CBS News: 60 Minutes Presents- Gotti

Source:CBS News- with look at the Gotti Family.

Source:The New Democrat

"John Gotti, Jr. talks to Steve Kroft in his first extended TV interview about growing up with the infamous father whom he strove to please by living a life of crime but whom he eventually betrayed by leaving that life." 

From CBS News

John Gotti, is not someone who I see as evil. At least not in the pure evil sense like an Adolph Hitler, or Saddam Hussein. Gotti was clearly a bad guy and I think anyone familiar with him knows that. But this not someone who didn’t have positive qualities. This is a man who loved his wife and kids and took care of them the best that they can and provided very well for them. Who raised his kids and his children have actually turned out pretty well. Especially considering their father is one of the top and most successful Italian gangsters of all-time. His daughter Victoria, is a very successful businesswomen and John Jr. has made a life for himself as well. And as far as John Jr. I hope he’s sincere in that he wants nothing to do with the gangster life and wants to live a productive life.

John Gotti Sr. went to prison for the last time in 1992 and was given a life sentence and died in prison about ten years later. He was in solitary confinement and yes there have been gangsters who have run their crime families from prison. Lucky Luciano, is a perfect example of that from the 1940s. When you’re in solitary you don’t have any outside contact from prison except for the occasional visits. So it would have been impossible for Gotti to run his crime family from his situation in prison. So someone on the outside had to do it for him. His son would have been a candidate for that. I think its clear that John Jr. ran that family at least for a time in the 1990s. What he did with it, I don’t think anyone will ever know. And its pretty obvious why he wouldn’t want to admit that he did. Because any crimes committed under his watch he could be held responsible for them.

The Lip TV: 'Whitey: The United States of America V. James J. Bulger'

Source:The Lip TV- talking about the life of Boston-Irish mobster James Whitey Bulger.

Source:The New Democrat

"WHITEY: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES J. BULGER is the documentary about infamous Boston gangster "Whitey" Bulger, and we get the first look at the movie, direct from its premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Director Joe Berlinger explains to us the fascinating story of Bulger, the true story behind the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in the Departed, and the long manhunt and eventual apprehension of one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives in this BYOD."  

From The Lip TV

Source:Mob Video Vault- The Making of a Monster is about James Whitey Bulger.

Off the top of my head I don’t know of more successful (and I don’t mean that as a complement) Irish-American mobster than James Whitey Bulger. He is the baddest Irish gangster as far as the amount of damage that he’s done in his life to other people. Being personally responsible for at least nineteen murders. And not being convicted of any of them until his early eighties. 

Here’s a guy who started his criminal career in his early teens and was able to keep it going until his early eighties without spending much of that time in prison. We’re not talking about John Gotti, or some other uneducated Italian mobster. We’re talking about an educated intelligent mobster who used his knowledge of the real world to work the system during his criminal career.

The mind-control program that Whitey was part of in Federal prison in the 1950s certainly didn’t help him. And if he doesn’t go through that it would’ve been a great thing for society. He would have spent more time in prison as a result with fewer people being murdered by him. But he was already a bad guy to begin with that had no issues killing anyone who he thought was a threat no matter the consequences that came from it. Not so much to him, but the relatives and friends of his murder victims. 

The Federal prison mind-control program was a mistake and should have never been started. But you can’t say that is the reason why Whitey became the serial murderer that he became. Again, Whitey was doing horrible things before gong to Atlanta and then later Alcatraz.

You could say that Whitey Bulger is the worst piece of garbage that was ever thrown out (and I’m being nice) and again when it comes to his criminal career I would have a hard time arguing with that. But he did have people in his personal life that he loved and took care of. Long-term girlfriends and people who loved him. 

As they say, Whitey was someone who was able to compartmentalized. He didn’t bring his work and I guess evil at home which just made him even more dangerous. Because it meant people around him didn’t know who he really was and he really operated. And fewer people who could turn him in and put him away. 

Whitey isn’t the baddest Irish mobster because of all the people he murdered. But how he was able to murder all of those people. The intelligence and skills he brought to his criminal activities.

