July 2, 2025 • 32 mins
One of the sole goals of the Mafia has always been to make money. Even in 2025, that is still true and though they aren't as powerful the Mob has many ways to create capital.
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Jeff Nadu is an American Mafia and organized crime researcher, podcaster and content creator. He has worked at Barstool Sports and was hired personally by Dave Portnoy. His podcast "The Sitdown" with Jeff Nadu has put out hundreds of biographies on various mobsters, gangsters and criminals. He's also personally interviewed mobsters like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Dom Cicale, Anthony Ruggiano Jr, Gene Borrello and others as well as US Prosecutor John Gleeson and FBI Agents Joaquin "Jack" Garcia and Michael Campi. He has been personally endorsed by former Gambino mob captain Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo, esteemed author RJ Roger, and former Colombo Crime Family captain Michael Franzese.
DISCLAIMER: My videos and podcasts are meant for entertainment and educational use. All material found in my videos reflect this use. ANY opinions and or statements of any guest is merely he/her's opinion.
If you enjoy our show, please hit the like button and make sure if you're new around here you subscribe as well!
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USE REFERRAL CODE- JEFFNADU
Jeff Nadu is an American Mafia and organized crime researcher, podcaster and content creator. He has worked at Barstool Sports and was hired personally by Dave Portnoy. His podcast "The Sitdown" with Jeff Nadu has put out hundreds of biographies on various mobsters, gangsters and criminals. He's also personally interviewed mobsters like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Dom Cicale, Anthony Ruggiano Jr, Gene Borrello and others as well as US Prosecutor John Gleeson and FBI Agents Joaquin "Jack" Garcia and Michael Campi. He has been personally endorsed by former Gambino mob captain Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo, esteemed author RJ Roger, and former Colombo Crime Family captain Michael Franzese.
DISCLAIMER: My videos and podcasts are meant for entertainment and educational use. All material found in my videos reflect this use. ANY opinions and or statements of any guest is merely he/her's opinion.
If you enjoy our show, please hit the like button and make sure if you're new around here you subscribe as well!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to the sit Down, a mafia history podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Here's your host, Jeff Nado.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What's up everybody, and welcome in to another edition of
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(00:44):
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sports Right now today, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna get
into another very interesting organized crime topic, and money, in
the end is the most important thing the mafia has.
In fact, for hundreds of years, the mob has ran
(02:07):
rough shot over neighborhoods in America with this whole goal
of making money.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
A question I'm asked all the time.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
In fact, I'm asked almost regularly, how does the Mafia
make money today? Well, they make money in very similar
ways they used to. What they do is adapt and
get with the times. The story of how the Mob
makes money today in five different ways.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Next on the sit down.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Now, one thing that is still prevalent, not as prevalent
as it once was, but still prevalent, is labor racketeering.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
What exactly is labor racketeering.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, it's the infiltration, domination, and or use of a
union or employee benefit plan for personal benefit by illegal, violent,
or fraudulent means. Now, we have talked about unions a
lot on this channel. It's important when we talk about
about the MOB. A union is obviously a collective of
people that work in a building trade and they have
(03:05):
a group at the top that deals with employee matters,
whether it's contracts or different rules or whatever. And there
are hundreds of unions in America and there are millions
of members groups like the Teamsters or the Plasters Union
or whatever, the ISLA. There's all sorts of unions and
(03:26):
the MOB has been able to infiltrate them for years.
Not only do they get access of employee benefits, but
it also leads to basically everything union involved, including control
of jobs, control of hours, their ability to extort union
organizers and heads of unions.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
It leads to things like no show.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Jobs, which allows people to basically take a salary by
not doing anything. And we saw that the infiltration of
unions led to the building of casinos through their control
of the Teamster's pension fund. You know, way back when
under Jimmy Hoffa. This is still going on today and
we see this in various indictments recently. We go back
(04:13):
to twenty twenty one, involving in late twenty twenty one
a indictment against the Colombo crime family, where we saw
people like this guy, a guy named Vinnie Unions.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
That's his nickname.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Why is he named Benny Unions, Well, because he's very
good at infiltrating unions. Now, Anny Unions has since died,
but he was involved in not only the takeover of
a union in Queens, but he alongside co defendant Banano
crime family soldier John Bragana, we're doing things like issuing
fake OSHA certifications to people that weren't qualifying for them
(04:49):
at taking money in return.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
This is also entirely not only illegal but unethical. I
mean you're.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Putting union people on job sites that are not occupational
hazard compliant, which can lead to building collapses, all sorts
of very bad things.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
This is just one thing that we've.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Seen that shows that the Mob is still very involved
in unions. We also look at recently there was an
ILA strike against a person called Harold Daggett and against
the ISLA, the ISLA wanted better benefits. For years, Harold
Daggett has been an associate of the Genovese crime family.
In fact, when we look into his past, he was
(05:30):
actually indicted in the two thousands for his involvement with
the Genovese crime family. We also look at other recent indictments.
You look at the takeover of not just the waterfront
in Aras in Europe. You look at in Brooklyn, per
Se Sunny Chacone has ran the waterfront for the Gambino
(05:51):
crime family.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
For years decades.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
In fact, you look at a recent indictment involving the
Gambino crime family which popped up in early twenty twenty four,
you look at the fact that the Gambino family associates
and members of the family were attempting to stealing embezzel
funds from not only unions, but employee benefit plans and
(06:14):
rig bids in the demolition and charting industry. At one point,
multiple people in the indictment were given no show jobs
at demolition companies so that people could receive paychecks and
union health benefits for jobs they didn't even work. Another individual,
Diego Tantillo, arranged for a person called Angelo grad Alone
(06:36):
to receive a quote no show job at a construction
company with what Tantillo was associated. This would enable Angelo
grad Alone to receive paychecks union health benefits which he
was not entitled to. And then you also look at
the fact that they were rigging bids, They were coordinating
their companies, exchanging bidding information to secure secure projects that
(06:58):
they weren't entitled to. A big money maker for the mob.
