Any of the other fellas that you have met Lou? I met Chucky when I was 14 years old, right before he went on trial. He came to Youngstown for a few days and was invited to a dinner that my uncle hosted at my grandma's house. I remember him being very polite and he took a liking to my cousin who has down syndrome. He was trying to work out a deal with the DeBartolo Corporation to build a shopping mall on property that he and his cousin, Rocco Viola, owned in Cranberry Township, PA.
I met Grosso a bunch of times back in the 80's. My uncle ran a decent size mid-level numbers book with my father. Neither one was made but my uncle was pretty well connected.His deal was to turn in anything over $2.00 and he could book the rest. It was a nice arrangement back then. On different occasions,I would be introduced to various guys at social or political functions. I met Bobby I. two or three times,but a lot of the people I met were small to mid size guys.
Speaking of Grosso,it was a shi**y move that they pulled on him when he went down on his last bust. After the Feds get done with him,he has to do state time. It's no secret that they were getting revenge on him for embarrassing them by exposing the scumbag cop that he took care of for so long. Tony was a lot of things,but he really had a sense of honor and trust. I don't want to get into a tirade here so I'll just leave it at he was a true gentleman.
One quick funny anecdote:
A buddy of mine was telling me about his Grandpa who was some kind of gangster way back when.He wound up getting shot in the street. His Grandma and Mother never talked much about it. One day he mentioned that his Mother's maiden name was Monastero. I almost spit my drink through my nose. He had no clue who Stefano was,or the role he played in early Pittsburgh OC.For 20 minutes he sat there,jaw wide open,while I filled him in.