Mysteries & Scandals: Bugsy Siegel

Source:IMDB- Mysteries and Scandals.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Susan Berman (author), Ralph Saierno (NYC mob investigator), Frank Ragano (lawyer), Frank Wright (curator Vegas), W.R. Wilkerson III (author), Rose Marie (entertainer) and Michael Druxman (author) are a few of the people interviewed about the dream that would cost Bugsy Siegel his life.

The 30s and 40s were full of famous gangsters that remain some sort of cult figures today and Bugsy is one of them. He pretty much stole the idea of a casino in the desert and it cost him his life. The story of Bugsy was turned into a very good movie with Warren Beatty and it's pretty interesting to see how badly gambling in Vegas tanked. The interviews here are extremely entertaining and they certainly give you a detailed idea of what was going down and what led up to Bugsy murder... 

From IMDB 

This photo of Benjamin (don't call me Bugsy) Siegel, is from a 1998 or 99 Mysteries and Scandals episode about him. They generally didn't do shows about mobsters, but Bugsy was part of the Hollywood scene and did business in Hollywood and wanted to be an actor himself. 

Source:E Entertainment- Jewish gangster Benjamin Bugsy Siegel.

I saw the movie Bugsy a few nights ago for like the hundredth time, or whatever. It is one of my favorite movies and what I get from Warren Beatty as Bugsy and from what I know about Bugsy, is that Beatty did a great job playing Bugsy. 

And had Bugsy decided to give up the mob, which is almost impossible to do, but let's believe in Santa Clause for a second and say he was able to do that, Hollywood would’ve been perfect for him. As either an actor himself, playing gangsters, but with his personality and humor, he would’ve been able to do other things.

There’s this saying that the friendship between Ben Siegel and actor George Raft, is that Benny, was a mobster that wanted to be an actor. And George, was an actor that wanted to be a mobster. Which is why George Raft got so many gangster roles as an actor and actually got tired of that and wanted to do something else. 

And if you see The George Raft Story, a movie about the life of guess who, that movie makes it clear that Raft was tired of playing gangsters and wanted to do other things. Ben Siegel as an actor, probably would’ve had a similar career as his buddy George Raft. I mean, he was a Jewish gangster and one of the most successful ones.

I believe the legacy, or at least the positive side of Ben Siegel’s legacy is what we see as Las Vegas today. Before Ben Siegel, Las Vegas was essentially a hick Southwestern town of about ten-thousand people or so. 

Today, Las Vegas is a town of over five-hundred and eighty-thousand people and an area of about two-million people. It is one of the biggest and most economically successful cities in America today. And a lot of that has to with the casino and gambling industry. 

Siegel, didn’t put all that together himself. But he had the vision that others used to build Las Vegas in what it could be. A great big city where people from all over the country and even world, could go to and have a great time. All of that got started with Ben Siegel.

Bloodletters and Badmen: Mobsters- Anthony Spliotro: The Enforcer of Las Vegas

Source:Bloodletters and Badmen- Italian Chicago Mobster Anthony Spilotro. Who later became the mobster enforce in Las Vegas.

Source:The New Democrat 

"The Life & Death of Anthony Spilotro."

Source:Bio- Frank Lefty Rosenthal on the left & an unknown man.

From Bloodletters and Badmen

Tony Spilotro was one of the worst pieces of garbage (and I’m being nice here) that was ever produced by the Italian Mafia. I’m not even sure he cared about his own family, wife and kids and people who are supposed to be close to you. If the man had any conscience, it was as tiny as a flea and you needed a telescope or something, perhaps super vision in order to see it.

Spliotro, wasn’t one of the worst killers in American history. He was one of the most successful as far as the amount of murders that he’s responsible for. Either doing them personally, or ordering people to be murdered.

Spilotro, leaving Chicago for Las Vegas, was a Chicago blessing and Las Vegas hell. Because The Ant who was a giant among serial murderers for the amount of people he murdered, but he was never caught for any of them and never did anytime for them. To the point that Las Vegas Mafia saw The Ant as a threat and so did everyone involved a favor by whacking him in 1986. Not the most successful and dangerous mobster of all-time. But that might only be because The Ant was killed in 1986.