We also look at recent documentation from a group called
the New York City Waterfront Commission, which was formed in
the nineteen fifties to police mob activity at shipping ports,
and in recent years, the International Long Terms Association now
(07:18):
in a review of the Commission's annual report in twenty
twenty four, it shows the tiring hold up that the
ISLA had was because it found that nearly one in five,
so twenty percent of the union's proposed hires were connected
to the mafia, and one in three had quote other
(07:40):
ethical barriers to employment. Now, the union would often steer
what they called special packages to mobsters, giving them pay
of up to five hundred thousand dollars for largely no
show work. These quote special packages had only grown in
recent years awarding to Commission reports. You look at in
(08:02):
twenty twenty eighteen, port workers made salaries more than four
hundred fifty thousand, forty one made salaries of more than
four hundred thousand to four unred, and fifty thousand and
eighty two made at least three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
They would also identify over five hundred and ninety individuals
(08:22):
who collectively received almost one hundred and forty eight million
dollars last year in outside salaries or for hours they
never worked. That's just one union. Think about that. Still
a lot of infiltration. And when we look all over unions,
there are mob associates all over the place. Again, in
(08:44):
the ISLA, one of the biggest unions in the New
York City area, one in five had a connection to
the mafia.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Now, another group of industry that the Mafia has become
involved in is construction.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Building. Construction. We know that, we know they've been involved
for years.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
We know that when you poured a yard of concrete
in New York in the eighties, when you put up a
wood board, it was controlled by the mob. Still going
on today. I've done various videos, even recently involving the
president of the New York State Trade Council, a guy
that essentially led building construction trade council unions in New York,
(09:27):
a guy James Cahill who was very connected to the mafia.
We also know that Frank Camuso a coppo in the
Gambino crime family. He has had long standing ties with
major construction developments and projects through his association with a
member of his crew, a man called Robert Basileach, who
(09:47):
has identified as a senior executive at a group called
the Naldi Group, a New Jersey based general contractor. He
was indicted several years ago and accordinated the charges at
least a dozen from all of which used non union labor,
agreed to kickback and estimated seven million dollars to win
(10:08):
subcontracts worth more than one hundred million on several large projects.
They included large hotels including the Walker on Broadway in Tribeca,
the Fidei Hotel on Stone Street in the Financial District,
as well as the Fifth Avenue Hotel at two point
fifty fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Now in turn, Robert Bassa Leach was charged.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
With funneling more than three and a half million dollars
of the kickback proceeds to guess who, Frank Camuso, who
owns several buildings and companies in Staten Island.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Again, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Three and a half million dollars that's off just a
few construction projects. That's not to count all the other
people in the Gambido crime family, including Andrew Campos, who
are involved in major building developments. We've discussed his behavior
on this channel. You know, his involvement with you know,
heads of unions, people that run building companies and steering
(11:08):
bids his way. This has been a long problem. Stephen
Krea Lukesey crime family, he was huge in this. One
of the people he was arrested with in two thousand
and three was this guy. Does he look like a
mobster to you, Well, he's not. He's not a mad member,
but he's a major mob associate. It's a person called
Larry Wecker. Now, not only was mister Wecker involved with
(11:32):
Stephen Krea, but Larry Wecker goes back a long time
and guess what, he's still doing these schemes today. This
is a photo of Larry Wecker on the far right.
Notice LW above his head. That's him hanging out with
fat Tony Salerno back in the seventies and eighties in
front of the Palma Boys Social Club. You see Vinnie
(11:53):
the Fish Kafaro in the doorway. You see Nick Autoletta
next to Larry Wecker. You don't just hang with Tony
Seleno because he thinks you're cool. No, Larry Wecker makes
money for the mafia, and he's still doing it today.
In fact, Larry Wecker is sitting in a New York
State prison currently at the age of eighty five. Ask
(12:16):
yourself why, well, because Larry Wecker is a scam artist.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And he's still doing these schemes today.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Now, in approximately twenty twenty two, the Aging Schemer, according
to ganglannews dot com and the indictment, was arrested on
state racketeering charges and you know, basically bribery and insurance
fraud after he claimed that workers on his building projects
were employed by women owned or minority owned drywall companies
(12:47):
so he could return subsidies for numerous building contracts to
begin in twenty fifteen. Now, in one court filing, a
woman called Lisa Rossi. This woman right here she was
on a phone call with mister Wecker, to which he
claimed to Wecker quote stop telling people I'm an owner,
(13:08):
I'm a pass through.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Whatever her firm was called.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
It illegally enabled Wecker's firm, a company called JAM three Construction,
to increase its government subsidized affordable housing projects by using
her company and her name to get help in return.
So basically, Larry Wecker was getting all sorts of government
subsidies and basically free money. Because he claimed that he
(13:32):
had multiple women owned and black owned businesses on his
payroll and they were working for him when they weren't.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
He was just.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Giving them bribes to bake their names on documents so
he could profit. In fact, here's Larry Wecker handling a
cash bribe to a woman called Lashawn Henry. In twenty
twenty one, he was heard discussing this arrangement with Henry
with a foreman for his company JM three. Wecker would claim, quote,
(14:02):
we have a good thing in here with this woman, Lashawn.
I take care of her. We use her a black
She has this black woman's business thing. She works for
them as an organizer. She's always pushing us. They have
a big four hundred unit job on Atlantic Avenue and
it's our job and we don't want to blow it.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Again.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Larry Wecker is sitting in prison for this, and again
we have to look at the fact that he is
absolutely and has always been considered a mob associate. He
goes back years connected to the Lukes and Jenebe's crime family,
and he's a big time construction man in Manhattan. We
also know that in the indictment that I referenced earlier
(14:45):
involving the Gambino crime family and even people like Joe
Lannie who are considered Gambino copos. We saw that even
in that indictment as well as not only labor racketeering,
but they were involved with extortion in the construction industry.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Now, multiple people.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Engaged in a violent extortion conspiracy relating to money from
a John Doe, who operated a garbage charting business. Now,
the extortion scheme involved threatening John Doe with a bat,
setting fire to the steps of his resident, attempting to
damage his carting trucks, and violently assaulting John Doe. Now,
(15:26):
in addition, Diego Tantillo and another defendant were captured on
judicially authorized wire taps discussing threats they made to not
only John Doe but his father in law. In one call,
a person called Veto Rappa stated that another individual quote
acted like the last of the Samurai, describing how Vakari,
the defendant, picked up a knife and directed it toward
(15:49):
John Doe's father in law to threaten to cut John
Doe one in half in order to get extortion payments.
