I know about the myth that existed but I wonder if there really was a boss that 100% stayed away from making money from drugs?

I have heard that acting boss Orena was 100% against drugs but am not totally sure. Persico may have been involved with them and if he collected for him, he would be just as guilty.

I also believe that Scarfo was against them but read that he collected from the chemical that created meth.

I know Castellano seemed to be against them but, if he was collecting from Ruggiero and Gotti, he is just as guilty.....Isn't it a bosses responsibility to know exactly how his army of men are earning their money? Ignorance is not an excuse.

So, does anyone know if ANY boss stood their ground and refused to earn from drugs directly or indirectly?

Angelo Bruno and Scarfo was against drugs but received the money from Martorano 's drug empire; Carlo gambino and Castellano with the deal drugs and die rule , the Smaldones of denver banned drugs so the Outfit was the only lcn family to real ban drugs.

Good question IIM
and good answer FURIO .
Since there weren't mandatory minimum or stiff sentences for drug traffickers until relatively recently, on what grounds would LCN frown upon dealing drugs back in the day?

Bruno also took drug money off the cherry hill gambinos , this was one of the reasons that got him killed , he forbade his own men from proffiting from the drug trade but was getting rich taking drug money off the cherry hill gambinos

its an "infamnia" lol
i wonder if any felt that way? that dealing would give them a undesirable reputation?

I think I've read that Al Capone was against drugs . Frank Costello and Carlo Gambino were reportedly against drugs as well , though I think one of Carlo's close confidantes ( Joe " Piney " Armone ) dealt drugs without any repercussions .

This might be off topic , but to my knowledge the Velentzas crime famiy of NYC never engaged in drug trafficking . They weren't/aren't LCn though .

For the hundred-and-first time,the Outfit wasnt 'the only family that never dealt drugs'!!! They had high profile members that were involved up to their necks in the narco biz.Try to remember that,please

The no-drugs rule was oftentimes flouted, so it's more likely to be "deal drugs & avoid being pinched". Luciano, Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese, etc. had crews that were dealing junk. Gotti did it, so did Scarfo and the Luccheses.

Even the bosses couldn't avoid getting a cut of the loot despite the so-called "drug ban."

In addition to extorting drug dealers, Scarfo and his guys were involved in acquiring and selling POP (precursor for meth). And Castellano took drug money from the Gambinos and Patsy Conte. Probably others as well. And the Outfit had guys trafficking as well, including when Accardo was boss.

Castellano accepted the drug money from the DeMeo guys as well. So, there's that.

Don Zaluchi of Detroit:

"I also don't believe in drugs. For years I paid my people extra so they wouldn't do that kind of business. Somebody comes to them and says, «I have powders; if you put up three, four thousand dollar investment - we can make fifty thousand distributing.» So they can't resist. I want to control it as a business, to keep it respectable. I don't want it near schools - I don't want it sold to children! That's an infamia. In my city, we would keep the traffic in the dark people - the colored. They're animals anyway, so let them lose their souls."

Scarfo hated drugs he may have been tricked or told half truths but no way was he involved in flat out drug dealing.

I would not doubt that the street drug tax was the only thing that he thought he was near but that was taxing criminal activity.

The guy would bust everybody's balls when they would have more then a drink or two ..or if you were seen going in the bars around town other then to do business or have a drink or two...

The guy detested drugs and the people and the live that came with .

You can read about the bust they were involved in below. Maybe Scarfo felt their level of involvement was far enough removed to justify it. Yes, they were acquitted but so was OJ.

http://articles.philly.com/1987-06-19/ne...y-phil-leonetti

http://articles.philly.com/1987-06-18/news/26186308_1_indictment-crime-family-kingpin-statute

Hi Serp, if Nicky hated drinking he must have loved Chuckie Merlino. Lol

I really don't think so. Maybe Chicago. But even big Paul and chin and Tony ducks they all had there kingpin guys that had legit biz. So they could say hay they kick up came from there. Like Sammy bull said kinda when john gotti became boss he sent Sammy to pat conte to say hay I'm not stupid kick up what you have paul to me. Chin boss Barney got pinch or entraped for heroin in late 80tys. They all wanted some of the pizza guys dope money.

And it seems like the pleasant ave guys didn't go e a fuck about slinging it threw a pizza front they were selling kilos to whoever.

