have a bit of mainstream notoriety, but even then we tried to include details and points of view that are rarely discussed. The popular versions of many crime stories leave out vital details that can drastically affect how the reader/viewer perceives them. Overall, we tried to offer a good balance between the well-known and the obscure.

MS: In your book, you quote a former Cuban heroin dealer talking about Frank Matthews, one of the few drug lords to remain at large for almost 40 years. “He was charismatic, articulate and self-assured. He was certainly the biggest Black gangster of that period, much bigger than Frank Lucas or Nicky Barnes, who have gotten all the attention recently.”

Retired DEA agent Lew Rice had this to say about Frank Matthews, “He’s smart enough to hide and maintain a very low profile, and he went out of his way not to draw attention to himself. That combination will bring you a certain degree of loyalty and anonymity.”

It seems that if you amass the kind of fortune Matthews allegedly has acquired through his drug dealings, he would naturally want to lead a life of excess and flaunt his wealth. Yet to do so would make him an easy mark for the authorities. Do you think he’s alive and leading the high life somewhere?

RC: Well, what happened to Frank Matthews is organized crime’s biggest mystery. He jumped bail in 1974, reportedly with $15 million and has never been seen again. As a U.S. Marshal explained to me, he vanished off the face of the Earth. There hasn’t been one credible citing of him. There are rumors in the Underworld about Matthews getting whacked. Matthews would be 67 today, if alive. So I would think that, if Matthews is alive, he has managed to be disciplined and has kept a low profile.

MS: The chapter titled “Frank Lucas—American Gangster or American Fraud?” stands out from the rest of the book. It carries a none-too-positive judgmental tone, whereas you maintain neutrality—that of mainly recounting history—in the other chapters. What was the purpose of writing the Lucas chapter the way you did?

RC: The chapter is the distillation of my research on one of the bogus stories in organized crime history: the life of Frank Lucas. There is no other way to write a chapter about Lucas because Lucas’s story is so full of holes—that is, unless you are willing to be a stenographer and not a journalist and write a chapter the way Hollywood scripted it. For a fuller picture of Lucas’ life and claims people can go to my book, Sergeant Smack.

MS: In the same chapter on Frank Lucas you describe how Bumpy Johnson’s widow wrote an autobiography calling Lucas a liar and saying that her husband never trusted Lucas. Based on your research, what kind of relationship did Bumpy Johnson and Frank Lucas have?

RC: It was certainly not the kind of relationship portrayed by Lucas. He probably worked for Bumpy but in a very flunky sort of way. I interviewed a couple of police officers from that era who knew Bumpy well. They do not remember Frank Lucas.

MS: Loved the chapter titled “The Charles and Griselda Story: New Jack City Meets Scarface.” In the humble opinion of the interviewer this chapter is worth the price of the book. Where did you find out about this duo?

RC: Thank you for your kind comment. I interviewed Billy Corben, a noted documentary filmmaker who discovered the story and chronicled it in his documentary, Cocaine Cowboys 11. I knew after interviewing Corben that the story was a true one. The story, thanks to Cosby’s promotion, has since become well known.

MS: Charles Cosby spoke of how black gangsters were traditionally locked out of the ranks of other ethnic mafias. Are there some noted exceptions?

RC: I wouldn’t use the words “locked out.” It has been customary for gangsters to stick with their own people—people they know and people they can trust. That’s true whether we are talking about the Italians, the Colombians or the Chinese, or any other ethnic group. So you are not going to see a Dominican at the head of the Triads or an African American in higher echelons of the La Cosa Nostra. But greed is the primary factor in criminality so ethnic groups work with each other.

MS: It’s rather good timing on your part to include some interesting tidbits about Libyan leader, Moammar Khadafi, considering the current state of affairs in Libya, i.e., the rebels seizing control of the country. What do you think readers will learn about Khadafi from reading your book?

RC: They will probably learn that back in the 1980s Khadafi was a very dangerous individual when it came to U.S. interests and he would do anything to get back at the U.S. after it had killed his daughter in a bombing raid of Khadafi’s compound. He was also quite reckless in the sense that he was willing to risk facing the wrath of Uncle Sam to get involved with a street gang from Chicago.

MS: As the first African American to launch a Broadway show, convicted drug kingpin Michael Harris gave Denzel Washington his start on Broadway. Harris went on to put up $1.5 million for the rap label, Death Row Records. Since his attempted murder charge has been recanted, he’s now serving a 28-year sentence in San Quentin for narcotics distribution. It seems his foray into the entertainment business came a little late. Then there was a rapper with the moniker “X-Raided” who incriminated himself through his music. A number of hoods appear to have plenty of talent and then blow it. Any comments?

SW: I think in some cases, the hoods in question are bred in an environment that doesn’t nurture their talents or teach them how to properly apply them in the straight world. They may have been in a situation where a life of crime seemed like a viable career option. Maybe becoming an entertainer or entrepreneur didn’t seem like a realistic life choice. That’s why it’s important to make sure that the same opportunities are available to everyone. When resources and opportunities are exclusive to the rich and powerful, lots of otherwise smart and talented people end up making bad decisions.

MS: You said, “Every criminal thinks they can avoid the mistakes made by others. They think they will be the one that will last and ultimately ride off into the sunset having fooled the authorities. In reality, even the smartest and most cautious crook is only biding his time.” What about Frank Matthews and possibly others?

SW: I think someone like Frank Matthews is the exception to the rule. Remember, the authorities eventually managed to catch up to him as well. He managed to slip through their fingers and escape, but the point is that he almost got caught. That was 38 years ago. Government and Law enforcement agencies are now more technologically advanced and have many more tools at their disposal. They can change laws to suit their needs. Criminals these days are also a lot quicker to inform on their peers. People think that a smart and cunning crook can outsmart the law. I believe that’s a fallacy. Intelligence alone cannot overcome the judicial system. The game is pretty much rigged. The odds are automatically against anyone that decides to make a living by an illegal means.

MS: Dirty cops are fodder for endless movie plots. Dealing with the criminal element exposes police to many opportunities too good to pass up. You point out that “drug dealers can’t go to cops for protection and that makes them ripe for robbery and extortion.” Do you think cops being “on the take” or succumbing to other forms of corruption is increasing due to the prevalence of illegal drugs?

SW: I definitely think that the prevalence of illegal drugs has increased the number of cops who are “on the take.” The Crack Cocaine epidemic spawned an underworld version of yuppie culture. It made a smokable version of cocaine widely available to people who probably could not afford the powder form of the drug. In a sense, that opened up a whole new clientele. It generated a lot of cash for those who were willing to cater to that particular vice.

MS: You devote a chapter to a British guy named Curtis “Cocky” Warren who thought he could outsmart authorities by talking in code and keeping all information in his head. He didn’t partake in any of the usual vices like drinking and doing drugs. And Cocky organized mammoth shipments of cocaine hidden inside lead ingots. How did they finally catch him?

RC: Warren was an example of a gangster who didn’t know when to get out of the drug game and thought he was too smart for his own good. He was too visible and he flaunted his freedom and criminal success in law enforcement’s face. He thought he could just move from England to another country and escape the law. He did not care that the police monitored his calls. He thought he could outsmart Johnny law by simply talking in code. He was smart but not smart enough and allowed law enforcement to build a case against him.

MS: When referring to the era where Miami’s fabled Cocaine Cowboys infested Atlanta around 1986, you stated that it was rare for an out-of-town crew to invade another territory. Apparently, the influx of Blacks who migrated from the North presented a huge source of recruits for moving drugs?

SW: It’s not so easy to move into an established market and simply take it over. The locals who’ve built up and maintained that market likely will not roll over for an invading army. During the crack era, a lot of New York dealers began migrating to other areas of the country as the New York market became oversaturated. When they would relocate to another area and set up shop, they often made the mistake of thinking that the locals weren’t savvy or fearsome enough to fight them off. This lead to a lot of New York dealers getting killed and extorted in places like Washington D.C. Established kingpins in other cities do not take kindly to arrogant transplants trying to take over

MS: You stated further that “no American city was safe from the extreme violence that the crack trade inspired…” and that “their brazen methods provided inspiration for a new generation of hustlers and gang members that hoped to make a reputation for themselves through their willingness to shoot first and ask questions later.” In your opinion, has the drug scene changed markedly in recent years? And what does the current profile of drug trafficking look like in the United States?

SW: The drug trade is no longer as lucrative as it was in the 80’s and 90’s, at least not for the Black organizations. The dynamics of the drug game have changed over the last decade. From what I understand, the Mexican cartels continue to effectively shut Black dealers out of the picture in places like California and Texas. Many of them are not willing sell wholesale amounts of drugs to black organizations. They won’t sell to the competition. This has created a situation out west where a lot of criminals are now turning to robberies and the like in order to make money.

RC: I think the drug trade is much more fragmented. You have so many players today. Practically every ethnic group has become a player in the drug trade. Compare that to the 1960s when in the heroin trade there was mainly the French connection and it was controlled by La Cosa Nostra. The drug trade had reflected the globalization trend and today practically every country in the world is involved. There are also many more illegal drugs today and that has helped to diversify the drug trade.

Mob Speak wishes to thank you guys for a thought-provoking interview. To learn more about Straight from the Hood and its authors, go to www.strategicmediabooks.com.

2011-09-05T14:13:00.000-04:00

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Strategic Media Books 
803-366-5440 
strategicmediabooks@gmail.com 
www.strategicmediabooks.com
Crime Beat Radio Show
www.artistfirst.com
crimebeat123@yahoo.com

THE CRIME BEAT RADIO SHOW’S UPCOMING SCHEDULE FEATURES PROGRAMS ON 9-11, D.B. COOPER, HENRY HILL, AMANDA KNOX, THE FBI’S SECRETS, AND MORE

August, 2011— CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE has been programming since January 28 of this year and is currently averaging 80,000 listeners plus each week, and the figure is growing.

Crime Beat is now pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule for the period from September 8 to October 27, 2011:Topics covered include , 9-11, the FBI, Henry Hill, D.B Cooper, Amanda Knox, Domestic Terrorism, DEA undercover work, Crime documentaries, DEA, among others. Here is the lineup.

September 8—Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, authors of the Eleventh Day, talk about their 9-11 investigation, including the response of President Bush and the U.S. military that day, and the failure to intercept the hijacked airliners. They also reveal the untruths told afterward by U.S. officials and, as a counterpoint, assess the contentions of the “9/11 truth” movement. See randomhouse.com.
September 15—Geoffrey Gray, author of the best-seller, Skyjack, talks about his best-selling investigation of the D.B. Cooper mystery, one of the most astonishing whodunits in the history of American true crime. One man extorted $200,000 from an airline, then parachuted into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest and into oblivion. See huntfordbcooper.com.
September 22—Rich Gold and Tom Freeman, two documentary film makers look at crime and talk about their gangster documentaries. A fascinating look at legendary bank robber Willie Sutton and drug dealer Lucas Torres.
September 29—Nina Burleigh, author of the best-seller Fatal Gift of Beauty, discusses her mesmerizing literary investigation of the murder, the controversial prosecution, the conviction and twenty-six-year sentence of American Amanda Knox, as well as the machinations of Italian justice, and the underground depravity and clash of cultures in one of central -Italy’s most beloved cities. See ninaburleigh.com.
October 6—Ron Kessler, New York Times best-selling author of The Secrets of the FBI by New York Times, reveals the FBI’s most closely guarded secrets and the secrets of celebrities, politicians, and movie stars uncovered by agents during their investigations. See ronaldkessler.com.
October 13—Henry Hill is the legendary former American mobster, Lucchese crime family associate, and FBI informant whose life was immortalized in the book Wiseguy, written by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, and the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas, in which Hill was played by Ray Liotta. See goodfellahenry.com.
October 20—In a command performance, Louis Diaz, author of Dancing with the Devil and retired DEA agent, takes us inside some of his biggest undercover operations, including that of Nicky Barnes, the so-called “Mr. Untouchable.” See books.simonandschuster.com.
October 27—Dick Lehr, co-author of the Edgar award winning, Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob talks about the life and legacy of White Bulger and impact of organized crime in Boston.
November 3—Gary Free Director of START, the country’s leading consortium for the study of terrorism and responses to terrorism, provides an assessment of the domestic terrorism threat and discusses other terrorism-related issues. How safe are we? See start.umd.edu.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb.

"Your radio format is great,” write Mark Christopoulus of northern California.

“Crime Beat is over the top, gentlemen! The show is on late in the afternoon out here, and me and my buddies from work get a chance to listen to it over a beer at our favorite watering hole before heading home."

Ivo DeLorenzi of Thunder Bay, Canada, writes: "I love your show... you guys manage to get top-calibre guests every week ... fascinating and remarkable, all rolled into one".

For more information, go to the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network at www.artistfirst.com. To contact the Crime Beat radio program, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com.

Bellagio Bandit Gets 3-11 Years Behind Bars

2011-08-29T14:57:00.001-04:00

Carleo holding up the Bellagio

The son of a former Las Vegas judge, Anthony Michael Carleo, couldn't parlay his political connections into a shorter sentence. The so-called Bellagio Bandit wore a motorcycle helmit as he carried out a Hollywood movie-style holdup at the Bellagio casino late last year.

Carleo in court

Read the facts surrounding the heist and several others that Carleo perpitrated in order to feed his drug addiction to painkellers. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/23/anthony-michael-carleo-bellagio-bandit-3-to-11_n_934340.html and http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/aug/23/bellagio-bandit-gets-3-11-years-15-million-chip-he/

How Did Marilyn Monroe Really Die? Part I

2011-08-15T19:21:00.001-04:00

How did this Sex bomb...

...wind up like this?

There has been a wealth of misinformation flooding the Internet and other sources ever since Marilyn Monroe died under most suspicious circumstances in 1962. Various theories still float around regarding exactly how the megawattage star actually met her end.

During a live interview on a True Crime Uncensored radio show., July 16, 2011, which is archived at http://outlawcrime.com, I was asked by the host if I could shed any light on the death since Slick Hanner talks about it in our book Thief.

In a coming post I'm going to reveal what I told the interviewers, Burl Barer & Howard Lapides, based on Slick's best friend's testimony, and the FBI files that are now in the public domain.

Stay tuned.