At one point, other individual just in this conspiracy involved
themselves in a violent extortion scheme of a demolition company
as well.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Now in that.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Case they actually received extortion payments and still engaged in violence.
That's just scumbag moves, isn't it. Extortion is one thing,
but not only getting the extortion money and then still
doing it, that's scumbag behavior. These people are innocent until
proving guilty. But this is still various involvement in the
(16:31):
construction industry on many different levels. The Mob is still
involved in construction in New York, and in some cases
they're making a lot of money. Just look at Frank Camuso.
One of the lifebloods of the Mob still today even
with legalized gambling, is illegal book making. Now this is
(16:52):
a legal casino in Las Vegas. However, the mafia is
still very much is involved in gambling. And you ask yourself,
why if there's legalized gambling, why do we need illegal gambling.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, there's a couple of reasons.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Number One, an illegal bookmaker, wherever they are in America,
can offer two things that legalized gambling cannot.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Number One, if.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
You go to a sports book Let's say you go
here on a Sunday in December and you're looking to
bet on the NFL and you want to bet five
hundred dollars on the La Rams.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
You need five hundred dollars to bet on the La Rams.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
If you bet with a legal, illegal bookmaker, you don't
need that. They'll give you a credit line. So it's
basically money that doesn't exist. It's a credit line. You
lose five hundred bucks, you're down five point fifty, they
charge you the big and the five hundred you bet
and it's a rolling total. Let's say in another bet
you lose three hundred bucks. Well, now you're down eight
(17:49):
to fifty for the week. Every Monday, that bookmaker is
going to come to you and say, hey, you oll
with this money. And everybody is dealt with through agents
Now how does this work.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Well, I'm gonna explain how all of this works.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
All illegal bookmakers use something called the paper head sportsbook.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Now, it starts with a website. Consider a website very
easily built. It looks similar to something like this.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
You go on, you log in with your username and password,
and you have the ability to bet any bet similar
to allegal sports book. You have your pending wagers, you
have your weekly figures, you can even bet live.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's just like any other sportsbook. It starts with the website.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It then goes to something called an agent who is
a bookie. Now he may not be the head bookmaker,
but an agent is under a group of bookies and
they handle betters. Which is on the far right, and
everybody gets platform access. Now, this is what it looks
like on the better side. This is what it looks
(18:52):
like on the agent or bookie side. They get everything
from weekly figures, depending reports, to the ability to change
a password, to track an IP address, to look at
sportsbook lines, they settle figures. Everything is done through websites
called paper heads that are run in areas that don't
have gambling legislation. So again they're run through generally Caribbean
(19:17):
countries and they're run in rooms where.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
They're run by a third party.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You get a block of them, let's say you'll get
a block of twenty five accounts, you get them to
the agents and it all works together. Now again, this
is still going on, and we know this through recent indictments,
including an indictment last year involving members and associates of
the Gambino crime family in which a person called Edward
Lafort had to manage erro role with a sports gamming
(19:44):
operation utilizing offshore illegal gambling websites which I just talked about.
They're not legally sanctioned. Now any six month period at
the end of twenty twenty two into twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Now this is just one operation.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
There were seventy betters who wagered approximately twenty two million,
seven hundred and fifty three thousand, nine hundred and sixty
four dollars. Now, in his role, Edward of Ford supervised
several sheet holders. Individuals also manage the bets and collections
for individual betters, and all of the people listed were
(20:21):
either agents or collectors. And what they would down the
road do is talk about what we're gonna discuss next
is funnel people.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
That owed money.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Let's say you owed mister Lafort six thousand dollars and
you can't pay okay, So for it's gonna say, okay, fine,
I'm gonna funnel you to a loan shark that I have.
He'll give you the six thousand, and you pay that
to me. You now owe him. He's a part of
the same enterprise. That guy's gonna say to you, Okay,
(20:53):
I'll give you the six thousand, but you owe it
to me at this rate, and every week you're gonna
to pay him a certain amount of money, and it
all works perfectly.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It's the lifeblood of the mob.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
We also saw that the mafia in a recent indictment
over the last several months involving in the Lukezy crime family,
where one of the heads of the family, Georgie Nexipolo,
was caught up in not only running bookmaking networks, also
card games, which are big illegal card games.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Why are they big, Well, we look at what a
rake is.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
A poker rake, it's money contributed to the pot which
the poker room takes as a fee. So every pot
there's a small amount taken out and that goes to
the house casinos do it legally. Now, if you take
a rake in a private game, that is illegal. Remember
(21:44):
every pot has a rake, So a fight dollar pot
they take you know, small amount, it's usually about five
to ten percent. But let's say it's a fight dollar pot,
take it fifty cents of at the top it's one
hundred dollars pot. You know they're taking five to ten
dollars off of each hand. You run a game three
(22:05):
four nights a week. This is one game. We also
know that in a recent sentencing document, a Genovi's heavyweight
Carmine Polito, was involved in guess what a book making network.
We've seen ones involving the genovies, the bananho. This is
the life blood of the mob, and it's still very
lucrative even with legalized gambling. And I hope you understood
how it's still there and still different. I talked about
(22:29):
loan sharking, you know, predatory loans, right, and we talked
about kind of the normal street loan, which I just discussed.
Someone ows five thousand to gamble, they take a loan.
