Toodoped,

Except for the gambling piece, I don't have any firsthand accounts, was just told the following after the fact by my Father, my Uncle, a couple of neighborhood guys one of whom his dad was a cop and my Mom after she would have a glass or two of wine and get pissed at my Dad for running around on her . The Black Hand in Northern New York was involved in illegal alcohol production and distribution, distribution and sales of untaxed cigarettes, gambling: numbers, card games and casino rooms, local business extortion/protection rackets and of course bribing local officials to look the other way. They had a great set up. The alcohol was pickup up in Canada and brought into the states via the Indian Reservation that bordered Canada near Massena NY. At that time the reservation was huge and had no police force nor was the local police allowed on the reservation. The Natives looked the other way for a taste. The reservation was also were the untaxed cigarettes were obtained, then distributed and resold. Watertown New York was the distribution point. The information that I have was that this operation answered to the LCN in Buffalo. Once in Watertown the rum and cigs was distributed to all points south, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany , NYC and small towns along the way. My Grandpa was all in, it was his life. My Father resisted thank God and after prohibition ended he opened a legal beer distributorship that exists to this day. The principle players are all deceased now and were as follows: My Grandpa Giuseppe “Joey Clams” Coppola, Carmine ‘Toot” Carbone, John “The Sicilian” Scordo, My Great Uncle Rocco “Big Rocco” Doldo, and Richard “The Cheeseman” Spaziani. One thing really stuck with me after all these years, even though my Grandpa was a bad guy by anyone's measure over 700 people showed up for his funeral, go figure. I will type up the gambling piece later and post it.