You're forgetting about Joe Dogs. Of course, while they were yelling at him they were also beating him with a baseball bat .

I think nj exclusion list got him as 6'4. usually that's guys you don't slap around an being a ww2 guy+chins buddy. maybe a drunken brawl, but that type of stuff probably have you flying off the top of them high rises.

I think lil al testified at benny eggs window trial, probably had some words. Colombo guys aloi and the capo recently in the news going to his lesbians daughter wedding DeLuca were in the trial to.

Maybe even 6'5. He was a fucking giant for his generation .

The story is utter bullshit.

?

Don't know how to post the photo but a quick google will show a photo of Venero in handcuffs by a bearded agent. Guy looks TINY.

Sonny, here is the article with the Pic:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ge...rticle-1.377977

Mangano´s bread and butter was gambling. He was a known bookmaker. He had numerous arrests on gambling charges back in the day. He also operated a New York City clothing store, Resource Sales Inc, a store that was formerly operated by Funzi Tieri. In 1981 til 1982, Mangano was behind bars for refusing to testify before a New York federal grand jury. Around this time he was also apparently investigated for corruption in the Dallas based Army Air Force Exchange Service and their links with companies that dealt with them. However, Mangano´s links to these companies are unclear.

Mangano was also known as a heavy gambler and often visited Atlantic City. He was on a "grey list" of 60 to 70 names of individuals and the casinos were told not to extend credit or complimentaries to those people on the list. Once casino officials of the Golden Nugget told an obstnate Mangano when he was in town, that their instructions came from the gaming division. Amazingly, Mangano returned to the casino not long after with a letter from the same gaming division stating it never told the Golden Nugget not to extend credit to Mangano. Two years later however, Mangano was placed on the Black list, banning him from the Atlantic City´s casinos.

At the labor racketeering trial of John DiGilio some surveillance tapes were played. On them, DiGilio spoke about Mangano. He said "Bayonne is mine. Don´t nobody, you know, not anybody, not Benny Mangano...I´m the only tough guy in Bayonne. For years I´ve been chiseling, come to a grand a week." Later on the tapes DiGilio asked "How did Benny wound up in Bayonne? Benny thinks Bayonne is his. That´s the way he spoke take money off my fucking guys and nobody gets nothing." DiGilio was found not guilty in that trial but was found murdered floating in Hackensack River soon after his acquittal.

I was being ironic, Sonny. I guess I should really start using those smileys a little more sensibly .

We def need an irony bhoothan.

Any photos of Mangano as a young man exist?

Gigante and Gotti must have felt like they were teaching Kindergarten with all these feisty midgets like Gravano, Amuso, Casso and Mangano scuttling around.

My bad. I have no idea I'll have to look in the book. If I had to take a guess probably the 60s or 70s. Being that it was before al got made. I'm sure pizza is right that it never happened but the bottom line is we just don't know because we weren't there.

It never fucking happened. Period. Now let's move on.

Little Jimmy is shorter than all of them. But he was just as feared. If not more so.

Jimmy Ida?

PB I'm curious about Ida...aside from consigliere do you know what he was into? Was he a heavy n feared guy?

Ida extorted one of the Jackson sisters didn't he?

Did you know mangano personally? I understand the validity of what Al is saying is very shaky and all but you seem very passionate in defending Benny eggs. For the record I'll take your word for it that it never happened because I know you know you're mob history.

Was Jimmy Ida in the tampers or am I thinking someone else?

I might be thinking about Jimmy Emma actually.

The dude flew bomber missions in WW2 and was a high ranking Genovese crime family member. Lol he was definitely somewhat tough.

Exactly. He was a tail gunner. He came home a decorated war hero (and again, that doesn't excuse his becoming a gangster). Point is, he wasn't just respected in the street.

And being a tail gunner then was one of the most dangerous and deadly jobs a guy could have to do. Most never made it back. But like you said that doesn't excuse what he chose to do after.

Of course not. I'm not a mob apologist. But there's more to some of these guys than meets the eye. There's a lot of gray area with most people. This guy did some good in his life. That's all I'm trying to say. Whether or not he did more good than bad is between him and God .

And most tail gunners seem to have been little guys (just going by some of those old WW 2 pictures). Maybe the rear cock pits were small? But that's another reason I sarcastically said that he was a "giant" for a guy of his generation .

Yea I think they wanted someone who could fit in those things and small guys were the best. I definitely don't know if I could of done what those guys did that is for sure. My grandpa was in Sicily during the war fixing bombers and he would tell me how the villagers near their base would come during the day to sell food etc. Really interesting and a lot of these guys are not with us anymore.

Yes PB the quarters he had to maneuver in was very small and that's why I had to laugh at the 6'5" comment. I'd say tail gunners that tall would be pretty rare if not extinct

He was big downtown. I mean, he was Matty's successor in the downtown crew when Matty went away in the late '80s. As far as his being a "heavy guy," I think that says it all.

He was pretty active in with the concrete and the bricklayers back then, too. And the masons were mostly Westchester based, so that really extended his domain from lower Manhattan all the way up to Westchester, which is pretty rare. He eventually bought a farm sized property up in Bedford and lived there part time. But he was still a Little Italy go to the bone.

He was a sharp guy. Very feared. Very well respected. But he made a huge mistake in not taking that plea in '96 or '97. He'd be out now, and he'd probably be on the short list to be a panel member.

Oh, lastly, fun fact about Jimmy: He's one of the RARE Italian Americans of Northern Italian descent to end up so big in the American mob (back then, anyway, today they'll make anyone lol). I'm pretty sure his family was from Milan.

Exactly. And even if you've never seen him, there are a few pictures of him available if you follow this stuff. If the guy was sitting on a big old Caddy, he'd look like a hood ornament.

That's what made me curious too. I thought it was a wikipedia joke.

I'm not certain of the town. Maybe my father would know. But I'm fairly certain his family was from up north.

Pizzaboy, sorry for the off-topic, is your inbox full? Because my messages are marked as unread, just checking if you received them.