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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: HenryHauglad]
#794305
08/05/14 04:46 PM
08/05/14 04:46 PM
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,544 Kokomo
Beanshooter
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,544
Kokomo
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You also don't know hnow what information and inteligence he gave the Feds. Franzese could have provied them with names and ranks of crews, family structure, rackets, bookmakers, loansharks, businesses and contruction companies on record, corrupt cops, Labor unions, judges, politicians. and other valuable intelligence information that he as a skipper and adopted son of Sonny had access to . That info is very damaging. That is what I think was Franzese worth.
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: njcapo35]
#794306
08/05/14 04:50 PM
08/05/14 04:50 PM
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Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 134
Bugsyvegas1930
Made Member
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Made Member
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 134
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I know his biological fathers name was Louis Grillo, he might have been connected, not sure....BTW...I think Michael's wife Cammy is a hot piece of tail tho, i'm sure of that, especially when she was younger...She still held up pretty good to this day. Ironic, because I believe John Gotti had a goomah with the last name Grillo.
Uncle Charlie once said; "Don't get into pissing matches with skunks."
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: Beanshooter]
#794332
08/05/14 11:28 PM
08/05/14 11:28 PM
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 400 It's cold in the north
Primo
Capo
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Capo
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 400
It's cold in the north
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If you talk to any LE authorities whether you dry snitch or plain ol' snitch your considered a rat...There is no two way street with that, point blank period..A rat is a rat Amen, NJ. Look at Wayne Grande in Philadelphia. His whole family pronounced him dead. He testified against drug dealers in prison and could have walked if he testified against Scarfo and company. His own son. Dominic and brother Joseph don't even recognize him, When one of their parents died they didn't even listed Wayne as a relative in the obit! Ok I see your point. Now answer me this, if Wayne Grande and Michael Franzese are on in the same then why did Wayn'e family disown him for being a rat and he is out hiding in wherever and Michael's family which includes his dad who is arguably one of the most hardcore LCN figures left and he will still see him? Now back to your other point of Michael being a rat snitch against a jewish bookie and a black janitor. Am I correct that Michael Franzese made a shit ton of cash as a mobster? And last I checed Janitors do not make very much. Using that reason and the reasoning that also includes the fact his own LCN father will still sit and face him to this day, then wouldn't it be safe to assume that in a way to avoid worse punishment Michael Franzese used some of his many ill gotten gains and convinced a low level ookie and a janitor to possily do 1 or 2 years in exchange for a amount of $ that neither would of earned on the outside in return for helping him? And who knows maye he brokered the whole deal with the help and approval of his LCN family in a way to protect himself and others and maybe keep more of his earnings instead of losing more to seizure. He might of even given the right people a nice compensation package for his leaving and "ratting" Who is to say they were not well compensated for their troule and not only that Michael Franzese too was able to walk away a lot easier in exchnge for "helping" the government with info. You discredit his intellegience I think. Just because the governemnt says someone informed does it really mean he did anything? What is better? Sending your best earning soldier to prison for a long time or 2 nobodies if you are in charge of a family? All I am saying is is Michael Franzese is a America of Italian descent who became a gangster and did much better in the end than 99% of gangsters. And if you can find me any LCN figure who never bent or broke a ciminal rule such as ratting or one who did not ever fuck someone over in an attempt to help themselves than by all means I will say that that Italian American gangster is the best lol
Last edited by Primo; 08/05/14 11:32 PM.
