Our Interview with Anthony Arillotta Part 4 of 5:Inside the Springfield Mob Betrayals and Orders from New York

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This podcast contains discussions of violence and other subject matter that
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may be triggering or disturbing to some audiences.
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Listener discretion is strongly advised.
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I told him the message. I said, Bruno, they're going to call you down to New
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York next week. And he was like, how do you know? That's when he told me, you got your butt.
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And so, you know, where were you? How did you go down there?
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Why didn't I get notified?
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You know, so they were calling him to go down there. And what they were going
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to tell him was, you're getting, we're taking you down.
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You know, they were going to use the excuse, he drank it too much.
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And whatever other excuse that they were going to use with him,
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you know, it's just, we're not comfortable with you.
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And we're going to put Felix up in that position.
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And that's what they were going to do. And Felix was just, he's a dummy.
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He doesn't know how to make any money. And he's just going to be a lightning.
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So everybody that knows that knows that, right? Right, right, right, right.
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And so I'm going to be, and that's what the Genovese family is good at.
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They hide, insulate their bosses and everything. Yeah.
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And then, so Felix is going to have to report secretly to me,
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but no one's going to know that.
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So, so Bruno was going to get called down to New York and get told that.
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Now, in the meantime, as all this shit's going on and don't forget,
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there's a lot of shit that happened. You know, we, we were involved in another murder.
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We're involved in shootings. I'm involved in another murder.
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All this is going on when.
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Meaning brother-in-law. Yeah. my brother-in-law killed him yeah
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and so all this stuff is and murder conspiracies you know like you know my best
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friend i grew up with they told us to kill him prior to bruno and then yeah
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so what changed yeah louis santos they told us to kill him and this was like
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i said there's no friends in that life you know we're friends with him and now
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we were getting an order so.
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All this has taken place and then and i'm in a war with the other this other
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faction that was you know informants to you know yeah so i'm trying to kill them and so uh,
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All of a sudden, in 2000, there was an arrest with the bosses,
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Babish Chevelli, Anthony D'Lebo, it was like 10. Yeah.
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Milio Fusco. Yeah. So they were getting sentenced now in 2003.
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And when they went to get sentenced, the kid, Milio Fusco, is going to get an
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extra year onto a sentence because he's a mate guy. He says,
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I'm not a mate guy. He denied it.
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And the government produces a 302, which is a paperwork saying that.
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We read about that. Yeah.
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Did you read it? Yep. Okay. Well, we read about it. Yep.
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So it's a 302 saying that Emilio is a made guy. How do they know?
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Al Bruno was talking to an agent named Cliff Hedges and he was telling him.
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You don't do that, right? That's a no-no. Right. So, I mean,
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whether they met by, you know, was he an informant with a number?
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I don't believe so. I don't think so.
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But regardless of that, was he an informant with a number?
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You still, the FBI comes up to him and says, hey, do you know who robbed the bank over there?
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Yeah it was joey and tommy you know
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is that the same thing you're not an informant but you told the
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fbi who the right right right so that's
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what bruno did he you know if you ask any street guy that knows anything about
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the streets what bruno did was you know an informant move you know you know
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so and what he was trying to do and just on his defense he was trying to cultivate
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the fbi sort of like what Bulger had in, in, uh,
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with Boston and sort of like what he had, what, you know, what the Jennifer,
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what the Western mass faction had with Maddie Ryan, who was the state U.S.
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Attorney. That's right.
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That's right. That's right. So he was trying to cultivate him. I get that.
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But at the same time, you just got your, a made guy, your brother, an extra year.
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And he told them who the other members were and he got into other details and things like that.
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Right. Like, all right, so anybody on the streets knows that paper is going
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to get him killed back then, right?
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Emilio takes the paper. They get into an argument down with a Serentina cotton
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shop, a yelling match, right?
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And then Bruno's got this lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, who was the worst attorney.
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He's like the big powerhouse attorney out of Boston. The absolute worst.
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Everyone he gets, gets life for 40 years in prison.
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And he's such a, this guy's such a, an ego weirdo.
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Like, anyways, he was representing Amelia on the case.
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So he knows the paper exists. And he's one of those guys. If you cooperate,
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Frank Salemi cooperated. I took all of his stuff and moved it out.
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But all of a sudden now, he knows Bruno's, that paperwork desist and he protected Bruno.
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So they all pick and choose, you know, who they, which guy cooperated and did
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this and did that and blah, blah, blah.
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So that paper comes out. Now Emilio's mad. He shows it to me.
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He shows it to Felix, right?
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Now we're both made guys. and Felix takes it with Emilio, goes to the pay phone,
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calls up that informant, John Bologna, and tells him, said, hey,
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Bruno con spion, like in Italian means stool pigeon, right?
