Mobbed up food purveyors/ distributors

One of the most quintessential LCN fronts is to own a Food Distributorship. It seems like a good way to show legit income and help subordinates achieve legit income. Restaurants and bars are the people you sell food to primarily, that's a great way to inflate cash receivables and stiff the IRS on rackets.

Does anybody know who some of the Independent food distributors are in the various cities that are mobbed up? Only one I know for sure is one in Detroit and Frank Cali's in NYC.

calis is the most well known


carmine scrindada a gambino capo ran a supermarket chain Top Tomato grocery chain in one of his stores he got shot in 2005

I remember reading about Ronnie Mozzarellas Cheese distributor company originally from BK but I think is now in Union, new jersey..theyre fucking huge and sell all over the country..I used to work for an italian grocery store in HS outside of Philly and they sold all kinds of his shit I forget the company name its Linti somethin, but I believe hes a Bonnano soldier

But it's not the biggest .

western beef pete castellano, luigi piancone, roma foods, paul had dial poultry , pat conte key foods. profaci colavita oil..imports. ferro foods gambino, you can keep going

There you go. But John Profaci is clean. And his kids are cleaner than clean.

Didn't Paul have a piece of Waldbaum's years ago?

hello Pizza, not sure on waldbaums.. magliocco's had linen and alcohol dist. peerless. guys had big distributors in hunts points .. hey pizza do you remember funzi having madonna water?

Madonna and Jackie nose had no shows at Big Geyser.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/a-slice-of-mafia-with-your-sparkling-water-6393757

Peerless AND Charmers at one time, Bronx. Even Bronx and Westchester guys had Peerless routes to show a little income. And if you could push your customers around a little, you could make a good living selling booze on a small, three day a week route.

Good, legit money. And when I say push them around, I mean you shower them with perks so they feel indebted to you. They know who you're with and they feel they have to buy from you. So it's not stated, just implied. No crime at all.

And yeah, I remember Funzi having something to do with sparkling water. Italian import. Made in Jersey City.

Paul Castellano ran Dial Poultry, which supplied Key Food, Waldbaums, and 300 butcher shops. He intimidated Frank Purdue, the chicken king. Joe Bonanno had a chees manufacturing and distribution outfit in Wisconsin.

Paul had a ownership in Waldbaum's back in the day. And his kids still sit on the administration board of Western Beef, I believe. There was an article I read about a year ago, about the complaints one of the stores here in Long Island had received, and the Castellano's were mentioned in the article.

what's the deal with roma foods? what family does that belong to? Always heard that company was mob related but what does that mean? Were they strong arming their customers? Seems to be a huge company.

Maglioccos still have the liquor distribution business, but it is legit.

"Italian import. Made in Jersey City." ......I just spit out some of my first Johnnie black of the day!!!!!!

Hope your Dad is doing well PB.

Good days, bad days. But thanks for the sentiment. Nice of you to ask, buddy .

PB Funzi had Aqua di Madonna , Hope all is well. DT.

Thanks, DT.

pete sons not pauls have western

pizza connection guy luigi

Thats true, the sons sold it after Paul was murdered and they left NY. It was an asset of Dial Poultry. Whatever the case, the family still runs the chain, Pete Castellana was Paul's cousin, also a suspected Gambino soldier. Pete Jr still gets flack though, even though he says he isn't Mob-affiliated, some newspapers don't think so.

dial poultry was a chain? I know they infiltrated Waldbaum's..maybe im confused..

There are many, and even if they do not have a part in ownership someone will get to the manager there(or other) it's whole thing to who gets what shelf and where on the shelf and where on the isle.

The person with the best shelf(eye level) and the best spot on the shelf and where on the isle is usually kicking up !!! or the made guy has part ownership in that product ..

It is a very good and almost legit racket ,I think it was PB says just doing favors for friends. If there is a money trading hands (so be it)....

That's a very accurate assessment of liquor distributors. With food distributors it's mostly the restaurants. Getting into a new end user is huge. I could totally see a made guy pushing himself in and a Sysco or US Foods out of a new place.