Straight from the Hood - Amazing but True Gangster Tales

2011-07-22T12:30:00.000-04:00

A new true crime book answers these questions:

What impact did Al "Scarface" Capone have on Chicago's African community?
What does Alcatraz have to do with harlem's most famous godfather?
Why is Denzel Washington in this book? Who is a modern day desperado who died by the fun but managed to live on through rap music?
How did a stick-up artist from Brooklyn become Hip-Hop's answer to Lee Harvey Oswald?

Authors Ron Chepesiuk and Scott Wilson reveal "an underworld that is more varied and mythic than outsiders could possibly imagine...it makes for an entertaining and informative read that true crime aficionados should not miss."

To order, contact strategicmediabooks@gmail.com or call 803-366-5440.
Paperback: $16.95
E-book: $9.99

Mob Writer Interviewed on True Crime Uncensored Radio

2011-07-14T12:58:00.001-04:00

Yours truly looks forward to a fun interview on True Crime Uncensored radio show., this Saturday, July 16 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Check out details and how to log on: http://outlawcrime.com.

True Crime Radio says "We smoke, we drink, we interrupt." Sounds like my kind of folks!

Whitey Bulger

2011-07-14T12:51:00.000-04:00

1994

If you're fascinated by the capture of this notorious mobster, here are 3 good sources for info:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/06/national/main20077250.shtml
http://www.biography.com/articles/john-bulger-328770
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/06/how-fbi-feds-captured-whitey-bulger/39160/

NY Mobster gets life instead of death penalty

2011-06-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the NY Daily News this item:

Mob boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano dodges death penalty, sentenced to life in prison

BY John Marzulli AND Larry Mcshane
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Originally Published:Wednesday, June 1st 2011, 6:00 PM
Updated: Wednesday, June 1st 2011, 7:39 PM

Murderous mob boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano will live to preen again. The former Bronx hair salon owner was spared the death penalty Wednesday by a federal jury that found his crimes less heinous than those of turncoat witness Joseph Massino - killer of a dozen people.

"There are other members of organized crime that have admitted to an equal or greater number of crimes that are not facing the death penalty," read a note from 10 of the jurors who gave Basciano life in prison.

The 51-year-old was outwardly confident when the jury began its deliberations at 3:50 p.m., blowing a kiss to his wife and sons insideBrooklyn Federal Court.

"Don't worry about me," the cocky gangster crowed. "I feel good, ya hear?"

When the verdict was read less than two hours later, a relieved Basciano poured a glass of water. He nodded and smiled at the dozen anonymous people who saved his life as they exited the jury box.
His bid to thank them personally was quickly rejected by Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis.

"There's no chance in the world," the judge declared.

The one-time Bonanno family boss was convicted last month of capital murder for ordering the November 2004 execution of mob associate Randolph Pizzolo.

The testimony of his Bonanno predecessor, mob boss turned mob rat Massino, and five other cooperating witnesses crushed Basciano's hopes of acquittal for racketeering, murder and conspiracy.

"Tell Joe Massino he's a b--- j--," said Basciano's son Stephen, delivering a hard to swallow insult outside the courthouse.

Massino became the highest-ranking Mafiosi to ever flip when he wore a wire to meetings with Basciano inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Once sentenced this summer, Basciano will head to the notorious Cell Block H of the supermaximum security federal penitentiary in Florence, Colo.

Basciano lived up to his nickname during the trial, keeping his hair meticulously groomed and wearing a suit to court each day.

He was already serving a life sentence for the 2001 murder of Bronx junkie Frank Santoro before his conviction for Pizzolo's slaying on a deserted Brooklyn street.

Basciano sanctioned the killing to deliver a "wakeup call" to his crime family, which was beset by defections in its upper echelon.

The jury reached its decision despite Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri's contention that the brutal Basciano deserved a lethal injection.

"Even though his body is in prison, his mind will be in the street with his power and his money," the prosecutor told the jury. "The defendant has earned the ultimate punishment."

The government spent nearly $5 million in taxpayer money for Basciano's court-appointed team of lawyers.

Defense lawyer Richard Jasper had implored the jurors to let Basciano die "in God's time, not man's."

***

Also in the news:

Sergeant Smack Garners
Several Book Awards

Rock Hill, North Carolina—It is a book award season and Strategic Media Books’ Sergeant Smack: The Legendary Lives and Times of Ike Atkinson, Kingpin, and his Band of Brothers has won or been nominated for nine awards. The categories include True Crime, African American and Non Fiction. The awards recognize excellence in writing and story telling. In winning the gold medal in the true crime category of the eLIt Awards. Sergeant Smack was lauded for “illuminating digital publishing excellence.”

Other book awards include:

Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Winner, 2010, African American category, 2010 Book of the Year
International Books Awards, 2011, True Crime Book of the Year
New England Book Festival—Finalist, 2010 True Crime Book of the Year
Books and Authors Net—Winner, 2010 True Crime Book of the Year
Independent Book Publishers Awards (IPPY awards), Bronze Medal, 2010 True Crime Book of the Year
USA Book News “National Best Books Awards”, Finalist, 2010 True Crime Book of the Year
The National Indie Excellence Awards, 2011 True Crime Book of the Year
Crime Magazine’s Choice of True Crime Books, 2010
Foreword Magazine, Finalist, 2010 True Crime Book of the Year (Winner to be announced on June 25, 2011)

“We are delighted that several awards committees deemed Sergeant Smack worthy of recognition,” Chepesiuk said. “It reflects the positive feedback we have been receiving from reading public.

” Chepesiuk revealed that Sergeant Smack has been optioned for a film, which is currently in development.

"Sergeant Smack: The Legendary Lives and Times of Ike Atkinson, Kingpin, and his Band of Brothers, which hit the bookshelves in June 2010, details the true legend of Ike Atkinson, the biggest African America drug traffickers in U.S. history. Atkinson's notorious enterprise was so complex and profitable; it easily rivaled that of popular modern day hoodlums, the Black Mafia Family.

Atkinson, who operated in the 1970s, never carried a gun, never committed murder and never bowed down to the infamous Italian La Cosa Nostra. As a U.S. Army Master Sergeant, he utilized his intellect and charm to, by conservative estimates, smuggle more than 1000 pounds of heroin worth $400 million annually from Bangkok, Thailand, through U.S. military bases into the United States. Atkinson pioneered some of the most innovative methods used in international drug smuggling. They ranged from duffle and AWOL bags, to the U.S. Army Postal System to the use of unsuspecting crew chiefs who operated military aircraft to teakwood furniture.

Now 85-years old, Atkinson was released from federal prison in April 2007 after serving a 32-year prison term. ”We worked hard on putting the book together” Ike Atkinson said. “It’s gratifying to get some recognition for our effort.”

Chepesiuk has penned some 28 books, including "Gangsters of Miami," "Drug Lords, the Rise and Fall of the Cali Cartel," "Gangsters of Harlem" and "Gangsters of Chicago," and more than 4000 articles. In all, Chepesiuk’s books have won more than twenty awards.

Join Ike Atkinson on Facebook. See and hear from Ike Atkinson himself at youtube.com and read about him at IkeAtkinsonKingpin.com. For more information about Ron Chepesiuk, go to ronchepesiuk.com. Information about the publisher, Strategic Media Books, can be found at www.strategicmediabooks.com

And pick up the "Sergeant Smack: The Legendary Lives and Times of Ike Atkinson, Kingpin, and his Band of Brothers" online or at a bookstore near you!

For further information: http://www.strategicmediabooks.com

For interviews or to request copy of the book e-mail:

strategicmediabooks@gmail.com or phone: 803-366-5440

Las Vegas Strip Sahara Hotel-Casino Closes

2011-05-23T11:14:00.000-04:00

Onetime host to luminaries Elvis Presley and the Beatles, the Sahara Hotel-Casino closed its doors at 2:00 p.m. May 16, 2011 after 59 years. At one time Sinatra's infamous Rat Pack frequented the Sahara, a casino noted for its lounge acts featuring Don Rickles, Johnny Carson and Louis Prima.

Owners SBE Entertainment decided the casino was no longer economically viable to maintain on the North Las Vegas Strip property. Other recent closings on the Strip include the Stardust, Landmark and Boardwalk.

Read this for more Sahara history: http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2011/05/las-vegas-sahara-hotel-closes/170315/1

Crime Beat Radio

2011-05-21T10:40:00.000-04:00

Crime Beat Radio Show Releases
Upcoming Program Schedule

May 20, 2011— Crime Beat: Issues, Controversies and Personalities from the Darkside has been programming since January 28 of this year and is currently averaging 60,000 listeners plus each week, and the figure is growing.

Crime Beat is now pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule:

May 26: Eric Forchion (AKA NJWeedman)

Forchion,activist and Rastafarian, will discuss his historic legal brief in New Jersey's Burlington County Superior Court, his upcoming criminal trial and his long-running battle to make marijuana legal and to change the drug laws in the U.S.

June 2: Andrew DiDonato (Command Performance)

DiDonato will reveal how he survived the Mob and led a street soldier’s life in the Gambino crime family

June 9: Anthony DeStafano

The crime author will discuss his just released book, Mob Killer; The Bloody Rampage of Charles Carneglia, Mafia Hit Man

June 16: John Pappas, Executive Director, Poker Player’s Alliance

Pappas will discuss issues relating to Internet gambling

June 23: Nathaniel Vinton and the co-authors from the New York Daily News

Authors will discuss their book, American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Past-Time

June 30: The Serial killer

Dan Zupansky, author of Trophy Kill: the Shall We Dance Murder. The Trial and Revelations of a Psychopathic Killer, and Scott Bonn, serial killer expert and professor at Rutgers University, will discuss Zupansky’s book and the mind of the serial killer.

July 7: David Albright

Albright will discuss his latest book Peddling Peril and how the secret nuclear trade arms America’s enemies

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb. Ronald Herd 11, the popular Internet radio host and regular listener of Crime Beat, said "Crime Beatsounds like an organized crime greatest hits collection...I am loving it!"

“I am a BIG fan of your show and enjoy the variety of guests you have on your show,” writes Tom Hart of Atlanta Georgia.

For more information, go to the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network at www.artistfirst.com. To contact the Crime Beat radio program, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com.

Las Vegas Mob Museum Slated for Dec. 2011 Opening

2011-04-29T12:03:00.001-04:00

There's plenty of controversy swirling around the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, better known as The Mob Museum. Read John L. Smith's piece below the main story taken from The Mob Museum Website.

Site of Mob Museum

LV mayor Oscar Goodman

MOB MUSEUM UNVEILS THE STARTING LINE-UP OF NAMES AND ARTIFACTS

(LAS VEGAS, NV) --- The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement – aka The Mob Museum – today announced several of the names associated with artifacts that will be displayed within the Museum when it opens in December 2011.

According to Dr. Dennis Barrie, creative director of the Mob Museum, who, along with his wife, Kathleen Hickey Barrie of Barrie Projects, are developing the Museum’s creative content and overseeing the collection and curation of artifacts, the Mob Museum will be highly experiential and will incorporate rich elements of design, atmosphere, film, video and many fascinating artifacts that will help to tell the full story of organized crime in America.

Artifacts to be integrated throughout the Museum’s interactive exhibits are associated with many of organized crime’s biggest names, including, Alphonse Capone, Dion O’Bannion, George Moran, Charlie Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Ben Siegel, Sam Giancana, Joe Bonanno, Frank Rosenthal, Mickey Cohen, Tony Cornero and Tony Spilotro to name just a few.

In addition, many items relating to historic eras and specific industries, such as prohibition, money laundering and gaming, will also help to tell the story of the mob’s influence on these areas. Items and artifacts relating to law enforcement’s role in helping to eradicate and control the Mob, such as weapons and crime scene photos, will also be part of the Museum experience.

The Museum is under construction in the former United States Post Office and Court House at 300 Stewart Avenue in downtown Las Vegas that was dedicated on November 27, 1933 as the City’s first federal building. The building housed the very courtroom, where in 1950, one of 14 national hearings were held to expose and control organized crime in America. As part of the construction and rehabilitation of the building, the courtroom is being restored to appear as it did in 1950 during the famed Kefauver hearings, named for Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver.

“Visitors to the Mob Museum will be immersed in a full-bodied experience right down to the very building where members of organized crime were once exposed and prosecuted,” said Kathleen Barrie. “The historical building is the ideal home for this fascinating subject that is already capturing the interest and imagination of people from around the globe. We receive phone calls and e-mail from throughout the world on an almost daily basis inquiring about the Museum. Today, the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement is easily among the most highly anticipated museums in the world.”

Core and shell construction is well underway just nine months following the August 2009 “wall-breaking” by museum board members, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman and former U.S. Senator, Richard Bryan. Seismic retrofit is almost complete; new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are being installed and restoration of architectural details has started. The Museum is scheduled to open in spring 2011.

About The Mob Museum
The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement – The Mob Museum – is a world-class museum dedicated to the history of organized crime and law enforcement now under development in downtown Las Vegas. The museum will present the real stories and actual events of mob history via interactive and engaging exhibits that reveal all sides of the story, with considerable focus on how law enforcement defeated and continues to battle organized crime. Located at 300 Stewart Avenue, inside an historic and former post office and federal court house, the museum is an important component of the city’s downtown redevelopment now underway and is projected to generate a combined economic output of more than $62.3 million during construction, employ approximately 227 individuals during construction, and generate annual visitation of hundreds of thousands tourists to the museum and downtown Las Vegas when it opens in 2011 The 41,000-square-foot Mob Museum includes approximately 16,800 square feet of exhibition space on three floors in addition to a specialty retail store, special event areas, educational areas and office space. The Mob Museum is expected to cost approximately $42 million to construct and is being funded through local, state and federal grants, in addition to matching grants and Redevelopment Agency funding sources that can only be spent in the city’s redevelopment area. The City of Las Vegas, which is currently overseeing the museum’s early development, owns the building and the land on which it sits. Ellen Knowlton, former FBI Special Agent in Charge, Las Vegas Division, and a 24-year FBI veteran, is president of 300 Stewart Avenue Corporation, a non-profit board formed to oversee the Museum’s development and operations. For more information, visit http://www.themobmuseum.org./

For a candid take on the Mob Museum check out Las Vegas Review-Journal John L. Smith's column:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/38442514.html

Crime Beat Radio's Hot New Topics

2011-04-15T17:39:00.002-04:00

Ron Chepesiuk

If you haven't checked out Crime Beat Radio, here's your chance:

April, 2011— CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE has been programming since January of this year and is currently averaging 50,000 + listeners each week and the figure is growing.

Will Hryb

Crime Beat is now pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule:

• April 21: Diedre Capone, ancestor of Al Capone and author of Uncle Al Capone, shares family secrets about the godfather

• April 28: Tom Ajamie and Bruce Kelley, the authors of Financial Serial Killers, give us an inside look at the world of Wall Street hustlers, swindlers and con men and provide advice on how to protect yourself against Ponzi investment schemes
• May 5: Lynda Milito, the author of Mafia Wife talks about love, murder and madness.
• May 12: Howard Campbell, the author of Drug War Zone, talks about the Mexican drug war and life on the streets today in Juarez and El Paso
• May 19: Robert Wittman, former FBI agent and the author of Priceless, reveals how he went underground to rescue the world’s art treasures.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program and airs Every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST. Beginning with the May 5 program the show moves to the 8pm-9pm EST time slot on the Artist First World radio Network. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

Crime Beat is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb. Ronald Herd 11, the popular Internet radio host and regular listener of Crime Beat, said "Crime Beat sounds like an organized crime greatest hits collection...I am loving it!"

For more information or to listen to the archives of Crime Beat, go to the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network at http://www.artistfirst.com/crimebeat.htm. To contact the Crime Beat radio program for interviews, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com or call 803-366-5440.

Vinny Vella Mob Actor: More than The Sopranos & Casino

2011-03-27T22:04:00.002-04:00

Vinny Vella

Who is this guy?
For one thing Vinny Vella, who grew up in New York’s Little Italy, portrayed the character Jimmy Petrille in the TV hit The Sopranos. Before that a string of mobster and other quirky characters followed his role as Artie Piscano in the movie Casino directed by Martin Scorsese. He’s been called “one of Hollywood's old standbys for playing imposing, street-smart Italian-American hoods.” But there’s a lot more to Vinny Vella than his celluloid mobster persona.

Lesser known facts:
• Vinny, known as the unofficial “Mayor of Elizabeth Street,” was born Vincent Franco Vellacerra in New York City’s Little Italy.

• Vinny was the “man about town” in a program on the Travel Channel based on his adventures.

• Vinny says he doesn’t want to be as famous as Robert De Niro, “I don’t need no Rolls-Royce. All I want is to be working a little more, to have a little more money. I want a building with an elevator.”

• Robert De Niro attended Vinny’s wedding.

• Vinny teamed up with ESPN to do over 30 commercial spots for Monday Night Baseball.

• Vinny logged some time behind bars for running numbers.

• Before he was an actor, Vinny used to rent out RVs to use on movie sets.

• Vinny plays Frank Brancato in the movie, The Irishman. It premiered in several cities around St. Patrick’s Day, March 2011.

Mob Speak was curious to see what kind of a guy Vinny Vella really is…

MS: Vinny, many years ago you had a trucking company called “Star Truckers.” How did you snag clients like Madonna, Cindy Crawford and Mariah Carey?
VV: We rented out our vehicles to different fashion industries among other clients. The fashion people used the RVs for makeup and wardrobe. I started working with models like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and many others who were just starting out in the business. The next thing you know we started renting out the vehicles to MTV and VH1 for music videos. Pretty soon we had stars like Madonna on board. Then word got out and the movie studios found out about us.

MS: I read that you got your first acting gig in an MTV show called House of Style.
VV: Yeah, I became good friends with Cindy Crawford. She was always glad to see me when I drove the RV. “Hey Vinny, how are you?” she’d say. I’d entertain everyone, not like the other drivers who would just stand around and try to see the girls without any clothes on…bunch of perverts. If it was a nice day I’d step outside and give the girls their privacy. If it was rainy I’d sit in the front seat and look straight ahead. I respected them and they appreciated that. Well, Cindy Crawford launched House of Style and offered me a spot on the show. Every time I saw a new model I said, “She’s the most beautiful.” The next model I saw I said, “No, this is the most beautiful one.” I tell you I had the best dreams.

MS: How did you happen to land the role of Artie Piscano, a stool pigeon in Casino? Any good stories?
VV: When I was just a driver for the fashion industry I began putting together head shots and submitted them to different NY agents. Got some work as an extra for $100 a day. I took these jobs just to get my feet wet. The next thing you know I heard about auditions for Casino. I auditioned and was offered a very small part. Then they upgraded my role to the Kansas City underboss, Artie Piscano, because they liked what they saw. They asked if that was a problem. “No, no problem,” I said, thinking how lucky I was. Everything started to snowball.

The woman who played my mother in the movie I knew from Elizabeth Street. She happened to be Marty Scorsese’s mother. I spent time with her on the set since nobody wanted to hang out with her. I took her to a casino for fun. Marty saw how well we got along and told me he was going to try something in our next scene. Every time I swore, he was going to have her hit me and make some comment. It's hard to keep your concentration when you’re trying to remember your lines. It wasn’t working out too well so Marty came up to me and took my lines and threw them in the garbage. I had no idea what he was going to tell me. He asked me what I’d do to someone who owed me a lot of money and didn’t pay. I told him I’d do this and that and I'd break their f---ing heads. He stopped me and said, “That’s perfect.”

So I improvised the whole thing. I was waiting for him to say cut because I was running out of stuff. After maybe 2 or 3 minutes he finally said cut and walked over. “Vinny, that was excellent…exactly what I want…now do it over again.” We ended up doing about 20 takes with 3 cameras. I guess it worked out. Some people are shy when the camera starts rolling. Me, I make love to that camera.

Now 16 years later people still come up to me and say, “Hey you’re the guy that screwed up in Casino.” It was a memorable part that started me on a roll.

MS: What about your role in The Sopranos?

VV: They called me down and said I’d be reading with someone else. It ended up that I got the part of Jimmy Petrille with the New York mob. I was in several episodes.

MS: You had a part in director Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog and Coffee and Cigarettes. Jarmusch allegedly said, “The beauty of having a guy like Vinny in your film is that he’s real…he didn’t come out of an acting academy.” How tough is it for you to play a mob guy? Are you afraid of being typecast?
VV: I pretty much play myself. No, I don’t worry about becoming typecast. People seem to like what I do. I’ve also branched out into comedy in movies like Analyze This and Analyze That. I’ve done a comedy called The Last Days of Limbo where I play a bishop. There’s a scene in the movie where I’m cooking sausages and one of the characters asks if I know what I’m doing. “Of course I know what I’m doing,” I say. “I’ve been cooking all my life.” At that exact moment a lot of smoke comes up out of the grill...it turns out very funny.

MS: You portrayed real life mobster Frank Brancato in the recently released movie, Kill the Irishman, based on Rick Porrello’s book To Kill the Irishman, The War that Crippled the Mafia. How did that gig come about?
VV: I think I was watching The Price is Right and I get a phone call from Jonathan Hensleigh, the director, who told me he wanted to get me on board. I said, “So when are guys going to start filming?” “Next week,” he said. “When you’re ready, call me,” I said. You could waste a lot of time sitting around waiting for stuff to happen. Here's what I believe in: When I’m actually in front of the camera. Jonathan told me who was in it and asked if he could send me a script. It sounded like it was on the up-and-up, so I said yeah. We worked out a contract. It was great what they offered me. I was in Detroit (which doubled for Cleveland) like 5 weeks.

Ray Stevenson not only looked like The Irishman Danny Greene, he was one of the greatest guys you’d ever want to meet. We hung out and played pool and drank in a bar across the street. Well, Danny Greene always wore a gold chain with a gold cross on it. So at the end of the shoot Ray gave all the principal actors, 10 to 15 people, a gold chain and cross. Must have cost at least a couple hundred a piece.

MS: You’ve been in something like 50 movies, Vinny. Do you remember them all?
VV: It’s not that I’m losing it…it’s that I’ve already lost it. I’ve done so many movies and TV shows that I lose track.

MS: Okay, you opened a pizzeria in Brooklyn called Vinny Vella’s Pizza that attracted a colorful assortment of characters many of whom are ex-wiseguys and actor buddies of yours including Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello and many of The Sopranos crew. (Does that make them friends of yours or friends of ours?) Then you renamed it Better Fellas in 2009. Is it still going?
VV: I got rid of it because of my partner who had “slippery fingers.” He’s lucky he still has his fingers because if this was years ago his hands would have been in the oven. But that’s another story…

Offspring of Mobsters Victims Too

2011-03-19T09:02:00.000-04:00

Calabrese, Sr.

Joey Lombardo

If you think it's all about lucrative movie and book deals for relatives of dead mobsters, read on. This was posted on the Website, Chicago Syndicate:

Surviving Relatives of Mob Hits Feel Re-victimized by Mobster Books and Museums

The public's fascination with traditional organized crime didn't end with the Godfather movies, Casino, Goodfellas or the Sopranos on television.

Even after Chicago and New York crime families were decimated by federal prosecutions, there is a renewed public appetite for the mob. But some people aren't biting.

"It's something that never leaves your mind or your heart," said Bob D'Andrea whose father was killed by the mob.

"It destroys you, it destroys the inside of you, it destroys you as a person," said Joey Seifert whose father was also murdered by the mob.

Decades after their loved ones were murdered by the Chicago mob, sons and daughters and wives and parents say they continue to be victimized. Not by a pistol-whipping or the payment of protection money but by a new book by ex-Chicago Outfit thug Frank Calabrese Jr., who is beginning a promotional tour this week in the city where he turned on his own father and helped put him away for life. And they say they are revictimized by two mob museums opening soon in Las Vegas.

"What you see when you go there? You are going to see the mob guys laughing and holding their kids, like trying to humanize them. And they are not, they are monsters," said Seifert.

At age four, Seifert watched a masked mob hitman kill his father. It was Joey "The Clown" Lombardo.

Anthony Ortiz was 12 years old in 1983 when his father was killed in front of the Cicero tavern he owned, gunned down by the ruthless Outfit boss Frank "The Breeze" Calabrese Sr.

"To me, a mobster is just a glorified gangbanger, am I wrong or am I right? They beat people up, they take their money, they threaten them," said Ortiz.

It was the Calabrese crew that committed a 1981 hit on suburban trucking company owner Michael Cagnoni by a remote-controlled bomb on the Tri-state Tollway after Cagnoni refused to be extorted by Outfit bosses.

In her first ever interview, Cagnoni's widow, Margaret, says hoodlum-turned-author Frank Calabrese Jr. should not be turning a profit off victims' grief. "Frank [Jr.] was not an innocent person...To him, to go out and make money on our loses and our sorrow and profiting from victims' families is disgraceful. We suffered enough," Cagnoni told the I-Team.

"I didn't kill anybody. OK, so if they're mad that I'm going to profit off of my story with my dad, I don't know what to do. I feel bad for them. I feel sorry for their losses. I can relate to them," said Frank Calabrese Jr.

"If he is really sorry from what he did and wants to do good and show that he is making amends for his past. Why don't you show that you're sorry by donating, if you are going to write a book donate the profits to a worthy charity," said Cagnoni.

The I-Team asked Calabrese Jr. if he thought about donating his profits to a victims' fund. "I haven't. That's definitely a possibility. I talked to some of the victims' kids, and I'm trying to form a relationship with them because I want to hear their stories too," he responded.

"It would be nice if he did something nice like donate a part of the proceeds to the families, it's not like he wasn't in the business," said D'Andrea.

"His dad and his uncle are the ones who killed my dad. Why should anyone benefit from that?" said Ortiz.

"We all went through something similar, in different ways...Unfortunately all the mob that put us together," said Seifert.

And now, mob victim and mobster have something else in common; Joey Seifert has written his own book and screenplay. "It's more of a survivors' book, a family survival of this is what happened, how it shredded our family and how it brought us back together," said Seifert.

Relatives of several Chicago mobsters are paid consultants to the mob experience opening this month in Las Vegas including such names as Spilotro, Giancana and Aiuppa.

Thanks to Chuck Goudie

Gotti's Adopted Son Subject of 2-Part Radio Show

2011-03-07T08:14:00.001-05:00

John Gotti & adopted son, Lewis Kasman

CRIME BEAT RADIO TO AIR SPECIAL 2-PART PROGRAM

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH LEWIS KASMAN, CRIME BOSS JOHN GOTTI’S “ADOPTED
SON,” AND KASMAN’S COUNSEL, JOEL M. WEISSMAN, NOTED FLORIDA LAWYER

March, 2011—This coming March 17th and 24th, the radio show, CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE, will feature a special two-part program focusing on Lewis Kasman, John Gotti’s so-called 'Adopted Son', and his lawyer, Joel M. Weissman, one of the country’s top divorce lawyers. Kasman, at one time a millionaire garment executive, became one of the closest confidants of the late John Gotti, the notorious Gambino crime boss known as the ‘Dapper Don'. When John Gotti died in prison, Kasman brought the body home in a private Lear jet, planned the funeral and gave the eulogy at Gotti’s funeral.

Lewis Kasman’s story is fascinating because he gained unprecedented power within the Gotti Mob. The Dapper Don entrusted Kasman with the authority to pay gambling debts, lawyer fees and assorted bills relating to Gambino crime family matters. After Gotti was sentenced with a life sentence in a federal penitentiary, Lewis Kasman hid millions of illicit dollars in a toy chest in his attic and later became a government witness in 1996. Feeling the heat from the Feds, Kasman agreed to wear a wire and recorded 130 tapes with top mobsters inside the Gambino ranks, as well as John Gotti’s own family. The court sentenced Kasman to probation as the reward for his invaluable secret work. Kasman is also credited with saving the lives of noted crime reporter Jerry Capeci and a federal worker at Springfield, Missouri.

In reflecting on the years he spent with John Gotti, Lewis Kasman told Crime Beat, “If I was to characterize my relationship with Gotti, I suppose I would say it was blind allegiance. I have many regrets.”

Weissman represented Kasman in a high profile divorce that the tabloids covered. In addition to discussing his representation of Kasman, Weisman will talk about his successful career as one of the best criminal and divorce lawyers in the United States.