But the days of Italians and dope kingpins are done don't even ask me how a little island like domincans republic surplus the whole east coast it don't make sense.

There are examples with all of them.

As I said above, Castellano took drug money from the Gambinos and Patsy Conte. Chin went down in a drug bust himself in the 1950's. And he made Bellomo, who trafficked in heroin himself, the acting boss. Corallo? Amuso and Casso, known drug traffickers, succeed him. Chicago? Guys like Fifi Buccieri and Turk Torello were involved in the drug trade before becoming Outfit leaders. So was Rocky Infelise.

Perhaps when these guys reached the upper levels they no longer needed to be involved in drugs and worried more about the risks because they had more to lose. But a concrete, across the board ban doesn't seem to be the case. Some may have been stricter than others but it seems more a case of they didn't want anyone dealing without permission.

Before Corallo even. Matty Madonna was one of the largest traffickers New York if not the East Coast when he supplied Harlem. If you think about when he was operating between busts, this meant he was without question kicking money direct to Tommy Brown and the Tony Ducks. But this is one of those rare scenarios where Matty got the racket from his brother Frank. But theoretically without being made until he got out in '03 after his 30 year bid, Madonna must have been kicking up direct as a soldier privately trafficking.

Similar with Dom Cataldo and Sal Polisi with the Colombo's. They were said to have been kicking direct to Brancato when he was acting boss after the Colombo shooting. That money must have been going to Joe C. before that.

Also Bruno took loads of cash off the Riccobene's who dealt heavily and Scarfo although he may have shunned the practice started a war with the RIccobene's not because they wouldn't recognize him as boss but because they balked at his street tax, which in there case was a cut of their drug action as that served as their primary business

I would put Frank Costello up there as a strong anti-drug guy. Vito Genovese and Luciano were drug dealers. Which may be the reason why Costello got shot? I know Valachi had the same theory.

The Outfit had far fewer drug dealers who were made compared to NY. Even the FBI states that the Outfit has traditionally stayed away from drugs. All of the NY bosses had powerful capos that specialized in dealing. Of the NY families, the Colombos probably had the least involvement. In Philly both Martorano and the Riccobene crews were deep in drugs. The real rule is don't deal unless you have permission.

It doesn't make sense, until you understand that the Dominican Republic is or was a transshipment point in the Caribbean for cocaine. Combine the huge ethnic enclave in the cities most dense borough, and the fact that they speak Spanish...
It's similar to why you see Nigerians dealing Coke in Europe, the Coke comes through their country, so they get a piece...
It's either that, or the Colombians gotta move the shit themselves, and they tried that, they had too much DEA heat and whatnot...

Strange thing, It seems the drug trade in the Midwest was controlled by Detroit, who had their own pipeline, transportation( Teamsters), production in Sicily, (This is a big reason why you see Zaluchi speak in the Godfather BillyBrizzi...) and network to move it...
But a lot of the trade also was in the hands of Kansas City, Nicola Impastato, I read he got narcotics from Genoveses pipeline when he was in Europe. This is like 30s and 40s, pre French Connection...
Someone enlighten me because the reason escapes me, when did Montreal gain prominence, 50s to like late 70s under Cotroni?

For sure we cannot compare the Outfit's involvement in the narcotics trade with the New York crime families but I really dont want to sound like a broken record so heres a small history on the Outfit's involvment in the narcotics trade...

During the late 1920's and early 30's Al Capone's cheif of security Willie Heeney was a junkie and was also heavily involved in opium peddling. When the goverment started raiding Capone's hideouts, they caught Heeney throwing cans filled with the narcotic and later also found dozens of cans in his possession filled with it. Also Jack McGurn used to work for Heeney as a street peddler, especially when he fell out of the organization.

Another of Capone's close associates and boss of the Melrose Park area Rocco DeGrazia was also heavily involved in the opium trade.On occasion he and his brother were arrested for threatening a Melrose Park pharmacist to provide them with opium and morphine. In the mid 1940's, during Accardo's reign, DeGrazia was again arrested for smuggling opium.The cops also found a smoking pipes which indicates that he was also a user. Now if Accardo was so much against the selling and the use of narcotics, this guy was going to be killed. So instead he remained in the position of area boss untill 1957.

Also in 1943 Outfit member Charles Nicoletti and his associate Ernest Sansone were arrested by the Chicago police for peddling narcotics. Nicoletti was sent to Midland, Michigan to serve 18 months.