1 owner

mob is involved in so many things to be honest esp back in the day an organization of that size will always have ties in alot of things may be a little involvement but it is there i read the detroit underboss last year sold his medical company for 50mil he must be retired 50 mil and in his 70s not bad

it is not easy to build legit though if your a mobster you have to always prove it. It also depends on the guy many are happy with a comfortable lifestyle others expect more

frank cali lives in a mansion for example had a wine company has a fruit company i read he is involved in meat distribution he has several legit things going on.

celfeau was living with his mom and had a no show job at a bakery as a salesman.He drove a shitty car

depends on the guy

Did the Gambinos have a pizza chain called Father and Sons?
I ask cause I heard they had a couple on the East coast, we had one in Chicago I think on north ave, best pizza in the city I ever had, but I think it changed owners, not the same anymore...

Thanks. So this Roma guy Piancone was involved in the pizza connection? They tied to any family?

When we were kids my mom-mom would give us all her used washed out containers of Maggio ricotta cheese to play with. She always said they were our cousins. But you know how All the Italians are cousins. They were supposedly involved...

Who needs building blocks when you have Tupperware with the Italian flag on it, anyways.

How about LaFrieda? Can a meat company get that big in the NY/NJ without a little "help"?

Peter Maggio was Angelo Bruno's brother in law.

yup on bruno. But, we aren't related to the Maggios. It's like I said about italian cousins; either we came over on the boat, or lived near them in italy, or lived next door to one of their relatives, and poof!! we are now italian cousins.

No-one in my family, past present or future had/has any involvement in organized crime/mafia business.

http://ourstoryof.com/production_date3.html
I believe this may be the one in Detroit that you mentioned. It is owned by Tony Tocco. Scroll down to the bottom and you will see the special supporters list that has Bommaritto's, Randazzo's, and Andiamos', which is owned by Joe Vicari. Also, the Eddie Greco in the pictures is supposedly involved with the Chicago Outfit, and has other Outfit associates working for him including Ronald Derosa.

I also heard about Roma foods from the owners of.the grocery store I worked for...they claimed that Roma came through and still made it known they had the northeast on lock down, but not sure if its still connected to the Columbos or Sal Profaci (idk if hes even alive still)

Found it interesting the post I put about Ronnie Mozzarella from the Bonnanos was and is such a big earner that crews were fighting over who hed be with since hes just a soldier

Anyone know more about Ronnie Mozzarella?? ..cant find his full name even or more about him like who's crew he's with?..cant find the fuckin article bout him but I do know his company outta Union was originally from Brooklyn and that they do extremely well

It could be the remnants of the NewYork end of Joe Bonnanos cheese operation, not sutr though...

No one has the cheese/olive oil/ Italian import businesses cornered in the Northeast, let alone "on lock down." That's the most absurd thing I've ever fucking heard. Kraft Foods has more of a monopoly on the the food industry than any wiseguy does in this day and age.

Roma foods is clean. The Profaci heirs are all clean. John Profaci and his wife operate Colavita Olive Oil completely above board. They're very community conscious, constantly donating and raising monies for different charities. And it's not a "front."

@MikeyBalls211 --- I don't mean you personally. That's directed at whoever told you that nonsense. I only mentioned it because the Profaci kids, grandkids, and other assorted heirs have worked very hard to distance themselves from the street.

Yeah, the food industry is so corporate. The Mob can't compete on a grand scale like that.

The food industry is already corrupt as is so they wouldn't even have that large of an advantage, lol.

Hope your dad is doing better, PB.

I agree with the two above posts. You can certainly see mob involvement years ago but many of these companies have been acquired by other companies and the mob ties are pretty much a thing of the past. Or you have the descendants of mob guys who run their companies completely legitimate. One can point out the involvement of the mob in these companies being created and having success in the first place but it seems most of these people try to get away from that reputation. As said above, so much of it is corporate today.