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And I got some paperwork on him. And they already was the acting boss.
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And there's other two bosses too, Larry Dentico and Mario Giacatti.
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They told him to put him the paper down.
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So Felix goes down and brings the paper. Okay.
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Then Felix comes back. Then they ask Felix to come down again.
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And then Felix comes back. I said, what happened?
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They told Felix to kill Bruno. That was the order.
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So the three bosses seen the paper. That was it. Now, who did they tell to kill Bruno? Felix.
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Right not me right because felix is the is the right
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so they tell felix now who do i take orders from
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new york yeah right they made me already right i
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don't take orders from felix so who do they tell to kill if they want i take
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orders from new york if they wanted me to kill them they would have told me
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i already told you directly directly right and and this way you will limit because
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when you're going to kill somebody the less people that know the better you're
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not going to tell everybody because it's more people involved in the conspiracy
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that can flip and get you a hundred years in prison, life in prison.
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So Felix got told that. But Felix isn't capable of killing him.
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He doesn't have a crew that is capable of killing. I got the biggest crew,
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the most violent crew with all the killers. He doesn't have any.
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So now he gets told. He tells me, oh, they want us to kill Bruno. I said, no, no, no.
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You got told. I don't take orders from you. You got told to kill Bruno.
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I'm trying to kill this Nancy piece of shit family.
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That's what I'm doing. I don't care about Bruno. I don't care. You've got to know that.
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I wasn't told. I take orders from him. Don't tell me what to do.
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I'm not. See you later, right? That's it. So then a couple of weeks go by.
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We kill my brother-in-law.
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We're shooting. I'm trying to kill this other kid, shooting him at a downtown
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intersection, having guys waiting for him at his restaurant to kill him.
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And then I get called down to New York. Now, I'm not supposed to know anything
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because if Felix was capable of killing Bruno, he,
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fields would have came back killed bruno i wouldn't
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know nothing right and i would have woke up i would
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have woke up that day and said oh my god bruno got killed thinking like who
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did it right right and then i wouldn't have gotten known anything right i would
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have been like one of everyone else not involved in the conspiracy but because
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fields couldn't do it they call me down i gotta act like i don't know what's
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going on because i'm you're talking about murder here,
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you're talking about murder like you don't talk about murder and then already
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just so you know you don't ever talk outside the made guys that are or the people
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that are going to commit the murder he's talking to an informant john bologna
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john bologna is an informant he's not a made guy,
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two families told us that he was an informant the gambinos and the patriarcha
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said that that guy with the beard john bologna is an informant i asked permission
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to kill him already protecting him so not only so afterwards i'll tell you why
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what happened i you know but i'm thinking like Artie is knows what he's doing
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because that's what they do.
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Like Carmen Persico, they said he was an informant. I believe Carmen Persico
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knew what Greg Scarpa was doing for 30 years as an informant. Yeah.
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I believe Persico knew about it because it came right in the front page and
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Persico was an informant.
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Why would they put that on the front page? They had documents at Persico because
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I think he was getting the okay.
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Scarpa was getting the okay to do it. So I'm thinking the same thing like Whitey Bulger.
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You know, you've got guys that are bosses that, you know, are flipping.
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Were you thinking at this point, maybe Artie's?
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When I got arrested later, I did. When I got arrested, yes, 100%, I got Artie's left.
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So at this time, Felix isn't capable of killing him. I get called Mama.
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He says, you know what's going on? I said, well, we got to clip Bruno.
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He tells me to get involved. And he tells me not to get my hands dirty,
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but help plan it and help get it done. Because he knew I had a crew that could get it done, right?
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And so that's what I did. We came back and it took a couple of weeks and Bruno
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ended up getting killed.
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So bruno gets killed is that in in
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springfield is that a big shake up is this like a big thing is this
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like i feel like al bruno i just feel like the name just maybe just because
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of the time that he was there but this was national news yeah bruno was bruno
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was known nationally you know he was always in papers very flamboyant gangster
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he was you know like a large and a life Was he flashy?
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Very flashy. Was he like John? Was he like John Gotti? Like very flashy in the
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sense of- He was just like Gotti, but only not as brash as him.
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I got you. You know, very, more of a classier version, you know,
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more of a, something like that.
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You know, Gotti was like, you know, just his walk and his look and Eric Bruno
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was more like flashy and like that, but more, you knew his presence was there, but more quieter.
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Wider. Smarter. Yeah. Yeah.
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It was national news. It was a big thing. It was like the biggest murder to
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happen outside of New York and in mob circles. Right.
