Originally posted by Cristina's Way:
I wasn't sure what this meant when I first heard it. Does it mean that blacks were recruited as bookies so that the crime families could take advantage of money-making opportunities in Harlem?
Is this historically accurate? (Well, it probably is if a meticulous director like FFC included it. But then again it was just a passing line in the movie, so maybe it wasn't checked for accuracy.)
Well to again reference Frank Pentangeli's rant to Michael in GFII about the Rosato Brothers, in real life, after Crazy Joe Gallo was released from prison, he began recruiting African Americans and Hispanics into his crew. This was not looked upon too fondly by the old timers in the mob, as for the most part the African Americans were normally used by the mob just for Bookmaking and Loansharking in areas like Harlem. But they were never to be an actual part of a crew.
Don Cardi