Obviously I'm talking about several of the companies listed above. Others, like Cali's company or Sciandra's company, still have a more direct mob link. And you see others too. Some denied permits by the NYC Business Integrity Commission to operate in the wholesale food markets. And obviously still a lot of restaurants owned by mob guys.

Of course, Ivy. But for every Circus Fruits there are literally a hundred Stop and Shops and Publix stores. And as far as suppliers go, it's like I said. The little guy--mob connected or not--can't compete with behemoths like Kraft. You can get everything from your curd to your table cheese from them. And products with a very long shelf life, like olive oils and pastas, you can get anywhere.

PB- No I understand no offense taken, this was just what someone I worked with told me and this was a small italian grocery store that had 2 locations kinda like Top Tomato, but I admit Idk much about Roma foods other than what I was told and thats commendable that they did work hard to distance themselves from the street..but its undeniable that the seed money for that company came from street, which I couldnt care less, lotta dirty money funded legit shit all over the US.

Was anyone able to find shit about the Ronnie Mozzarella guy from the Bonnanos? I know I posted about him a few times before, its driving me fuckin nuts I cant find the article I read about him b/c to me it was fascinating

Michael “Mike the Butcher” Virtuoso he as you can tell from his nickname was a butcher

apparently frank cali owned a wine and food import company

Bontel USA

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/re...rticle-1.310000

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/at...rticle-1.452356

Finally found part of the info about Ronnie Carlucci..his company is huge for their specific market speaking from experience dealing w them when I worked for the italian grocer in hs and did the orders for our Doylestown store...the article sAys they're one of the largest importers of buffalo mozzarella..want to find the article that said Bonnano crews were fighting over who hed be with bc hes such a big earner and it would appear a large portion of his earnings to be legit

True , and with these big company's going legit creates a vacuum. The smaller not so legit company's come along ready to fill the orders of all the Italian and other shops that are using tons and millions of dollars of product.And if they do not come over well they get leaned on.

And with the other smaller not so legit company's start doing business the way the big legit company's are no longer willing to . But the mob steps up to fill the void.

They are still out there just change up to keep L/E one step behind.

Don't forget America loves pizza and there pizza shops and with that comes the guy down the street....

Do grocery stores count? If so, Petes produce in Chicago, one of Gus Alex's nephews, didn't here it here though....

normally a podcast about food....this episode is titled Food Gangsters

http://heritageradionetwork.org/podcast/a-taste-of-the-past-episode-134-food-gangsters/


Aired: Thursday, May 2nd 2013
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Did you know that gangsters controlled nearly all of the food distribution in Depression-era New York City? This week on A Taste of the Past, Linda Pelaccio invites Andy Coe to talk about racketeering in New York City food history. Learn how something as innocent as an egg cream was the cause of major crime. Find out what products were controlled by specific gangsters, and how the food rackets weren’t eliminated from the Big Apple until the days of Giuliani! Learn about Murder Inc., and how competition was dealt with in the 1940s. Calling all fans of The Godfather: you don’t want to miss this installment of A Taste of the Past!

roma foods was luigi piancone..pizza connection guy.he may still be alive, he was sick in fla..good guy..i pretty sure he sold roma..

He's still alive...I remember seeing him a couple years back riding his horse and buggy through the hills of Gladstone/Peapack. I think he spends most of the time down in Delray. They still have a handle on the food biz...From Bari.

Thanks for the update N.J. that is Pizza;s territory

Ever try his espresso , very good, called piancone

Yes I have, not bad.

i was in delray about two weeks ago, i didn't know he was in that area

He bought a mansion in Stone Creek Ranch.

Don't mean to be nosey, but what the heck you doing in NY, it's cold here!

nah ,im in fla, no more n.y.

Nice, enjoy it...I'm sure you did your time.

Happy Holiday's to you and yours.

Thank you .NJ. Merry Christmas ,and Happy New Year to you and your family

Speaking of Peetz, where in the world has he been?

If you're reading this PB, just want to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New year.

I've heard Scotto Pizza in the 80s