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That was like a Paul Castellano murder, but only in our area. Huge. Yeah.
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But it just boggles my mind. And maybe it's just the hierarchy of everything,
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of the fact that you guys go to New York or you take orders only from New York
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when it comes to killings and things like that.
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But as we talk about the story more, it's like, how much bigger can this get
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where it's like, okay, New York wasn't the only heavy hitter.
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Like, if you look at the Springfield, like, if you look at what's going on here.
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Like, New York just always gets the glamour. It's always John Gotti. It's always that pro.
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It's always the bigger, larger than life. But what you guys were doing here was huge. Oh, yeah.
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Mafia-wise, big shit. Right. And not only that, the money, though.
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Listen, I'll put our money up that we were making here right up to what they
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were making in New York. Like, cause you don't understand we didn't have,
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we didn't have to split it with anybody. It was just one family.
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So we have control over the same rackets that they have control.
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Yes. It's a very smaller area, but we don't have to share it.
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And then we got, you know, they got say 10,000 guys fighting over it where we
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got 1000 guys, you know, so, and, and it's a large area.
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Come on. You're talking mass, Western mass, central mass in Connecticut. That's a big deal.
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Huge. Yeah. So we got all the access to the concrete industry,
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the cement industry, the garbage, all the sports gambling, the numbers business,
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the loan sharking business,
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the slot machines, the casino business.
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We got access. And then the legitimate businesses.
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The strip club businesses were through the roof, the money that they made.
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We had five alone in Springfield.
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Name them for me. Just out of curiosity. The Mardi Gras? Of course.
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Okay um yeah you know they're there but i have center stage 418 sure the showroom
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which was lace teddy bees yeah fifth alarm yeah,
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The one, I think it's called the show bar now. Yeah. That's the only one left.
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And yeah. So, and they were all like, and then you got going into Connecticut, the Mardi Gras too.
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Yeah. Then you got the, uh, you got the electric blue. Oh yeah.
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And these were all going to be ours.
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So when I, I don't get arrested in 03. Yeah. Like then you got minks now,
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but it was the gold club. That was ours.
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Right. That was the weasel Johnny Brazil. Yeah.
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And Richie Finnelli is the one that Johnny Brazil routed on.
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You know, it's just sort of in those. Okay. And that's in the newspaper.
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It came straight out in the newspaper.
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And so, so they had the gold club. Now I'm taking over an O3.
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I'm going to get all the strip clubs. That's what I want. I don't want nothing
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to do with the streets. I want all the strip clubs. What about nightclubs?
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Yeah. Nightclubs. You like that? You like that show?
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Yeah. Yeah. But the strip clubs was my thing because, you know,
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there was so many avenues of money streaming coming in. Yeah. It's insane.
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They were making a hundred thousand a week at the Mardi Gras one before they
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even sold Boozer out. Oh, boom.
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You know? so so i wanted
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the strip clubs and i was going to get the both gold clubs because
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it was uncle al's then it was gold club then it became means
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thing this guy ended up getting up getting into
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it but if i don't get arrested in 03 and all
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the shit doesn't happen they were our we were already
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involved with them in those clubs so we ended up
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we grabbed them you had the the one in vernon cahoots
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you know then then you're going through down through
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the uh still getting all electric one yeah yeah well
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someone just bought that now yeah that's gonna be open uh it's
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called the den is that what it is now yeah yeah and uh
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and then you keep going down connecticut like you keep going into bridgeport
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there's those the ones there now this guy from minks just bought two more in
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new haven you got uh stanford and you got you know mystique and you know so
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all the way down to the whole entire Newington, there's some.
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What's it, the, I forget the name of it, but you know, there's all throughout
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Connecticut. Those were all controlled by us.
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Right. And all of the nightclubs. So you, not all the nightclubs,
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but you know, a lot of the nightclubs we're doing business in.
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So if we don't own them, maybe we've got silent partners in on them.
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I got it. Or we're doing business with the guy somehow, some way.
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I got you. You know? Yeah.
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Springfield. So, so, so strip clubs, nightclubs, Springfield,
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Connecticut. Yeah. Yeah.
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I mean, you know, and, and for the majority of it and not to mention,
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you know, the restaurant industry, you know, silent partners and them.
00:14:26.754 --> 00:14:29.714
I was involved with like a dozen of them throughout my, you know, restaurants.
00:14:30.634 --> 00:14:34.054
And so, and then when you go out and get treated, they don't,
00:14:34.114 --> 00:14:35.034
they don't ever charge you.
00:14:35.114 --> 00:14:37.594
You go to the restaurant, you don't ever get a check half the time,
00:14:37.634 --> 00:14:40.074
you know, half the time, unless you're going to like a Morton steakhouse.