Roy DeMeo in New York might of actually been more successfully evil than Spilotro. But that would be like comparing Ted Bundy with John Gacy when it came to serial murderers. You can’t really lose there, but Spilotro dying actually benefited everyone involved. And serial murderers like Tony Spilotro are why America has a death penalty. Whether you are in favor of the death penalty or not, it is for people who murder. Murder multiple people and have no feelings or remorse about their murders.

The LIP TV: Byod With Ondi Timoner- Dimitri Logothetis on Sam Giacana

Source:The Lip TV- Frank Sinatra & JFK.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Assassination of John F. Kennedy, mortal shooting of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. His accused killer was Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine who had embraced Marxism and defected for a time to the Soviet Union. Oswald never stood trial for murder, because, while being transferred after having been taken into custody, he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a distraught Dallas nightclub owner." 

From Britannica 

"Sam Giancana-one of the heads of the mafia-was connected closely to Frank Sinatra and JFK, and we discuss the link that led to the president's assassination with Momo: The Sam Giancana Story director Dimitri Logothetis in this BYOD clip. Featuring footage from the fascinating documentary about Giancana and the far-reaching influence of the mobster, Logothetis opens a lot of eyes here." 

From The Lip TV 

Without Joe Kennedy’s Italian Mafia connections with people like Sam Giancana, would Jack Kennedy ever become President of the United States? I’m guessing not, at least not when he did and had he not of won the presidency in 1960. h

Without his father’s Italian mob connections, perhaps JFK’s life gets extended and maybe he becomes a solid U.S. Senator, breaks away from his father Joe and builds his own professional reputation as a smart, tough, effective politician, and a good public servant, with a solid record in Congress.

Maybe JFK becomes Governor of Massachusetts later on and wins the presidency in 1968 or perhaps 72 without the help of his father. Pure speculation of course on my part.

It wasn’t Jack Kennedy calling up the Italian Mafia and their leaders and saying: “Hey, can you help me out here, I don’t think I can beat Dick Nixon by myself in Illinois and perhaps not New York Either?” Joe SR. the Kennedy’s father was doing that and perhaps putting it in the same away: “Hey Sam, I don’t think my son Jack can beat Dick Nixon in Illinois by himself. Anything you could do for us in Chicago especially, would be very appreciative.”

What happened in 1960 is that Kennedy’s used Italian mobsters and friends of Italian mobsters like Frank Sinatra, to help out Jack and then they abandoned the mob when they came to office.

One of the reasons why the Italian Mafia hated the Kennedy’s, Joe, Jack and Bobby, was because without them, JFK probably doesn’t become President in 1960. They felt the Kennedy’s owed them and what the Kennedy Administration did instead was not just drop them like a sack of bricks, but went further than that and went after them. Attorney General Bob Kennedy launched a huge campaign against organized crime in America, including the Italian Mafia. And Sam Giancana was one of their big targets at the Justice Department. And as a result the Kennedy’s created a lot of new enemies for themselves.

Bloodletters & Badmen: Casino Boss- Frank Lefty Rosenthal

Source:Bloodletters & Badmen- Professional gambler and Las Vegas casino boss, Frank Lefty Rosenthal.

Source:The New Democrat

“Frank Lawrence “Lefty” Rosenthal was a professional sports bettor, former Las Vegas casino executive, and organized crime associate. The 1995 Martin Scorsese film Casino is based on his career in Las Vegas.”

From Bloodletters & Badmen

I don’t feel sorry for Frank Rosenthal at all. He knew the risks and consequences that could come from being a professional gambler who associates with mobsters. But I don’t see him as a big time criminal who is really dangerous and needs to be in prison for long periods of time.

I see Lefty as someone who was dumb enough to work for and go into business with casinos that were run by the Las Vegas mob. His job wasn’t illegal and what he probably did on the job running the casino he ran, probably wasn’t illegal. But he still chose to associate with criminals and work for their business’s, which is what got him kicked out of Las Vegas.

What Lefty should’ve been doing, was just be a professional gambler and make a lot of money from that. And run his own business. Stay way from Tony Splilotro and other mobsters. And run his own business and make millions from that. And he probably ends up retiring in Las Vegas or never gets to Las Vegas, because of the successful business he had in Miami.

Organize Crime Channel: 'Mafia Godfather Bosses vs. The Federal Government- Mafia Documentary'

Source: Organize Crime Channel- Italian mobster John Gotti's way of greeting people. 

