What mobster had the largest gambling operation? I think it was Tony Salerno but there are other gangsters like Jimmy Napoli and Ralph Perna who had lucrative operations as well.

Ive fead jimmy naps was the biggest in nyc but i would just assume him n fat tony were partners cause he inducted him into the family in 75-77 according to cafaro

Works sucks on nice days in the winter

Jose Miguel Battle, Spanish Ray Marquez, Dutch Schultz

how muchwas jimmy naps making? his son died months ago

spanish ray was under fat tony. vincent fish cafaro goes into detail about him in his debriefings. jimmy nap in the merry ferrel files was the biggest in im manhattan the boro with the most people and he was part of fat tony so its safe to say fat tony may have been the biggest nuumbers guy. again cafaro goes into detail theres links somewhere on here

His sons book claims $150 million a year.

This link claims $70 million a year.
https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/23/...cted-against-top-city-mafia-figures.html

Tony Nap explains how his dad's business worked in his book. Sounds like they were bringing in about $2m a week in bets and he would keep 10%-65% depending on how much he had to pay out. Jimmy Nap was "with" Tony Salerno, not sure what their business arrangement was like though.

According to the agents who bugged the Angiulo's place, they were taking in $30,000 a day.

Spanish Ray worked with the Italians - all of them - but was under No One. Central Harlem and E. Harlem was run by Latinos and neighborhood and family operator. Numbers are too big to "control"; everyone had a piece and all were drug dealers. Please refer to Jiggs who posts on these blogs. He worked with the Angelet brothers - Puerto Ricans - and they were the biggest.

They didnt lay off to fat tony and fish cafaro? I read some senate testimony by cafaro he taks about having some black guy named blood and gis crew smash up people shops in Harlem if they were in some 2 block rule of any shop kicking up to the genovese. Somewhere in his testimony he talks about spanish rey or some cubans its been along time by either or i believe fat tony being the bank technically was the biggest even anguilo in boston like someone said think laid off action either numbers or book and they were in different families. Larry bione had some guy killed in 80ish for tony

I'll paste here a larger discussion that I initiated regarding Jose Battle and the Corporation. I received an education from a poster that worked Central Harlem.

With regard to xxx, that payment cited is a token Christmas present to Fat Tony along with a promise not to establish a bolita operation within 2 blocks of any existing operation; the 2-block rule. The lion's share of profits remained with the Cubans until Battle (Batlle) determined he could win in a conflict. Despite Fat Tony's admonition, the Bolita Wars ensued mostly in Manhattan and the Bronx of which the Cubans prevailed and the payments ceased. Additionally, the Corporation then began moving directly in Italian-administered policy all over the boroughs. Hence, my comments with regard to the "politicized" LE. An organized multi-state lottery business administered through murder and war of 90 bombings did not deter the FBI pursuing an over-dressed, average gangster that did not even control a borough, no less a city.