00:14:40.194 --> 00:14:43.714
And even when you go to them places, like I had my pictures on the wall,
00:14:43.854 --> 00:14:47.074
we would, we would get after dinner, drink, drinks free. You know,
00:14:47.154 --> 00:14:51.174
I was playing golf with the, with the owner and managers of the Mortons,
00:14:51.314 --> 00:14:52.294
the actual owner, owner.
00:14:52.694 --> 00:14:54.894
And so like, they treated us like Kings there.
00:14:55.764 --> 00:15:00.744
And, you know, we just kept, you know, branching out and it was just a very lucrative.
00:15:01.444 --> 00:15:04.564
That's why I always say we had an empire within the empire. You did.
00:15:04.784 --> 00:15:08.004
You know, because you have to answer to nobody when it came to money.
00:15:08.064 --> 00:15:11.824
Only thing was they killing, making new guys, or if there was a beef amongst
00:15:11.824 --> 00:15:14.324
other families and New York had to get involved.
00:15:14.324 --> 00:15:17.964
I mean, I almost feel like in a lot of ways, New York was kind of foolish for
00:15:17.964 --> 00:15:22.364
not, for overlooking you guys or being like, dude, that, that,
00:15:22.364 --> 00:15:26.184
that Genovese faction out in Springfield at Connecticut's making some shitload
00:15:26.184 --> 00:15:28.464
of money and why no money's flowing back to us?
00:15:28.584 --> 00:15:32.124
Like, it's like they slept on you guys or is it not? They, you know,
00:15:32.224 --> 00:15:33.104
it's not that they slept.
00:15:33.324 --> 00:15:37.944
It's like we had our territory. And like I said, they let in and squeezed their captains and soldiers.
00:15:38.564 --> 00:15:44.424
And so this was our area. They had, you know, a big area up there and it was
00:15:44.424 --> 00:15:47.004
just no money went down there.
00:15:47.124 --> 00:15:50.724
It was just, that was, and I believe it's because of the, the,
00:15:50.744 --> 00:15:55.864
the power and the money that was coming in that they had. Right. You know, so.
00:15:56.444 --> 00:15:59.504
They had so much money. Now, don't forget, we didn't, it's not that we didn't
00:15:59.504 --> 00:16:03.624
work out deals too now. You know, like a business deal together,
00:16:04.144 --> 00:16:08.844
you know, like say a real estate deal or, you know, we got a trash company in
00:16:08.844 --> 00:16:10.864
Connecticut that we're going to be doing business with.
00:16:11.004 --> 00:16:15.204
And, you know, so you have maybe a part of the Genovese of New York,
00:16:15.324 --> 00:16:17.404
you know, with something like that. That's different.
00:16:17.624 --> 00:16:23.604
When you're organizing deals and businesses like that, that's a different part.
00:16:23.724 --> 00:16:26.544
But no money just went down and said, you got to kick off like that.
00:16:26.904 --> 00:16:30.264
You know, we're going to buy this. So. Yeah.
00:16:32.744 --> 00:16:35.724
Okay so you're the boss bruno's gone
00:16:35.724 --> 00:16:38.584
well there's felix felix is there
00:16:38.584 --> 00:16:43.924
right so when does he kind of like when does that end with felix like yeah when
00:16:43.924 --> 00:16:48.764
is it like okay anthony's anthony's the guy not like the whole time it was just
00:16:48.764 --> 00:16:53.084
felix was just and he knew it like he he didn't have no rackets on the street
00:16:53.084 --> 00:16:57.964
that he didn't make no money on the street everything that he had.
00:16:58.604 --> 00:17:02.504
Was off of something that i was already doing and
00:17:02.504 --> 00:17:06.204
like so for instance we're going to shake down these not shake
00:17:06.204 --> 00:17:09.464
down we were getting involved in the vending business yes
00:17:09.464 --> 00:17:15.544
so we kicked babba out we took over that business so we took over the the rackets
00:17:15.544 --> 00:17:20.184
for the vending business the stoker poker machines plus legitimate vending business
00:17:20.184 --> 00:17:23.544
we ended up buying it for like seven eight hundred thousand and that rendered
00:17:23.544 --> 00:17:27.984
a good result good right so there was this other company that have like 50 fiends
00:17:27.984 --> 00:17:29.104
out. We're making a lot of money.
00:17:29.664 --> 00:17:32.584
So I went to them and I said, listen, we're getting involved in the business.
00:17:32.804 --> 00:17:39.984
You know, if you want to give us four or five locations, we're going to go after your other locations.
00:17:40.084 --> 00:17:41.284
And what I mean after them is
00:17:41.284 --> 00:17:46.464
like, this place right here got three machines. Yeah. We know the owner.
