Was Benny Eggs a tough guy?

I was reading the Al D'Arco book and he said his friend Ralphie(who wasn't even a made guy) used to slap Benny Eggs around and Ralphie didn't even care. Is this story accurate by anybody's account other than D'Arco's?

Al D'Arco says a lot of questionable things so it probably isn't very accurate.

What else did he say in the book that would be questionable?

Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit. Benny Eggs was a war hero (which doesn't excuse his being a gangster). He was respected all his fucking life. Little Al is a fucking worm.

The....fucking....end.

You're actually being serious asking this question? Wow.

What I read in the book is that Ralph considered Venero a loudmouth, choked him and Al pulled him off.

Is it a possibility that Al is just namedropping and he probably never even met Mangano?

Vic Amuso's beef with Bruno Facciola supposedly dated back to a street brawl back in the 70's.

Anyone have any more information on that?

I read the book, Moe. And I'm one of the few people on the boards who actually accepts D'Arco's excuse for ratting (that Casso and Amuso were going to kill him). And Capeci is always worth a read, even if he sometimes has an agenda (all writers do).

That being said, there's a lot of bullshit there. He claimed to meet with Little Jimmy at La Mela all the time. And I know for a fact that the entire Westside downtown crew was leery of D'Arco. Not so much because they thought he was a rat. But because they thought he was a mutt who fell ass backwards into the job.

And that rat crap about Mikey Salerno up in the Bronx? He would have put a gun in his own mouth before he gave up a mouse. Mikey got killed because of Casso's paranoia and insane jealousy of anyone who was more well liked than he was.

Thanks, PB.

More likely Al didn't like Mangano so he decided to tell lies.

An associate putting his hands on a made guy like Venero and not ending up in a trunk? Please..

Al is a total pos I get wanting to take down casso but it should have ended with him or he should have taken casso out not rat on everyone else defend yourself like massino gotti did. No roll like a bitch when not even jammed up he had guys that would have went a along with a coup.

The ONE thing I HATE about these books is putting money in these pricks pockets.

Interested to read it, but I'll download it illegally on the net before I give that bullshit artist 2 cents.

And honestly, I'm AMAZED Capeci would put his name to crap like that.
An associate slapping/choking BENNY EGGS. Are you fucking kidding me. PLEASE.

So Capeci can kiss my two cents away too.. Not to mention the notches of respect he loses...

I might be getting confused with another book but I think I remember reading that D'Arco "didn't get any of the profits from the book".

Could someone clear this up?

ahhhh Man PB, I read the initial post and almost spit my mountain dew on the monitor. D'Arco says some non made guy slapping Benny around like it was nothing? You have got to be kidding me!!!!!

One of the most respected Genovese elders ever. You wanna talk about a true wiseguy, someone that is one thousand percent cosa nostra...look no farther than Benny

re did meyer lansky really die broke? I don't believe it, this guy looked after mob money for years, odds are he stashed millions away.

My laptop caught some Ketel One. Same principle .

Well the original title of the thread wasn't "Was Benny Eggs a tough guy" I'm sure he was but I had to put something that would fit so I put that.

From everything I've heard he didn't die broke but he didn't have nearly as much money as the media reported he did. Maybe he did and maybe they were stashed away in accounts that absolutely nobody could find, but we'll never know.

I thought it was off myself that Al would say that being that Benny Eggs was a pretty big guy but I figured maybe at that time he wasn't as big and wasn't as respected but I guess he was all that at that time.

Benny Eggs walks with two canes the guy has a lot of health issues. TO ask if he was a toughguy is common sense he was in the war did jail time n still remained a senior member of the family all these years

I didn't buy the book because so many of these rats are lying scumbags. When did the weasel claim this ralph guy was slapping Venero around?

Look at my reply to tommy G and you'll see why I put that as the title. It just fit in the space. I couldn't put what I really wanted in the space because of the word count. If it makes you feel any better, just ignore the title and read the description to see what I was really asking.

^ That was at Red btw.

About midway through the book or so. It was after he got out of prison he said it happened. He kind of glossed over it as if it was no big deal when he said it in the book. Didn't go I to great detail about it.

I meant what year did it happen? How long ago?

anytime d'arco, casso or vic get brought up I always end up feeling really for Fat Pete for some reason

Al book is full of bs.

It DIDN'T happen. But in Al's mind, he probably imagined it some time after Capeci slipped him a few bucks under the table .

D´Arco is the only wiseguy who ratted for being yelled at.

The book is pretty decent though. Interesting read.

Chiodo decided to rat after Amuso screamed at him and humiliated him in front of other wiseguys at El Caribe.

All of their subordinates were so sensitive.

You're forgetting about Joe Dogs. Of course, while they were yelling at him they were also beating him with a baseball bat .

I think nj exclusion list got him as 6'4. usually that's guys you don't slap around an being a ww2 guy+chins buddy. maybe a drunken brawl, but that type of stuff probably have you flying off the top of them high rises.