As for Accardo, during the early 1950's when the west side bloc of the Chicago Outfit became stronger then ever, he kept a closed eye on a huge crew that was involved in a huge heroin ring. The crew was led by west side hoodlums Tony Pape, Joe Iacullo and Frank Coduto. According to FBI reports Iacullo was seen going in and out of Accardo’s home for more than 20 times. So a man has to be very naive to belive in the story the the notorious boss of the Outfit, which was Accardo himself, warned Iacullo more then 20 times to stop dealing.Thats just unacceptable. But when the cops arrested these guy regarding the narcotics trade, Accardo killed them all because was he scared from the bad publicity which was given by the narcotics trade and avoided any government heat that might jeopardize his vast gambling operations. But previously he never rejected a full envelope from the narcotics trade.

Tony Pape was also a close friend of another big time Outfit hoodlum who went by the name of Teets Battaglia. When Battaglia was recognized as a number two men within the Outfit, he also tolerated a narcotics crew which was led by Americo DePietto, Rocky Infelice and Cowboy Mirro. They imported heroin from France through Canada and also from South America. Also on one occasion Turk Torello and Infelice were caught with $100,000 worth of narcotics. During the mid 1960's the top echelon of the Outfit,including Giancana, Battaglia and other were subpoenad regarding the narcotics racket which was led by the crew. No one was punihsed because of the attention that was brought upon them.

During the early 1970's the Arziona mob, in which the Outfit also had its own crew, was funneling drugs from Mexico into the Chicago area through its territory. The main guys for the Outfit were Tony Spilotro and Paul Schiro i think. The gang was a mixed crew of burglars and dope peddlers, including Phoenix-based Frank Moreno and Fred Pedote, Arden Lee Smith, a heavy narcotics dealer who fled to Mexico to escape a jail term, and Brian “The Mad Pineapple” Ho, a weapons and drug dealer who worked in a Phoenix service station. Spilotro wasn’t much of the time around so Schiro ran day to day operations.

When Joey Aiuppa became boss of the Outfit at first he stayed open minded about the narcotics trade and supported Nicoletti's involvment in the business. But later Accardo and Gus Alex changed his mind and so he refused to give the Nicoletti faction consent to become involved.

Other prominent Outfit members involved or at least took a cut from the nracotics trade were Paul Ricca(possible connection was the Genovese family in NY), Nick DeJohn(Tom Buffa from the St.Louis mob), Leonard Calamia(San Fransisco connection), Ross Prio(Ken Eto's connection with black gangs), Fifi Buccieri(Torello, Infelice), Phil Alderisio(DePietto), Richard Cain, Lenny Patrick(connection with Nicoletti and possibly Fred Morrelli) and Dave Yaras(worked as a smuggler in south Florida and transported narcotics up to New York).

I think that the only Outfit boss who really shunned drugs in his whole life time, was Gus Alex. Theres not even one speck of FBI or newspaper information or even rumour about his involvment in the trade.I can say the same thing about his previous mentors such as Bruno Roti, Murray Humphreys, Eddie Vogel and Jake Guzik.

U lot are completely wrong about Scarfo

According to Nicky crow- Scarfo would not let anyone openly deal drugs for that matter BUT got around the rule by either extorting drug dealers OR funding the operation

He had no problem with his guys loaning drug dealers money & that makes Nicky Scarfo 100% for drugs as to opposed

It's no different to paying someone to whack so & so, just because u didn't pull the trigger.... U following?!

.

Bean how you been ?

Chuckle was not always the outward bubbling drunk that tried to bribe the cop down here .

John LaRocca, Pittsburgh. Unfortunately Michael Genovese changed all that ;-(

John: Not from a major city but still the boss of an LCN Family.

Both sides of the island,Haiti and Dominican Republic, have been "hubs" for cocaine trafficking for decades.

The advantage that Dominicans in America had in early crack era and the 70s era of coke was that there was no extradition agreement between DR and the US .I think that has changed since then.

So in drug industry...lot of times people have to be hit....DR dude could go hit somebody.....go to JFK....catch direct flight to DR....and there was nothing that American law enforcement could do...even if they had the shooting on video tape.

That's true. Relatively speaking, the Outfit has had much less involvement in the drug trade than the NY families. And that's still the case today. However, the point was that even Chicago has plenty of examples. Speaking of which, good write up by Toodoped.