Source:Organize Crime Channel

It seems to me anyway that the only way American Justice could bring down the mob was to put them against each other. Find evidence against someone that they could use to put one of the members of the Italian Mafia down or put them a way for a while. And then tell those people "look you better talk or we are going to put you away for a long time". 

Tell the small fish in the crime family, who were small fish compared with what law enforcement really wanted and tell the small fish "its the people you work for that we are really looking to bring down. So if you tell us what you know about the people you work for and work with, we'll go easier on you and reduce the time you have to do in prison or not even send you to prison at all".

One thing that I believe that basically broke up the Italian Mafia in America, was selfishness. At least in the sense that a lot of the deputies and soldiers in these organizations were more interested in their personal freedom and staying out of prison for long-term sentences, than they were for their future in the crime family that they worked for.

PBS: Frontline- JFK and the Mob: Nov. 17th 1992

Source:PBS Frontline- Robert F. Kennedy: Attorney General, United States (1961-64)

Source:The New Democrat 

"PBS Frontline: JFK and The Mafia (November, 17th, 1992)" Originally from Frontline, but the video has since been deleted or blocked on YouTube.

It is clear that the Italian-American Mafia invested in the John F. Kennedy Campaign For President in 1960. And at least to a certain extent got Jack Kennedy elected President of the United States. Especially if you look at their role in Chicago in the Illinois election. And what JFK ever knew about the Mafia's involvement in his presidential campaign, I don't think we'll ever know. But his father Joe Kennedy certainly knew about it and perhaps even reached out to Italian-American mobsters.

But as President of the United States especially because of his Attorney General, who just happened to be his little brother Robert Kennedy, the Italian Mafia didn't get much if anything for their investment in JFK. 

The Kennedy Administration if anything under Bobby Kennedy went harder after the Italian Mafia and put policies in place that essentially eliminated the Italian Mafia in America by the early 1990s. With new wiretapping laws and isolating these crime families and going after their leaders.

So yeah, the Italian Mafia may have stole the 1960 presidential election for Jack Kennedy and I'm not saying that is a good thing and not serious. But they if anything invested in their own demise and help bring themselves down, instead of investing in Richard Nixon for President in 1960, who didn't have any special plans to go after the mob, or at least didn't run on them. 

So you can't make the case that the Italian Mafia had bought President John Kennedy, because if anything the opposite is true.

Putin Ferguson: The Real History of Las Vegas

Source:Putin Ferguson-

Source:The New Democrat 

If todays so-called Progressives only knew how tough Bobby Kennedy was on corruption in organized labor as Attorney General of the United States, then I don't believe he would as popular with organized labor and the far-left community as he is today.  RFK was one of the toughest and, perhaps, the most effective Attorney General we've ever had.

Attorney General Kennedy and his brother Jack, the President of the United States, when they took office in 1961, saw organized crime as one of the biggest threats to national security and the Rule of Law in America. Their Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, didn't even acknowledge organized crime  as a problem in America.  The brothers launched a campaign that was so effective that it put corrupt union bosses like Jimmy Hoffa in prison.

I believe that the real legacy of Robert Kennedy is the bringing down of organized crime and the reduction of its impact on the United States.  This, along with his very effective work in the civil right movement was the early product of what would've been a brilliant career in public service had the man not of been assassinated in 1968.
Source:Putin Ferguson

Nevada Policy Research Institute: Las Vegas Mob Wars- Government-Funded Mob Museum

Source:Nevada Policy Research Institute.

Source:The New Democrat

Las Vegas and Southern Nevada in general became a personal State for the Italian and Jewish mafias, an area they developed and owned by means of legitimate investments in Vegas that served as a cover for their criminal activities, turning Vegas into a bank they could use to fund their criminal operations but also to buy the politicians and public officials needed to keep law enforcement off their backs.

Then you add the crooked elements of organized labor in the 1940s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and perhaps even longer than that with Jimmy Hoffa, Sr., and company, which had all the resources they needed not only to stay in business but also to keep the politicians and public officials at bay and to send the message through their henchmen and hit men that messing with them would have a heavy price in terms of lives lost or ruined.