00:17:46.724 --> 00:17:50.324
If I come in here and I say, hey, can I put my machines and take theirs out?
00:17:50.384 --> 00:17:52.984
I go, sure, Anthony, no problem. I know you better than them.
00:17:53.304 --> 00:17:54.504
I say, I didn't know the owner.
00:17:55.125 --> 00:17:57.925
Can I put my machines in there? Well, I'm already doing business with those
00:17:57.925 --> 00:18:02.625
guys. All right, what's the take with that? 50-50, I'll give you 60, 40.
00:18:02.905 --> 00:18:06.445
You take 60, I'll take 40. I'll give you 70, 30. I'll give you 80,
00:18:06.545 --> 00:18:07.965
20. Just want to get in there. Get in there.
00:18:08.145 --> 00:18:11.545
So I tell them the business.
00:18:11.925 --> 00:18:16.945
And so that's what I was getting involved in. So Felix comes up and Felix goes,
00:18:17.045 --> 00:18:19.205
hey, I'm going to go shake down those guys. Because that's his thing.
00:18:19.305 --> 00:18:22.045
He doesn't know how to, you know, hustle and make money.
00:18:23.705 --> 00:18:26.425
I'm going to go shake them down. and I said, go do what you want to do.
00:18:26.505 --> 00:18:29.305
I go, I'm going in the business. I said, so you can do what you want.
00:18:29.405 --> 00:18:32.045
So that was our release.
00:18:33.245 --> 00:18:38.365
Do what you want. I don't care what you do, but you're not going to get involved
00:18:38.365 --> 00:18:40.565
in anything I do or stop me from doing anything.
00:18:40.825 --> 00:18:45.205
Or if I'm involved now and once I say I did get involved, then I would stop
00:18:45.205 --> 00:18:47.065
you from doing that because now they're involved with me.
00:18:47.265 --> 00:18:49.725
But they weren't yet. So that's why I didn't care what you did.
00:18:50.905 --> 00:18:54.085
And it must have been like everybody around there kind of knew, even though,
00:18:54.685 --> 00:18:57.385
felix is there like you're the guy and that doesn't need
00:18:57.385 --> 00:19:00.445
to be said right like the guys that needed to know they knew
00:19:00.445 --> 00:19:03.305
you know the one problem was like when uno did get
00:19:03.305 --> 00:19:06.565
killed and i had to come out and assert my power to take
00:19:06.565 --> 00:19:09.385
street stuff guys didn't know like baba didn't
00:19:09.385 --> 00:19:13.445
know i was a made guy so i'm coming to baba yeah so i'm coming to baba and saying
00:19:13.445 --> 00:19:20.745
yeah because see baba got chased baba got shelved shelved mean you know like
00:19:20.745 --> 00:19:25.005
nothing you're you're nothing one more and And because he pled guilty to being
00:19:25.005 --> 00:19:27.045
a mate guy in the Genovese meal.
00:19:27.385 --> 00:19:30.305
Because Babba was the boss when they got arrested. So in 2000,
00:19:30.465 --> 00:19:32.405
when he pled guilty, he said, yes, I'm a mate guy.
00:19:32.765 --> 00:19:35.845
So I got word back to New York. You know, they know he did it.
00:19:36.145 --> 00:19:38.665
So they said, take everything from him. So that's what I did.
00:19:38.725 --> 00:19:39.805
I took everything from Babba.
00:19:40.225 --> 00:19:44.265
So when I'm trying to do this, his workers are working for him.
00:19:44.425 --> 00:19:48.105
And here I am coming in and saying, no, the numbers business is mine.
00:19:48.605 --> 00:19:52.385
What do you mean? You're talking a notorious guy like Babba. Oh, shoot.
00:19:53.165 --> 00:19:55.885
And here I am. They don't even know I'm a made guy. And I'm coming in.
00:19:55.985 --> 00:20:00.645
Oh, yeah. This is my stuff now. So it had to get a little nasty. I'm sure.
00:20:01.105 --> 00:20:04.465
I had to tell them. It got violent.
00:20:05.585 --> 00:20:08.945
Because I'm a made guy. I kill people. I shot people. I shouldn't have to...
00:20:08.945 --> 00:20:12.705
If I tell you something, I already... You just fucking do it.
00:20:12.765 --> 00:20:15.505
I earn my stripes. Right. But they don't know I did that.
00:20:15.885 --> 00:20:18.205
They don't know I killed this. They don't know I killed that.
00:20:18.765 --> 00:20:22.165
I feel like you could be made. Me? Yeah. Watch out this. Yeah,
00:20:22.245 --> 00:20:23.145
I feel like you've been...
