Anyone met a wiseguy?

[CornerBoy]

the reality is that its so weird and childish how some of the guys we talk about on here that supposedly have all this power with genovese and gambino will give yyou nasty looks well into their 70's even after you've been introduced. ffuck them i don't really care one way or the other but its so bizarre. like if I meet eyes w someone I don't know I either nod my head subtly in a nice way or friendly smile to make them comfortable. a lot of these guys don't even want strangers to be comfortable. tony parkside was a very friendly guy ffor example.

[mike68]

biagio sounds lik ea great guy whoever the fuck he is

He was a capo in the Patriarca's who went away for about nine years. Supposedly, he 'retired' after he got out.

Does he still own that restaurant?
The guy was probably the most authentic Italian of them all. Was born in Sicily, He spoke Italian, did the intitation ceremony in Italian that was caught on the Medford wiretap I believe. But I don't think hes been arrested since around that time-which was sometime in the early 90s I believe. His restaurant at the time was called "The Roma" and I know he was with or associated with a crew that Anthony (Spucky) Spagnolo was in who I know Scott named was the boss a few yrs by SB. Whatever his journalism is worth these days. Spucky last got arrested shaking down vending machine operators in about 2014,2015 I believe. But I don't think Biagio Diagiacomo has been mentioned in an indictment in the past 20 years.
From a gangsterreport article years ago:

"Spagnolo, 72, lives in suburban Revere and, according to the federal government, took the reins of the New England mafia on a day-to-day basis two years ago when his predecessor, Anthony DiNunzio, 55,..."

He sold the restaraunt in 2020. It doesn't appear that he ever got back in the life after doing his time. Spagnolo is still active and is a Capo out of Revere I believe.

[Tonyd621]

biagio sounds lik ea great guy whoever the fuck he is

He was a capo in the Patriarca's who went away for about nine years. Supposedly, he 'retired' after he got out.

Does he still own that restaurant?
The guy was probably the most authentic Italian of them all. Was born in Sicily, He spoke Italian, did the intitation ceremony in Italian that was caught on the Medford wiretap I believe. But I don't think hes been arrested since around that time-which was sometime in the early 90s I believe. His restaurant at the time was called "The Roma" and I know he was with or associated with a crew that Anthony (Spucky) Spagnolo was in who I know Scott named was the boss a few yrs by SB. Whatever his journalism is worth these days. Spucky last got arrested shaking down vending machine operators in about 2014,2015 I believe. But I don't think Biagio Diagiacomo has been mentioned in an indictment in the past 20 years.
From a gangsterreport article years ago:

"Spagnolo, 72, lives in suburban Revere and, according to the federal government, took the reins of the New England mafia on a day-to-day basis two years ago when his predecessor, Anthony DiNunzio, 55,..."

He sold the restaraunt in 2020. It doesn't appear that he ever got back in the life after doing his time. Spagnolo is still active and is a Capo out of Revere I believe.

These guys with similar profiles as Biagio, what do they do for money? If they don't have money stashed away or self employed; I don't know how many of them with felonies on their record get hired into well paying jobs. Especially with the publicity some of these mob arrests get. I'm not saying they should or shouldn't get jobs. This is my opinion of how it is when convicted mobsters try their hand in the labor market,albeit legally.

[The Greek]

the reality is that its so weird and childish how some of the guys we talk about on here that supposedly have all this power with genovese and gambino will give yyou nasty looks well into their 70's even after you've been introduced. ffuck them i don't really care one way or the other but its so bizarre. like if I meet eyes w someone I don't know I either nod my head subtly in a nice way or friendly smile to make them comfortable. a lot of these guys don't even want strangers to be comfortable. tony parkside was a very friendly guy ffor example.

Punchy Illiano glared at me for 2 years before he relaxed when I lived across the street from him. I'd wave and sell "Hi Mr Illiano".. dead silence. not even a head nod. He relaxed eventually and would at least acknowledge my existence

[johnnydemo]

I grew up on the same block as Frank Lino. They were really great neighbors. Very generous, whenever I needed a few dollars as a kid I would wash his cars, water his plants, etc.