Las Vegas is the ultimate story of starting from scratch and building a major city with all the investments, businesses, and land as well as people to maintain these operations. The American mafia, Italian and Jewish for the most part, had a huge role in this along with the people they brought with them. As in government and organized labor, it took really clean, powerful people unconcerned about whether the mafia would destroy them to bring down these characters.
Source:Nevada Policy Research Institute

Vintage Las Vegas: 'Mob on The Run (1987)'

Source:Vintage Las Vegas- 1987 Las Vegas documentary.

Source:The New Democrat  

"By Ned Day, Robert Stoldal, KLAS-TV, 1987. History of mob involvement in gambling in Las Vegas, 1931-1980s. Includes segments on Moe Dalitz, Allan Dorfman and the Teamsters Union, Tony "Big Tuna" Acordy and the Atlantic City mob, Frank Rosenthal, Tony Spilotro, and the Chicago mob." 

From Vintage Las Vegas

Take Jimmy Hoffa and Bugsy Siegel, and Howard Hughes as well, away from Las Vegas and that city might still be a desert town, a country town, perhaps a place where people go to get some peace and quiet, but not the the entertainment capital of the United States that it is today. This city was literally built with blood money from the Italian and Jewish mobs, but also from crooks in organized crime such as Jimmy Hoffa, Sr.

Good business people, whether legitimate characters or crooks, are always looking for the next profit and investment where they can make that next fortune. There was no one in Vegas 80 years ago, a city of perhaps 10,000 people, similar to Bethesda, Maryland (if you are familiar with my area) which was, pre-1970 at least, just a stop on the way to somewhere like Washington or Baltimore, but that started to change in the late 1930s and early 1940s as the mobs discovered Vegas.

That is what you see in this video about the men who built Las Vegas and gave the Southwest and the broader West and even the United States (once the word was out that Vegas was a great place) the opportunity to either lose or make money, but Vegas was also a great place to have a good time just a 4-hour drive from Los Angeles.  It gave the State of Nevada a serious revenue source to build its infrastructure, schools, and everything that States need to do well.

Organize Crime Channel: When The Mob Ruled Las Vegas

Source:Organize Crime Channel-

Source:The New Democrat 

Las Vegas was perfect for the Italian and Jewish-American mobs because it was a physically large but barely populated city, with great potential to become the entertainment capital of the United States, which was not the case for Cuba, Florida, etc.  The State of Nevada itself was a huge area with a small population that these mobsters could easily control by offering them jobs in their dubious businesses.

Benjamin Bugsy Siegel (the great Jewish mobster) and Howard Hughes saw what Vegas could be before anyone else, which would be a haven for money and for business that they could develop by bringing in people from all over the country, especially the West, and from outside the United States.  They could run legitimate profitable businesses but also cover up criminal activities.

The Italian and Jewish mobs, along with Howard Hughes and a few others, made Las Vegas what it is today, the entertainment capital of the United States, where millions of Americans and foreign tourists go every year to spend their hard-earned money, lose some money, and make some money, but also have a great time and escape their everyday tedium, which is the city you see today.
Source:Organize Crime Channel

Martin Scorsese: Casino (1995) Film

Source:Movie Clips- Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone, in Casino (1995)

Source:The Daily Post 

"If the Mafia didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent it.

The same is true of Las Vegas. There is a universal need to believe in an outfit that exists outside the rules and can get things done.

There's a related need for a place where the rules are suspended, where there's no day or night, where everything has a price, where if you're lucky, you go home a millionaire. Of course, people who go to Vegas lose money, and people who deal with the mob, regret it. But hope is what we're talking about. Neither the mob nor Vegas could exist if most people weren't optimists." 

Source:Roger Ebert- Robert DeNiro as ace gambler and Las Vegas casino boss Sam Rothstein.

From Roger Ebert 

"CLIP DESCRIPTION:

Sam Rothstein (Robert De Niro) fights his old friend Nicky (Joe Pesci) and his wife Ginger (Sharon Stone) for control of his Las Vegas empire.