00:20:27.165 --> 00:20:31.645
It's just such a wild story. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
00:20:34.105 --> 00:20:36.585
I don't even know where to go from here. I can sit with you.
00:20:37.425 --> 00:20:38.565
So we talked about Connecticut.
00:20:39.365 --> 00:20:42.625
Let's talk about Connecticut a little bit. Now you're in there.
00:20:43.306 --> 00:20:46.346
What is connect what is the connecticut mafia like a lot of people don't
00:20:46.346 --> 00:20:49.266
realize a lot of people just i feel like say when you
00:20:49.266 --> 00:20:52.186
talk about mafia i always knew you
00:20:52.186 --> 00:20:55.246
know john gottie i had thanks john hat my dad got me
00:20:55.246 --> 00:20:59.026
john gottie was it that that's and
00:20:59.026 --> 00:21:01.886
if i heard not being here shitting out connecticut would never
00:21:01.886 --> 00:21:04.666
have known so tell us a little bit about
00:21:04.666 --> 00:21:07.526
that i mean it's connecticut mafia yeah connecticut was
00:21:07.526 --> 00:21:11.306
had a notorious presence there as well you know you
00:21:11.306 --> 00:21:14.066
know 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s even when i was a young
00:21:14.066 --> 00:21:16.786
kid throughout the 80s 90s you know
00:21:16.786 --> 00:21:19.766
harford was heavily organized from you
00:21:19.766 --> 00:21:26.486
know new haven big big crescent you know stanford bridgeport all the way up
00:21:26.486 --> 00:21:30.126
and down you had and you had multiple families operating out of connecticut
00:21:30.126 --> 00:21:36.266
you had a genovese colombo gambino patriarca so you had some notorious guys
00:21:36.266 --> 00:21:38.086
whitey Tropiano was when Murder,
00:21:38.246 --> 00:21:40.266
Inc., you know, involved with them. Yeah.
00:21:40.506 --> 00:21:44.946
He was, my uncle was best friend. My grandmother's brother, my Uncle Danny.
00:21:45.226 --> 00:21:48.846
Yeah. He was best friends with Whitey. They wanted my uncle to kill,
00:21:49.026 --> 00:21:50.246
set up Whitey to get killed.
00:21:50.586 --> 00:21:52.806
That order came from Raymond Patriartha Sr.
00:21:53.346 --> 00:21:56.786
And so, you know, when you've got an order like that, you had to do it.
00:21:56.846 --> 00:21:58.346
And if you didn't do it, you're a dead man.
00:21:58.746 --> 00:22:02.226
If who got that order? My Uncle Danny got an order to set him up.
00:22:02.386 --> 00:22:06.226
And he didn't do it. He ended up taking his own life. so Michael Danny killed
00:22:06.226 --> 00:22:11.446
himself on Christmas day rather than kill Whitey Troppiano and then Whitey Troppiano
00:22:11.446 --> 00:22:15.986
ended up getting killed anyways in the near future they killed him in the streets
00:22:15.986 --> 00:22:20.326
of New York City so they killed him anyways you had Billy Grass notorious,
00:22:21.286 --> 00:22:24.986
legend gangster ruthless as they call it I mean so you put these guys right
00:22:24.986 --> 00:22:28.906
up with New York wise guys one and the same if you took New York brought him
00:22:28.906 --> 00:22:31.906
there you took them brought him to North it would be one and the same you know,
00:22:32.449 --> 00:22:36.109
Billy Gross and Littorius. You had, you know, like in the Hartford area,
00:22:36.249 --> 00:22:39.169
you had a lot of patriarchals. You also had a lot of guys that were went up.
00:22:39.409 --> 00:22:42.789
You had Tony Bovey. Tony Bovey, big name in that.
00:22:43.289 --> 00:22:46.209
Frank Simitti. Yeah. Frank Simitti was a shooter.
00:22:46.789 --> 00:22:51.369
You know, you had a lot. Are you close to Tony Bovey? No, I sang out with. So it's funny.
00:22:51.489 --> 00:22:56.049
When I got shot by Bruno from getting caught with the marijuana in 96 to 98,
00:22:56.269 --> 00:23:00.089
I ended up hanging out in Hartford a lot, you know, outside and,
00:23:00.149 --> 00:23:01.369
you know, outskirts and everywhere.
00:23:01.369 --> 00:23:05.729
And I became friends with more maid guys and associates that were in the mob
00:23:05.729 --> 00:23:07.969
than I did when I was in the mob.
00:23:08.569 --> 00:23:14.009
And so me and Tony got really close. And then so Bruno ends up bringing me back around in 1998.