I've walked along the red canal of mars I've known kings and king makers Poets painters and paupers I've danced danced on the rings of Saturn Still your pilgrim soul is the only thing that ever mattered
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: Beanshooter]
#794340
08/06/14 01:46 AM
08/06/14 01:46 AM
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 400 It's cold in the north
Primo
Capo
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Capo
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 400
It's cold in the north
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You also don't know hnow what information and inteligence he gave the Feds. Franzese could have provied them with names and ranks of crews, family structure, rackets, bookmakers, loansharks, businesses and contruction companies on record, corrupt cops, Labor unions, judges, politicians. and other valuable intelligence information that he as a skipper and adopted son of Sonny had access to . That info is very damaging. That is what I think was Franzese worth. Yea so damaging that with all that info it took the drug addict son to help put the dad away more than a decade later? Yea that info Michael gave them really sealed the deal. Now take someone like Leonetti. He ratted and became an informant. He still lives in hiding and even takes protective measures to physically alter his appearance. He lives in hiding because he is considered a RAT and could be killed. Michael Franzese on the other hand appears on television under his name and goes all over the world talking to people. He does not hide who he knows or what he does. And guess what? He is not in witness protection or claiming to have a hit out on him for being a rat. Yet he is this huge rat that helped feed tons of information and yada yada yada
I've walked along the red canal of mars I've known kings and king makers Poets painters and paupers I've danced danced on the rings of Saturn Still your pilgrim soul is the only thing that ever mattered
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: HenryHauglad]
#794375
08/06/14 05:24 AM
08/06/14 05:24 AM
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Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 134
Bugsyvegas1930
Made Member
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Made Member
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 134
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Personally, I feel that the most successful gangsters are the ones who avoid the can and get rich after investing their illegal money into legitimate businesses. There is a guy by the name of Antonio Ripepi, died in 2000 at the age of 98. He was one of the most feared and respected Capo's in Pittsburgh and was still getting envelopes through his son in law, John Bazzano Jr. up until the day he died. On top of that, he owned the largest vending machine company in Western Pennsylvania that did over $6 million per year and owned a cement block company that did over $12 million per year. His other son in law was Costenze "Stan" Valenti, former boss of the Rochester family. Ripepi helped the Valenti brothers break off from Pittsburgh to start their own family in Rochester, NY and brokered the deal with Buffalo to allow Rochester to be independent of Buffalo. He was also tied to the Corbi brothers in Baltimore, both guys being made into the Gambino's. Most people have never heard of him, but he amassed a fortune between his legitimate businesses and his illegal gambling and loansharking rackets.
I'm certainly not saying that Ripepi is the "most successful" as I am just providing an example of a gangster who did it the right way, accumulating a net worth of well over $40 million dollars, both his sons are medical doctors, two of his daughters married high ranking mob members and he never went to prison after 78 years in the rackets.
Last edited by Bugsyvegas1930; 08/06/14 05:41 AM.
Uncle Charlie once said; "Don't get into pissing matches with skunks."
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: Beanshooter]
#794445
08/06/14 01:31 PM
08/06/14 01:31 PM
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 400 It's cold in the north
Primo
Capo
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Capo
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 400
It's cold in the north
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Primo, we are all entitled to our opinion. So lets leave it at, that we will agree to disagree. yes
I've walked along the red canal of mars I've known kings and king makers Poets painters and paupers I've danced danced on the rings of Saturn Still your pilgrim soul is the only thing that ever mattered
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: Moe_Tilden]
#798695
08/27/14 03:43 PM
08/27/14 03:43 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,296 Throggs Neck
pizzaboy
The Fuckin Doctor
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The Fuckin Doctor

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,296
Throggs Neck
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Remember when Paul Sorvino was struggling with the Vario role in Goodfellas and doubting his ability to play the character until he looked at his reflection in the mirror and scared himself?
These method actors.... Paul Sorvino ain't even a good looking guy. But next to the real Paul Vario he looked like a runway model in Milan. Same goes for Ray Liotta and Henry Hill. And I've only seen a photo of the real Karen, but she was no Lorraine Bracco. But if you make a film with all ugly people, I guess no one would go see it.
"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: HenryHauglad]
#814126
11/17/14 08:26 PM
11/17/14 08:26 PM
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Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,442
Alfa Romeo
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 1,442
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My topstop for the greatest mobster in history goes to Tony Accardo
Reason - He experienced and ruled the golden age, holds a record of controling a family / 1947(?)-1992 and he died right before, as most people would say 'it all went to shit''
He only experienced the good years and not the shitty FBI trials etc that came a couple years after. Luciano is on my second place.