In the end, they'll pay the five thousand back and
guess how much they'll pay on top About fifteen hundred
(22:50):
for ten weeks. Those six fifty a week for ten weeks,
they pay back sixty five hundred. So you only got
five thousand, but in interest you paid fifteen hundred. You
end up paying sixty five hundred. Desperate people do desperate things.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Remember that.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Now, we saw a guy who's recently released, Ronnie g.
He did fourteen years in prison for having approximately three
million dollars on the street. Loan shark money is easy money.
It's free money. Again, you're dealing with desperate people who
you can use the mafia.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
As leverage against.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
You don't want to pay, Okay, fine, then we'll take
it to the next level. What happens, Well, maybe they'll
assault you, you know, maybe they'll.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Burn your car, but who knows. They get you to pay.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And people ask why do you join the mafia, Well,
because if you're going to engage in loan sharking, you
have an entity behind you that you can use as
leverage against said person to make sure they pay. Another thing, though,
that is exclusive news that I'm going to talk about,
and a lot of people don't really know this. Maybe
they have heard about it from what I understand right now.
(23:59):
One of the biggest money makers right now in various
families are merchant cash advances.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
What does that mean.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Well, they're essentially legal loans and they operate through businesses.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Think of it like this.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Let's say Alex has a pie shop and he wants
a one time cash payment. Right, he wants fifteen g's
Now in exchange, the merchant, right, which is the business
Alex's pie company, They're gonna have to pay back future
(24:37):
credit and debit card sales to refund the loan.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Company.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Now, fifteen thousand is a small amount. The merchant who's
this entity with funding, they have no problem giving Alex
fifteen g's because they're going to look at his sales
and they're gonna say, Okay, he does good business, we
can look at him.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
They don't even care. They just want the collateral. Right.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
They want to be able to every day they want
to hit that credit card machine and take their payment.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Now I've heard this is the true story.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I've heard guys that are asking for ten thousand, that
are paying back in the neighborhood in the end of
thirty to thirty five grand.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
That's a lot of interest.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Desperate times make desperate people who do desperate things and
they get their hooks in you.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
From the two years.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
We also saw this play out in an indictment involving
these people, a person called Joseph and John LaForte. And
what did these people do Well, they had a company
called par Funding and the principal means of generating income
was to advance money to businesses known as merchant cash advances,
(25:50):
which we just talked about, and this would be short
term financing for high rates of return.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Now, again this is legal.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
However, it becomes illegal when you do stuff like threats
of violence to collect money from customers who payments are overdue.
James Fort would admit and then a threatening one particularly
par Funding customer, he told the customer that he must
repay the company immediately because James Ford was not to
be messed with, and he had previously towards people's cars
(26:20):
and quote kick people's teeth. Now, another collector admitted to
extorting multiple customers at Joseph Lefort's direction, including threats of
physical harm to the customers or their families if the
debt was not paid back, and was established at his
sentencing caring Joseph Wilford had also threatened and extorted customers
(26:41):
who fell behind in their payments, such as by telling
a part funding customer to keep paying her debts, or
he would quote bomb her car, kidnap her children, and
outfit her with quote cement shoes to sink her to
the bottom of the Hudson River. Now we would find
in the sentencing indictment that par Fundings investors were that
(27:02):
during every year from twenty sixteen to mid twenty twenty,
the MCA business was not profitable enough to repay the
money owed to its investors, while also uncovering its operating expenses,
including tens of million dollars millions of dollars that went
to Joseph before. So again, you're doing various very illegal things.
But in turn, the mobsters are making big money. They
(27:24):
can't pay their investors. They're threatening people, they're beating people up,
they're assaulting individuals, they're sending debt collectors after them. This
is not how a legal loan company operates. This is
what makes it illegal. So again, the mob is getting
into legit loan companies, payday loans, car title loans, mcas.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
This is the new age of the mob. Very smart,
very lucrative.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I will say this not gonna name the family, but
there is a head of a family currently that is
making a ton of money doing that, not necessarily him himself,
but his people. Now I'll be nice and not say
who that is, even though I know who it is.
I won't say who says that. I don't take care
sometimes with these guys, I don't say everything.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I just say some things.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
The final thing I want to talk about it and
it's something that I've talked about before, so I'm not
going to go really deep into it. But one of
the biggest money makers still today is restaurants. And I
talked about multiple restaurants here that are owned by the MOB,
but I wanted to broaden it off a little bit
and get into some other things. It's not just restaurants
that the MOB controls. What's one thing that goes hand
(28:36):
in hand with food? Alcohol? Right, whether you are sad, happy, ecstatic, upset,
you drink alcohol, huge money maker. Everybody drinks alcohol, beer, wine,
liquor whatever. Restaurants have it, Bars have it. Who doesn't
love a bar, Who doesn't love a profitable bar. Bars
(28:59):
are very profitable if you have the right people running them.
Catering hall's, wedding halls you look at this place, russo
Is on the Bay. Russo's on the Bay has been
owned by the Mob for years. They've had their teeth
in the Mob in that business for years. It is
owned by this guy, Frank Russo. Now, Frank Russo on
the surface is a business owner, but he's also a
(29:19):
Mob associate. He's been connected to the Mob for decades
and he's been a friend to guess who, Gean Gotti.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I've reported recently that I do believe that Jan Gotti
is the current boss of the Gambino crime family.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
A lot of people thought I was crazy.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
One of Jean Gotti's biggest moneymakers is Rooster's on the Bay.
This has been going on for years, and we know
that due to the fact that as far back as
twenty or so years ago, Frank Russo was meeting Jean
Gotti in prison. Now, according to Mikey Scars di Leonardo
(29:53):
in his racketeering trial. In Peter Gotti's racketeering trial, he
would testify that Frank mak Russo, the owner of Russo's
on the Bay.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Was kicking back a dollar ahead.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
To the Gambino crime family for every dinner at weddings
at Russo's on the bay. Now, we also know that
in the early two thousands Frank Russo was going to
meet Jean Gotti in prison. Now only two thousand talk.
