I think the prevailing theory about why Greg Scarpa Jr. was put into the "Rat" category was twofold; there are some street guys who believed, at the very least, that as a son, who was also extremely close to his father on a daily basis, hung around him constantly, as well being as a street guy himself, who was a member of his father's own crew, who became a made guy no less, over such a lengthy period of time (many many years, decades, in fact,) Junior would have, or should have, "smelled" a rat (so to speak, no pun intended.)
The fact that he supposedly never did... became suspect in some wiseguys minds. And it became hard to believe that he never "allegedly" questioned his father about it? Or if he did think something was afoul, he never brought those suspicions to the Colombo brass as he should have...It was a bit too much to swallow. So Greg Jr., was also considered a rat by some. Who, at the very least, turned a blind eye to it, making him complacent in his father's scheme, (If he wasn't downright part of it as the time passed.) - The second incident which made some guys label him a rat (which I personally, do not agree with,) was after he got that lengthy sentence for heading the Staten Island-based drug ring and was doing his federal time.
Either by happenstance or previous design (in a deal worked out with the feds beforehand,), Greg Jr. was housed with a guy who was known as a Middle Eastern terrorist, and the two prison inmates became friendly. Over a period of time, Scarpa got the guy to open up to him in confidence (thinking Scarpa was a devout mafioso, a stand-up guy.) The terrorist admitted committing criminal acts, terrorist acts, against the United States of America. (I don't remember if Scarpa tape-recorded the guy or not.)
Scarpa promply brought the information he obtained from the guy to Federal Authorities and they used whatever evidence Scarpa provided to arrest and prosecute the Middle Easterner for "terrorism." Scarpa may have also testified in court (I really don't remember.) But at the very least, he was debriefed, spilled the beans, was recorded, and provided pivotal evidence, helping the feds make the case.
--- PS: Now I think there are many wiseguys and street guys who really don't give two shits if Scarpa helped take down some terrorist degenerate plotting against America. In fact, after experiencing what we did in New York City after the horrific terror attacks of 9/11, I suspect that there are some wiseguys who would (openly, or privately) applaud and give him a medal for such a thing. Looking at his actions as a completely separate thing from "organized crime street activity" and making an exception in this case regarding "keeping quiet" regarding law enforcement. Some mafiosi might even view it as an act of heroism and patriotism for America, similar to the actions of mafiosi back in Sicily and Southern Italy during WWII, when the Mafia bosses in certain villages and towns aided the Allies in landing on the Island of Sicily, providing them with scouts, interpreters and other logistical support in their efforts to defeat Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and the Axis Powers. ----
But, overall, these two factors played into Scarpa Jr being labeled a rat. A third incident which I'm sure didn't help he cause was when he had the physical altercation and punched out Lucchese boss Victor Amuso in jail, after Vic had called his father a rat. Collectively, all these factors effectively sunk Scarpa's ship!
Heard some rumors about that... I don't know, maybe JJ should have started with something smaller. But we'll see, I enjoy his podcast very much and he definitely has a lot of knowledge.
In my opinion it's only a matter of time before Rajon Rondo takes up coaching on a more serious level (I believe he's involved in his son's basketball team).
Born back in 1908, as a young man, Max “Little Maxie” Eder resided in the Bronx, but mostly hung out with the Italians around the East Harlem section of Upper Manhattan, as well as with fellow Jewish associates in Downtown’s, Lower East Side, Delancey Street area.
Maxie was a born hoodlum through and through, who pretty much knew everybody there was to know among New York’s hoodlum set. From a young Meyer Lansky, to the notorious “Trigger Mike” Coppola, and most everybody in-between, Maxie was considered a friend.
But although he knew and partnered with many racket guys from various crews over the years, his loyalty and obligation seems to have been to the Genovese Family’s powerhouse capodecina in charge of East Harlem, Michael “Trigger Mike” Coppola.
Maxie was said to have served as a trusted “associate” of the “Coppola Regime” for decades. Maxie was also considered to be a close associate of Coppola regime soldier, Pasquale (Little Paddy) Erra, with whom he would later work with in Florida.
His criminal record started back in 1925, when he was just 17 years old. Through the years he accumulated arrests for burglary, possession of burglars tools, receiving stolen goods, fraud, vagrancy, common gambling, vehicular homicide, a Federal narcotics conviction, and maintaining a gambling establishment.
Federal authorities identified Eder as being most active in heroin smuggling and wholesale distribution, as well as running bookmaking and large-scale card games on behalf of the Mafia.
By at least the late 1940s, he was already visiting South Florida on a seasonal basis. By the 1950s, he had relocated to Miami Beach as a part-time resident, following the lead of Coppola who had also relocated to the Sunshine State around that time. Coppola quickly put Eder in charge of overseeing and running high-stakes gambling parlors along the Miami Beach area.
In the last days at the European Athletics Championships the Dutch won a total of twelve medals in Rome: 3 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze. This tournament will go down as the most successful ever. PHENOMENON Sifan Hassan wasn't even present so watch out for the Dutch next month.
Thai boxing Imperiale says he met Rico R., originally from Chile, in Amsterdam in 2008. They were at the gym doing Thai boxing together and developed a friendship. However, they never became business partners, Imperiale said.
Imperiale describes the Dutch who work internationally in the top division of the cocaine trade as a network of different groups, which then do joint projects with those, and then with those.
3500 kilos Rico and Raffaele had mutual acquaintances who, according to him, were in the trade. Mink Kok (62) and the British Billy Meech were partners, according to Imperiale. At that time, Kok lived in Beirut with his Lebanese wife. R. sought contact with Meech, who had been married for some time to a Colombian woman.
Rico's contacts with South American suppliers made him interesting for Meech and Kok, according to Imperiale. Rico became Meech's "right hand man," he says.
Imperiale was also working on a series of “jobs” from South America together with Meech and Kok:
I did a 6 ton job (…) from Brazil, a 2500 job and a 3500 job. That 3500 kilo batch went through and exactly the week it arrived in Naples, Billy was arrested.
That was in 2011 when Mink Kok and Billy Meech were arrested together in Lebanon for 50 kilos of cocaine.
Pay another 52 million Imperiale had a problem, he says, because the 3.5 tons of cocaine was a joint venture between his Secondigliano group and the group of Mink Kok and Billy Meech. He wanted to pay Billy Meech another 52 million euros.
Rico and Raffaele met each other in Beirut. Rico tried in vain to get Meech out of the cell. Imperiale then told Rico about the 52 million he wanted to pay.
Angry Rico was angry about this, because he knew nothing about this deal, even though he thought he was Meech's right-hand man.