Joel Weissman will appear on the Crime Beat radio program March 17th from 9-10 p.m. EST, while Lewis Kasman’s appearance is scheduled for March 24th from 9-10 p.m. EST. Listeners can access the program by going to www.artistfirst.com, clicking on the “Live Weekly Show Schedule” and then clicking on the “Crime Beat” link. See also http://www.artistfirst.com/crimebeat.htm.

CRIME BEAT is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (www.ronchepesiuk.com) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb. Ronald Herd 11, the popular Internet radio host and regular listener of Crime Beat, said Crime Beat “sounds like an organized crime greatest hits collection...I am loving it!

Guests on previous shows included Jack Garcia, former FBI agent and best selling co-author of Making Jack Falcone, the story of how Garcia took down a Mob family; Andrew DiDonato, ex-mobster and co-author of Surviving the Mob: A Street Soldier’s Life in the Gambino Crime Family; Rick Porrello, author of To Kill an Irishman, the inspiration for the Hollywood movie, Kill the Irishman, that will premiere this March 11; and Tim Donaghy, former NBA referee and author of Personal Foul who was Crime Beat's special guest last week on February 24th.

“We are delighted to have Lewis Kasman and Joel Weissman on our program, “Chepesiuk said. “We expect to hear a lot of interesting things about Mob life and the activities of John Gotti and his crew.” Chepesiuk, the author of several true crime books, is a consultant to History Channel's Gangland documentary series.

It’s going to be a real special program,” Hryb added. “What can be more interesting than having two guests in the know talk for a couple of hours about the law and the Mob?"

For more information or to listen to the archives of Crime Beat, go to the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network at http://www.artistfirst.com/. To contact the Crime Beat radio program for interviews, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com or call 803-366-5440.

Gangsters, Prostitution and Gambling: Radio Broadcast

2011-02-25T18:09:00.000-05:00

Slick handcuffed with his rap partners: Slick is 3rd from right

Here's the link for Cherie Rohn's 1-hour interview re writing Thief, the Gutsy, True Story of an Ex-Con Artist on Artist First radio network, Wed. Feb. 23, 2011: http://www.artistfirst.com/bookshows.htm. Just scroll down the list of authors till you see "Cherie Rohn," click on the name and the show will play on your computer.

See the post below for more information.

Mobwriter Radio Interview: Things that may shock you

2011-02-11T12:50:00.001-05:00

Cherie today

Mobwriter Cherie Rohn says, "Nothing is dull when you keep reinventing yourself." Others say, she's "not afraid to raise a few eyebrows," and Cherie "changes lives." (Hope that's in a good way!)

Things you may not know about Cherie...She's done stints as: Santa Fe TV station manager and on-air personality Bambi Lyn, made maps in the highlands of New Guinea, rowed paying customers down the San Juan River in Utah, sang in nightclubs, broadcast from a hot air balloon as a radio DJ, dealt blackjack and other casino games and now writes for a living, mostly true crime.

34-year-old Cherie

On Wed. February 23 at 7:00 p.m. ET, Cherie will be the sole guest on the hour-long radio call-in talk show, Artist First http://www.artistfirst.com/. She answers questions such as:

How did you hook up with a crazy ex-con like Slick whose book Thief you wrote?
What secrets did you learn about the mob, prostitution and gambling including how Marilyn Monroe really died?
What was it like to be a casino dealer?
Was your first BJ customer really a loose canon just out of the joint?
3-year-old Cherie
Were you really caught making love naked by the owner beside his swimming pool?
Did you recently sign up to live in Atlantica, a legitimate underwater colony located 100' beneath the sea?

Listeners are invited to call in or email their questions for Cherie. Tune in on your computer. http://www.artistfirst.com/. Just remember...Cherie can't talk about some things until a few innocent people die first.

Bellagio Heist Part II: Dumbest Criminals

2011-02-07T19:21:00.001-05:00

Okay...here's what NOT to do when you steal $1.5 million from a prominent Las Vegas Strip casino:
1. Don't brag about it online,
2. Don't ask a so called friend what to do after you steal the dough--especially one who rats you out to the FBI.
3. Don't put a Bellagio chip worth $25,000 in a Salvation Army worker's pocket.

4. Don't brag to bar-mates that you just won a lot of money gambling in Vegas.
5. Don't come back to the Bellagio poker table with $5,000 in chips after losing an $11,000 pot.
And most important:
6. Don't try to sell stolen chips to an undercover agent.
7. Don't mix all of the above with drugs

Duh...the alleged Biker Bandit, Anthony Carleo (helmeted robber above), told a friend shortly before the heist that he was "hurting for money and might have to do something drastic in the next several days."

Carleo hoped to go to med school according to Facebook postings. Guess he's gonna have a slight delay in plans. Why am I not surprised that he's the son of a judge?

Bellagio Heist: Political Overtones?

2011-02-04T11:04:00.000-05:00

Check out this recent story that appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal: http://www.lvrj.com/news/judge-s-son-arrested-in-bellagio-robbery-115167004.html

The thief, Anthony Carleo (right), who took off with $1.5 million is casino chips was arrested early this morning.

NEW: Crime Beat Radio show

2011-01-22T12:12:00.001-05:00

ATTENTION!

Ex-FBI agent Jack Garcia

NEW RADIO PROGRAM TO PRESENT ISSUES, PERSONALITIES
AND CONTROVERSIES FROM THE WORLD OF CRIME

January 20--On January 27 at 9 p.m., the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network (http://www.artistfirst.com/) will launch CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE, a weekly hour-long radio program. Every Thursday from 9 and 10 EST, CRIME BEAT will present a fascinating topic that brings listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. The guests will include ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, entertainers, informants, prisoners, drug dealers, victim advocates, politicians, crusading reformers and others who can provide insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime. Listeners can access the program by going to http://www.artistfirst.com/ and click on the “Live Weekly Show Schedule” for Thursday, 9 p.m. See also http://www.artistfirst.com/crimebeat.htm.

CRIME BEAT is hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk (http://www.ronchepesiuk.com/) and broadcast journalist and freelance writer Willie Hryb. Chepesiuk is the author of several true crime books, including Sergeant Smack: the Legendary Lives and Times of Ike Atkinson, Kingpin, and his Band of Brothers, and Drug Lords, the Rise and Fall of the Cali Cartel. Ron has been interviewed about crime-related subjects by such media outlets as NPR, the Biography Channel, the New York Times, the Discovery Channel and Black Entertainment Television. He is also a consultant to the History Channel's Gangland documentary series and a contributing writer to the New Criminologist and Americanmafia.com websites. He is also a two-time Fulbright Scholar in journalism and the publisher of Strategic Media Books (http://www.strategticmediabooks.com/). Hryb is currently in the shipping business where he is a contributing writer to several trade publications. This year he will be publishing a book about the famous Gunilda shipwreck on Lake Superior.

“We are excited about hosting Crime Beat,” Chepesiuk said. “Each week we plan to entertain and inform listeners about crime topics both historical and topical.”

The initial program features Jack Garcia, former FBI agent and best selling co-author of Making Jack Falcone, the story of how Garcia took down a Mob family. Other guests include Andrew DiDonato, ex-mobster and co-author of Surviving the Mob: A Street Soldier’s Life in the Gambino Crime Family; Lou Diaz, co-author of Dancing With the Devil and the undercover DEA agent instrumental in taking down drug lord Nicky Barnes, the so-called “Mr. Untouchable”; and Rick Porrello, author of To Kill the Irishman, the basis for the Hollywood movie of the same name that will premiere this March 11; Tim Donaghy, former

NBA refer and author of Personal Foul: A Personal Account of the Scandal that Rocked the NBA; and Seth Ferranti and Wahidi Clark, a con and ex-con who will talk about prison life and becoming writers behind bars.

“We plan to give listeners a front row seat into the events and developments of the criminal underworld and the personalities who shape it,” Hryb revealed. “What can be more fascinating?”

For more information, go to the Artist First Worldwide Radio Network at www.artistfirst.com. To contact the Crime Beat radio program, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com.

127 Alleged Mobsters Arrested

2011-01-20T12:34:00.002-05:00

"More than 100 suspected members and associates of seven Mafia families were arrested Thursday in what was described as the biggest organized crime round-up in FBI history.

Significant leaders of the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno and Colombo families and also the DeCavalcante of New Jersey were among those arrested, NBC New York reported.

The charges ranged from murder to extortion, narcotics trafficking and illegal gambling, officials said."

Check out the rest of the story here:
http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?ps=1011&rip_id=%3CD9KS4KPG0%40news.ap.org%3E&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCLM_UNEWS

Slick's Las Vegas Then and Now: 27th in Series

2011-01-12T12:11:00.001-05:00

We're nearing the end of Slick's colorful account chronicling Las Vegas - From the Mob's 1940s heyday to mega-corporate 2009.

Las Vegas Then & Now

Then: Crime and murder rates low
Now: Crime and murder rates high

Then: Mobsters ruled

Now: Wall street, mega corporations & real estate developers rule

Then: Lido de Paris
Now: Magic Shows; Cirque du Soleil

Then: Mob took care of cheaters
Now: Law takes care of cheaters

Then: Evening gowns & suits
Now: Tank tops & shorts

Then: Seven card stud
Now: Texas Hold’em

Then: Thick smoke everywhere
Now: Smoking banned almost everywhere

Then: Hookers in every bar
Now: Overpriced strip clubs, fake escort ads
& bordellos allowed only outside county limits

Then: $.49 breakfast
Now: Better eat at home

Then: Movie Casino
Now: Movie 21

Then: Drive anywhere in Las Vegas in 10 minutes or less
Now: Try to get there in one day

Then: Las Vegas jumping with movie stars
Now: See movie stars in movies

Then: Comped Room, Food, Booze
Now: Players card

Then: Free entrance to beautiful, clean Lake Meade
Now: Pay to see what’s left of Lake Meade

What does a guy nicknamed "The Hatchet" actually do? (photo below)

2010-12-26T17:00:00.000-05:00

The following was posted on www.TheChicagoSyndicate.com:

Reviewing the History Behind Famous Mob Nicknames

A colorful nickname comes with the job when you are a reputed Chicago crime boss, often whether you like it or not.

The trial of Michael "Big Mike" Sarno is getting underway in federal court in Chicago, with prosecutors arguing that the 6-foot-3-inch, 300-pound Sarno wasn't just imposing because of his size, but because he was the big man behind a violent mob jewelry theft and illegal gambling ring.

Imposing aliases have captivated the public and aggravated mobsters since the days of Al "Scarface" Capone, a fact that apparently was too much for one prospective juror. The juror, a suburban businessman, told U.S. Judge Ronald Guzman he would be biased by the repeated use of nicknames during the trial. So Guzman sent him home.

Defense attorney Michael Gillespie said he's not worried about his large client's nickname, which is pretty mild for an alleged mobster. "There's nothing nefarious about that nickname," Gillespie said. "But I do think (federal prosecutors) put the nickname in there for a reason. They could've just charged him as 'Michael Sarno.'"

A big appetite is a more benign way to get a pet name than, say, Anthony "Joe Batters" Accardo, the former reputed mob kingpin who earned his sobriquet for beating people with baseball bats. The story goes that after hearing of one such beating, Capone himself said, "That guy, (Accardo), he's a real Joe Batters." Throughout his life, everyone called Accardo "Joe," said Gus Russo, author of "The Outfit."

"They started to call (Accardo) 'Big Tuna' in the press, but no one ever called him that," said Russo. Mobsters' nicknames often were generated by the press or FBI agents eager to antagonize their targets, a favorite tactic of longtime Chicago FBI chief William Roemer. "(Roemer) was the one that referred to (Outfit Vegas boss) Anthony Spilotro as 'The Ant,'" Russo said. "That was (Roemer's) way of infuriating these guys."

Attorney Joseph Lopez said the press hung the nickname "The Breeze" on his loan-sharking client Frank Calabrese Sr. "That's a media nickname. No one ever called him that. He was 'Cheech,'" said Lopez. "Cheech is 'Frank' in Italian. It's a neighborhood thing. These guys get their nicknames like anyone else, as young kids in the neighborhood."

Of course, former Lopez client Anthony "The Hatchet" Chiaramonti was known for attacking juice-loan delinquents with a hatchet, the attorney acknowledged. "Hatchet earned that nickname," said Lopez, noting that jurors heard Chiaramonti strangle an informant — who was wearing a wire at the time — during a trial in the 1990s. "I called him Tony."

When reputed mobsters deny, or take offense to, their nicknames, it may be because they haven't heard them until someone plays them tapes of a wiretap. Wiretaps in Sarno's case will show that some of his lieutenants often called their boss "Fat Ass" behind his back. Not a good career move in most jobs, and a potentially deadly one in The Outfit.

"These are not guys you might want to call by a nickname to their face," said Markus Funk, one of the lead prosecutors in the Family Secrets trial that featured defendants Frank "the German" Schweihs; Paul "the Indian" Schiro; and Joseph Lombardo, who was listed with three nicknames: "the Clown," "Lumbo" and "Lumpy."

U.S. attorney's office policy is to include nicknames in an indictment only when the monikers are used in wiretaps or correspondence, said former prosecutor Chris Gair. However, modern mobsters are so paranoid about wiretaps and FBI surveillance that they seldom even risk using a nickname, Gair said. Their coded euphemisms get so vague, often it's clear the mobsters can barely carry on a conversation.

"Instead of a name or a nickname, they'll say something like 'You know that guy down by Grand and Ogden (avenues)?' 'You mean the guy who stands outside the grocery?' And the circumlocutions are so obscure, it's obvious they don't know who the other guy's talking about," Gair said. "But they're so paranoid, they still won't use a name."

Gair, for the record, said he seldom used nicknames in cases he handled.

"I would almost never put (nicknames) in an indictment. FBI agents and IRS guys have a nickname for everybody," he said. "For most guys, they use nicknames the way you or I do among friends."

Thanks to Andy Grimm

Get Your Sergeant Smack T-shirt for Christmas!

2010-12-09T17:48:00.001-05:00

Need some holiday gift ideas for that special guy or gal? Check out Strategic Media Books: www.StrategicMediaBooks.com

Tony Spilotro's Last Stand

2010-12-01T15:46:00.000-05:00

In its heyday, the mob in Las Vegas was really controlled by key individuals in Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Cleveland. The guys who called the shots manipulated everything in Vegas from their respective cities like puppet masters pulling the strings. By the late 1980s, Las Vegas was in deep trouble. The FBI had painstakingly collected enough evidence to bring down the powerful Chicago Outfit and its accomplices.