Frank Russo, who owned several eateries, told Gene quote, things
(30:26):
are going to be straightened out very well at a
restaurant that Russo had recently put up forty thousand in
and that they'd likely be getting a return of about
twenty thousand a month.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
At one point, Jene Gotti would respond, as soon as
you see Peter, just tell him.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Here's eight for you, Here's four for Genie. Four for
From what I understand, this is still going on today.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
A high end captain in the Geneeese crime family, very
little known, John Larroca, is a huge restaurant He owns
various restaurants around New York, including a restaurant called Paulsitano
in Brooklyn. The Arraca has made a ton of money
and it doesn't just go to him, it goes to
his overseers. These are just several ways the Mob is
(31:18):
making money today, but they're the most pronounced. As I said,
money is the most important thing of the Mob. And
remember it is the root of all evil. I hope
you enjoyed this video. Let me know what you think.
What other ways are the mob making money today? Let
me know in the comment section. Blow If you'd like
to support this channel further, hit that thanks button below
(31:39):
the video.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I appreciate all of you. We'll see you next week
here on in the sit Down
Welcome to the sit Down, a mafia history podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Here's your host, Jeff Nado.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What's up everybody, and welcome in to another edition of
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(00:44):
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sports Right now today, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna get
into another very interesting organized crime topic, and money, in
the end is the most important thing the mafia has.
In fact, for hundreds of years, the mob has ran
(02:07):
rough shot over neighborhoods in America with this whole goal
of making money.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
A question I'm asked all the time.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
In fact, I'm asked almost regularly, how does the Mafia
make money today? Well, they make money in very similar
ways they used to. What they do is adapt and
get with the times. The story of how the Mob
makes money today in five different ways.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Next on the sit down.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Now, one thing that is still prevalent, not as prevalent
as it once was, but still prevalent, is labor racketeering.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
What exactly is labor racketeering.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, it's the infiltration, domination, and or use of a
union or employee benefit plan for personal benefit by illegal, violent,
or fraudulent means. Now, we have talked about unions a
lot on this channel. It's important when we talk about
about the MOB. A union is obviously a collective of
people that work in a building trade and they have
(03:05):
a group at the top that deals with employee matters,
whether it's contracts or different rules or whatever. And there
are hundreds of unions in America and there are millions
of members groups like the Teamsters or the Plasters Union
or whatever, the ISLA. There's all sorts of unions and
(03:26):
the MOB has been able to infiltrate them for years.
Not only do they get access of employee benefits, but
it also leads to basically everything union involved, including control
of jobs, control of hours, their ability to extort union
organizers and heads of unions.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
It leads to things like no show.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Jobs, which allows people to basically take a salary by
not doing anything. And we saw that the infiltration of
unions led to the building of casinos through their control
of the Teamster's pension fund. You know, way back when
under Jimmy Hoffa. This is still going on today and
we see this in various indictments recently. We go back
(04:13):
to twenty twenty one, involving in late twenty twenty one
a indictment against the Colombo crime family, where we saw
people like this guy, a guy named Vinnie Unions.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
That's his nickname.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Why is he named Benny Unions, Well, because he's very
good at infiltrating unions. Now, Anny Unions has since died,
but he was involved in not only the takeover of
a union in Queens, but he alongside co defendant Banano
crime family soldier John Bragana, we're doing things like issuing
fake OSHA certifications to people that weren't qualifying for them
(04:49):
at taking money in return.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
This is also entirely not only illegal but unethical. I
mean you're.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Putting union people on job sites that are not occupational
hazard compliant, which can lead to building collapses, all sorts
of very bad things.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
This is just one thing that we've.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Seen that shows that the Mob is still very involved
in unions. We also look at recently there was an
ILA strike against a person called Harold Daggett and against
the ISLA, the ISLA wanted better benefits. For years, Harold
Daggett has been an associate of the Genovese crime family.
In fact, when we look into his past, he was
(05:30):
actually indicted in the two thousands for his involvement with
the Genovese crime family. We also look at other recent indictments.
You look at the takeover of not just the waterfront
in Aras in Europe. You look at in Brooklyn, per
Se Sunny Chacone has ran the waterfront for the Gambino
(05:51):
crime family.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
For years decades.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
In fact, you look at a recent indictment involving the
Gambino crime family which popped up in early twenty twenty four,
you look at the fact that the Gambino family associates
and members of the family were attempting to stealing embezzel
funds from not only unions, but employee benefit plans and
(06:14):
rig bids in the demolition and charting industry. At one point,
multiple people in the indictment were given no show jobs
at demolition companies so that people could receive paychecks and
union health benefits for jobs they didn't even work. Another individual,
Diego Tantillo, arranged for a person called Angelo grad Alone
(06:36):
to receive a quote no show job at a construction
company with what Tantillo was associated. This would enable Angelo
grad Alone to receive paychecks union health benefits which he
was not entitled to. And then you also look at
the fact that they were rigging bids, They were coordinating
their companies, exchanging bidding information to secure secure projects that
(06:58):
they weren't entitled to. A big money maker for the mob.
We also look at recent documentation from a group called
the New York City Waterfront Commission, which was formed in
the nineteen fifties to police mob activity at shipping ports,
and in recent years, the International Long Terms Association now
(07:18):
in a review of the Commission's annual report in twenty
twenty four, it shows the tiring hold up that the
ISLA had was because it found that nearly one in five,
so twenty percent of the union's proposed hires were connected
to the mafia, and one in three had quote other
(07:40):
ethical barriers to employment. Now, the union would often steer
what they called special packages to mobsters, giving them pay
of up to five hundred thousand dollars for largely no
show work. These quote special packages had only grown in
recent years awarding to Commission reports. You look at in
(08:02):
twenty twenty eighteen, port workers made salaries more than four
hundred fifty thousand, forty one made salaries of more than
four hundred thousand to four unred, and fifty thousand and
eighty two made at least three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
They would also identify over five hundred and ninety individuals
(08:22):
who collectively received almost one hundred and forty eight million
dollars last year in outside salaries or for hours they
never worked. That's just one union. Think about that. Still
a lot of infiltration. And when we look all over unions,
there are mob associates all over the place. Again, in
(08:44):
the ISLA, one of the biggest unions in the New
York City area, one in five had a connection to
the mafia.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Pretty unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Now, another group of industry that the Mafia has become
involved in is construction.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Building. Construction. We know that, we know they've been involved
for years.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
We know that when you poured a yard of concrete
in New York in the eighties, when you put up a
wood board, it was controlled by the mob. Still going
on today. I've done various videos, even recently involving the
president of the New York State Trade Council, a guy
that essentially led building construction trade council unions in New York,
(09:27):
a guy James Cahill who was very connected to the mafia.