FILM DESCRIPTION:

The inner-workings of a corrupt Las Vegas casino are exposed in Martin Scorsese's story of crime and punishment. The film chronicles the lives and times of three characters: "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a bookmaking wizard; Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), a Mafia underboss and longtime best friend to Ace; and Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone, in a role she was born to play), a leggy ex-prostitute with a fondness for jewelry and a penchant for playing the field. Ace plays by the rules (albeit Vegas rules, which, as he reminds the audience in voiceover, would make him a criminal in any other state), while Nicky and Ginger lie, cheat, and steal their respective ways to the top. The film's first hour and a half details their rise to power, while the second half follows their downfall as the FBI, corrupt government officials, and angry mob bosses pick apart their Camelot piece by piece." 

Source:Movie Clips- Robert DeNiro as ace gambler and Las Vegas casino boss Sam Rothstein.

From Movie Clips

Definitely the best Las Vegas Italian mafia movie all-time if not the best Italian mafia movie of all-time. It brought you into the world of the Italian mafia as well as the Jewish mafia that worked together to bring Las Vegas to organize crime in America, as well as the general public because Jewish gangster Bugsy Siegel saw Las Vegas as a goldmine back in the 1940s. Which is how the Las Vegas casinos got started and the Casino movie brought this story up to the mid and late 1970s and how the Italian mafia was involved in Las Vegas casinos. 

This movie is based on a true story about Las Vegas gambler Frank Rosenthal (played by Robert DeNiro) and others who worked in Las Vegas during this period and had to deal with the Italian mafia while they were in Las Vegas. It showed you how big time professional gamblers like Frank Rosenthal and others were brought in by organized crime officials both Italian and Jewish-American mobsters, to run Las Vegas casinos for them. 

The Sam Rothstein character (played by the great Robert De Niro) is based off of Frank Lucky Rosenthal, a real life Las Vegas professional gambler who is originally from Chicago. 

The Nicky Santoro character (played by the great and hysterical and one of the funniest people ever in Joe Pesci, who is also a great character actor) is based off of Tony Spilotro. A real life Las Vegas Italian mobster, who is also from Chicago originally and grew up with Frank Rosenthal. 

The movie Casino is based off of the book and screenplay Casino, that was written by Nicholas Pileggi. So the movie Martin Scorsese put together in 1995 was based of a lot of good and factual information that was in the movie. 

Casino is not a true story completely. The characters are different and some of the stories are different. But it is based off a true story similar to Nixon which came out the same year as Casino and The Doors in 1991, that were both directed by Oliver Stone. 

This movie does give you a great look inside of the world of the Las Vegas mob, both Italian and Jewish and what the lives were like for those people. And how people who certainly are not Saints, like the Sam Rothstein character played by Bob De Niro, which was based off of Frank Rosenthal, get caught up in illegal activity because of their associations.

Bugsy Siegel & The Flamingo Hotel

Source:Tania Ayde- Jewish mobster and perhaps the creator of Las Vegas, Benjamin Bugsy Siegel.

"A film by Tania De La Cruz

Directed by Tania De La Cruz & David Villapando

Edited and Written by Tania De La Cruz

Interviews provided by:Biography."

Source:Tania Ayde

Benjamin Bugsy Siegel was an interesting mobster. Italian, Irish or in Bugsy’s case Jewish, because he could’ve been anything he wanted to be. Because of his intelligence and charm. But because he lacked basic discipline and patience he went very far, but in a short time. But was only around for a short time. Being killed by the mob leadership in his early forties after being killed in his Los Angeles home by perhaps both the Italian and Jewish mafia’s and their leaderships. 

If you’re familiar with the film Bugsy from 1991, where Warren Beatty plays Bugsy Siegel, according to the film Bugsy’s bosses fly him back to Los Angeles from some supposed meeting. But the only meeting that Bugsy went to was his assassination, after the mob leadership decided that Bugsy was no longer worth the investment with all the money Bugsy spent to build the Las Vegas casinos and that even though Bugsy was very effective as a hitman for the Italian and Jewish mafias, as well as an enforcer, he was no longer worth the investment. Because of how bad a businessman he was. And that he needed to be taken out before he cost his bosses more money. 

Bugsy, again, had many good personal qualities about him. (Even for a murderer) But he lacked discipline and realism. He was too idealistic and too much of a dreamer, to survive as a mobster long-term. Whether you like it or not the Jewish and Italian Mafias’s, were business’s and didn’t want to associate with people who lost them money. Which is how they say Busgy in the end.