00:23:14.329 --> 00:23:17.649
He said, you all done selling drugs? I said, yeah. He called them narcotics.
00:23:17.729 --> 00:23:18.389
You know, it's marijuana.
00:23:20.069 --> 00:23:25.429
So I said, yeah. But anyways, in the meantime, I'm selling drugs with all the
00:23:25.429 --> 00:23:27.869
Connecticut guys. Rooster. Oh, yeah.
00:23:28.329 --> 00:23:31.849
Penelphrio. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Scott Anthony. Anthony, they called him Chicky,
00:23:32.349 --> 00:23:36.369
Anthony, I forget his last name, but good guy, sold them all the drugs,
00:23:36.409 --> 00:23:40.469
all the marijuana, you know, and, um, and you made lots of money together.
00:23:40.629 --> 00:23:43.569
So when we meet in the future, Bruno Hasbro go down to see, hey,
00:23:43.669 --> 00:23:46.209
you know, Tony Volko. I said, yeah, I go, I'm seeing him.
00:23:46.369 --> 00:23:49.209
Can you go down and tell him I come back like the next morning?
00:23:49.429 --> 00:23:52.049
He goes, did you go down and see the guy? Like I told you, did I go, yeah.
00:23:52.189 --> 00:23:55.729
I go, he was shocked. Like I did. He was, we met with Tony Volko and he came
00:23:55.729 --> 00:23:58.729
back. I was already friends with Tony Volko. He couldn't believe that.
00:23:59.469 --> 00:24:03.909
Exactly. But then we'd go out to dinner another time, and we'd go and meet Rooster
00:24:03.909 --> 00:24:05.989
with his guys in New Haven. Yeah.
00:24:06.289 --> 00:24:10.009
And me and Rooster shake hands like we'd meet him for the first time.
00:24:10.646 --> 00:24:13.886
Meanwhile, I sold them millions of dollars, him and the other guy,
00:24:13.966 --> 00:24:16.646
Anthony, work on marijuana. But you can't.
00:24:17.266 --> 00:24:19.686
Because then the first thing I'm going to do is like, how do you know each other?
00:24:20.426 --> 00:24:23.606
Right, right. How do you know each other? Yeah. That's such a slippery slope,
00:24:23.606 --> 00:24:27.346
man. Figuring out, like, can you imagine being in a room and I got to pretend I don't know you?
00:24:27.506 --> 00:24:30.486
I was in, I was in the rails in New York City. Yeah.
00:24:30.866 --> 00:24:34.746
And a Lucchese guy comes up to me that I sold, you know, a maid sale with the
00:24:34.746 --> 00:24:38.266
Lucchese's. It comes up and taps me on my shoulder. I'm with all bosses.
00:24:38.666 --> 00:24:42.706
Because we, our table was a Genevieve. I had the bosses of Providence,
00:24:42.806 --> 00:24:44.526
Boston, and New York there.
00:24:45.106 --> 00:24:48.446
And this guy taps me on the show. He goes, Anthony. His name was Ronnie.
00:24:48.586 --> 00:24:51.586
I said, hey, I went like this room real quick. And I turned because that's all
00:24:51.586 --> 00:24:53.346
I need is for Bruno to look with me.
00:24:53.786 --> 00:24:57.066
Him to say, you know, who's that? And how do you know a guy in New York City,
00:24:57.246 --> 00:24:59.426
you know, that's a made guy with the LeCasey fan.
00:24:59.726 --> 00:25:03.006
I'm going to be like. Are you nervous this shit? Yeah, I was nervous about that.
00:25:03.286 --> 00:25:05.646
Because, you know, I'm a boss. I'm not made at the time.
00:25:06.126 --> 00:25:10.046
And, you know, they're like, how you know Ronnie? You know, like, I would have been like.
00:25:12.926 --> 00:25:18.086
I would have been So you just played it off So you're just like yeah yeah And
00:25:18.086 --> 00:25:23.126
then his friend Frankie Another guy he was with the Genovese He said what the
00:25:23.126 --> 00:25:27.326
fuck are you doing Going up to him He's sitting with bosses everybody knows
00:25:27.326 --> 00:25:32.846
you're in the Bambania business and you're going up to him Saying hello and yeah He abused them,
00:25:34.506 --> 00:25:35.206
So cute,
00:25:37.008 --> 00:25:41.628
Billy Grasso. Yeah. Well, first of all, let's talk about, I don't know how much
00:25:41.628 --> 00:25:44.128
you know about that. I, I read a little bit about Eric Miller.
00:25:45.228 --> 00:25:49.108
Found him dead on Leonard street. Right. Is that a Billy Grasso type thing or. Yeah.