We also know that Frank Camuso a coppo in the
Gambino crime family. He has had long standing ties with
major construction developments and projects through his association with a
member of his crew, a man called Robert Basileach, who
(09:47):
has identified as a senior executive at a group called
the Naldi Group, a New Jersey based general contractor. He
was indicted several years ago and accordinated the charges at
least a dozen from all of which used non union labor,
agreed to kickback and estimated seven million dollars to win
(10:08):
subcontracts worth more than one hundred million on several large projects.
They included large hotels including the Walker on Broadway in Tribeca,
the Fidei Hotel on Stone Street in the Financial District,
as well as the Fifth Avenue Hotel at two point
fifty fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Now in turn, Robert Bassa Leach was charged.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
With funneling more than three and a half million dollars
of the kickback proceeds to guess who, Frank Camuso, who
owns several buildings and companies in Staten Island.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Again, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Three and a half million dollars that's off just a
few construction projects. That's not to count all the other
people in the Gambido crime family, including Andrew Campos, who
are involved in major building developments. We've discussed his behavior
on this channel. You know, his involvement with you know,
heads of unions, people that run building companies and steering
(11:08):
bids his way. This has been a long problem. Stephen
Krea Lukesey crime family, he was huge in this. One
of the people he was arrested with in two thousand
and three was this guy. Does he look like a
mobster to you, Well, he's not. He's not a mad member,
but he's a major mob associate. It's a person called
Larry Wecker. Now, not only was mister Wecker involved with
(11:32):
Stephen Krea, but Larry Wecker goes back a long time
and guess what, he's still doing these schemes today. This
is a photo of Larry Wecker on the far right.
Notice LW above his head. That's him hanging out with
fat Tony Salerno back in the seventies and eighties in
front of the Palma Boys Social Club. You see Vinnie
(11:53):
the Fish Kafaro in the doorway. You see Nick Autoletta
next to Larry Wecker. You don't just hang with Tony
Seleno because he thinks you're cool. No, Larry Wecker makes
money for the mafia, and he's still doing it today.
In fact, Larry Wecker is sitting in a New York
State prison currently at the age of eighty five. Ask
(12:16):
yourself why, well, because Larry Wecker is a scam artist.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And he's still doing these schemes today.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Now, in approximately twenty twenty two, the Aging Schemer, according
to ganglannews dot com and the indictment, was arrested on
state racketeering charges and you know, basically bribery and insurance
fraud after he claimed that workers on his building projects
were employed by women owned or minority owned drywall companies
(12:47):
so he could return subsidies for numerous building contracts to
begin in twenty fifteen. Now, in one court filing, a
woman called Lisa Rossi. This woman right here she was
on a phone call with mister Wecker, to which he
claimed to Wecker quote stop telling people I'm an owner,
(13:08):
I'm a pass through.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Whatever her firm was called.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
It illegally enabled Wecker's firm, a company called JAM three Construction,
to increase its government subsidized affordable housing projects by using
her company and her name to get help in return.
So basically, Larry Wecker was getting all sorts of government
subsidies and basically free money. Because he claimed that he
(13:32):
had multiple women owned and black owned businesses on his
payroll and they were working for him when they weren't.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
He was just.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Giving them bribes to bake their names on documents so
he could profit. In fact, here's Larry Wecker handling a
cash bribe to a woman called Lashawn Henry. In twenty
twenty one, he was heard discussing this arrangement with Henry
with a foreman for his company JM three. Wecker would claim, quote,
(14:02):
we have a good thing in here with this woman, Lashawn.
I take care of her. We use her a black
She has this black woman's business thing. She works for
them as an organizer. She's always pushing us. They have
a big four hundred unit job on Atlantic Avenue and
it's our job and we don't want to blow it.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Again.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Larry Wecker is sitting in prison for this, and again
we have to look at the fact that he is
absolutely and has always been considered a mob associate. He
goes back years connected to the Lukes and Jenebe's crime family,
and he's a big time construction man in Manhattan. We
also know that in the indictment that I referenced earlier
(14:45):
involving the Gambino crime family and even people like Joe
Lannie who are considered Gambino copos. We saw that even
in that indictment as well as not only labor racketeering,
but they were involved with extortion in the construction industry.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Now, multiple people.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Engaged in a violent extortion conspiracy relating to money from
a John Doe, who operated a garbage charting business. Now,
the extortion scheme involved threatening John Doe with a bat,
setting fire to the steps of his resident, attempting to
damage his carting trucks, and violently assaulting John Doe. Now,
(15:26):
in addition, Diego Tantillo and another defendant were captured on
judicially authorized wire taps discussing threats they made to not
only John Doe but his father in law. In one call,
a person called Veto Rappa stated that another individual quote
acted like the last of the Samurai, describing how Vakari,
the defendant, picked up a knife and directed it toward
(15:49):
John Doe's father in law to threaten to cut John
Doe one in half in order to get extortion payments.
At one point, other individual just in this conspiracy involved
themselves in a violent extortion scheme of a demolition company
as well.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Now in that.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Case they actually received extortion payments and still engaged in violence.
That's just scumbag moves, isn't it. Extortion is one thing,
but not only getting the extortion money and then still
doing it, that's scumbag behavior. These people are innocent until
proving guilty. But this is still various involvement in the
(16:31):
construction industry on many different levels. The Mob is still
involved in construction in New York, and in some cases
they're making a lot of money. Just look at Frank Camuso.
