Im reading a book on Frank Mathews and throughout it , the author routinely emphasizes how Frank hated mobsters and italians and , when he heard through the grapevine that Paul Castellano was entertaining the thought of putting a hit out on him because he moved into the exclusive tdot neighborhood in staten island , he threatened Castellano reportedly saying "Touch any of my men and I will ride through Mulberry street and shoot every wop I see" ,or something like that.But heres the thing , apparently Frank had a bunch of joint business ventures with the mob , one of them included a Carpet cleaning service company , of which Tony Ducks Corallo was an investor in. Anybody else know of any legit joint business ventures involving Mathews and the mob? Im wondering if he hated the mob so much , then why he decided to go into business with them when it came to legit business's

He acquired narcotics from numerous sources so he most likely had contacts in the mob that could get him heroin. The luchesses may have been a source of heroin for him and he may have had dealings with ducks corallo through that. Also from what I've read he mostly had problems with the gambinos and i think the bonannos to.

Well whenever there's talk about black gangsters a common theme is them "surpassing" the Italians one way or another. There's always an Italian vs black angle, where the underdog blacks are underestimated but they eventually rise above the racist guineas. It's always just rumors or outright fabrications.

For example in a recent documentary about Matthews there was talk about the mob wanting to kill him(but of course, they were scared ) because he moved into the Todt Hill neighbourhood, and supposedly Paul Castelano and Tommy Lucchese were pissed at him. The only problem with this is that Frank Matthews moved into Todt Hill in '71. I don't know if Castellano lived there, but Tommy Lucchese died in '67. So the story is obviously ducktales.

All of these documentaries and books are always poorly researched, if researched at all. They take the word of old time fringe players as gospel, and then you have the detective types that chased them or prosecuted them, who play along just to themselves look good, as they always did.

He was turned down initialy by the mob when he tried to get drugs from them.
He set up his own connection.He also used atkinson as a source at one point and time

Uh yeah all that was nice but please stay on subject

didn't know that. they were both active around the same time so its possible.After the atlanta summit he got a number of dealers on board to make huge bulk purchases with the cubans and corsicans too.

Pretty much like most popular books on OC and specific people within that genre. There are more analytical case studies done by people like francis ianni,sean patrick griffin and others that are quite good although i gotta admit I've only read excepts and previews of their work on the internet.

The documentaries that particular production company or director makes are never that great anyway they have good content but their presentation is lacking.

@mangauge

I take it your reading the book by ron chepsiuk, how is it?

call me an ethnocentric but i'm always skeptical of these books about black gangsters written by outsiders. I mean,here we have a white Canadian telling the frank Matthews' story. another bad example was the BMF book. the jewish author made BMF out to be something it's not.BMF was a record label not an organized crime group like she portrayed it. blacks should write their own history, and not let others do it for them. Italians and jewish writers tell their stories,jerry capeci,george Anastasia,rich cohen,etc

BMF was a whole lot more than a record label if you actually know what you're talking about and to look for. The authors are correct about that, BMF, while possibly never being on par with a successful mafia family, they were a well organized gang, so to speak. They were in mainly Atlanta & Detroit, but they spread, and turned into a major drug enterprise. The record label was simply an attempt to hide the illegal cash with something legit. What led to their downfall is the same thing that took down Joe Massino, the followed the money trails, and guys started to turn informant. Granted all they were about was drugs, they never infiltrated any unions or garment industries or shit like that.

Seems like some of these Mafia fandom types, they seem to think black people weren't capable of building anything that surpassed the average street gang.

good post but a few points I disagree with: 1st,the name "BMF" is constantly used in the media,but the full name is "BMF Entertainment". the authors never bring up that fact. is it because if people knew BMF Entertainment was a record label and not a gang,it would dispel the notion that they were a 'black mafia'? 2ndly: they weren't well organized. BMF had no initiation,there were never any official 'made' members of BMF. it was a loose band of hangers-on,mostly rappers (Fabolous,blue davinci,etc),and club-goers. the book says there were 500 members,but nowhere is there one shred of evidence to substantiate this claim. BMF were more famous for throwing parties,and concerts,than for anything related to organized crime. in Atlanta, they put up a few billboards promoting BMF entertainment. no organized crime group would ever promote themselves with billboards,or t-shirts plastering their name,the way that BMF did. the drug ring that financed the label was Los Angeles-based,and terry flenory was the head,not big meech as the media often gets wrong. terry's drug ring and meech's record company BMF were two separate entities. terry put meech in charge of the Atlanta stash houses,and invested his money so that meech could create his own music label based in Atlanta,but there was never a BMF gang. go back and check newspaper archives or ask anyone involved in the life if there was ever a BMF in Detroit,there wasn't. BMF existed maybe 3 years tops: from 2003 to 2006

I read portions of the book on BMF as well and can offer some more viewpoint. The Fleronys Enterprise should be a more accurate definition of the group since it's not a street gang but a DTO (Drug Trafficking Org). The brothers been active since the late 80s and Terry started a taxi cab company as a front for the enterprise. The F.E was well organized with the brothers being in a position of CEO, then 2 levels of Managers, on down to the drivers. They were more than just a loose band but exclusive collection of drug traffickers.

"no organized crime group would ever promote themselves with billboards, or t-shirts plastering their name"

Yakuza and 1% clubs says differ.

The brothers had 2 hubs with Terry in L.A and Meech in Atlanta but their enterprise was active in a dozen states. Meech was bringing too much attention with his flamboyance which was annoying his brother and of course the media will gravitate towards the flashy ones. The DEA have been on to the enterprise since the mid-90s and have been conducting raids against them. As early as 2000 is when the name of the label was brought since Meech was backing well known A-Town rappers. Meech side of the enterprise is what everybody know of but I'm more interested in Terry side and his partnership with the Crips & Pirus.

@americanfyeah


it's impossible to sell the amount of drugs bmf sold and not be organized

u keep talking about a record label that PRODUCED ABSOLUTELY NO MUSIC

bmf might have been idiots but they were an organized crime unit

The one who got away..

say what you will about MATTHEWS ... the man wasn't even thirty , and made more money than any mafia leader in n.y.c.

Yea pretty sure he won at life.

The Matthews story is interesting. In large part because all of the big dealers (the guys that are recognized as the top dogs) from other cities all say he was in fact the real big man. They said he was charismatic and smart...then again a cop on that documentary said he just seemed like another thug...so who knows.

I never heard of any other drug dealers that's big who walked off into the sunset. Maybe Fabian Ochoa but that wasn't the usa

Do you really think he walked off into the sunset? If you were one of the cops chasing him...that disappearance would drive you crazy!

Matthews made more money but he only got to enjoy it for a few years before having to disappear. I'd rather live like Gambino or Accardo. You don't last long in the drug business