00:25:49.348 --> 00:25:52.968
Well, everyone knows the story with that. And he put his hands on Billy Grasso
00:25:52.968 --> 00:25:56.368
and like people don't realize what the mafia was like, first of all,
00:25:56.468 --> 00:25:59.728
Billy Grasso was a ruthless, notorious gangster.
00:25:59.908 --> 00:26:03.928
And in the eighties, the mafia was the most, I don't think there'll ever be
00:26:03.928 --> 00:26:09.808
an organization globally like that was that powerful in the United States especially.
00:26:10.248 --> 00:26:14.528
They were powerful in the United States. They had 19 families across the United States.
00:26:14.908 --> 00:26:18.648
It was just unbelievable. They raised like machines.
00:26:19.968 --> 00:26:25.008
I grew up, if you touched a mafia guy, you're a dead. We knew that growing up
00:26:25.008 --> 00:26:27.468
as kids. If you put your hands on a mafia guy, you're a dead kid.
00:26:28.068 --> 00:26:31.908
Now in the 2000s by mafia guys getting beat up, shot, this, that,
00:26:31.988 --> 00:26:35.408
and the other. But when we were growing up, especially in the 80s,
00:26:35.508 --> 00:26:37.848
if you touch a maid guy, you're dead.
00:26:38.408 --> 00:26:41.388
And that's what happened. Eric Miller, there was some fight at a restaurant
00:26:41.388 --> 00:26:44.468
early on that he knocked him out, I guess.
00:26:44.968 --> 00:26:49.508
Yeah. And yeah, and they ended up finding him in the car dead. Dead.
00:26:50.148 --> 00:26:55.848
And then the story goes, too. He was using like Italian racial slums or something like that, too.
00:26:56.368 --> 00:26:59.148
Eric Miller was. Yes. Yeah, that's right. He was using what?
00:26:59.268 --> 00:27:01.948
He was using like Italian. yeah he's been
00:27:01.948 --> 00:27:05.328
surprised like slurped oh was he yeah yeah
00:27:05.328 --> 00:27:08.128
yeah and he didn't you know no but he didn't know
00:27:08.128 --> 00:27:10.928
who billy was you know she's an old guy you
00:27:10.928 --> 00:27:13.688
know other guy this that the other and he's a boxer he
00:27:13.688 --> 00:27:17.688
shouldn't have even saw it being a boxer and you're you've got an older guy
00:27:17.688 --> 00:27:25.568
and you know ran his mouth let's circle back to you so now i mean i guess we
00:27:25.568 --> 00:27:29.028
should get i i don't know how much time I got to kind of think here from the
00:27:29.028 --> 00:27:32.068
time that you kind of take over now you're there Felix is there but,
00:27:32.846 --> 00:27:38.146
From the time that you're running the Genovese family to really the time that
00:27:38.146 --> 00:27:42.726
you potentially find a prison, all that. What goes down?
00:27:43.306 --> 00:27:47.566
Prison. Bad shit. When I got made in 03, everything bad happened after that.
00:27:49.606 --> 00:27:58.766
Murders, a ton of violence, multiple indictments I got, and prison sentence I did.
00:27:58.766 --> 00:28:01.786
You know so getting made for me and we
00:28:01.786 --> 00:28:04.826
said this before when i was i didn't need the mafia i
00:28:04.826 --> 00:28:09.906
was a millionaire prior to being a maid guy i had a crew of guys around me that
00:28:09.906 --> 00:28:17.146
were you know network of people that were my networking system um i didn't need
00:28:17.146 --> 00:28:22.826
the mafia and so the everything from oh three of getting made.
00:28:23.126 --> 00:28:25.526
It was just like everything.
00:28:26.666 --> 00:28:32.146
I got made in August. Bruno got killed in November. But we killed my brother.
00:28:32.686 --> 00:28:36.126
I pled guilty to conspiracy to kill my friend growing up.
00:28:36.426 --> 00:28:41.106
I pled guilty to conspiracy the Manzies during that time, right after that.
00:28:41.626 --> 00:28:44.746
Bruno gets killed. Two days later, I get indicted for a recall case.
00:28:45.166 --> 00:28:48.106
I get house, not house arrest, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. curfew.
00:28:48.546 --> 00:28:51.386
And then 2005, I get indicted again.
00:28:52.326 --> 00:28:54.706
2005, I get indicted again. They take me off the streets.
00:28:56.066 --> 00:29:00.146
That wraps up this episode of our mini-series with Anthony Aralada.
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The next episode we'll be publishing tomorrow, so make sure you're following
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the podcast so you don't miss it. Thanks for listening. We'll see you on the next one.