Vincent Alo a/k/a "Jimmy Blue Eyes",

Was wondering if anyone had any info regarding his early years, before he became Lansky's right hand man in Miami!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Alo#Early_years

Robert Lacey, in his outstanding biography of Lansky ("Litte Man - Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life") has plenty to say about Alo's relationship with Lansky.

There is not much info on his early days, I´m afraid. He pretty much flew under the radar until the Kefauver hearings in the early 1950s. He was born May 26, 1904 in New York (Harlem). His father Salvatore and mother Giulia had immigrated from the Calabrese region of Italy. In 1923, he was sentenced to 5 to 12 years in Bronx, NY on a charge of 2nd degree robbery. By 1935 he was reported ro be one of the heads of a policy gang in Westchester County, NY. He was also reported to be the head of a numbers racket in the Bronx and Yonkers, NY. In 1952, Alo plead guilty to the operation of gambling casinos in Broward County in Florida and fined 1,000.00 dollars. Alo freely admitted that he made his money as a gambler.

According to the Mafia Monograph, Alo was during a meeting at a hotel in NY in May of 1956, selected by 35 identified top mobsters (probably all members of the Genovese Family, none of them were named) to run the Family in Costello´s absence. By that time, Alo was a captain in the Family and head of a huge crew.

It is said that Alo was somewhat of a lackey of Lansky, his right hand man (as you put it). But I don´t buy into that. Although a business partner of Lansky, I think Alo was assigned to Lansky by the Genovese bosses actually to keep a close eye on him. I could be wrong though...

Alo was sent to keep a close eye on him (as you said) and to be his protector....I believe I read somewhere that if it wasn't for Alo, Lansky would have been strong-armed by every wiseguy around....

Sounds plausible.

I think Lansky was rather Alo's right-hand man than the other way around.

In The Godfather Part II Alo is more or less portrayed as Johnny Ola.

This link has some information on Lansky:

http://bitterqueen.typepad.com/friends_of_ours/2012/05/meyer-lansky-in-his-own-words.html

Goes into some detail on his "legend" and his wealth:

"During his life Lansky was perceived by the press and the public as a wealthy man -- some estimates put his net worth at $300 million -- who was among the most powerful gangsters in the country. However, the reality is that Lansky was just a work horse harnessed by the Genovese family in its various incarnations as reflected by his own unguarded admissions and corroborated by other evidence. After Prohibition the Italians began consolidating their control over the underworld, and by the end of World War II the Jewish gangsters were either working for the Mafia or resting in peace. The bosses assigned capo Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo to keep a close eye on Lansky in Hallandale, FL, and everywhere that Lansky went Alo was sure to follow."
"The FBI recently released nearly 3,000 additional pages from its file on mob boss Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno, and included is a report dated July 11, 1983 – several months after Lansky’s death -- which confirms that Meyer Lansky was little more than a working stiff for the Genovese crime family with no independent power.

According to the report the FBI interviewed a confidential informant on July 6, 1983 in Dallas, TX, and “[t]he source stated that Lansky had to do business through Vincent Alo, aka Jimmy Blue Eyes, in order to get anything done though the LCN, Alo being a capo in the LCN,” and “Alo, in turn, cleared what Lansky wanted to do, whatever that was at the time, though his boss at one time (first name unknown (FNU) [redacted] and currently [redacted] both of [redacted].”

Hairy, did you ever come across anything in Salerno's FBI files regarding Lansky?

Gee...I honestly don´t remember. His available files provides info up until 1969 only.

Are those the ones on the Mary Farrell site?

A small part of his files can be found on the MFF site but I was thinking of the files that can be found here:

http://vault.fbi.gov/anthony-salerno/

(A boring read though...)

One of the things that has to be kept in mind in regards to Lansky back then is that Costello was boss until 57 and Havana fell on New Year's 59. You would have to think that with Costello in power that Lansky would still have maintained a significant amount of influence. Lansky was already too well entrenched in Cuba for anybody to strong arm him there, with the possible exception of Santo Trafficante. With Costello and Batista out of power by 59, from then on I see Lansky's power waning and Alo having more sway.

in the movie "american hustle" i believe robert deniro s character is supposed to Vincent Ola.. anybody seen it?

very good movie.yall should give it a try.

i meant Vincent Alo...

i thought it was a great movie. it was cross between "snatch" and "goodfellas" minus the brutality. I def recomend it.

I read somewhere he was lanskys bf till the day Myers died. That guy lefty guns got caught on wire by pistons talking how he was a legend in 1980 the yr he died.also read jimmy was to keep a eye on him.