In 1994 William F. Roemer, former FBI agent wrote the piece below. It came out just prior to the release of Roemer's book, The Enforcer, a nuts and bolts account of Chicago Outfit frontman in Las Vegas, Tony Spilotro. While it's a little dated and much has happened since, Roemer describes how the FBI dismembered the Las Vegas mob piece by piece:

IPSN, Spring 1994

Who Rules Vegas?

By William F. Roemer, Jr.

After completing three novels that were interwoven with my real life experiences as an F.B.I. field agent investigating the highest levels of organized crime in the U.S., I have returned to writing non-fiction, my first real love. For the past year I have been researching the career of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, and have recently finished the life story of this pint- sized Chicago hood - brutal, scheming and as anti-social any one hood could be.

One of the things that struck me during my investigations for the Spilotro book was the depth of strength the Chicago mob had in Las Vegas in the not too distant good old days. The Chicago "wise guys" had everything going for them as well as one could expect in the halcyon years of the "sin city" - now being nurtured as a great vacationland for the American family. The Las Vegas office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation placed hidden recording devices in the executive offices of the strongly "mobbed up" casinos. Those electronic surveillance devices or "ELSURS," as we called them in our official reports to Washington, clued us in as to the vast amounts of Nevada gambling profits that was flowing into Chicago mob coffers. We're talking about big bucks. Millions of dollars a year! An elaborate haul by any standards.

In the mid-1980s things were deteriorating badly for the Chicago point men operating in Vegas. Three landmark investigations aimed against the Chicago chieftains and their satellite mobs in Kansas City, Milwaukee and Cleveland - known by the government as Pendorf, Strawman and Strawman II - crippled the elite leadership of Midwestern Mafia crime, including such bigwigs as Jackie Cerone and Joey Aiuppa. They had received stiff prison terms for overseeing the administration of the casino "skim" (pilfering the drop from the table games and slots before it could be legally accounted for).

More importantly was the continuing diminution of the Vegas skim monies. what had once been a gusher of illegal revenue flowing into Chicago from the casino counting rooms was reduced to a trickle as a result of the now famous governmental Strawman and Pendorf cases. The pint-sized Tony Spilotro, who had been sent out to Las Vegas to oversee and assure Chicago's interests, was indicted through Justice Department's efforts in Strawman II but he had suffered a heart attack and had to be severed from the case, only to be placed on trial at a later time.

When he was barely out of his teens, the ambitious Spilotro was hand-picked to become an enforcer for "Mad Sam" DeStefano, a notorious juice lender and one of the worst torture murderers in the long and sordid history of crime in a city known for violent innovation. DeStefano's favorite torture device was the ice-pick, which he manipulated with painful impunity on delinquent borrowers. He showcased his skills to his youthful protégé - Tony Spilotro - just a kid out of Steinmetz High who loved extreme violence and exhibited a flair for it early on in his life by shaking down his classmates for lunch money.

Spilotro proved to be a real up-and-comer in mob circles. Undersized but ambitious, he was to become the third Chicago assigned "boss" assigned to enforce the mob edicts along the Strip and Glitter Gulch of legendary Las Vegas. Johnny Roselli was Chicago's first. He served under Frank Nitti, Paul Ricca and the recently deceased mob genius, Tony Accardo. Roselli's endeavors were found wanting, however, by Sam Giancana, who quickly replaced him with Marshall Caifano (a.k.a. Johnny Marshall), another prominent short guy tied in with the wise guys.

Through surveillance techniques, F.B.I. agents found out that every Friday night the lusting Giancana was escorting Darlene Caifano, Marshall's quite attractive better half - to a plush motel in Rosemont which he conveniently owned. (The motel spoken of is now the property of Donald Stephens, current, and apparently mayor for life of the good Village of Rosemont). Smart move for Giancana to send forth Caifano to the Nevada desert country while he had a ball balling Darlene during Friday night interludes!

Giancana had to be replaced, however, as the top boss of Chicago when he refused to testify under a grant of immunity and was sent to jail for one year after which he left Chicago for residency in Mexico. He remained there for eight years while mob interests were being run by the committee of the "Three A's" - Tony Accardo, Joey Aiuppa and Gus Alex. Accardo, of course, was always the key man of the triumvirate. It didn't take these guys long to realize that Caifano was not the enterprising fellow to oversee their interests in Las Vegas and none had an interest in little Marshall's perky wife.

They were also dismayed to learn that several other associates sent to work in the casinos now directly under their control - the Fremont, Stardust, Desert Inn and Riviera - were somewhat cavalier about the whole thing. The sine qua non of the Chicago mob was not legitimate gaming profit, but the skim.

As it turned out, I was the Bureau's case agent at the time who was working "Operation VEGMON" (Vegas Money), which followed the trail of the skim money from Vegas back to Chicago's environs. The courier for the boys was the wife of a wholesale meat supplier who plied the outfit casinos with choice cuts of steaks and chops. To maintain good will and keep his business intact, the owner of the firm sanctioned a plan to have his wife ferry the "skim" from Nevada to the notorious law firm of Bieber & Brodkin (mouthpieces for Chicago mobsters for years and years).

The woman (whose name I cannot reveal) traveled by train and, upon her arrival in the Windy City, she was afforded luxurious accommodations at the Ambassador East Hotel while Bieber & Brodkin made sure that the proper cut was distributed to the proper people. It was a nifty "quid pro quo" for both the businessman and the Chicago outfit, and neither the mystery woman nor her husband were ever prosecuted for their activities.

After the Three A's ridded themselves of Caifano's employ, they installed our story's hero, "Tony the Ant," who provided them with a menacing presence of enforcement in Las Vegas. His tough guy resume was impressive, even by the Chicago outfit's exacting standards of violence and mayhem. Spilotro was allegedly linked to at least 25 mob hits over his blossoming career, including the viciously notorious rub-out of William "Action" Jackson, a 340-pound juice man who was impaled on a meat hook while being slowly tortured to death.

I had a couple of personal encounters with Tony. Twice he tried to ambush me; once while he was in the company of his grisly mentor, Sam DeStefano. The first time Spilotro was hiding in the West Side apartment of one of Sam's juice collectors whom I was attempting to "turn." DeStefano and Leo Foreman were waiting in the apartment with Spilotro but I failed to show due to unplanned developments.

The second run-in occurred in Columbus Park at Central Avenue and the Eisenhower Expressway. I was on my way to rendezvous with an informant when I was accosted by Spilotro, who was not armed. Given his small stature and the notable absence of a weapon, it was not all that hard for me to fend off the little runt and send him on his toddling way.

For all of Spilotro's gun work, I could see why Accardo and company chose the little man to enforce their fiats in the west.

Unfortunately for Tony Spilotro, he managed to invoke the ire of his superiors when five of his underlings chose to become government witnesses - a practice frowned upon by all. Three testified against Aiuppa, Cerone and other n'er-do-wells named in the government's Pendorf and Strawman Indictments. The other two spouted here-to-for or unknown happenings in cases against Tony himself. The once-reliable Spilotro had definitely become a security risk to his bosses. He was indicted in Vegas for heading a burglary ring, and violated mob decorum by conducting a fling with the wife of a Chicago pal - one Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who aided Tony in his Las Vegas startup years earlier.

The federal government investigators were moving closer and closer to Spilotro. Clearly, swift action had to be taken just in case the diminutive guy decided to "flip."

Tony and his brother, Michael, were last seen the afternoon of June 14, 1986, when they left Michael Spilotro's Oak Park home to run an errand. Several days later, the partially clad bodies of the two brothers were unearthed from a five-foot grave in a cornfield a hundred yards off the main road near Morocco, Indiana. They had been beaten, kicked, stomped and presumably buried alive by their assailants. It was plain to see their services were no longer of necessity to mob guys calling the shots.

For Tony Spilotro, it was a fitting, if not ironic, ending for he had inspired so much terror in the hearts of mob juice customers by the simply-stated reminder: "If you don't get the money you owe me, I will put you in the ground!" He foretold his fate.

What goes around comes around and now a replacement for the role of Las Vegas overseer had to be found. This time, however, the Chicago leadership turned to a man who was the complete antithesis of the brutal Tony Spilotro who spoke in the "dese, dems and dose" street vernacular. They selected the refined, urbane Donald "Wizard of Odds" Angelini. To the best of my knowledge, he never intimidated or killed anyone, unlike his predecessor.

Don was a real cut above the average Chicago wise guy in the brains department. The guy exudes class. White haired, trim, very well spoken and nice appearing with an ingratiating smile, Don Angelini could have undoubtedly been anything he wanted to be in this world. I first got to know Donald in the late 1950s when he received his real estate license. From the very beginning, however, he was deeply involved in the Outfit's gambling operations.

Bill Kaplan, a holdover from the days of Al Capone, had built up a lucrative racing and handicapping service on Clark Street, just north of the old Sherman Hotel where the State of Illinois Building now stands. He had supplied odds to bookmakers all over the world in the years before the nation's scattered wire services were legislated out of existence by the government and supplanted by the Las Vegas casinos. Kaplan was one of the last of the Chicago independents. He had thus far resisted "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio's attempt to squeeze him out of his game. But it soon became apparent that Kaplan was not strong enough to keep the heavy-hitting Alderisio at bay much longer.

Bill Kaplan went to George Bieber and Mike Brodkin - capable attorneys for the "boys" - to cut the best possible deal, knowing that he was negotiating from a position of weakness. He agreed to hand over 50% of what he had built-up with the proviso that mob muscle man Phil Alderisio would remain out of the picture. The accommodating lawyers brought forth the dapper Don Angelini as the intermediary and the deal was struck.

Posing as a degenerate gambler, I had been assigned to infiltrate what was now commonly known as the Angel-Kaplan Handicapping Service to learn the locations of hundreds of wire rooms, and the identities of illegal bookies who serviced clients around the world. As a side note to all of this, I wagered a sum of money with Angel-Kaplan on the outcome of the 1961 National League pennant race. My favorite team, the Cincinnati Reds, were pre-season longshots that year, but they managed to win the N.L. pennant as it turned out and Donald and Bill both thought I was a genius handicapper as a result. These guy leaned on me for my Notre Dame expertise - I happened to know a lot about the football program at my old alma mater.

Unfortunately, I never succeeded in "turning" Don Angelini. I turned scores of mob guys but Angelini was never one of them. He always let me know that our mutual interest was sports - it did not extend to the operations of the Chicago outfit. The boundary lines were very clear-cut in our professional relationship.

By 1986, the year that Spilotro was greased and the torch was passed to Angelini, I was retired from the Bureau and working in Tucson as an attorney representing news organizations who were being sued for libel by organized crime figures.

Conditions had changed markedly in Las Vegas since the early days of Marshall Caifano's capers. What Don Angelini had come to oversee was just a fraction of the gambling empire Chicago controlled in the 1950s. Joey Lombardo had been the "cap" or captain who oversaw Spilotro. But he had gone away on sentencing after being convicted in the Pendorf and Strawman cases.

Angelini found himself operating with a new crew of underlings in Vegas at a time when Chicago's flagship casinos were badly crimped. Though the outfit's top leadership was momentarily crippled by the government's successful prosecutions, we in the F.B.I. were unable to finger Angelini in Las Vegas. Oh, we know he was there all right. We "fisured" him several times as he stepped off the plane at McCarran Airport, but never on Las Vegas Boulevard, the Strip, or downtown.

Eventually, matters caught up with Donald, however, but not in Las Vegas. Occurrences in San Diego, where he tried to infiltrate the Rincon Indian Reservation with the assistance of Sam "Wings" Carlisi and John "No Nose" DiFronzo came to the fore. These three ranking Chicago bosses were attempting to skim the legalized gambling operations on the Reservation. "Wings" Carlisi skated, but Angelini and DiFronzo were convicted and each received 37 months for their part in the scheme.

There are those who believe that the San Diego case was only a slight jolt and Donald will soon return to the streets ready to resume his status as a boss in the Chicago outfit. I sure hope not, because if anyone could bring the outfit out of its present doldrums, Angelini has the brains to do just that. But I surmise that he is too smart to fall into that trap because he knows that law enforcement will make him a sitting duck - the main target - like all the top guys in recent years.

I arrested Donald twice in my career. I won't be around to do it again, but dedicated F.B.I. agents in Chicago like Pete Wacks will, and the "Wizard" knows that to be true, and will assuredly exercise the proper caution.

My last encounter with Don Angelini occurred a few years ago at Giannotti's Restaurant in Norridge. I was doing consulting work for the TV program "Hard Copy" and the film crew was with me when we filmed outside the restaurant. I was tipped off that Donald was inside, so when we finished our business, I went in and shook hands with the man they called the "Wizard." He told me that he had read my book, so with curiosity, I asked him how he liked it. Angelini gave me the Italian salute with his fingers flipped out under his chin. But then, before I could take offense, he winked and smiled in his usual custom.

I know this and have a feel for man, and I think Don Angelini is smart enough to realize that he must leave the outfit's heavy work to guys like Sam Carlisi, head of a West Side street crew specializing in gambling operations, juice loans and terror.

The media calls Carlisi "Wings" - but his mob code name is "Black Sam." I never met him during the time I was in Chicago, but he was the driver for Joey "O'Brien" Aiuppa when Aiuppa was the boss of Cicero and then, eventually, the entire Chicago outfit. A mob chauffeur is an important job in the outfit - not so in the real world. But many of the top bosses in Chicago put in their time over the years chauffeuring their superiors before climbing to the top spot.

After the unlucky Spilotro brothers were lured to their deaths in 1986, informants later told us that Carlisi's driver, Jimmy Marcello, set up the meet that spelled doom for Tony the "Bug."

Most people mistakenly believe the erstwhile Michael Spilotro was the wrong guy in the wrong spot at the wrong time. But it was Mikey who received the marching orders to bring Tony to the party for a "sit down" with "Black" Sam. Tony was grooming his brother Michael and made him privy to what was going on. Both brothers had to go when a murder decision was made. It was that simple. A double hit.

