Back in the 1960's Italian mobster Albert Dimes helped to arrange a 1966 conference between New York mafiosi and the Corsican Francisci brothers, apparently regarding investing in London casinos. Dimes contacts in the Italian American Mafia in New York and the Corsican Mafia in the South of France known as the Unione Corse were however well known to each other already and had been working closely on a heroin smuggling operation known as the French Connection, for many years. The French Connection being the basis for the later Hollwood film of the same name. There was a lot more gangland influence in the London Casino sector back in the 1960's, with the American Mafia running the Colony Sport Club, with Marcel Francisci and the Unione Corse running the River Club at 129 Grosvenor Road, and notorious Irish mob gangster Billy Hill running rackets at the Clermont Club. Marcel Francisci and his brother, also ran the prestigious Cercle Haussmann in Paris, as well the River Club in London and a further casino in Beirut. These powerful contacts ensured that Albert Dimes continued to run Soho and the West End until his death and is the reason that neither gangs such as Krays or Richardsons mainly stayed in the East End and South of London, and always respected Dimes decisions in relation to what went on in the West End.