One of the lifebloods of the Mob still today even
with legalized gambling, is illegal book making. Now this is
(16:52):
a legal casino in Las Vegas. However, the mafia is
still very much is involved in gambling. And you ask yourself,
why if there's legalized gambling, why do we need illegal gambling.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, there's a couple of reasons.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Number One, an illegal bookmaker, wherever they are in America,
can offer two things that legalized gambling cannot.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Number One, if.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
You go to a sports book Let's say you go
here on a Sunday in December and you're looking to
bet on the NFL and you want to bet five
hundred dollars on the La Rams.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
You need five hundred dollars to bet on the La Rams.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
If you bet with a legal, illegal bookmaker, you don't
need that. They'll give you a credit line. So it's
basically money that doesn't exist. It's a credit line. You
lose five hundred bucks, you're down five point fifty, they
charge you the big and the five hundred you bet
and it's a rolling total. Let's say in another bet
you lose three hundred bucks. Well, now you're down eight
(17:49):
to fifty for the week. Every Monday, that bookmaker is
going to come to you and say, hey, you oll
with this money. And everybody is dealt with through agents
Now how does this work.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Well, I'm gonna explain how all of this works.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
All illegal bookmakers use something called the paper head sportsbook.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Now, it starts with a website. Consider a website very
easily built. It looks similar to something like this.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
You go on, you log in with your username and password,
and you have the ability to bet any bet similar
to allegal sports book. You have your pending wagers, you
have your weekly figures, you can even bet live.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's just like any other sportsbook. It starts with the website.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It then goes to something called an agent who is
a bookie. Now he may not be the head bookmaker,
but an agent is under a group of bookies and
they handle betters. Which is on the far right, and
everybody gets platform access. Now, this is what it looks
like on the better side. This is what it looks
(18:52):
like on the agent or bookie side. They get everything
from weekly figures, depending reports, to the ability to change
a password, to track an IP address, to look at
sportsbook lines, they settle figures. Everything is done through websites
called paper heads that are run in areas that don't
have gambling legislation. So again they're run through generally Caribbean
(19:17):
countries and they're run in rooms where.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
They're run by a third party.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You get a block of them, let's say you'll get
a block of twenty five accounts, you get them to
the agents and it all works together. Now again, this
is still going on, and we know this through recent indictments,
including an indictment last year involving members and associates of
the Gambino crime family in which a person called Edward
Lafort had to manage erro role with a sports gamming
(19:44):
operation utilizing offshore illegal gambling websites which I just talked about.
They're not legally sanctioned. Now any six month period at
the end of twenty twenty two into twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Now this is just one operation.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
There were seventy betters who wagered approximately twenty two million,
seven hundred and fifty three thousand, nine hundred and sixty
four dollars. Now, in his role, Edward of Ford supervised
several sheet holders. Individuals also manage the bets and collections
for individual betters, and all of the people listed were
(20:21):
either agents or collectors. And what they would down the
road do is talk about what we're gonna discuss next
is funnel people.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
That owed money.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Let's say you owed mister Lafort six thousand dollars and
you can't pay okay, So for it's gonna say, okay, fine,
I'm gonna funnel you to a loan shark that I have.
He'll give you the six thousand, and you pay that
to me. You now owe him. He's a part of
the same enterprise. That guy's gonna say to you, Okay,
(20:53):
I'll give you the six thousand, but you owe it
to me at this rate, and every week you're gonna
to pay him a certain amount of money, and it
all works perfectly.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It's the lifeblood of the mob.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
We also saw that the mafia in a recent indictment
over the last several months involving in the Lukezy crime family,
where one of the heads of the family, Georgie Nexipolo,
was caught up in not only running bookmaking networks, also
card games, which are big illegal card games.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Why are they big, Well, we look at what a
rake is.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
A poker rake, it's money contributed to the pot which
the poker room takes as a fee. So every pot
there's a small amount taken out and that goes to
the house casinos do it legally. Now, if you take
a rake in a private game, that is illegal. Remember
(21:44):
every pot has a rake, So a fight dollar pot
they take you know, small amount, it's usually about five
to ten percent. But let's say it's a fight dollar pot,
take it fifty cents of at the top it's one
hundred dollars pot. You know they're taking five to ten
dollars off of each hand. You run a game three
(22:05):
four nights a week. This is one game. We also
know that in a recent sentencing document, a Genovi's heavyweight
Carmine Polito, was involved in guess what a book making network.
We've seen ones involving the genovies, the bananho. This is
the life blood of the mob, and it's still very
lucrative even with legalized gambling. And I hope you understood
how it's still there and still different. I talked about
(22:29):
loan sharking, you know, predatory loans, right, and we talked
about kind of the normal street loan, which I just discussed.
Someone ows five thousand to gamble, they take a loan.
In the end, they'll pay the five thousand back and
guess how much they'll pay on top About fifteen hundred
(22:50):
for ten weeks. Those six fifty a week for ten weeks,
they pay back sixty five hundred. So you only got
five thousand, but in interest you paid fifteen hundred. You
end up paying sixty five hundred. Desperate people do desperate things.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Remember that.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Now, we saw a guy who's recently released, Ronnie g.
He did fourteen years in prison for having approximately three
million dollars on the street. Loan shark money is easy money.
It's free money. Again, you're dealing with desperate people who
you can use the mafia.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
As leverage against.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
You don't want to pay, Okay, fine, then we'll take
it to the next level. What happens, Well, maybe they'll
assault you, you know, maybe they'll.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Burn your car, but who knows. They get you to pay.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And people ask why do you join the mafia, Well,
because if you're going to engage in loan sharking, you
have an entity behind you that you can use as
leverage against said person to make sure they pay. Another thing, though,
that is exclusive news that I'm going to talk about,
and a lot of people don't really know this. Maybe
they have heard about it from what I understand right now.