Agree? I have to disagree. If by greatest Italian American mobster you mean both the most significant and the strongest, I gotta go with Salvatore Lucania. In second place is Meyer Lansky, but he wasn't Italian, so that skips us down to the number three most important and powerful mobster, which would make him the 2nd most powerful and significant Italian American mafioso and that is none other than Frank Costello himself. Lucania was the change agent without which there would have been no Commission. After that he demonstrates that he is head and shoulders in influence above any other living mafiosi by springing himself from prison(!). Then from his base of operations in Italy he helps forge the link between the Sicilian Mafia, the Union Corse, and the American Cosa Nostra, not to mention the OSS. He actually transcended the mafia. He was more than mafia. Meyer. Without Meyer, there would be no Luciano. It was his and Lucky's brain power added together that made him and Lucky twice as smart as everyone else, cause two heads are often smarter than one. Meyer was also Lucky's muscle, the power behind the throne. Without Meyer, you don't have the successful elimination of Masseria and Maranzano to be replaced by the Commission. You don't have the reformation and modernization of the mafia. So Meyer was of the utmost significance as a boss and he was as untouchable as Luciano himself which meant he was powerful. Forget about it. Frank Costello was the connecting link between the upper world and the Underworld. Frank gave the mob all the power it needed that a gun could not give, which was the majority of it's power. And whoever heard of a non violent Godfather of a mafia family? You have to be mighty powerful to not even need a gun or demonstrate violent tendencies. In Luciano's parlance, "you gotta be pretty tough". Real power is not needing to use it. And that's what Frank was.
"For us, rubbin'out a Mustache was just like makin' way for a new building, like we was in the construction business."
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: HenryHauglad]
#814134
11/17/14 09:33 PM
11/17/14 09:33 PM
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Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,021 far, northwest
Binnie_Coll
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,021
far, northwest
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good choice alfa, frank Costello for sure, now there is someone in Chicago that was comparable to new yorks lansky. namely murray Humphries, he was the power behind many rackets in Chicago.
he was the one who showed all the families how to use the 5th amendment, but, frank Costello was shrewd, and a top earner, he gets my vote.
" watch what you say around this guy, he's got a big mouth" sam giancana to an outfit soldier about frank Sinatra. [ from the book "my way"
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Re: Greatest Italian-American Mobster in history.
[Re: HenryHauglad]
#814516
11/20/14 10:33 AM
11/20/14 10:33 AM
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 22
Skygee
Wiseguy
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Wiseguy
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 22
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Bosses who did it the right way, low profile, minimal or no time in prison include:
James Lanza- San Francisco over 30 years Frank Amato Sr- Pittsburgh 20 years John LaRocca- Pittsburgh 28 years Anthony Milano- Cleveland 40+ yearsm John Scalish- Cleveland 32 years Russell Bufalino- Northeastern PA 40+ years Michael Genovese- Pittsburgh 22 years Jack Tocco- Detroit 35 years Luigi Manocchio- New England 13 years Stefano Maggadino- Buffalo 52 years Joe Ligambi- Philadelphia 13+ years Joe Todaro- Buffalo 28 years Joe Zerilli- Detroit 40+ years Nick Civella- Kansas City 30 years Joe Civello- Dallas 15 years Joe Cerrito- San Jose 19 years
I don't know why everybody only mentions NY & Chicago bosses, there are plenty more who had major influence and were able to escape law enforcement with minimal or no time in prison. Funny how all of these families you mention are today extinct, except from Detroit and Philly.. Only reason why these families are extinct is not because of the FEDS but because they didn't make guys, they could have made everyone that walked through the door of their Social if they wanted to. The East Coast is seriously a breeding ground for this type of shit. The NY families are influential sure, but no where near as influential or powerful as they used to be just like this family. The Colombo's are a dying family and at this rate, they're all going to fall one after another. However they'll return under a different name, it's bound to happen. But the NY families have the ability to make all of these guys, otherwise they'd be dead right now. The FBI really has nothing to shut down a family, it's all numbers. The Boss gets locked up, they move the next guy in. It's a system that the FBI can't stop... a system that'll burn itself out in due time.
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