.

Oh, okay. That actually fits in with the duality that I was referring to.

And off topic: Are you aware that when you make a post, another blank post with a single period (.) usually follows?

Ehh, I know, whenever I post from the mobile phone, it double posts, so I have to go back & edit the second one, but can't delete it. And I have to leave some sort of punctuation. Lol.

Oh, thank God. I thought you had OCD or something .

Nope just herpes

.

Ok jokes aside

I think OP wants to distinguish between the mobster that you can walk up to and have a conversation as opposed to the mobster who would tell u to fock off before he whacks u

John Gotti comes to mind, Afterall he had to maintain his public image and would be more than willing to have a drink with u especially if your wearing a miniskirt

Quack quack would also chit chat with u

However, OP what made u think scarfo sr was a very nice guy?

He'd butcher u just for sitting in his seat

He was a maniac according to nicky crow and once threatened to whack a very friendly pharmacist who was delaying a gift due to work

That's not very nice is it?

Salvatore Lucania aka Lucky Luciano,one of the masterminds of the global narcotics network,was sort of a "nice guy".Many historians say that if you bump into Luciano on the street he would say "sorry" to you and youll never guess that he's the prince of darkness.Some one once said that "the prince of darkness comes as a gentleman".

Also there are reports that while he was in jail,ordinary inmates would ask for his advice and they would never turn their back while walking away from Lucky.Thats respect.

Heres an article that I found some time ago... http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=702586

That's fine, Toodoped .

And I think everyone agrees that not everyone is "all good" or "all bad." It's called the duality of man. But a man is judged (here, and by God, if you believe in a deity) by his entire life. I've seen videos on the History Channel of Hitler kissing a few babies in between goose steps.

See what I'm getting at, pal?

Yup I agree with you.Thats why I said that "the devil comes as a gentleman"...

Ok...am I a bad person,for example if I take this girl for a "one night stand" and I say to her that I love her and blah blah blah and then dump her after the sex?!I think no because she got played.Survival of the fittest right?Same goes for selling drugs,booze,gambling or prostitution...if you take it,than you got played.The person that sells you thouse "stuff" I do not concider him as a bad person.Its just business.BUT I cant say the same thing for murder....

This is the one thing I've never been able or have had a hard time reconciling..niceness/Mafioso..I mean, aren't there wiseguys who aren't involved in crime and live a somewhat normal life? I read somewhere "not all Mafioso are criminals" but can't seem to grasp this fact.

hey are you saying Rosenthal wasn't responsible for the skim and running the.casinos? Was he also not one of the best sports handicappers in the world?

I wonder if he still lives in boca or is he dead?

Rosenthal died a few years ago. At which time it was revealed that he was a long time informant.

Figured he would of passed saw an interview he did for one of the cable channel on the mob n vegas n he didn't look to good he said he snuck back into Vegas over n over again throughout the years.

Never knew he was a long-time informant but I could easily see that given the amount of heat Spilitro put on them. I haven't read any of the books just saw the movie but I guess Rosenthal like the camera's too I dunno I'll see if I have the patience to read the book

Here is an article on Rosenthal:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/jane-ann-morrison/lefty-rosenthal-was-fbi-snitch

Home » Jane Ann Morrison
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Posted October 30, 2008 - 10:00pm
'Lefty' Rosenthal was an FBI snitch

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Jane Ann Morrison
writes on topics from politics to human interest. Her column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday in the Nevada News section.

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Back before he was mayor of Las Vegas, when he was the city's leading mob attorney, Oscar Goodman insisted he didn't represent snitches.

He represented Frank Rosenthal. Now that Rosenthal is dead, three former law enforcement sources with first-hand knowledge confirmed what was long suspected. Lefty Rosenthal was an FBI informant, whether his attorney knew it or not.

While Rosenthal was alive, no one would confirm it. Nobody wanted to be the one who got Lefty whacked.

After he died of a heart attack in his Florida home Oct. 13 at the age of 79, it is confirmed Rosenthal was a "top echelon" informant, someone with firsthand knowledge of the top ranking mob bosses.

Rosenthal's code name was "Achilles," one source said. Was it a sly reference to the handsome Greek warrior who was invincible except for his heel? Or was he simply a heel? Sure beat the code name his mob buddies used when discussing him -- "Crazy."

