Anyone ever have any brushes with real mobsters?

Growing up in Bensonhurst I knew of a few. In the early 80s we lived above a social club run by a guy named "Beansy" Melli, although I forget what family he was with. I guess Bonanaos or Columbos in that area. Later we lived across the street from one of Sammy Gravano's construction companies. Further up the same block was the social club of a guy called Joe Black. Never got his full name. He was just Joe Black. And one of my neighbors got gunned down (I saw nothing of course).

I'm sure a few of you guys have similar stories. Let's hear 'em!

As a teenager, I worked in a candy store at the corner of Saratoga and Livonia Avenues in Brownsville, Brooklyn, that had been "Midnight Rose's," the HQ of Murder Inc. in the Thirties and Forties.

I think anyone who grew up in Brooklyn in that time has a few stories. I'll share a few:

My father was in the jukebox business. When I was a young kid, he would sometimes take me to work with him. My "job" was to help him collect the coins from the jukeboxes and pinball machines, and separate the nickels, dimes and quarters so he could roll them. During the summer of 1961 (I was 10 years old) he took me with him one day in early August and one of his "stops" was a bar on Utica Avenue. I remember it clearly because the bar's tv was on showing a Yankee game and the bartender asked me if I liked baseball (while he was cleaning up). I replied that I did and we talked about Mantle and Maris chasing Babe Ruth's record (of 60 home runs).

A few weeks later my father showed me the newspaper featuring a front page picture of Larry Gallo (the Gallo Brothers) after recovering from an attempted strangling (Turnbull remembers this picture) and explained that the attack was carried out in the same bar in which we were in a few weeks earlier (the Sahara Lounge). (This was re-enacted in Part II when Frankie Pentangeli was almost choked).


By virtue of my dad being in the business he had known many wiseguys. He told of a time when he was with some of them and they were drinking in Ben Maksik's nightclub (where Marine Park golf course is now - on Flatbush Avenue). A few of them had their goomars with them and apparently one of them pissed off one of the wiseguys. The wiseguy took the gal's salad bowl and dumped it on her head. My father said it was one of the funniest (albeit one of the most demeaning) things he ever saw (the salad and dressing dripping down from her face) BUT NOBODY dared to laugh - the guy who did it was VERY high up in the Family. I never really knew exactly who it was but I have some suspicions.

Here's a picture (below) of my dad (second from left) with some of his mob cronies - the guy on the left, who is embracing my dad, was Albert Anastasia's son-in-law. (The picture is of low quality - it is a screen capture from an old family home movie - my sister had an engagement party and some of these guys volunteered their services as bartenders):

SC, since your dad was in the jukebox biz, did he ever cross paths with Crazy Joe Gallo?

Ben Maksik's Town and Country Club was a big, mobbed-up nightclub. His major claim to fame was that he got Harry Belafonte to perform every year.

Your talking about Frank "Beansy" Melli, who was with the Colombo family. Was the "Joe Black" social club that you are talking under the Elevated train tracks?

Yeah! Actually Joe Black's place was near the tracks, but not right under them. Same block that the old White Castle used to be on. Do you know anything about him? I didn't even realize he was a wiseguy as a kid. Just thought he was a popular guy on the block. I was clueless.

And yeah, that's probably the same Beansy. His place actually got raided while we were living there. I remember reporters and cops coming around.

Further down 86th (towards MacDonald Avenue) was Sammy Gravano's nightclub.

Illusions right?

I don't know that name .... it was some sort of disco club. Don Cardi would know.

Stillwell Avenue.

Joe Black was that kind of guy. He never flaunted, bragged or showed off in any way. Pretty much a low key kind of guy who was always good to everyone who lived in the neighborhood. He never walked around or acted like a wiseguy.





The Plaza Suite.

Riiight. Plaza Suite. That's the one.

Yeah Joe seemed like a nice guy. I used to play video games in a candy store a few doors down called the Trading Post, I think he might've owned it or had a piece of it, because he was in there a lot. But yeah, people seemed to genuinely like him.

The trading post. He and some of the guys used to play cards in the back. They also had a Video game parlor/pool room under McDonald Avenue right off Avenue U and we used to play pool there at night in the summer while he and the guys would play cards.

Joe's passed away then? I guess he is since he was probably already in his 50's even back then.

I really don't know if he's alive or not. If he is still alive, he'd have to be at least in his late 70's....pushing 80.

779 Saratoga Ave Corner of Livonia Avenue Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York.

It was waaaaay past its prime when this ad was taken out.

Some great pics and memories there guys!

Of course in the UK we don't have "mobsters" as such,we have villains and football hooligans. I have met a few in my time but shaven headed,tattooed men with penchants for mindless violence are to be avoided in general i find

Although I grew up in a predominately Italian-American neighborhood in Chicago I didn't have much of an experience as you guys have except through hearsay from my friends.
Although from what I learned through my great-grandmother, her husband was a bootlegger and apparently ran afoul of someone down in Georgia that he hightailed it out of there without telling anyone until he made it to New Jersey. My great-great-grandfather (again my great-grandmother's father) was a numbers runner in NYC. I don't know if he ran with Bumpy and them because I didn't ask her though.

The only brush i have had is with this guy named Tony, whom i think may be in. He came over straight from Italy and somehow had his citizenship here almost imediately. He also has a decent amount of money as well. From what my dad says though, a friend of Tony's is in. Supposedly this guy was a plumber yet when my dad asked him to fix the toilet at the garage Tony owned, the guy replied "Why you askin me i don't know shit about plumbing."

I also remember one time hearing Tony on the phone with someone, not sure who but i do remember him telling whoever it was to "put the fear of god in him." Supposedly Tony's friend had asked my dad to help him out with getting Tony his citizenship papers. I also would stop in a pizza place on the way to the Boston Garden that was shut down a few years ago which was owned by a capo in the boston mob who got busted for selling coke out of the shop.

My dad on the other hand has had a few brushes. He had to pick up Patriarca's car once to get it fixed. He also had to fix and deliver Gennaro Angiulo's car to his North End hangout. He told me he had accidentally opened the glovebox and a bunch of slips with numbers fell out.

I wonder what my neighbor who got gunned down did. As far as I knew he was a straight businessman. Don Cardi might even be familiar with him. He ran Prospero's funeral home on 86th street. Obviously he was mixed up in some kind of shennanigans. I wonder if that case was ever solved.

Prospero's belonged to Joe Colombo at one time, Steva.

I worked in the funeral service business in conjunction with Local 813 for 22 years. The people at Prospero's were straight shooters all the way. Of course, by the time I got to know them (the early '80s), Joe Colombo was long gone.

That's actually when the killing happened, early 80's. I think '81. But that was a chaotic time for the Columbos, so he might've just got caught up in that.