Side note: John Zaccaro, a major NYC property management exec and real estate broker, was the husband of Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale's VP running mate in the '84 Presidential election. It came out during the campaign that a building Zaccaro owned or managed was home to one of DiB's major porno operations, and that Zaccaro and DiB may have met. It wasn't a factor in the election because Reagan won in a landslide. A reporter wrote at the time: "It is a measure of Mondale's Midwestern naivete that he didn't know that anyone involved in major real estate in New York will sooner or later cross paths with the Mob." The Zaccaro/DiB connection may have cost Ferraro the Dem nomination for US Senator from NY in '92 because the primary election was close.
Yes, I remember that incident very well. Ferraro had originally cut her teeth as the Queens County District Attorney. She was later asked to join the ticket with Mondale.
And her husband (as you mentioned) owned many buildings in New York, one of which was a big loft building located downtown on Lafayette Street, on the edge of Little Italy. Zuccaro had leased it out to DiBernardo, who in turn used the location as a base of operations and headquarters of sorts for his pornography business.
That fact was used to try and discredit her as a candidate for high office.
If I remember correctly, allegations were also made that her father had once operated a policy-numbers racket around Newburgh, NY.
Of course, this was largely gibberish and smoke and mirrors as part of a smear campaign.
