I found some old post from more than 10 years ago which was made by another forum member known as @Sean_South, regarding famous Martial Arts expert known as Count Dante and his alleged connections to the Chicago Outfit...so anyone remembers this story or individual?

"Larger than life character 'Count Dante' has to be one of the most eccentric characters in the annals of mob history.

Famed for the Dojo Wars of the 60's and a legendary comic book ad where the Count(John Timothy Keehan) promised to teach students 'The Dance Of Death, Count Dante was a Martial Arts sensei who, according to childhood friend and former Chicago Outfit lawyer Robert Cooley was an extremely volatile and confrontational character.

Close friend Douglas Dwyer accompanied the Count on a series of confrontations and rivalries in the macho martial arts world that led to them taping dynamite caps to a rival Chicago dojo. According to Cooley the Count intimidated business interests to sell at a 'reasonable' cost to expand his empire but things came to a head in a legendary battle during which a man was pierced through the chest with a spear and Jim Koncivec was killed. He was arrested shortly after.

Robert Cooley got him off but it wasn't long before the erratic but deadly Count came into contact with Cooley's Chicago Outfit contacts. During one confrontation Cooley had to cool things down in a sit down while an Outfit henchman threatened to put a fork through the Count's eye. The fearless Count stood his ground and
stated proudly he could take his opponent's eyes out with his bare hands.

Sooner or later the erratic nature of Count Dante's life was bound to spiral dangerously out of control. Dante was a mastermind in the notorious 1974 Chicago Purolator vault robbery in which 4.3 million dollars was stolen. He called Cooley to his apartment where he showed him a wardrobe stuffed with bills, perhaps a million dollars worth. Later that night he rang Cooley and told him that money was 'fake', and not to worry about it. The next day Cooley found him dead at the apartment. Cooley suggests he was poisoned as the money and body disappeared without a trace and around 1.25 million dollars was never recovered.

The legend and mystery of the Count lives on to this day. Martial Arts fans for instance still suspect foul play and a revenge attack from a rival sensei for his death. To this day he is legendary in martial arts circles and known in popular culture for his legendary antics and crazy comic book 'Dance Of Death' adverts.

His story also features heavily in Robert Cooley's Chicago Outfit book:- When Corruption Was King"

I remember him from Cooley's book, but that's the only time I've ever encountered his name in any research that I have done, and that was nearly 20 years ago.

I hear you since the last time I read Cooley's was also very long time ago and to be honest, I completely forgot about this particular individual.

Heres some addition info regarding Count Dante from 1970 and also from 1974...





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Interesting TD, while boxing links to the underworld were famous, in some places/countries it was actually martial arts with the strongest links to oc.

Count Dante reminds of some of those old former Yugoslav gangsters and gang bosses from the 1970's and 80s, who mainly solved their beefs with fair fist fights lol

Btw, heres some additional info on Count Dante from the same old poster which I previously mentioned...

"John Keehan's legacy has also left it's mark on the world of cinema. Martin Kove, who played the character "Kreese" in the film The Karate Kid, apparently took his 'Pain Does Not exist In This Dojo' mantra from his days under the tutorship of the Count in one of his legendary dojos.

The Count's bizarre mixture of talents(which included hairdressing) also made him a major influence on Adam Sandler's Zohan Divir character in his Israeli martial-arts commando turned hairdresser comedy 'Don't Mess With The Zohan'.

Here's a little excerpt from Government informant Cooley's website explaining the Count's amazing range of abilities:-

I have yet to meet anyone with the Count’s amazing combination of talents and flaws. Besides being an expert in the martial arts, he was also a beautician (a supermarket tabloid ran a story about him with the headline, “The World’s Deadliest Fighter Is A… Hairdresser!). In addition to the karate studios, he owned hairdressing schools. Supposedly, he got wrapped up with martial arts while he traveled through Asia for a wig import business.

He did hairstyling for Playboy and somehow that gave him an entrée to the whole world of pornography, and led to a financial interest in a string of adult book stores.

At one moment he could be extremely sophisticated and artistic, and at the next moment crude and ridiculously macho – even more than the Mob guys."

In 2013 Amsterdam Mayor Van der Laan addressed the martial artists: “You teach young people respect, but also the fighting techniques to cause a lot of damage to others. I'm going to tell you a number you don't like. We have a top 600 of repeat offenders in Amsterdam. Half of those guys are martial artists or call themselves that.”

Nicely said, although my opinion is that its better for all gangs leaders to solve their problems with their fists between themselves, instead of killing each other. It worked around here until the 1990's, or until the "western type' of life came on the scene and everyone started shooting each other, whether it was for some personal beef or for the State itself aka secret agencies.

Yes it's crazy nowadays. In the Netherlands there are on average two shooting incidents per day. Almost every day someone ends up in the hospital with gunshot wounds.

Google it...Macedonia 14 year old girl being kidnapped and shot to death by famous businessman and political figure, almost a week ago, and nobody knows why. Sorry to say it but its the end of days my friend.