Does anybody know these guys?

Has anybody ever heard of Tony Bernardi from Upstate NY? Or Joe Vito from PA?

Not me

No Sir.

I knew some Magadinos Upstate and Cutolos down state in the good old days of Brooklyn but not these guys.

Anthony Bernardi was a soldier in Salvatore Falcone crew in the Buffalo crime family. Bernardi and his brother Joe who was never made ran the Goose Hill crew or mob in Schenectady. Won't get into the details there as four crime families had members there, but they always voted to have one member to represent that area which is unique to be only a soldier but have capo status even serving under a capo themselves. Bernardi was big in gambling had his fingers in so many pies, but was not greedy and was known to be quite generous and charitable. He practically ran the city and surrounding areas until he died in 1950 from a heart attack, he was only half a century old. That is when the Di Coccos took over. Won't get into that, but Paolo did indeed surpass Bernardi in influence and power nationwide, and had stronger international ties.

Joe Vito? Joseph Mastronardo? Independent bookmaker well liked. He was hands off, not even Philadelphia family would touch him, but that was out of respect and his Gentlemanly ways, plus he was was the brother in law of Philadelphia mayor, so no one wanted heat from that. Passed away recently.

Very good Giacomo. I'm going to be writing a little background on both of these guys and I was curious if anyone was familiar with either name.

I find both of them very interesting. I had written about Bernardi in one of my upstate pieces, but didn't fully go into his life.

And Mastronardi was of course one of the best bookmakers around

Joe Mastornado was Frank Rizzo's son-in-law, the former mayor Philadelphia. They found over a million dollars buried in his front lawn and another million in the house

LOL, yep! Very interesting story no?

For me, both these guys led very interesting lives. And on a personal note both were highly successful but completely "NON-violent"

That caught my eye as well

I believe the vast majority of bookmakers are nonviolent. If you stick to just taking action and know what you're doing it can be peaceful. I had an uncle who was strictly a bookmaker for decades and he made a fortune and never had to use violence. My father was a bookmaker and a loanshark, and lending out money was much more stressful. There were a few times when my dad had to use violence, but was lucky enough to beat a case where he was looking at substantial time. He always preached to us, his son's, to never get involved in it.

I completely agree with you (and your father).

If you have even a little business savvy and stick to strictly bookmaking in your lifetime, you can make one helluva living without getting involved in all the other heavier shit. You can largely avoid arrests, jail, imprisonment, and the disruption to both your personal family's lives and that of your business and yourself.

Even shylocking (done correctly) can provide a nice quiet lifestyle for you providing that you refrain from violence and strong-arm stuff. Thats what gets guys in trouble. They wanna play 'tough guy' and abuse somebody. But even when you wanna be a nice guy the shy business can get a bit hairy sometimes...But you can survive a usury pinch if there was no violence attached to it.

But all in all if a guy just stuck to the gambling business and ran it as a 'business' he could do very well.

Is everyone so anti-violence these days? It's not all rainbows and unicorns you know, and not everyone wants to hold hands and sing kumbaya. People seem to be losing that edge. 😕

You wanna go to the can? If so, all the money and so called great lifestyle in this world cannot help you because then you're in the jug! You can take all your profits and stick em up in your ass because you'll never get to spend the money.

OR????? Do you wanna hustle, earn, and stay out of jail? And maybe stay out of a pine box as well??

Then stay away from the violence. THAT is absolutely a must! Just look at mob history and that lesson is proved out 10,000 times over and over.

Were talking serious here. Not ridiculous kid shit, movies, and fantasyland.

THIS is real life! NOT 'reel' life....... and the Reality today. In fact it was ALWAYS case.

Cases in point? Just look at just about any mafiosi's life. The ones that lived well and died peacefully in bed were usually the non-violent guys.

The stone killers? The imbeciles and so-called tough guys??? They nearly all died in the gutter, or behind prison bars! Need I say anymore? Because if I do, then this entire conversation is a waste of time.

😆you're right NYMafia

NYMafia, what's up with the Mumbling Bumbling Moe under your name?