Perspective on Mob's Marijuana Business
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| Arthur Mondella |
We're jealous! Jealous that we didn't think of this first -- to incorporate the feedback of a Mafia expert to give the story of the suicided Cherry King more juice...
Also, all you hear about is the mob selling heroin and cocaine, but they also sold a lot of dope (meaning weed, grass, smoke, pot, etc.) and this article quotes an ex-gangster to provide insight... One of our longtime readers commented about the prices, saying: "His prices are right for '90s prices," as our "Larry Jefe" notes in this story's Featured Comment below. He adds: "Since the late 90's most MJ in NYC was shipped from Vancouver thru Monteal and later in the 00's California, with an exception for the best quality indoor which NYC has always been known for growing."
From the New York Daily News: “Cherry King” Arthur Mondella was likely making millions of dollars from his secret pot-growing farm, according to an expert in the city’s illicit ganja trade — former pot farmer and ex-Gambino gangster John Alite.
Cops say Mondella grew at least 100 plants at a time in the basement of the Dell’s Maraschino Cherries factory in Red Hook — which could have earned him $10 million a year, according to Alite.
Alite said he grew his own “wacky tobacky” in three- month cycles, with about 100 4-foot plants yielding approximately three pounds of weed each. The pot was sold for a minimum of $3,000 a pound, he said.
“So that’s $1.2 million every three months,” he said. “If it’s higher quality we sold it for $6,500 a pound. So now you’re at about $2.5 million every three months.”
Mondella’s operation, Alite told The Post, was truly a growth business.
“You’re anywhere from $5 to $10 million a year in profit, if it’s higher quality like we had,” Alite said.
The Gambinos had for years been trucking in 10,000 pounds of pot at a time from Mexico. But in the mid-’90s, they started farming their own — first in a basement in Woodhaven, Queens, and later on an 18-acre property upstate, according to Alite.
“It made us millions of dollars a year, without a doubt,” said Alite, who now consults on crime for TV and movies at http://www.johnalite.com.
Mondella, 57, fatally shot himself in the head in a bathroom of his factory on Tuesdayas investigators opened a secret door leading to his huge, 50-by-50-foot basement grow house.
His funeral was Saturday at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary-St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church in Carroll Gardens.
Loudspeakers played Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” as his casket was carried from the church. He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery.
Cops say Mondella grew at least 100 plants at a time in the basement of the Dell’s Maraschino Cherries factory in Red Hook — which could have earned him $10 million a year, according to Alite.
Alite said he grew his own “wacky tobacky” in three- month cycles, with about 100 4-foot plants yielding approximately three pounds of weed each. The pot was sold for a minimum of $3,000 a pound, he said.
“So that’s $1.2 million every three months,” he said. “If it’s higher quality we sold it for $6,500 a pound. So now you’re at about $2.5 million every three months.”
Mondella’s operation, Alite told The Post, was truly a growth business.
“You’re anywhere from $5 to $10 million a year in profit, if it’s higher quality like we had,” Alite said.
The Gambinos had for years been trucking in 10,000 pounds of pot at a time from Mexico. But in the mid-’90s, they started farming their own — first in a basement in Woodhaven, Queens, and later on an 18-acre property upstate, according to Alite.
“It made us millions of dollars a year, without a doubt,” said Alite, who now consults on crime for TV and movies at http://www.johnalite.com.
Mondella, 57, fatally shot himself in the head in a bathroom of his factory on Tuesdayas investigators opened a secret door leading to his huge, 50-by-50-foot basement grow house.
His funeral was Saturday at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary-St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church in Carroll Gardens.
Loudspeakers played Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” as his casket was carried from the church. He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery.