THIS, is very interesting to me. Thank you! I'm definitely going to check this out. I know zippo about the German underworld.

PHOTOS SHOWN AT NAPOLI'S TRIAL
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By Alfred E. Clark
Nov. 4, 1972

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Photographs that were said to show James Napoli, a reputed Mafia leader, in a restaurant rendezvous with a prizefight manager and his boxer were the basis of legal arguments yesterday during Napoli trial of on charges of perjury and contempt.

Joseph Coffey, a detective from the Manhattan District Attorney's office, testified to meeting of the three men at the Unicorn Restaurant, at 324 East 57th Street.

At the meeting with Napoli, who also was known in boxing circles as Jimmy Knapp, was the manager, Garry Garfola, and his fighter, Frank DePaula. They were alleged to have met at the establishment after fight on Jan. 22, 1969, at Madison Square Garden for the light heavyweight championship. DePaula was knocked out in the first round by the titleholder, Bob Foster.

A grand jury later looked into the meeting as well as number of others between fighters and Napoli and his representatives.

A grand jury, which was investigating allegedly fixed boxing matches, later looked into the meeting as well as a number of others between fighters and Napoli and his representatives.

Photos Taken Covertly

Mr. Coffey told Acting Supreme Court Justice Frank J. Dlangiardo, who is hearing the case without a jury at the request of the defense, that he was in the restaurant and observed the three men. The detective said that photographs’ had been taken covertly and these were produced in evidenc

The crux of the argument by the defense atorney, Gregory J. Perrin, was that the pictures were distorted and did not present a true picture.

Before recessing the trial after the morning session until Monday at 10 A.M., Justice Blangiardo indicated he would study the photographs and the legal arguments.

The case goes back at least, three years, and a co-defendant in the indictment with Napoli, was DePaula. He was shot to’ death in September, 1970, and the murder has remained unsolved.

Napoli Faces 9 Counts

Napoli is charged with seven counts of perjury and two of criminal contempt because of his conduct before a grand jury that handed up the true bill in December, 1969.

Since then, Napoli, now 60 years old, has been in and out of court more than 60 times on various pretrial motions.

Law enforcement officials said that Napoli had been the leader of the organized crime family of the late Vito Genovese since its head, Thomas Eboli, who was also known as Tommy Ryan, was slain last spring.

He has been free in $15,000 hail and is reputed to have participated in various illegal activities, including loan?sharking, bookmaking, hijacking and control of a huge policy operation.

Good ole Jimmy Nap! lol

@NYM

Do you know more about their involvement in drug trafficking?

In May 1959, Harry J. Anslinger, then Commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics, praised the attitude with which the revolutionary government had started the fight against drug trafficking. Anslinger had once said that Cuba had become the world center of drug trafficking and that cocaine trafficking in Havana, for example, was then higher than that recorded anywhere else in the world. According to the U.S. official, Anslinger had sent a list to Batista's secret police department with the names of several drug traffickers, including Jack Lansky and Dino Cellini.

During the 1950s, with the explosion of Cuban gambling casinos and the mob's major investments in same, wiseguys and their "associates" of every size, shape, and color were flocking back and forth to Cuba regularly. That little "fact," and the constant interactions of the American hoodlums and Cuban nationals, paved the way for increased drug trafficking between Havana and the U.S.A., (namely South Florida) and Louisiana as landing pointings.

There were literally hundreds upon hundreds of "mules" that could be, and were, used to secret narcotics back into the states.The FBN compiled a laundry list of major traffickers, with (many of the better known ones) placed in their FNB book.

Remember too, those were the days that Charlie Lucky would regularly visit Cuba because he wasn't allowed into the USA. Cuba was the next closest point of call. And considering the mob had "carte blanche" there, it was the perfect place and springboard by which to coordinate drug routes. Thats why eventually the FBN used their power to have Cuba ban Luciano from the island nation.

I could provide a long list of mob names who visited Cuba, some of them used as possible couriers. But unless they were caught redhanded, there is no hard proof that any of them were, in fact, "couriers" per se. A lot of this was conjecture, speculation and educated guesses on the part of the drug agents.

I'm in the middle of several major ButtonGuys projects right now. But when I get a hot minute, I will definitely check for some names.

How much cocaine trafficking was going on in the 1950s? I know that by the late '50s, many considered the drug to be a thing of the past. There wasn't any noticeable resurgence until about 1965. However, one can't help but wonder if the drug was in demand the entire time

Good question cocaine was widely used in WWII, but after 1945 I don't know.

I agree there are plenty of gangsters who lacked empathy and emotion. But Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Cellini, Jimmy Blue Eyes had a complex nature.

For every vicious, heartless, completely remorseless mob guy out there, there was one who had a bit of morals and some conscience. And of course, like everyone else in life, each individual racketeer had his own set of "rules and moral code" he operated by. Varying degrees that ran from the more altruistic, to the deepest depths of depravity.

And I think, depending upon the situation at hand, some of them could act surprisingly altruistic and benevolent. While others didn't have a good bone in their bodies. lol

I did read the cocaine era was introduced in Cuba by the US mafia thirty years before it became popular in the United States.

Cocaine has been popular since the early 1900s. Even before. How do you think that the famous soda brand "Coca-Cola" got it's name in the first place? Back when they first started the company its popularity soared because they actually included "cocaine" as one of the key ingredients in their drink. Back then it wasn't such a "soft drink." lol

Cocaine was legal. Pharmacies and pharmacists prescribed it regularly to treat a variety of illnesses. For that matter, so was pure morphine and heroin! It generally came in liquid form, but it was dispensed in powdered form as well. It was that way until the U.S. Government, FDA, and Drug Bureau got involved and later outlawed it.

And you are correct that Cuba was a major early source of cocaine for the mob. For that matter, so was Mexico.

Good point NYM, in fact Holland was one of the biggest producers in the world untill 1962.

Dutch Cocaine Factory

Yep. The heroin trade always received most of the press coverage. But the cocaine business was a very lucrative trade as well. In some ways, even more popular than the junk business.

Another good expose on Lansky