Sam Carlisi was lucky to beat the federal government in the San Diego caper. However, the government struck back on December 16 of this past year. Carlisi and seven "associates" (James C. Marcello, 52; Anthony "Little Tony" Zizzo, 58; Gill M. Valerio, 42; Richard Gervasio, 43; Brett O'Dell, 39; Joseph J. Bonavalente, 37; and Anthony "the Hatchet" Chiaramonti, 59) were convicted on assorted racketeering, extortion, loan sharking and gambling charges.

"Black" Sam is 71 years old now, and will probably spend the rest of his years in a federal prison. He joins a long line of losers, beginning with Al Capone, who were all top bosses of the Chicago chapter of La Cosa Nostra before death or prison overtook them. Tony Accardo was the only one who beat us. No time for him. So I have to believe that Don Angelini - with the weight of history against him - will think twice with his incisive mind about assuming the mantle of leadership of LCN once he gets out.

The last time I spoke with Supervisor Lee Flossi of the Chicago Bureau of the F.B.I., he told me that as yet no clear leader has emerged to oversee gambling operations in Chicago and Nevada. I'm not saying that the mob is beaten. Not by a long shot. Such would be naïve. There is too much revenue potential and influence at stake and I'm quite sure the outfit will plumb the depths to stay afloat. But I do not believe Angelini will want to risk the drop a second time.

Bill Roemer's biography of Anthony Spilotro is titled The Enforcer: The Chicago Mob's Man Over Las Vegas.

From the Belly of the Beast

2010-11-24T08:50:00.000-05:00

Seth Ferranti Interview

The traditional Mafia is still big news and the public’s fascination with the mob and criminal behavior shows no signs of letting up. While glorifying the gangster isn’t what Mob Speak is all about, we continue to present various criminal viewpoints without editorializing. Our role is to let our readers discover what makes criminals tick—hear their story—firsthand.

Such is the case with Seth Ferranti, currently serving a 304-month stint in federal prison for peddling marijuana and LSD. Seth is a first-time, non-violent offender. During his incarceration Seth founded Gorilla Convict Publications. He’s also a regular contributor to Don Diva magazine originally written for prisoners and gangsters but now enjoys a much broader reader base. He’s earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Iowa University and is currently working toward his Masters degree from California State University.

Seth has been the subject of numerous interviews including my good friend, Ron Chepesiuk on the website New Criminologist. From reading Seth’s books I found him to be an intelligent and articulate writer who wraps his considerable knowledge of the street in the language of the hood. There’s no doubt that Seth Ferranti knows what he’s talking about.

MS: Your research speaks volumes about your desire to get the facts straight. While incarcerated in federal prison, you wrote three books: Street Legends Vol. 1, Street Legends Vol. 2 and Prison Stories, based on real personalities. What motivated you to write the books?

SF: For the Street Legends series (Vol. 1 and 2) I wanted to do for the black and Latino gangsters of the crack era what writers like you are doing for the mob stories. I have read a lot of the mafia true crime books and have found them all fascinating. But I noticed there weren't many on black and Latino gangsters so I decided to fill that void. these are figures that have been lauded in the lyrical lore of hip-hop and I was locked up with a lot of them so I had access and I found that a lot of them wanted to tell their stories so I came up with the street legends concept. I just did like writers do with the mafia books except I switched it up a bit. It’s still true crime though. Prison Stories was my attempt to show the time that I was doing in the feds in the ‘90s. I had read In the Belly of the Beast by Jack Henry Abbot and Hothouse by Pete Early and I wanted to show the world what the time I was doing in the feds was like. I believe I captured it very well in Prison Stories. Just as Street Legends captured the ghetto icons memorialized in hip-hop.

MS: In your various publications, a name that crops up regularly is Don Diva magazine. For those of you who haven’t heard of Don Diva, the Washington Post stated, “Don Diva is a magazine a bout gangsters that is published for gangsters -- and for wannabe gangsters, imprisoned gangsters and folks who just want to experience the excitement of gangster life without getting shot or going to prison, which is, alas, the fate of most of the gangsters Don Diva profiles.” Tiffany Chiles, whose husband Kevin Chiles was released from prison in 2003, launched the magazine in 1999. Don Diva bills itself as “The Original Street Bible.” What role does the magazine play in your life, Seth?

SF: I was in FCI Fort Dix in 1999 writing a sports newsletter/paper for the intramural sports leagues run in the prison. Some guys had transferred in from FCI Allenwood where Kevin Chiles was doing time. He was looking for writers for Don Diva which he had just started. The guys, who were homeboys of his from Harlem, saw my writing which was posted in the housing units. It was just sports stuff from the prison leagues, basketball and stuff like that, commentary and game reports. They liked the way I wrote and approached me. They told me about Kevin and the magazine. Also there were some dudes on the compound that Don Diva wanted to interview. So I interviewed them, wrote the articles and sent them to Tiffany. I have been writing for Don Diva ever since. They have promoted my work and it has been a productive relationship.

MS: You’ve done considerable research for your books, website and blog. How do you accomplish this considering you lack access to important individuals and resources?

SF: Actually I think being in here is easier because I can just walk through my unit and find criminals from this town or that town. Whoever I am researching a story on its very easy to find someone who might know them or know of their legend. Just because they are from the streets or from that area. Let’s say I am doing a story on a ghetto icon from New York I can walk down the block and talk to someone from New York and get all the street info and rumors on that person. The newspaper stuff I get my wife, who acts as my manager slash secretary slash agent slash editor slash publisher, to download from Lexus Nexus and print out for me and the court records are easy because they have extensive law libraries in prison. So actually being where I'm at is a plus for researching. That’s crazy yes? But I am relentless too and I never take no for an answer and if I am blocked doing something I am trying to do, I find a way around it.

MS: A constant theme in your books is the parallel between the traditional Mafia and those whom you call Street Legends, gangsters who have achieved great fame or popular renown. The quote “we only kill our own” was coined by the traditional Mafia but it was not true of them, nor is it true of the so called Street Legends, both of whom killed plenty of innocent bystanders. Care to expand on this?

SF: A lot of the stuff about loyalty and honor and all that is bullshit for real. I have learned that a lot of these so called stand-up guys and street legends are really psychos, not people you'd want to have over for dinner. It goes right with the whole Godfather themes. It’s a glorification, a romanticism. I didn't create these legends. I just perpetuate them. I put them on paper. It goes back to the whole Billy the Kid thing. I mean who was Billy the Kid? He could have been some snot nosed punk. But look at his legend. That is my medium. That is my passion. I bring the legends to life. Sometimes it’s easier to look at the legends than to look at the real people but I try to give an accurate portrayal buying into the mythology but at the same time destroying it when necessary. I do it from the criminal side though. I am not a mainstream journalist upholding the government angle. I take a look at these legends, their lives and crimes, from all angles. I try to draw an honest and real perspective that can take readers into these peoples’ lives and circumstances. But I don't sugarcoat it when a guy is a killer I give him his due.

MS: Put slightly differently, few would argue that finding a way out of oppressive poverty can be a noble quest. Does that justify the taking of innocent lives even by accident?

SF: I wouldn't say that anything justifies taking an innocent life. But in our world stuff happens. Who am I to judge? I just try to tell the story. I see myself more as a historian. But my history is not colored by facts. I report the story from all angles and give an honest perspective. Life is precious but the fact of the matter is people die every day for all different types of reasons and it’s not pretty. Life is cruel and ugly. That is a fact. But speaking from the criminal side, a man who doesn't snitch on his comrades is noble. Maybe he killed some innocents, on purpose, no, does that lessen it? No. It is what it is. I could go on about casualties of war and all that but I won't. Death isn't pretty but when you carry and use a gun it’s an occupational hazard. But taking innocent lives is never justified. Even in war.

MS: The fascist dictator Benito Mussolini said, “I would rather live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a lamb.” With the exception of Frank Matthews who apparently still avoids capture and perhaps a few others, the Street Legends seem to share a consistent character arc. They live large, leave their mark, then sit out the rest of their lives in a prison cell, many with no hope of parole and little outside contact. Most say they have no regrets. In your opinion, are a few years of glory, fame and fortune worth spending the rest of your life incarcerated?

SF: At the time most would say yes but after 20 years in the belly of the beast most would say no. It’s all a matter of perspective. Some dudes live for that rush, that recognition, that fame. But in the end was it worth it? Most would say no. But most would say they are men of principles too and taking the time for upholding those principles are what they are doing. So in the big scheme it’s about principles. If someone raped or hurt my wife or children would I kill them? Yes, I would, because I am a man of principle. So if you can understand that then you can understand these men who burn brightly and flame out. It’s all about being able to look yourself in the mirror and being comfortable with who you are and your circumstances in life, whatever they might be. But I think too that as younger men these guys don't realize the consequences of their actions. They are risk takers, they are gamblers—but the stakes they are playing for are their lives.

MS: Let’s get more specific. Are you alleging that because Kenneth ‘Supreme” McGriff conducted himself with finesse, it exonerated him from all the stuff he did?

SF: Supreme is an honorable dude. But I speak as a criminal because my ideals are different than those from society. He upheld the code, omerta, and never snitched. He embodies what all this gangster stuff has been glorified as and romanticized as. He is the real deal. That is rare these days. That is why I write about these dudes to honor what they are. It's the principle I am recognizing. But supreme is a criminal. A drug dealer and shotcaller from the jump. His organization was the first to deal crack exclusively and his actions, direct or indirect, caused a lot of tragedy in the hood. He made money off of other peoples misery. That is true. I can put it all in perspective. That doesn't take away from who he is. How many political leaders and even presidents of our own country have made money off the misery of others? That is the American way. I don't think supreme is evil. I think he is a good hearted person that just got caught up in a violent world in one of the most violent epochs of American history—the crack era. Was it pretty, no. But it’s history. Hip-hop has celebrated his legend and I have put it in book form for any readers who wish to indulge in it. That's all it is. Nothing more nothing less. The man is serving a life sentence in one of the harshest prisons ever conceived. So he is paying the price for his glory and legend. He hasn't been exonerated from anything.

MS: Forget the movie American Gangster which is the subject of another blog entry. What’s your take on Frank Lucas?

SF: For me personally Frank Lucas is a fraud. He incorporated other peoples life events and sold them as his own. He is a scam man, a hustler. But to give him his due he sold the story and got paid. But he is a fraud and he is a snitch. I have no respect for a dude like that. But I liked the movie. I like that it got made. I like that it raised the profile for this whole black gangster movement that I am a part of. But Frank Lucas didn't have to steal other peoples stories to sell as his own. That is wrong.

MS: From your book Street Legends Vol. 1 you said “…Anthony Jones, the king of Baltimore, is still silent. Denied access to the mail, phones and visits he sits at ADX Florence, the federal supermax , under the tightest of security in permanent lockdown by court order.” Perhaps it’s like the moth that’s drawn to a flame. What’s the motivation when the convicted perps are nearly 100% guaranteed to spend their lives in jail?

SF: I think the motivation is their circumstances that they are trying to rise up out of. Their environment. Maybe that is all they know. I can make excuses but in reality people just get caught up in their life. Like I said before they want the recognition, they want the fame, they court the controversy. They bring it on themselves. They are the moth drawn to the flame.

MS: Many families, whether they admit it or not, have a relative who is somehow connected to the illicit drug trade. My own now deceased brother was a mule in Miami for Columbian drug traffickers in the ‘70s. He was on the run from the FBI a good part of his life, taking on menial jobs even though he excelled both in languages and math. I often wonder what he might have become if he chose a different path.

Like my brother, you seem to have multi talents: intelligence, energy and drive that would make you successful in any walk of life. What’s your story?

SF: I moved from California to Virginia as a teenager with my mom and stepdad. I was angry, I was rebellious but at the same time I wanted attention. I wanted to be popular. The area was very affluent, Fairfax, Virginia, the kids I met there had money to spend and they wanted drugs. I bragged that I could get them so they brought me several thousand dollars to buy them. I called my cousins in California and had them sent to me overnight. This started my life in smuggling. Three years later at the age of 19 I was supplying marijuana and LSD to about 15 colleges in 4 states. It wasn't something I planned, it just happened. By the age of 22 I was sentenced to 25 years on a continual criminal enterprise charge. I am still in shock at it. But I have done the time. I have walked it down. Now I am almost ready to go home.

MS: You said, “A better life awaits us” In Street Legends Vol. 2. What do you mean exactly?

SF: You know I write for people in prison. That is my audience. I wrote that for them. It means better life awaits us when we get out.

MS: To paraphrase, you’ve said: All true Legends are visionaries and accept both sides of the coin…the good and bad and take full responsibility for their actions. Are you saying that people don’t choose a way of life, but rather are chosen?

SF: No, I am not saying that. I am saying that to be the type of person that becomes a legend you have to have some kind of vision or scope that is bigger than yourself. You have to be able to become bigger than the sum of your parts and accept all that comes at you. You have to hold your own and carry your weight. You can't put your problems on someone else. To me that is admirable and honorable and that is what the legends I write about epitomize.

MS: The Robin Hood analogy crops up often with regard to how the Street Legends are viewed, i.e., rob from the rich and give to the poor. The drug lord Anthony Jones allegedly said to the neighborhood youth, “Don’t use drugs; don’t sell them.” He was also known to help friends with college tuition and more. Yet he was a vicious killer tied to a dozen murders. Sure these guys threw crumbs to the neighborhoods poor the same way that Al Capone doled out Thanksgiving turkeys. But can you say that they did all this for altruistic reasons? It seems more like savvy public relations.

SF: I think it’s more a matter of you help your own. Yes, they poisoned their communities but they helped too. They tried to outweigh the bad that they did. But it’s not like they were killing innocents although some inevitably get caught in the crossfire. If you are a criminal or a player in the game, death or jail is often the result. These people live life large while they can and then pay the ultimate consequence. They just try to spread some of the love around while they can so they will be remembered fondly. I don't think it is an active attempt at public relations though. It is just human nature.

MS: Almost everyone on the streets seems to idolize these dudes. I get the point of Death before Dishonor meaning they didn’t rat anyone out, an admirable trait. But what a price to pay for a few flashes of glory. Can you explain?