The mafia were worried that Bugsy would end up in prison or talking to police, or whatever. That he was too big of a gamble (even in Las Vegas) for them and needed to be dealt with. But without Bugsy Benjamin Siegel and Jimmy Hoffa, Las Vegas is not what it is today. A big vibrant city that it is in the Southwest and the entertainment capital of America. That is just a half-hour flight from Los Angeles. Where Americans all over the country go to everyday to have a good time. 

You take the criminal mindset away from Ben Siegel and you also discipline him without losing his imagination and vision, which is what created the Las Vegas that we know today and I think we’re talking about a brilliant businessman. But of course we’ll never know that. 

You can also see this post at The FreeState, on Blogger.

Biography: The Iceman Richard Kuklinski

Source:Biography- The Iceman Richard Kuklinski.

"Richard Kuklinski suffered a rough upbringing and committed his first murder as a teenager. He eventually found a living as a hitman for the Genovese, Gambino and DeCavalcante crime families, becoming known as  "The Iceman" for his method of freezing victims to obscure their time of death. Following his incarceration in 1988, Kuklinski freely shared his experiences with interviewers and was featured in multiple documentaries." 

From Famous Biographies 

The photo on the bottom is from a 2001 documentary that A&E and Biography produced about New Jersey mob hitman Richard Kuklinski, where Kuklinski gave an extensive interview about his life and career as a mob hitman.

Source:Biography- interviewing mob hitman Richard Kuklinski in 2001.

The Iceman is the perfect nickname for mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski because thats exactly what he was. He was a cold-blooded man who could kill people with absolutely no feeling of what he was doing one way or the other, other than completing the task at hand and someone like that has no business ever living on the streets again.

I don't like referring to human beings as animals (even if I don't want to use the word asshole) but if you were to call someone an animal, The Iceman would be towards the top of the list. Big, powerful, strongman, who didn't have much if any care for anyone's life other than his own.

Kuklinski's job as he saw it was to stay alive and live as comfortably as he could. And killing came naturally to him and was something he was excellent at as far as all the murders he pulled off even if did kill some bad people who society would be better off having those people as dead. 

We have the death penalty in America for people like Richard Kuklinski. People who have no care for anyone else's life other than their own, who actually get pleasure in taking someone else's life even if that person is also bad, and who are a real threat to murder again.

National Geographic: 'Boston Gang War- Bullets Over Boston: The Irish Mob'

Source:National Geographic Channel- Boston Irish mobsters. 

"Decades ago, Boston was a hotbed of crime.  Explore the bloody underworld as told by mobsters.
Bullets Over Boston: The Irish Mob:National Geographic."

Source:National Geographic

The Irish Mob was a big deal in the Northeast in the 1960s, 70s and 80s but have had similar problems that the Italian Mob has had the last twenty years. They've lost most of their leadership to the FBI and US Attorneys and a lot of them are now in prison and doing long sentences if not life sentences. People like James Whitey Bulger, as well Irish hitman Mike Mad Dog Sullivan, who'll probably never get out of prison, even though he wasn't officially sentenced to life. And the Irish Mob has kept alive the Irish stereotype that the Irishman have short and vicious tempers.

Irish mobsters are known for fighting and killing and actually enjoy doing those things. Mad Dog Sullivan is responsible for killing somewhere in the neighborhood of hundred people. You aren't able to kill that many people, if for one you aren't good at it, meaning you pull it off and get away with it. But also if you don't mind doing it, especially if you are killing bad people. People who have killed and have hurt innocent people on purpose. Italian mobsters kill for business, but Irish mobsters seem to enjoy killing people, something that has set Irish gangs apart.

Blue Sky Country: 'Mafia Stories: The "Teflon Don" John Gotti'

Source:Blue Sky Country- with a documentary about New York City Italian mobster John Gotti.

"As a successor to the Gambino crime family after masterminding the assassination of Paul Castellano, John Gotti would end up violating the very code of the Cosa Nostra which had made the organization so powerful. Gotti's insatiable thirst for media attention would allow the US government to infiltrate the Gambino family, and the Italian Mafia would face the greatest struggle it has faced since the Prohibition Era of the 1920s, when the federal government first waged war on it's greatest fear: organized crime." 