(23:59):
One of the biggest money makers right now in various
families are merchant cash advances.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
What does that mean.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Well, they're essentially legal loans and they operate through businesses.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Think of it like this.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Let's say Alex has a pie shop and he wants
a one time cash payment. Right, he wants fifteen g's
Now in exchange, the merchant, right, which is the business
Alex's pie company, They're gonna have to pay back future
(24:37):
credit and debit card sales to refund the loan.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Company.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Now, fifteen thousand is a small amount. The merchant who's
this entity with funding, they have no problem giving Alex
fifteen g's because they're going to look at his sales
and they're gonna say, Okay, he does good business, we
can look at him.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
They don't even care. They just want the collateral. Right.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
They want to be able to every day they want
to hit that credit card machine and take their payment.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Now I've heard this is the true story.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I've heard guys that are asking for ten thousand, that
are paying back in the neighborhood in the end of
thirty to thirty five grand.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
That's a lot of interest.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Desperate times make desperate people who do desperate things and
they get their hooks in you.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
From the two years.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
We also saw this play out in an indictment involving
these people, a person called Joseph and John LaForte. And
what did these people do Well, they had a company
called par Funding and the principal means of generating income
was to advance money to businesses known as merchant cash advances,
(25:50):
which we just talked about, and this would be short
term financing for high rates of return.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Now, again this is legal.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
However, it becomes illegal when you do stuff like threats
of violence to collect money from customers who payments are overdue.
James Fort would admit and then a threatening one particularly
par Funding customer, he told the customer that he must
repay the company immediately because James Ford was not to
be messed with, and he had previously towards people's cars
(26:20):
and quote kick people's teeth. Now, another collector admitted to
extorting multiple customers at Joseph Lefort's direction, including threats of
physical harm to the customers or their families if the
debt was not paid back, and was established at his
sentencing caring Joseph Wilford had also threatened and extorted customers
(26:41):
who fell behind in their payments, such as by telling
a part funding customer to keep paying her debts, or
he would quote bomb her car, kidnap her children, and
outfit her with quote cement shoes to sink her to
the bottom of the Hudson River. Now we would find
in the sentencing indictment that par Fundings investors were that
(27:02):
during every year from twenty sixteen to mid twenty twenty,
the MCA business was not profitable enough to repay the
money owed to its investors, while also uncovering its operating expenses,
including tens of million dollars millions of dollars that went
to Joseph before. So again, you're doing various very illegal things.
But in turn, the mobsters are making big money. They
(27:24):
can't pay their investors. They're threatening people, they're beating people up,
they're assaulting individuals, they're sending debt collectors after them. This
is not how a legal loan company operates. This is
what makes it illegal. So again, the mob is getting
into legit loan companies, payday loans, car title loans, mcas.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
This is the new age of the mob. Very smart,
very lucrative.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I will say this not gonna name the family, but
there is a head of a family currently that is
making a ton of money doing that, not necessarily him himself,
but his people. Now I'll be nice and not say
who that is, even though I know who it is.
I won't say who says that. I don't take care
sometimes with these guys, I don't say everything.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I just say some things.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
The final thing I want to talk about it and
it's something that I've talked about before, so I'm not
going to go really deep into it. But one of
the biggest money makers still today is restaurants. And I
talked about multiple restaurants here that are owned by the MOB,
but I wanted to broaden it off a little bit
and get into some other things. It's not just restaurants
that the MOB controls. What's one thing that goes hand
(28:36):
in hand with food? Alcohol? Right, whether you are sad, happy, ecstatic, upset,
you drink alcohol, huge money maker. Everybody drinks alcohol, beer, wine,
liquor whatever. Restaurants have it, Bars have it. Who doesn't
love a bar, Who doesn't love a profitable bar. Bars
(28:59):
are very profitable if you have the right people running them.
Catering hall's, wedding halls you look at this place, russo
Is on the Bay. Russo's on the Bay has been
owned by the Mob for years. They've had their teeth
in the Mob in that business for years. It is
owned by this guy, Frank Russo. Now, Frank Russo on
the surface is a business owner, but he's also a
(29:19):
Mob associate. He's been connected to the Mob for decades
and he's been a friend to guess who, Gean Gotti.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I've reported recently that I do believe that Jan Gotti
is the current boss of the Gambino crime family.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
A lot of people thought I was crazy.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
One of Jean Gotti's biggest moneymakers is Rooster's on the Bay.
This has been going on for years, and we know
that due to the fact that as far back as
twenty or so years ago, Frank Russo was meeting Jean
Gotti in prison. Now, according to Mikey Scars di Leonardo
(29:53):
in his racketeering trial. In Peter Gotti's racketeering trial, he
would testify that Frank mak Russo, the owner of Russo's
on the Bay.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Was kicking back a dollar ahead.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
To the Gambino crime family for every dinner at weddings
at Russo's on the bay. Now, we also know that
in the early two thousands Frank Russo was going to
meet Jean Gotti in prison. Now only two thousand talk.
Frank Russo, who owned several eateries, told Gene quote, things
(30:26):
are going to be straightened out very well at a
restaurant that Russo had recently put up forty thousand in
and that they'd likely be getting a return of about
twenty thousand a month.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
At one point, Jene Gotti would respond, as soon as
you see Peter, just tell him.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Here's eight for you, Here's four for Genie. Four for
From what I understand, this is still going on today.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
A high end captain in the Geneeese crime family, very
little known, John Larroca, is a huge restaurant He owns
various restaurants around New York, including a restaurant called Paulsitano
in Brooklyn. The Arraca has made a ton of money
and it doesn't just go to him, it goes to
his overseers. These are just several ways the Mob is
(31:18):
making money today, but they're the most pronounced. As I said,
money is the most important thing of the Mob. And
remember it is the root of all evil. I hope
you enjoyed this video. Let me know what you think.
What other ways are the mob making money today? Let
me know in the comment section. Blow If you'd like
to support this channel further, hit that thanks button below
(31:39):
the video.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I appreciate all of you. We'll see you next week
here on in the sit Down
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