SF: These dudes came from the gutter. They didn't have nothing. I can't even imagine how they lived or what life was like for them. Can you? They lived and grew up in poverty and degradation. Their whole culture has been criticized and they as black men have faced racism from day one. So it is hard for me to explain. I have attempted but I can't really understand. I just try to keep it as real as possible and authentic and honest. Maybe the temptation to live like a king for even only a minute was worth the risk for them. That is all I can say on that.

MS: Apparently, the 1980s was the heyday for illicit drug sales such as cocaine and heroin in the U.S. One of the Street Legends dubbed Boy George said “Drugs are the biggest generator of money in this country, so how could the game be dead?” What’s the drug situation like today? If it’s in decline, what’s killing it?

SF: I don't think the drug situation has been killed. Illegal drugs are probably still the biggest money maker in this country. But for the blacks and Latinos the crack era was like prohibition for the Italians. A lot of guys got rich overnight. They say the game is dead because with the war on drugs and the proliferation of snitching it’s hard to get in and out with your money. That’s what they mean when they say the game is dead. The object of any game is to win and if you end up in prison with a life sentence or dead in the gutter then obviously you didn't win. The best and the brightest in the drug game used to win. Now that isn't so much the case.

MS: From what I’ve heard, the prison system in this country sucks. It’s run by a corrupt, greedy lot (gee, just like on the outside!) and rehabilitation is a joke. If you agree with that view, how would you change things? What can we all do to change the prison system? God knows…we pay enough to keep guys in there.

SF: I think they should have a type of reward or good time system instead of the current system where you have to do 85% of your time. There should also be something in place for first-time, non-violent offenders. They should have more education and programs. Right now the prison system is just a warehouse for men. A place of employment to prop up rural economies. It is all wrong. It would take a lot to make it right but it could be done. There is no oversight and staff face no consequences for their actions or inaction, be that as it may. I do believe that some people belong in prison and the crimes they commit are not redeemable—they should never be let out. But a lot of people are in here for very minor stuff. The war on drugs is a joke. I have 17 years in for non-violent crimes committed when I was a teenager. That is crazy.

MS: What would you like to add that we haven’t covered, Seth?

SF: Check out my blog, order my books, let me know what you think about the work that I am doing. I welcome all comments and critiques. My new book THE SUPREME TEAM: The Birth of Crack and Hip-hop, Prince's Reign of Terror and the Supreme/50 Cent Beef Exposed is coming out in March 2011. Check it out and watch out for my Gorilla Convict releases this year. Thanks for the interview and take care.

Seth

MS: And thank you for a thought-provoking and candid interview, Seth. Mob Speak wishes you all the best.

Visitors can contact Seth Ferranti through his website: www.gorillaconvict.com. For more information on Seth check out his blog: www.gorillaconvict.com/blog/.

2010-11-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

Italian police arrest top mafia fugitive

NAPLES | Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:50am EST

(Reuters) - Italian police arrested on Wednesday a mafia boss who had been on the run for 14 years and was one of Italy’s most wanted men, judicial sources said.

Antonio Iovine, a boss of the Camorra, the Naples version of the Sicilian mafia, was arrested by police and was being transferred to a safe location, the sources said.

Iovine, whose name was on the list of Italy's 30 most wanted mobsters, was considered a leader of the Camorra's infamous Casalesi clan.

His capture is the latest in a string of high-profile mafia arrests by Italian authorities in recent months.

(Reporting by Laura Viggiano; Editing by Charles Dick)

Seth Ferranti Interview...You're in for a Big Surprise

2010-11-18T22:10:00.001-05:00

Next week Mob Speak posts an interview with Seth Ferranti from prison. Ferranti's answers chill with their stark honesty. The man dissects a situation, examines all parts and rationally states several points of view. He is both philosopher and observer of the human condition without judging. He'd be great on the debate team. But I'll let you see for yourself. Look for the interview Wed., Nov. 24.

Yours truly,

Awwwwww. Common!

2010-11-10T13:39:00.001-05:00

THIS MAY COME AS A SURPRISE TO THOSE OF YOU NOT LIVING IN LAS VEGAS, BUT THERE ARE MORE CATHOLIC CHURCHES THAN CASINOS.

NOT SURPRISINGLY, SOME WORSHIPERS AT SUNDAY SERVICES WILL GIVE CASINO CHIPS RATHER THAN CASH WHEN THE BASKET IS PASSED.

SINCE THEY GET CHIPS FROM MANY DIFFERENT CASINOS, THE CHURCHES HAVE DEVISED A METHOD TO COLLECT THE OFFERINGS..

THE CHURCHES SEND ALL THEIR COLLECTED CHIPS TO A NEARBY FRANCISCAN MONASTERY FOR SORTING AND THEN THE CHIPS ARE TAKEN TO THE CASINOS OF ORIGIN AND CASHED IN.

THIS IS DONE BY THE CHIP MONKS.

YOU DIDN'T SEE IT COMING DID YOU? --

Slick's Las Vegas Then & Now: 26th in Series

2010-10-31T10:12:00.001-04:00

Tips from an Old Timer

If I said I could tell you how to win at any casino game, I’d be lying. And if I actually knew how to win, I’d be doing that instead of writing this book. What I can do after 60 years of gambling is to offer a few tips on how to get the best value for your money. Of course, there’s always the possibility that you know more than I do. If so, I’d like to hear from you. Maybe we can make some money together.

First, you need to look out for cheaters. There are more of them around than you might think. So, if I’m going to gamble, I go to a licensed casino, and I don’t mean the Internet. Once you’re there, you should play the game you have the most knowledge of.

At blackjack, always play with a bankroll you’re comfortable with and have a plan for what to do when you’re winning and losing. I’ve seen more people double their money when they’re losing. If you’re losing, that’s the worst thing you should do. Instead, head to another table or head out the door. There’s always another day. Pit bosses love it when folks throw good money after bad. With the odds in favor of the house, the longer you play, the better your chances of losing. When you’re winning is the time to double up. It’s in your best interest at least to acquaint yourself with Basic Blackjack Strategy which is available in most bookstores, Online and even at some casinos. There’s more to playing good blackjack than meets the eye. Learn how to increase your chances of winning by reading one or more of the many books on the market that spell it all out.

Don’t camp out at the crap table after a good roll. That’s when you should maybe take a hike to the sports book where you can catch almost any sporting event on TV. If you make bets in your mind, then all you lose is your mind. If one of the dice flies off the crap table I off all my bets. I’ve seen the dice 7out over and over after the dice have skipped off the table. It’s so easy for a dice mechanic to replace the good dice with doctored dice using sleight-of-hand.

When playing poker, wait for a good starting hand, unless you have your own strategy. If you catch trips (3 of a kind) on the flop and lose, go home. In Hi/Lo, if you don’t start with the nuts (ace/deuce), fagetaboutit, as the Sopranos would say. And if you’re playing Omaha and catch 4 of a kind, throw them in the muck.

Regarding roulette, the worst bet is black or red. You have a 50/50 chance of winning or losing. How good is that? Look for a roulette wheel that has only one zero which, with one less number, offers better odds than two zeros. You might have to go to England or France to find a single zero roulette wheel, though. Other than that, you’re on your own.

In Keno and slots you probably know more than I do.

Even though I mentioned cheating earlier, I want to emphasize a few things. You can thank the licensed casinos for plugging most of the cheating holes with their state-of-the-art surveillance techniques. Cameras are now so sophisticated, that some can even see through synthetic fabrics. So pay careful attention when selecting your underwear on a gambling day. Notice the casino rules such as not touching your chips once you’ve bet. Most rules are really necessary for the protection of the casino and honest players. You’ll occasionally find cheaters trying to switch cards or cap a bet, but that’s extremely rare these days and their actions don’t affect you.

In poker, collusion teams signal their hole cards to one another. Sometimes they do this by the way they place their chips or cards. You would rarely encounter such action in the higher limit games.

In 1979 I worked with Eric Drake to make all Las Vegas poker room rules the same. Today these rules are nearly universal:

· Only one player per hand. (No help from anyone.)

· Check and raise is permitted. (Some casinos disallow this.)

· Four raise limit with three or more players; no limit of raises with just two players.

· All games are table stakes. (Table stakes means you must leave money on the table when winning; if losing, you get action for any money on the table until you leave the game.)

· A called hand may be seen by anyone at the table.

· String bets are not allowed. (A string bet is when you throw a bet into the pot and reach back for more chips to raise; you must call the raise; you can only make one motion when betting chips.)

· Cards hitting the muck are dead cards. (The discard pile is called the muck; you can’t retrieve your cards once they’re mucked; also, cards that are too few or too many when the dealer misdeals are dead.)

· Seating changes must be approved by the floorman.

· Maximum rake is 10%. (Rake is the money, expressed as a percentage of the pot, that the house charges players to play and is taken out of the pot during each round. Most casinos stop taking a rake after 10%.)

· English is the only language spoken at U.S. poker tables.

· Indecent language will not be tolerated.

· No smoking allowed in the poker room. (A relatively recent rule.)

· Management is not responsible for chips left on the table.

· The floorman’s decision is final.

I hope this clears up many questions. Remember, the dealers are there to help you. Don't forget to sign up at the podium for a poker table that spreads the game of your choice as soon as you enter. You might have to wait for a while if there's a long list. As a rule, your spot will be held for an hour.

Someone once said, the difference between praying in church and praying in a casino is that in a casino, you mean it. Good luck.

Slick & Tony Montana on YouTube video

2010-10-27T11:32:00.004-04:00

Just found this video posted on YouTube when Slick and Tony Montana were selling our book Thief at Borders Books, McCarran Airport during their regular Monday gig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ6KjlFE1io

Sicilian Police Arrest Mob Fugitive

2010-10-24T13:13:00.004-04:00

Always of interest to Mob Speak is the Sicilian Mob and ongoing arrests of its top fugitives. This in from the Associated Press:
Top Mafia fugitive nabbed in Sicily

Associated Press, Oct. 23, 2010
ROME — Police in Sicily have arrested one of Italy's 30 most dangerous Mafia fugitives.

Gerlandino Messina had been on the run for 11 years before being nabbed Saturday by Carabinieri in Favara, near Agrigento, his power base in Sicily.

In a statement, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the arrest was the latest evidence of the government's "unprecedented success" in cracking down on organized crime.

The ANSA news agency said the 38-year-old Messina had been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for mafia association and a series of murders.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the arrest showed Italy was getting closer to nabbing the head of the Sicilian Mafia. Only 16 men remain on Italy's list of 30 top fugitives following a series of arrests.

Capone's possessions still command hefty sums

2010-10-20T18:04:00.002-04:00

The story below appeared earlier today in the British newspaper

Daily Express Reporter:

AL CAPONE'S PLEA LETTER SET TO

FETCH £10,000 AT AUCTION

Wednesday
October 20,2010

By Daily Express Reporter

The prohibition era gangster complains that his cell is “damp and a lack of air sometimes keeps me up during the nights.”

The letter was sent to the US Federal Prisons Director in July 1936, four years after Capone was jailed for tax evasion.

He wrote: “My life is in constant danger, I have in fact received over six threats in the last three months.”

Capone remained in the island prison in San Francisco Bay for a further three years before being moved prior to his release in 1939. He died in 1947 from a heart attack. The letter is being sold next month in Los Angeles alongside one of his gold rings.

Irish Traveler on Death Row

2010-10-14T11:50:00.013-04:00

Photo at right: An Irish Traveler scam artist arrested in Georgia.

Sometimes a true crime project I'm working on just doesn't pan out. Such was the case a few years ago when I met a criminologist whose cousin, Marty, awaited his fate on Death Row. I felt particularly bad that this deal fell through. Not only did it hit all my "passion" buttons, but it had the markings of a sensational book and possible movie.

Marty's life reads like something straight out of a tabloid such as: "Man marries 2-headed Green Martian." But with Marty, there's no need to fabricate. Prior to being found guilty of murder, this guy scammed his way across the country for many years. Marty consorted with a notorious clan of Irish Travelers whose wild schemes continue to bilk their unsuspecting victims to this day. Watch out for a guy knocking on your door wanting to seal your driveway or put a new roof on cheap for "cash up front."

Below is the title page of my book proposal which I never sent...a kind of lengthy pitch letter to hook a publisher:

True crime book proposal:

Why I Took the Murder Rap

for my Brother

Letters from DEATH ROW

“The dynamite in the cess pool went off and blowed me under the truck, split the house in two...shit and toilet paper everywhere. Farmer’s wife stumbled out, her apron turned around on her. Her hair looked like a nest of rats had been fucking in it.”

Marty Johnson, Death Row inmate, scamming the public as an Irish Traveler

“A lot of white religious nuts here. They convince themselves they’re going to heaven. They get mad if you won’t talk to them. I just tell them they should write Dear Abby because I don’t get paid for giving advice...just another day in paradise.”

Marty Johnson re life on Death Row

***

If that wets your appetite, an upcoming post goes into more details on Marty Johnson, a guy who took the murder rap for his brother.

The Mob in Sin City

2010-10-08T16:58:00.001-04:00

The following piece was posted on the website New Criminologist. It's part of Mob Speak's series on the mob/Mafia.

Organised Crime Reportage

Casino Online

2/9/2010

An Introduction to Crime in Las Vegas: Mobs in Sin City

This Introduction to Crime in Las Vegas was originally posted athttp://www.casinoonline.co.uk/.

Las Vegas

While every city faces its own battle against crime, over the past eighty years Las Vegas has seen its fair share of mobsters, crime syndicates and small-time crooks. Ever since gambling was legalised in Las Vegas back in 1931, citizens have shared their cafes, parks and casinos with members of organised crime families based in cities such as Chicago and New York. In the 1930’s, Reno’s casinos were run by two associates of Al “Scarface” Capone; Bill Graham and Jim McKay, but it wasn’t until the arrival of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel in the 1940’s that Las Vegas gained its “Sin City” reputation.

Since then, mobsters have come and gone and Las Vegas hasn’t been able to shake off its links with organised crime. In our series of articles on crime in Las Vegas, we’ve spoken to key experts within the true crime field. Beginning with the Outfit era in the gambling capital, we spoke to Dennis N Griffin about his biography of Frank Cullotta and what it was like meeting the man behind some of Las Vegas’ most violent years, and Steve Miller about present-day corruption in Sin City, including his views on convicted racketeer Rick Rizzolo. To read either of these interviews, simply click on the following;Dennis N. Griffin Interview: Meeting Las Vegas' Most Dangerous Minds or Steve Miller Interview: Crime and Corruption in Present day Las Vegas. Otherwise, read on for an overview of mob life in Las Vegas.