I think lil al testified at benny eggs window trial, probably had some words. Colombo guys aloi and the capo recently in the news going to his lesbians daughter wedding DeLuca were in the trial to.

Maybe even 6'5. He was a fucking giant for his generation .

The story is utter bullshit.

?

Don't know how to post the photo but a quick google will show a photo of Venero in handcuffs by a bearded agent. Guy looks TINY.

Sonny, here is the article with the Pic:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ge...rticle-1.377977

Mangano´s bread and butter was gambling. He was a known bookmaker. He had numerous arrests on gambling charges back in the day. He also operated a New York City clothing store, Resource Sales Inc, a store that was formerly operated by Funzi Tieri. In 1981 til 1982, Mangano was behind bars for refusing to testify before a New York federal grand jury. Around this time he was also apparently investigated for corruption in the Dallas based Army Air Force Exchange Service and their links with companies that dealt with them. However, Mangano´s links to these companies are unclear.

Mangano was also known as a heavy gambler and often visited Atlantic City. He was on a "grey list" of 60 to 70 names of individuals and the casinos were told not to extend credit or complimentaries to those people on the list. Once casino officials of the Golden Nugget told an obstnate Mangano when he was in town, that their instructions came from the gaming division. Amazingly, Mangano returned to the casino not long after with a letter from the same gaming division stating it never told the Golden Nugget not to extend credit to Mangano. Two years later however, Mangano was placed on the Black list, banning him from the Atlantic City´s casinos.

At the labor racketeering trial of John DiGilio some surveillance tapes were played. On them, DiGilio spoke about Mangano. He said "Bayonne is mine. Don´t nobody, you know, not anybody, not Benny Mangano...I´m the only tough guy in Bayonne. For years I´ve been chiseling, come to a grand a week." Later on the tapes DiGilio asked "How did Benny wound up in Bayonne? Benny thinks Bayonne is his. That´s the way he spoke take money off my fucking guys and nobody gets nothing." DiGilio was found not guilty in that trial but was found murdered floating in Hackensack River soon after his acquittal.

I was being ironic, Sonny. I guess I should really start using those smileys a little more sensibly .

We def need an irony bhoothan.

Any photos of Mangano as a young man exist?

Gigante and Gotti must have felt like they were teaching Kindergarten with all these feisty midgets like Gravano, Amuso, Casso and Mangano scuttling around.

My bad. I have no idea I'll have to look in the book. If I had to take a guess probably the 60s or 70s. Being that it was before al got made. I'm sure pizza is right that it never happened but the bottom line is we just don't know because we weren't there.

It never fucking happened. Period. Now let's move on.

Little Jimmy is shorter than all of them. But he was just as feared. If not more so.

Jimmy Ida?

PB I'm curious about Ida...aside from consigliere do you know what he was into? Was he a heavy n feared guy?

Ida extorted one of the Jackson sisters didn't he?

Did you know mangano personally? I understand the validity of what Al is saying is very shaky and all but you seem very passionate in defending Benny eggs. For the record I'll take your word for it that it never happened because I know you know you're mob history.

Was Jimmy Ida in the tampers or am I thinking someone else?

I might be thinking about Jimmy Emma actually.

The dude flew bomber missions in WW2 and was a high ranking Genovese crime family member. Lol he was definitely somewhat tough.

Exactly. He was a tail gunner. He came home a decorated war hero (and again, that doesn't excuse his becoming a gangster). Point is, he wasn't just respected in the street.

And being a tail gunner then was one of the most dangerous and deadly jobs a guy could have to do. Most never made it back. But like you said that doesn't excuse what he chose to do after.

Of course not. I'm not a mob apologist. But there's more to some of these guys than meets the eye. There's a lot of gray area with most people. This guy did some good in his life. That's all I'm trying to say. Whether or not he did more good than bad is between him and God .

And most tail gunners seem to have been little guys (just going by some of those old WW 2 pictures). Maybe the rear cock pits were small? But that's another reason I sarcastically said that he was a "giant" for a guy of his generation .

Yea I think they wanted someone who could fit in those things and small guys were the best. I definitely don't know if I could of done what those guys did that is for sure. My grandpa was in Sicily during the war fixing bombers and he would tell me how the villagers near their base would come during the day to sell food etc. Really interesting and a lot of these guys are not with us anymore.

Yes PB the quarters he had to maneuver in was very small and that's why I had to laugh at the 6'5" comment. I'd say tail gunners that tall would be pretty rare if not extinct

He was big downtown. I mean, he was Matty's successor in the downtown crew when Matty went away in the late '80s. As far as his being a "heavy guy," I think that says it all.

He was pretty active in with the concrete and the bricklayers back then, too. And the masons were mostly Westchester based, so that really extended his domain from lower Manhattan all the way up to Westchester, which is pretty rare. He eventually bought a farm sized property up in Bedford and lived there part time. But he was still a Little Italy go to the bone.

