Ciotti, a member of the Magaddino family had hidden interest in the Great Gatsby, a bar. The great Gtsby was a center for narcotics distribution, and a trouble spot for law enforcement and local residents. Ciotti used the Calabrese Club, a private club in Erie to warehouse drugs and skimmed $20,000 in revenues from the club for his own use while employed there as "entertainment manager-bartender." Ciotti also received $200 a week as a consultant for another restaurant the Brass Rail in Pittsburgh. Ciotti also has ties to another liquor establishment in western Penn.
William Driscoll, a self-professed numbers banker who operated a pizza shop in Aliquippa, testified under a grant immunity that local attorney Carl Marcus arranged loans of $60,000 to be invested in the Great Gatsby, part of which was to be diverted into Driscoll's illegal numbers operation. According to Driscoll, Marcus and others, in return, were to receive 25 percent of the profits from Driscoll's gambling operation. Driscoll also said that Marcus loaned him $25,000 in 1980 for restaurant equipment and gambling debts.