Part of the narrative that may not be in the book report is the reason why the Cubans thought they could get away without paying. "Spanish Bob" and "Spanish Raymond" had policy going up there for decades. The Marquez went back to the days of Joey Rao and Mike Coppola. They dealt with the father who owned a supermarket and printing press. The 2 block rule didn't apply to them. It wasn't out of initimidation or that they were equals to the West Side by any means. They simply had that privilege under Genovese and later Funzi Tieri. Why? No idea. That's just the way it was. The Cubans dispatched a hothead named Conrado Pons to move in on the Marquez locations. The beef was between them. If the Ricans weren't paying off, why should they? Picking off the Marquez spots was strategically easier. I'm talking about the 80s. There were no tough guys, and were mostly senior citizen types in those hair salons, bodegas, video stores that had no inventory and were literal fronts for announcing the daily at 9pm on a blackboard. Usually by some old coot. Despite what the report alleges (and the intel is exactly that. An allegation. The sentence starts out by stating "It is believed...". That's speculation.) no way do they challenge the West Side in the early 1980s. No way. That would have been suicide. The Cubans don't knowcwhat their numbers are. Gigante would have had them all converted into mulch. It was no secret where Battle lived or had his residence at (Union City) just like everybody knew where Bob (82nd & Riverside dr.) and Raymond (E. Islip, L.I.) lived. But this was a street thing between the spanish. Whoever comes out on top is who the West Side would recognize. (Or so it was said). In the end, the ckps did their job and a nuisance was eliminated. I don't know what the book by English relates but if its another "the Cubans are coming" takeover of LCN rackets, it's just another Melvin von Peebles flick. That's about as believable as Mickey Featherstone and the 10th avenue "Westies" going up to 115 and Pleasant to spray the dePalma boys club with machine gun fire. Another fable of true crime novel lore.
I'll restate that this is not the Albanian-American "crew" (albeit tough and lucrative) that "ran" - or took - lucrative gambling rackets for less than ten years. The Corporation was - and is - very structured and organized and administered the most profitable Bolita/Policy rackets in the north and south-east. Spanish Raymond's operation was small and in East Harlem. Spanish Raymond himself joined La Compania - a consortium of bolita bankers formed to defend against the Corporation - for protection.
Now it's "The Company." Which is this one? The Dominican guys? That scenario you describe all sounds like a chapter in a book written by Carl Sifakis. Rhymes with siFAKEis. Mr. Raymond Marquez had a small operation? I mightily disagree. 20 million a year reportedly in 1969 on just bolita. And he was in prison then. And his game was not East Harlem my friend. Part of it was WEST Harlem (West of Fifth Avenue), all across Upper Broadway into the Washington Heights area. And that was just the numbers. There's a reason Raymond Marquez was tight with Genovese. The Marquez family go back to the 1930s. Ray himself goes back to the late 1940s. Over 50 years and active on the street running a multi million dollar empire. He had one of the biggest poker games going on the Upper West Side that no regular mutt could get into and was working in tandem with Hugh Mulligan from Queens (some clown will refer to him as a "Westie" no doubt), and LCN, among others. This game was legendary and featured a steel door with bolts and the sliding peep hole with enough distance to see who was on the other side but not make out who was behind the door. Raymond Marquez owned properties along riverside drive, columbus avenue, broadway and amsterdam (back when the UWS was a shit hole of course) from 72nd to 110th street. He was also involved in narcotics, as well as girls. He had a place in Fort Lee. He owned multiple motels in the Florida area, as well as another residence. He had shy on the street. He was about as made of a guy with the West Side without being made. Surveillance had him meeting with made people. Shot callers. Antonio Ferro. Funzi Tieri. Anthony Salerno. Meeting at the Colonial Inn. Ben Turpin's social club. He had lawyers (a real notorious "mob lawyer" who wound up being murdered in the 1970s), crooked assemblymen (Angelo and William del Toro), and even a judge on his payroll (all documented my friend, if the media counts for something). That's no exaggeration. The real people that were around know what I'm saying is true. I've no rhyme or reason to bullshit or enhance the reputation of a Puerto Rican numbers, junk and skag peddler. But the books only talk about one thing. Bolita. He was on the FBN radar early on before the Rockefeller laws took hold. His partners, the Angelet brothers (who no one talks about), were HUGE once upon a time. Drugs, hijacking trucks, drugs, swag, drugs, cigarettes, drugs. All the grunt work the crews affiliated with the mob were into. And like LCN, they had staying power. Marquez's entire family was literally a crime family in the traditional Sicilian sense. His father. All his uncles. His brothers. His nephews got involved in the life. He had a brother with a couple of gambling spots in Queens now that I recall. This is all out there so it ain't just the word from the street bullshit.

Battle was "grandfathered" into Union City because a Cuban american community was already established there before and after the Revolution. Same with Miami. There was no effort there to set up shop. But Harlem and New York in general was another story. It took them 25 years (1962) to stand up to LCN in NYC? And what happened if that scenario was really true? That this incredibly well oiled and structured organization took on LCN? You know what happened? Nothing happened. LCN continued to chug along their merry old way, even after the rise of RICO. Raymond Marquez and his family was still being indicted for running a multi-million dollary policy game, the largest in the city, in the early 1990s and later at the tail end of the century. Battle Sr. died in a prison cell in North Carolina. Raymond Marquez is still alive in N. Hialeah, Florida, saying "Fuck You" to the $1,000,000.00 he owes in fines to the city after his last arrest. An amount he has repeatedly stated he will never pay off. In the end, THAT is what counts. Not what Wikipedia says or the 6th Family type hype.