From Blue Sky Country

John Gotti is someone who could've been pretty successful in life as someone who was not a criminal, had he finished school and perhaps gone on to college and done well there. He wasn't a dumb man but someone without much of a real-school education and dropped out of school very early in life. And decided that he was better off working in the New York Underworld, where he had friends in it and people that could get him work and where he could make fast money. And became very good at that and went from there.

John Gotti became a career criminal as an adolescent working in the Italian Mafia for the Gambino Family in New York and it went from there. But something he didn't know about the Italian Mafia, that the more quiet you are and the better you are at keeping your business and life secret, the more successful you'll be and the less attention you'll bring to city police departments and more importantly the FBI. Because if they don't know that you are business with the mob, they'll have nothing to come at you with. This is something that Gambino Boss Paul Castellano understood which is one reason why he was successful and something that John Gotti never understood.

John Gotti was called the Teflon Don, because in the 1980s, the FBI kept bringing cases against John Gotti. But the New York U.S. Attorney's Office could never convict Gotti of anything pre-1989-90 and only really were able to nail Gotti at the end because John Gotti's Underboss, (his Vice President if you will) Sammy Gravano became a snitch for the U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI. And ratted on Gotti and his business in the Gambino Crime Family. 

John Gotti up until then was always able to keep potential witness's silent thanks to Gravano his lead hitman, but Sammy wasn't going to whack himself to save Big John and saved himself instead, which is how Gotti ended up with a life sentence. John Gotti ruled through intimidation and to a certain extent political skills that he had in the Gambino Family, but at the end of the day wasn't able to scare everyone and keep everyone inline.

Again, John Gotti could've been very successful in life who built a good family with loving kids and so-forth. Victoria and John JR who have both been successful in life and who aren't mobsters but decided to go a different route and paid a heavy price for it. Ending up living in solitary confinement in prison in Indiana dying in a prison hospital at the age of 62 in 2002. And got what was coming to him.

HBO: 'Rare 1988 HBO Undercover- Mafia Documentary On NJ Genovese Crime Family'

Source:HBO- a man who was interviewed for this documentary.

"The  investigation at the center of Confessions begins by chance, when a retired East Orange, New Jersey cop named Mike Russell is driving down Bloomfield Avenue in North Newark and sees two young guys attacking an older one. Russell goes to the aid of the older man, driving off the attackers. He discovers that the guy he's helped is Andrew "Andy" Gerardo, now head of Boiardo's old gang. Gerardo invites Russell into his hangout, a coffee shop on the avenue just a few steps from a monument to Christopher Columbus and the Italian American contribution to America. There, Russell meets other key members of the crew, who treat him like a hero and befriend him.

Russell then contacts a friend in the state police, who asks him to begin surveillance on the crew. Incredibly, the mobsters invite Russell to move his oil delivery business into a storefront adjoining their Newark headquarters, figuring he's friendly, and from there the investigation takes off. But unbeknownst to the state police, Russell enlists a cameraman and begins his own videotaping of the Jersey crew, which provides most of the material for the HBO documentary."

From HBO

The Genovese Crime Family, is one of five New York City Italian-American crime families. The entire Genovese Family obviously aren't criminals and mobsters and I'm not even implying that. So that is not about ethnic bigotry towards Italian-Americans. 

The crime family was renamed after Italian mobster Vito Genovese. This crime family was run by Charlie Lucky Lucianao, who originally was from Italy, later run  by Vincent Gigante. The Genovese's are the largest of the New York five crime families. The Genovese's obviously, the Gambino's, the Columbo's, Bonnanno's, and the Lucchese's.

The Genovese's similar to other crime families whether they're Italian, Irish, or Jewish, operated like successful businesses. Except their tactics and policies were illegal. The way they would eliminate the opposition was to eliminate them. Make sure they didn't exist if and when they saw potential rivals as a threat and believed it was in their interest to physically eliminate them. 

You don't screw over the Genovese's and then see them report you to the police. You screw with them and they'll simply eliminate you by physically eliminating you. 

One of the big reasons why New Jersey has such a bad reputation as being a corrupt state, is because of the influence of the Genovese's and other Italian crime families in New Jersey. They were very powerful and owned politicians and sometimes states.