Emails from Wiseguys Who Read Cosa Nostra News
I get lots of email. Mostly from mob enthusiasts asking me to cover this or that.
I have yet to receive a communique from, say, a beautiful women in town seeking someone to show her New York's many unique splendors.
Sometimes I get emails from mobsters.
I can vouch that all of the following are authentic. They've been slightly edited; some details were removed or changed to protect identities as these weren't written for publication.
(I'd rather get that email from our hypothetical beautiful woman.)
On this blog in general:
Hi Ed, just sending this e-mail to thank you for looking at the other side of why many of us flip and join team America, my name is Al, (not my real name) and I was a associate of the Bonanno family, my mentor was James" Big Louie" Tartaglione, and I was very dear friends with Mike Scars..., I was always in Queens (Astoria crew) I spent most of my adult life in the world of LCN, I just wanted to thank you for showing the other side of why guys flip, I had to flip or die, I would of done a 100 years in prison but I stopped buying into the life when I witnessed so many double dealings with stand up guys getting the shaft, me being one, this life became more about the dollar than honor, I've seen so many very smart guys flip from crews in all of the 5 families, that's why I made the move, again thank you, Keep the Blog going...
The Alite-Junior thing:
It's too much of a personal food fight that doesn't hold much interest for me, but has to be great for your site. I've always said that sons of wiseguys should be banned from ever getting made, so I don't put much stock in what Jr. says. Alite is a grunt who is too bitter to make his great wealth of information interesting. They need to shoot it out at 20 paces and get it over with or get married. Only married couples usually hate each other that much.
On John Junior Gotti:
Junior Gotti: "They don't see my mother, 23 years without my father. They don't see my wife without me. They don't see houses and buildings that were taken from me. Businesses that were taken from me. They don't see the price that we had to pay, the tolls that were taken on my children. They don't see any of it."
What a sniveling piece of shit. How did he get the houses and buildings and businesses in the first place. What does he think, life is finders keepers; possession 9/10 of the law? And the tolls taken on his family? Real men know that anything that happens is because of choices they made, and DO NOT whine like a little girl...
On public perception of famous turncoats:
(They) will tell lies to make themselves look better and the other guy look worse. It's hard for the average guy to wade through the bullshit. Michael Franzese, for example, says, "I never ratted out a mob guy," but doesn't mention that he testified against Norby Walters, who was with his stepfather, Sonny, and was like an uncle to him. Henry Hill never mentioned that most thought he was a punk and potential rat, and used the statement, "You respect a dog for his master," when referring toward him because Paulie loved him. Pete the Greek (Joe Gallo's "bodyguard" who took a bullet in the ass) never mentioned he ran out on a score because he was scared and left me and another guy in the place. They're all full of shit.
When you walk into a prison and the door clangs shut behind you, if you can't say, "This isn't as bad as where I grew up," you shouldn't be there.....
On Mob Wives, the VH1 show:
That whole Mob Wives crew is a waste. I have never watched the show because I resent the images they represent, which are the worst of the women in our lives, but don't show the best, our mothers, good wives, sisters, and daughters, which were the majority. On the other hand, I realize that we have brought a lot of pain to those women, and if some, like those on Mob Wives, could capitalize on that and get financial rewards because of it, good luck to them. From what I see, they have gone from bad to worse in the real world instead of using the success to improve. Fuck'em.
On banning boss's kids:
From when I was a teen I firmly believed that bosses' kids should be banned from the mob. When I was stealing they were strutting; when I was shooting they were playing gangster; when the bullets were coming my way they were nowhere to be found. Those guys wind with positions they haven't earned, and like a hollow chocolate bunny shatter when they get hit. The truth that mob guys never understood is that conditions make toughguys, NOT ethnicity or genetics. When you walk into a prison and the door clangs shut behind you, if you can't say, "This isn't as bad as where I grew up," you shouldn't be there.....
Wiseguys or Stupidguys?
Have mob guys traditionally been known as "wiseguys" or "stupidguys?" When the shit hits the fan, the wise clicks in and they instantly review all the guys who have rolled over and are out on the street without worry of being killed. They ask themselves why they should be morons and spend the rest of their lives in prison or get to the table first and beat guys who will only roll on them. They look at a co-defendant and wonder if he's already working on a deal to betray them. So they decide to dip a toe in the water and see what deal is swimming around there first. A proffer is the way they go. If they don't get what they want they go back to prison; nothing gained, nothing lost. What they don't think about is that the promise the Feds give them that the proffer will never be made public or be used is a lie. Everything comes out. The bigger name they are, the more pointed the questions, the lesser the deal offered them (supply and demand), and the thought of what life will be like afterward depending on their age and how many years they think they have left. Better to die a hero or a scumbag? If they were offered the key they'd have jumped, but no key was instantly in view.