Gus Alex was the most powerful Greek gangster ever very underrated, The Greeks are going way back in the drug trade, don't know if Alex was invovled in heroin.
Never. Maybe he turned a blind eye to some of the international dope operations during the Giancana-Battaglia era which were headed by some of his crew members, but later he was one of the top three bosses that opposed drugs.
The top guys should never get involved with drugs themselves, but their people on the streets have to make a living also, there was a huge demand for drugs even in those days.
Yes thats true, since during the 70s the narcotics trade exploded around the country. But even before he became member of the Outfits ruling panel, Alex never touched the racket, or at least I personally never saw any information that indicates his involvement in the dope trade, or any of his top lieutenants like Briatta, Tornabene, Bertucci, Sam Alex, Pierce or Kruse. Although, as I previously mentioned, some of his other associates like the DiCaro bros, especially Charlie DiCaro who in turn was personal chauffeur and bodyguard for Pierce, or Hy Larner who answered to both Alex and Ed Vogel, were a different story. In fact, I always wondered on why Alex, Humphreys or Ferraro never asked for the lives of those same individuals, but it seems that the dope dealers were directly instructed by some of the leading bosses such as Giancana, and so Alex and the rest of the leaders were forced to turn a blind eye to whole situation. Maybe thats why some of those guys later ended up in Frank Caruso's crew who in turn was a known financier of narcotics by using the African-American criminal element for distribution and usage. According to the feds, Alex was even known for punishing some of his underlings for being degenerate gamblers and he allegedly hated that a lot. Alex's punishment was stripping them from their lucrative operations and giving them someone else. So, imagine if one of his cohorts snorted coke right beside him or sold dope in his presence?! DEAD! Lol