I couldn't confirm exactly when he started informing to the FBI, but the relationship was lengthy and useful. His information helped the FBI develop a lot of organized crime and casino skimming cases.

Rosenthal was an informant even before the 1982 bombing of his Cadillac outside Tony Roma's restaurant on Sahara Avenue, one source said. After the bombing, the FBI tried to convince Rosenthal to enter the Witness Protection Program, but he refused.

Later, he told the Chicago Tribune he rebuffed the offer to become a federal witness. "It's just not my style. It doesn't fit into my principles." Instead, in 1983 he left Las Vegas, which had been his home since 1968, moving first to California, then Florida.

"He talked about everything and everyone, whether he had first-hand knowledge, like he did at the Stardust, or second- and third-hand knowledge like at the Tropicana," one source said.

Nobody had a definitive answer as to why Rosenthal would become a Chatty Cathy.

One source said Rosenthal was an expert handicapper. "He was a smart guy, he could see people were going down. As an oddsmaker, this was his chance to bet both sides of the game."

A second source said it was speculation, but "he may have felt he needed a way out at some point, and he knew cooperation was one way to get out."

Rosenthal was from Chicago, but since he was Jewish, he wasn't a made member of the Chicago Outfit, but he was a close mob associate. From childhood, he was friends with another mob watchdog, Anthony Spilotro, which ended with Spilotro's affair with Rosenthal's wife, Geri, the tale fictionalized in the movie "Casino."

When the mob needed someone to watch over its Las Vegas casino interests, Lefty was the man. From 1974 until 1979, San Diego businessman Allen Glick was the casino owner, but Rosenthal, despite his ever-changing titles, was the smooth operator.

Although federal officials claimed millions were skimmed from Glick's casinos, Rosenthal was never indicted. Nor did he testify against Midwest mob leaders as Glick did during the trial in Kansas City, which ended with mob boss convictions in 1986.

Las Vegas was an open city for the mob. No one organized crime family controlled all the casinos; different families shared the booty. The Chicago mob through the Argent Corp. had a foothold in the Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda and Marina.

The Tropicana was the playground of the Kansas City mob.

The boys in Detroit staked out the Aladdin.

The Dunes had ties with St. Louis mobsters.

Milwaukee bosses arranged for Glick's $62 million in loans from the Teamsters Union pension funds to buy Las Vegas hotels, then insisted Glick hire Rosenthal.

The indictments were many, so were the convictions. Despite the extensive wiretapping, Rosenthal was never charged, even though authorities described him as the man who "orchestrated the skim at the Stardust."

Inevitably, some of his buddies figured he wasn't charged because he was informing on them to the FBI. The late Joe Agosto -- entertainment director at the Tropicana and the Kansas City mob's guy on the scene -- was wiretapped in 1978 telling a Missouri mobster Rosenthal was "a snitch" who would "bite the hand that feeds him."

In John L. Smith's book "Of Rats and Men," Goodman said Kansas City mobster Nick Civella thought Rosenthal had become too friendly with the FBI. Civella called Goodman, his own attorney, and asked whether Rosenthal was crazy, apparently a code term for untrustworthy. "No, I don't think he's crazy," Goodman answered.

"If I had agreed with Civella, Rosenthal would have been killed. I didn't know it at the time, but I apparently saved his life," Goodman told Smith.

Goodman started representing Rosenthal in 1971 after Rosenthal was indicted on illegal betting charges. In 1975, a Las Vegas federal judge dismissed the indictment against him, saying the wiretap was illegal and should have been an investigative tool of last resort.

That same year, Sheriff Ralph Lamb submitted an affidavit to help Rosenthal restore the rights he lost after pleading no contest in North Carolina to trying to change the point spread for a college basketball game with a bribe in 1960. The sheriff said he had known Rosenthal for five years and "he has evidenced the highest integrity and his reputation for truth and veracity in the Las Vegas community is unexcelled. Mr. Rosenthal is among the most respected persons in the Las Vegas gaming community."

Contrast that with Glick's Kansas City trial testimony 10 years later about a 1974 meeting with Rosenthal in the Stardust coffee shop. Glick said Rosenthal told him: "You're not my boss. And when I say you're not my boss, I'm talking not just from an administrative position, but your health. If you interfere with what's going on here, you will never leave this corporation alive."