Bugsy Siegel

Bugsy Siegel’s career in Las Vegas began in 1946 when he partnered with William Wilkerson, a Hollywood based entrepreneur who suffered from a gambling addiction. Soon, Siegel realised he wanted more control over the project he’d planned with Wilkerson and after delays and a ballooning budget, The Flamingo casino was finally opened in Las Vegas. However, while many have suggested Siegel ran the casino “straight”, by offering fair odds for players, the casino ended up in the red and Siegel’s mob bosses grew tired of his promises. In June, 1947, Siegel was shot dead in his own home by a hit man. The case remains unsolved, but many quite rightly believed the mob were involved in Siegel’s death. Siegel’s short-lived reign in Las Vegas set the blueprint for other career criminals, ranging from Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal who ran the Stardust Resort and Casino and survived a car-bombing in 1982, to a new-wave of what Steve Miller calls the “Asian mob’s” involvement in “human trafficking and massage parlour brothels”.

The insatiable need to discover more about criminals such as Siegel and Rosenthal has led critics to suggest Las Vegas has “glamorised” violence. In 2011, Las Vegas’ very own mob museum will launch, which will play host to a range of exhibitions that “accurately depict organized crime and law enforcement as each confronted the other”. Backed by Mayor Oscar Goodman, a former mob lawyer who has represented the likes of Tony “The Ant” Spilotro and Frank Cullotta, the museum has been described as little more than exhibition-space for Goodman’s former clients. Whatever the future holds for Las Vegas, one thing remains certain: The city will always be tainted with the blood, sweat and tears of mobsters and their victims. Whether this is celebrated or condemned though remains a choice which only Vegas’ citizens can make.

To find out more about Las Vegas’ turbulent relationship with organised crime, make sure to read our interviews with Dennis N. Griffin and Steve Miller.

Slick's Las Vegas Then & Now: 25th in Series

2010-09-26T12:43:00.005-04:00

This past August, my best friend and fellow author, William "Slick" Hanner, passed on to that "Big Poker Room in the Sky," the final table in the poker tournament called Life. In memory of Slick and his quirky slant on the world, here's the 25th chapter in his book, Slick's Las Vegas Then & Now:

Fables of Las Vegas

Bugsy’s Flamingo While Ben “Bugsy” Siegel was building the Flamingo, he would go out and watch the construction workers. One of the workers greeted Siegel with a thumbs up when he saw his boss walking the property. “Hello, Mr. Siegel. How are you doing today?”

That day the worker took a chance and told Siegel a sob story about how he didn’t have his rent money. Siegel reached in his pocket and loaned the guy $100.

After a week, Siegel noticed the worker was avoiding him. So he walked over to the worker, pulled out four $100 bills and gave them to the guy.

The worker said, “What’s this for, Mr. Siegel?”

Siegal replied, “I never kill anybody for less than $500.”

The next day, it’s said, Segal was paid back in full.

***

Before Silicone One of Ben Siegel’s acquaintances was a fellow name Benny Gofstein. He told a tale of old Las Vegas when starlets were flown in from Hollywood on DC 4s, unpressurized planes. Some of the women wore pneumatic or blow-up falsies. The higher the plane flew, the more the falsies inflated, sometimes bursting or sometimes leaving the starlets looking unbalanced when they got off the plane.

***

Dead Man One day at a Caesar’s Palace crap table, one of the players experienced chest pains and collapsed. He was helped up, placed in a wheel chair and taken outside to “get some air.” When staff came out later, allegedly to check on him, the guy was dead. Not wanting bad publicity, they put him in a cab and sent him to another casino.

***

Parcy the Cab Driver All the Las Vegas poker room players got to know Parcy who liked his booze. People said he was doing a life sentence in the poker rooms because he played poker every day. He had the habit of saying, “It’s up to you…” over and over. Pretty soon other poker players were saying, “It’s up to you.”

After years of listening to Parcy, I finally asked him why he always used that phrase. He told me that while driving his cab at the airport many years ago, a policeman asked him to move. As the officer walked away, Parcy said, “Fuck you.” The cop turned around and asked Parcy to repeat what he just said. Parcy told him, “It’s up to you.”

***

Bank Robber Mario came to Las Vegas from Melrose Park, a suburb of Chicago, and got a job dealing poker at the Stardust Casino. He made good tips but blew them right away. So he was forced to live off his paycheck of $5 an hour. After years following this same pattern, he decided to go home. His family scraped together $500 for his plane ticket.

***

Do you think Mario bought a ticket? Of course not. He headed straight for a Caesar’s Palace crap table to try to double his money. Not only did he double it, he ran it up to $50,000 which he put in a safe place.

The next morning he kicked some tires at Cashman Cadillac. Then he went to the Stardust poker room and told his boss he was a dumb ass who shouldn’t be in charge of anything and promptly quit. Later he thought, why should I leave with 50 grand when I can leave with 500 grand?

You guessed it…he lost everything and left the poker room without a penny in his pocket. Then he tried to get his old job back and was laughed out of the room. The last I heard, Mario became a bank robber, got shot and is now doing time in prison.

***

Underwear On November 21, 1980, the MGM’s fire killed 86 and injured 650. A well-known casino executive, George Joseph, was working as director of surveillance at the Dunes across from the MGM. In the midst of the fire, with all the smoke and confusion, he saw a man walking across the street wearing only his underwear. He thought the man was in shock and disoriented by the fire. What the man did next seems unbelievable. He walked up to the crap table at the Dunes, asked for and received a marker and began shooting dice…in his underwear. He reasoned that if he was still alive after the terrible fire, it was his lucky day.

***

Megabucks A happily married couple walked into a casino and decided to play the Megabucks slot machine. For hours the husband poured dollars—three at a time—into the one-armed bandit. Nature called so he left his wife to take over while he went to the men’s room with strict instructions always to play three dollars at a time. That was the maximum amount someone had to play to win the Megabucks jackpot. Wouldn’t you know, she tried to save money and had bet only one dollar when the jackpot hit. For only $2 more, the couple would have won over $1 million. When her husband came back and found out what happened, it took two security guards to pull him off his wife. They weren’t a happily married couple anymore.

***

Hospital Gambling My friend, Sam Gambino, who lives part time in Las Vegas and the rest of the year in Chicago, had to go to the hospital. He asked me to drive him to the airport. I asked him why he needed to fly out of Las Vegas since we had perfectly good hospitals here? He told me he had a friend who was a Las Vegas nurse who just bought a new house with her gambling winnings. Sam asked her where she won the money?

She told him it was the hospital where she worked. The nurses had a bet which patients would die first, and she won. So Sam said he was going to play it safe and fly to Chicago where they don’t bet on patients lives.

***

Nose Ring My son-in-law, a crap dealer for 30 years, told me about the time Dennis Rodman was at his crap table. Apparently, Rodman’s nose ring had a little ball attached to it that fell off and landed on the table, hit the number 10 and bounced all the way to the number 4. Rodman, even with his long arms, couldn’t reach it. So he asked my son-in-law to get the ball for him. My son-in-law refused saying, “How do I know where your nose has been?”

***

Sure gonna miss you, Slick.

What's in a name?

2010-09-20T11:51:00.008-04:00

Enter the key words "the mob" on the following Las Vegas TV Website, http://www.8newsnow.com/category/126737/mafia-las-vegas-style?redirected=true, and you come up with some interesting stories and blogs about "the good ole days" in Sin City. The following blog entry refers to a series of interviews by respected TV reporter George Knapp about the Chicago Mob. The series featured Slick and other mob associates.

KLAS-TV Las Vegas

BY CBLEAKLEY • MAY 15TH, 2007 • 7:29 PM

Former Wiseguys Talk Turkey

It ain’t The Sopranos but with names like William ‘Slick’ Hanner, Joey ‘The Clown’ Lombardo and Tony ‘The Ant’ Spilotro, it’s pretty darn close. And let’s face it — anything that gets a quote like "He’s a liar, he’s a pimp, he’s a thief," out of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has got to be good.

You can find the entire Knapp interview here: http://www.8newsnow.com/story/6521219/i-team-former-wiseguys-talk-about-spilotro-murders?clienttype=printable&redirected=true

Green Mafia????

2010-09-14T17:46:00.004-04:00

'Greener' Mafia loses $1.9 billion in energy assets

'Lord of the Wind' caught up in Italy's largest seizure ever against mob bosses

September 14, 2010

Nigel Roddis / Reuters

Supported by tax credits from European governments, wind farms like the one above in Britain have sprouted up across the continent. In Italy, the mafia has also found it an attractive proposition.

By Philip Pullella

ROME — Italy Tuesday seized Mafia-linked assets worth $1.9 billion — the biggest mob haul ever — in an operation revealing that the crime group was trying to "go green" by laundering money through alternative energy companies.

Investigators said the assets included more than 40 companies, hundreds of parcels of land, buildings, factories, bank accounts, stocks, fast cars and luxury yachts.

Most of the seized assets were located in Sicily, home of the Cosa Nostra, and in southern Calabria, home of its sister crime organization, the 'Ndrangheta.

At the center of the investigation was Sicilian businessman Vito Nicastri, 54, a man known as the "Lord of the Wind" because of his vast holdings in alternative energy concerns, mostly wind farms.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni called the operation "the largest seizure ever made" against the Mafia.

General Antonio Girone, head of the national anti-Mafia agency DIA, said Nicastri was linked to Matteo Messina Denaro, believed to be Mafia's current "boss of bosses."

Investigators said Nicastri's companies ran numerous wind farms as well as factories that produced solar energy panels.

"It's no surprise that the Sicilian Mafia was infiltrating profitable areas like wind and solar energy," Palermo magistrate Francesco Messineo told a news conference.

Officials said the operation was based on a 2,400-page investigative report and followed the arrest of Nicastri last year.

Senator Costantino Garraffa, a member of the parliamentary anti-Mafia committee, said the Mafia was trying to break into the "new economy," of alternative energy as it sought out virgin ventures to launder money from drugs and other rackets.

In the past few years, Italian authorities have cracked down hard on the crime group that once terrified the country.

The cupola, or hierarchy, of the Sicilian Mafia has been in freefall since the mid-1990s, when police began arresting its most enigmatic and charismatic bosses.

Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, who had declared war on the state and ordered a string of killings, bombings and kidnappings, was arrested in 1993 after nearly a quarter of a century on the run.

His successor, Bernardo Provenzano, was captured in 2006 after 43 years on the run. Both Riina and Provenzano hailed from Corleone, the hill town near Palermo made famous by the Godfather movies.

Provenzano was succeeded by Salvatore "The Baron" Lo Piccolo, who was in turn arrested a year later in 2007.

Police say the circle is now closing in on Messina Denaro, who hails from the grim western Sicilian town of Castelvetrano and is known as the "Playboy Boss" because he likes fast cars, women and gold watches. He has been on the run since 1993.

Slick's Las Vegas Then & Now: 24th in Series

2010-09-14T14:11:00.008-04:00

Vegas Institution: The Cocktail Waitress

Not all Las Vegas showgirls were in the Follies. Some women with as many charms as showgirls served drinks to customers.

In old Vegas, cocktail waitresses were the most beautiful in the world. Considering that one of their main jobs was to attract and retain customers, they had to be beautiful to compete with all the other bars in Las Vegas. They also dated some of the most powerful men in the world. In some cases, the girls became millionaires themselves. After slinging drinks for 30 years, a few could even win beauty contests. I figure that walking all those miles serving drinks kept them in great shape. From a guy’s viewpoint, can you imagine a girl pretty enough to be a model serving you drinks? By the way, drinks while gambling are meant to keep you at it. The happier you are, the longer you play and the more money you drop.

Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer, is dating a cocktail waitress at the Palms. Right now it’s beginning to look serious. But who knows by the time this is published. And then there was George Clooney’s ex- girlfriend, also a gorgeous cocktail waitress at the Palms. During my early days in Vegas, a cocktail waitress from the Stardust became the first woman blackjack dealer on the Strip. Another girl who worked with her became owner of the largest privately owned security company in Las Vegas. In those days, it was standard to bring home $250 a day in tips. Others made a lot of money writing their stories.

I know a cocktail waitress named Lynda Allen who worked at Palace Station for 31 years. She’s the hottest senior I know.

Genovese Mobster Pleads Guilty to Murder Conspiracy

2010-09-09T12:53:00.009-04:00

The following appeared a few weeks ago on the Net:

(Photo at right: Anthony "Tony D" Palumbo arrested.)

Genovese captain pleads guilty

By RICH CALDER

Posted: 4:46 PM, August 30, 2010

A reputed acting captain in the Genovese crime family pleaded guilty today to conspiring to murder a hitman working for the Russian mob in the early 1990s.

Anthony "Tony D." Palumbo -- who was previously charged last year with also shaking down owners of local bartending schools --- admitted in a Manhattan federal courtroom that he was “a member of an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity” who participated with others to “murder an individual of Russian descent.”

The plan, which was hatched in late 1992 or early 1993, never came off. It was to lure the unidentified hitman to a Bronx social club, "where Palumbo would murder [him]," the indictment said.

Prosecutors charge that his racketeering activity also included extortion, loan sharking and gambling.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 3 and faces up to 10 years behind bars.

The indictment against Palumbo, who the feds say was named head of the Genovese family's New Jersey operations in 2006, also tied him to the 1992 murder of a mobster’s cousin.

He was accused of conspiring to have Angelo Sangiuolo whacked for robbing Palumbo's gambling joints in the Bronx.

Sangiuolo -- whose rubout was allegedly sanctioned by then-Genovese boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante -- was later lured to his death by his first cousin Angelo Prisco, a Genovese captain who was sentenced to life last year after triggerman John "Johnny Balls" Leto turned rat and testified against him.

The remaining suspected member of the hit team -- alleged getaway driver Paul "Doc" Gaccione -- was arrested in April and charged with murder.

###

Check out this site for some of the mob's biggest hits. (We don't mean show tunes, folks!) http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/galleries/ny_mobs_greatest_hits/ny_mobs_greatest_hits.html