Corporation was 2,500 members? I'll bet 750 of them, at least, were grandmothers. Don't believe the sensationalist hype they give these organizations. A good chunk of Battle's life outside of Cubar was in prison or on the lam. Those guys in Canadia did the exact same thing with the Rizzutos. Little Joe Shots and them guys. Making them into the family above all families. They had them being connected to the Colombians, the Mexican cartels, the Yakuza, Hell's Angels, Jamaican Shower Posse, Al Qaeda, Venezuelan Guerillas, Haitian Mafia, the JDL, "Black Mafia," P.E.T.A., YMCA, anybody who had defcon 3 capability. On top of their sicilian, calabrian, neapolitan and brooklyn connections. As if they could all be summoned at the snap of two fingers. And what happened after all was said and done? No Russian nuclear submarine owned by Boris came to the rescue. They all got shot in the forehead by a french guy. Give me a break.

Corporation was just another glorified crew. The task forces really go to town on those numbers to justify their budget. Again, Corporation sends a sociopath to NYC to muscle in on the Marquez territory, he firebombs a couple of places, gets busted, convicted and sentenced... and that was it. You never heard from these people again in NY. If they got in and Battle benefited they were one of hundreds of operators in the city. Marquez had the biggest game at that point. Supposedly, some Dominicans who used to be controllers in the Marquez network started their own thing when the old man went to jail and retired for good. Newspapers said they had the biggest operation in nyc history. They say that about everyone they bust. Promotions and book sales are at stake.

Btw nice to meet ya. Don't be put off by my post. That's just how I express myself. It ain't a personal attack on you. My beef is with the true crime industrial complex that make decent operations into these all powerful entities. All I'm saying is don't misinterpret a wiretap of a bunch of Cubans threatening one guy. LCN works in the shadows and don't reveal themselves too much. They also know a war is bad for business. Inaction doesn't mean they're afraid of these guys. Look at how they deal with each other. When they are TRULY challenged and real money is at stake, they respond. Like Manna with the Gottis. Or the other extreme. They would have flipped and cooperated out of fear, if the Cubans were really that much of a threat. It was business as usual and still is.

I think Tony would know because it was his father of course. But that number seems pretty unbelievable. If that number is accurate then where was all that money that Jimmy was keeping going exactly? Wasn’t Jimmy Nap in some financial trouble when the law started to crack down on him? I read that his townhouse was seized and he was forced to sell one or two of his lounges for cheap.

Good point. Tony Salerno seems to be the biggest numbers guy. One can only imagine how much money he was making. With all the cash these guys take in, I wonder how much they make from reinvesting in other businesses? That is how empires are really built.

Harry "Nig" Rosen in Philly.

Would Trafficante and the Bolita or whatever it’s called count. It seems like he had a monopoly, Cuban number racket that he acquired, onto his own.

fat tony comes from trigger mike coppolas crew who is a interesting charcter. seems like fat tony took over around 1962. thats when he took over the harlem numbers racket probaly the richest in the world. there was no state lottery yet so he was the only game in town. wonder why trigger mike was broken down from capo he wasnt that old. said he lived out his years in boston. was it exile or did he just have family there.

After just finishing Valachi papers I think Dutch Shultz had the biggest ever.. It was eventually split up between lcn after they killed him.

Reads as luchiano kills schultz and takes his Harlem numbers racket. Costello genovese take it after Luciano goes to jail and it just stays in there family .

Sorry, much more complicated. Harlem and East Harlem at that time are Caribbeans, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Cubans - no one is just kneeling to the mafia.

I believe they were all inherited from ‘The Brain’ Rothstein. The guy rigged the World Series lol, it’s like Junventus bribing the refs, so much money and influence.

Do you think the reports of his number operation generating $50 million a year? Of course we most likely will never know for sure.

Coppola was born in Boston probably why he retired there and don't forget the $50 million number is gross, that's not what he was netting but even if his net was 10% that's $5 million and I bet it was more like 25%

I was thinking the Big 12 of Chicago until you stated italian mobsters.