As one of the recipients of the Rosenthal Glare, I can vividly imagine how those words were delivered.

Goodman represented Rosenthal for decades, fighting to keep him licensed to operate the Argent casinos. Higher courts ultimately overturned Rosenthal's victories in lower courts. Gaming regulators put him in the Black Book.

Throughout his life, Rosenthal denied being an FBI informant, but said it wasn't for want of trying by the FBI.

In 1976, Rosenthal told gaming officials that in 1960, when he was working in horse racing in Miami, J. Edgar Hoover sent an agent who asked him to provide information about gambling throughout the country. He said the agent promised him "near total immunity, except murder."

In 1977, he claimed he was the victim of harassment because he refused to supply information to the FBI.

As recently as 2006, when asked why he never snitched, Rosenthal said, "It all comes down to style and doing what you feel comfortable with. I never talked about or testified against anyone and never will."

He may not have testified, but he definitely talked.

As far as Goodman not representing snitches, one knowledgeable source said, "I think he represented more than one, whether he was aware of it or not."

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0275

I heard Buffalino was a sweat heart of a man. Carlo Gambino and his wife would cook the meal themselves for their guests and John Gotti would throw big 4th of July parties feed the neighborhood...Al Capone and the soup kitchens, Joey Merlino same thing. These are very NICE GESTURES. Who says a gangster cannot be a nice guy...

These guys have ulterior motives for their "good deeds". Gotti throwing those parties was all part of his act, and getting some of the neighborhood people onside really helped him in his strategic battle against the heat. None of the money that paid for all the booze, fireworks and food came out of his or Victoria's pocket anyway. It probably came from hard working people from other similar neighborhoods who were extorted by those bastards.

Hes a top top bloke if he did that to ozzy the disrespectful little shit

I think there is some niceness in everyone. Don't try to tell me hitler was never nice to Eva.

I think it is true with everyone in that life. I would not be surprised if Roy Demeo was not a totally bad guy. Anyone ever heard that he had a sense of humor I heard that.

Great Point. I visited Manhatton last year and spoke to a fair few people from mafia neighbourhoods.

Most said that there area was much safer when the mafia run it and said most of them were very nice and respectful around the area

Yup all these nice gestures are always done with other peoples money that's a given. Gotti didn't just get "some" of the neighborhood people on his side, he got "almost all" of them. He was a "God" to those people. One thing about the wiseguys was they certainly took care of their neighborhoods. Old ladies felt safe walking down the street back then. Not like today. Those days are gone.

Really? I thought New York was one of the safest big cities around now. When I was there, I felt very safe walking around at night - even in some dodgy looking places.

First of all, there aren't any Italian neighborhoods left in Manhattan. The only ethnic neighborhood left in Manhattan is Washington Heights, which is Dominican.

Second of all, the wiseguys pulled out of Little Italy and East Harlem as far back as the '90s.

Third of all, the crime rate in Manhattan is at a hundred year low.

But thanks for posting.

I was a little surprised by that, but they tried to kill him, can ya blame him?

Or did he inform BEFORE the car bomb?

Wow to me (Gotti's territory) Ozone Park looked terrible I wouldn't want my Nonna walkin around there.

The only neighborhood I thought resembled the Italian neighborhood I've been to years ago was Arthur Ave in the Bronx. Little Italy NYC seemed to be filled with young ppl, but in the Bronx I got to see the old men hanging outside the market talking in Italian to the clam guy. That made me happy.

The article states he was informing prior to the car-bomb attempt.

These people I spoke to where from different areas of nyc where the mob no longer held a great presence

I think I already may have mentioned it to you. But I grew up on 187th and Hoffman, and I own a property there today. I've spent my entire life in and around that neighborhood, even after I moved out of it.

At the 2010 census the population in the 10458 zip code (Arthur Avenue/Botanical Garden/Bronx Zoo area) was less than 15 percent Italian. And even that's a stretch. Our Lady of Mount Carmel (made famous in "A Bronx Tale"), has Masses in Spanish every day. They're down to one Italian Mass per week. That's all you have to know.

The stores and restaurants will always be Italian (I hope so, anyway). But the third and fourth generation Italian Americans have almost all split for the burbs. Even the Albanians are starting to move out .