He was a sharp guy. Very feared. Very well respected. But he made a huge mistake in not taking that plea in '96 or '97. He'd be out now, and he'd probably be on the short list to be a panel member.

Oh, lastly, fun fact about Jimmy: He's one of the RARE Italian Americans of Northern Italian descent to end up so big in the American mob (back then, anyway, today they'll make anyone lol). I'm pretty sure his family was from Milan.

Exactly. And even if you've never seen him, there are a few pictures of him available if you follow this stuff. If the guy was sitting on a big old Caddy, he'd look like a hood ornament.

That's what made me curious too. I thought it was a wikipedia joke.

I'm not certain of the town. Maybe my father would know. But I'm fairly certain his family was from up north.

Pizzaboy, sorry for the off-topic, is your inbox full? Because my messages are marked as unread, just checking if you received them.

Casso said Benny eggs didn't like savino and would have killed him but chin saved him think they put a gun in his mouth also gravano liked.him.and got along good when he bad mouthed everyone in his book like when he called jimmy brown.a pussy. The pic of Benny eggs the guys in his late 60 tys and the fed is way younger. In every rats book they take shots at people I'm surprised cape I put it in there. Maybe they were drunk and fought that's it. Think all said the guy ralph was Angelo pointed brother in law so it probably was handle internal.Benny eggs comes underboss in 1987? After the other died I think. He got hammered in the windows case there's a jail house pic of him. If the no exclusion lists him as 64 what's hard to believe he looks like a mean old groutch in the mugshot and order a dozen murders in his day. Patriots sucked ass today.

The Dolphins ran over the Patriots, Brady has been staying out to late with that Model wife of his.

Sammy Black.

So happy that the pats didn't win. After all the hype they had coming in they still lost. Traditionally they suck in Miami anyway. But here's a question, who was tougher, Anthony Casso, Sammy the Bull Gravano or Benny Eggs?

Considering both Casso and Gravano flipped, and Venero Didnt.

Im sure you can figure it out.

Good point. Who was the fiercest street fighter the mafia has ever seen in your guys diagnosis? I was thinking it would be gigante or cohen maybe because they both fought professionally before I think.

supposedly Anthony Accetturo was too. Lots of them were raised on the streets though and were in street gangs so I assume many could handle themselves in a streetfight

Patsy Parrello. Toughest guy to ever come out of Fordham. Hands like catcher's mitts. And a Judo champion twenty years before anyone else was into martial arts here in New York.

For a good while i've just been reading the comments in the OC section, and i apologize for returning with a negative comment. Seriously though the part of your comment i bolded made me cringe beyond belief . Can you at the very least try to pretend this is not a fantasy forum for you?

Sorry for being a complete dick i've had a few good conversations with you on this site, and... well i don't even know.

thats correct..

People were talking about who's tough so I threw the question out there to see if anyone had any input on who they feel is the toughest. What's wrong with that? I for one never dreamed of being in the mafia. I didn't grow up around it. I made my money clean and I made more money than a lot of present day american mafioso did. But if you're telling me that there aren't people who joined this forum to fantasize about being in the mafia then I'm sorry I'm going to have to disagree. Not everybody now, but I'm sure there is a handful of people in this forum who generally do wish that they were a part of the mafia sometime within their lives. So don't point the finger at me saying that I'm fantasizing about this stuff. Am I interested? Absolutely. I'm more interested in the financial aspect of the mafia more so than anything, how they make and hide their money. But do I ever fantasize about being a criminal? Not at all. Have I ever wondered which family is stronger and more influential than the other? Of course. Have I ever legitimately fantasized about them going to war and killing each other? No I can't say that I have. I tend to forget sometimes that these guys are criminals every once in a while after I find myself watching the sopranos but as much as I possibly can I try to remember that these guys are scum and have no excuses as to why they did what they did.

For the record, we have had some great convos on this site. Mostly because we share similar interests when it comes to movies.

Come on, boys. Let's try to get it back on track .

Agreed. If you want to continue on this subject camarel, PM me and we can talk about it. If not, then let's just move on

Watched Manhattan mob takedown( a decent doc) on the lucheses. I don't know how the psychopath casso got away with what he did for as long as he did They blatantly killed buddy luongo who was an acting boss? He branded everyone a rat(most of the time ubstantiated. Mike Salerno Bruno facciola, dilapi and mike pappadio. And although I think tumac and ricciardi were only a step below casso I'm viciousness. Riccardi once killed a bar owner who hit a 20k number rather than pay. Casso was so psycho he pushed these guys into becoming stool pigeons he created more rats than he exterminated( Darco, fat pete, Burt kaplan. Anyway back to Benny eggs def a stand up guy and a war hero, he may not be in the street fighter mold unless they had divisions by height. 5ft and under and I think Harry riccobene could have taken him on