[newera_212]

the reality is that its so weird and childish how some of the guys we talk about on here that supposedly have all this power with genovese and gambino will give yyou nasty looks well into their 70's even after you've been introduced. ffuck them i don't really care one way or the other but its so bizarre. like if I meet eyes w someone I don't know I either nod my head subtly in a nice way or friendly smile to make them comfortable. a lot of these guys don't even want strangers to be comfortable. tony parkside was a very friendly guy ffor example.

I posted it on here before in a similar thread about regular civilian run-ins with wiseguys, but I met that guy John Bazoo Ragano and ended up shooting the shit with him while we both waited a very long time for a table at the Esquire Diner on a Sunday morning. It was a nice day out so we ended up standing outside by the stairs just talking about whatever. Super friendly guy.

Anyway, he was with this old guy... 70s...maybe older...who he introduced to me and my buddy as Paul. Paul never introduced himself back or said a word to us. Just a short, old, super mean bastard who stayed silent and tense, and would occasionally chime in to say something directly to John. This guy definitely carried himself like a mean fuck, and it was obvious John was deferential to him (this post is already getting long enough and I don't want to add any more minutia, but there were a lot of little things that made it clear...unless Bazoo just simply has immense respect for his elders) No idea who this Paul guy was or if that was even his real name (it wasn't Vinny Asaro...same age, but look nothing alike) but everything about him was gangster. Where as Bazoo just looked and acted like an average, sloppy, blue collar neighborhood guy.

I have some theories on why some of these guys aren't too sociable. Can't paint with too broad of a brush, but for some I think it really has to do with living that life and seeing/doing the shit they've been through, for example. Someone on here mentioned that Frank Ilano didn't say hi to him and presumably didn't say hi to many people he didn't know... what's to be friendly about when you've done some of the shit he's done and lived through the crazy shit he lived through?

They say that people who grow up in high stress, high crime, low income areas have identifiable PTSD. The same has to be true for some of these old guys who have 4+ bodies under their belts, have been in and out of prison, have seen their friends get killed/fucked over, etc... yeah, some of them are sociopaths and just don't even compute it...but a lot probably aren't. That shit would effect anyone (normal), and most people either let it fuck them up, or they cover it up by being cold/hard - and of course get desensitized. Especially if they're old and still active, still running and politicking and trying to hustle up a living...societal norms and making people they meet once or twice comfortable isn't even on their radar

[tex]

Esquire was the joint many years ago saturday late night was a who's who in the area.

[UTC]

the reality is that its so weird and childish how some of the guys we talk about on here that supposedly have all this power with genovese and gambino will give yyou nasty looks well into their 70's even after you've been introduced. ffuck them i don't really care one way or the other but its so bizarre. like if I meet eyes w someone I don't know I either nod my head subtly in a nice way or friendly smile to make them comfortable. a lot of these guys don't even want strangers to be comfortable. tony parkside was a very friendly guy ffor example.

I assume he would be nice to customers.

I would run across and deal with some in labor relations in the NYC area, and Gleason, etc, like anyone else similarly situated work-wise. They were the same as anyone else in terms of negotiations, handling grievances, and other labor issues.

[Tonyd621]

the reality is that its so weird and childish how some of the guys we talk about on here that supposedly have all this power with genovese and gambino will give yyou nasty looks well into their 70's even after you've been introduced. ffuck them i don't really care one way or the other but its so bizarre. like if I meet eyes w someone I don't know I either nod my head subtly in a nice way or friendly smile to make them comfortable. a lot of these guys don't even want strangers to be comfortable. tony parkside was a very friendly guy ffor example.

Punchy Illiano glared at me for 2 years before he relaxed when I lived across the street from him. I'd wave and sell "Hi Mr Illiano".. dead silence. not even a head nod. He relaxed eventually and would at least acknowledge my existence

You lived across from Punch Illiano, for how long? I would imagine they would want to try and blend in as much as possible. Not be the old grumpy neighbor that nobody likes

[gohnjotti]

I had the dumb luck of being seated on the table next to a 100yr-old Sonny Franzese at Bamonte's in 2019. He was with his nephew and convicted loanshark John Capolino, who I don't believe he was allowed to be meeting due to his probation conditions.

Great spot in Williamsburg with delicious food - both the Italian-style and American-style cheesecakes were delicious.

[Shellackhead]

I grew up on the same block as Frank Lino. They were really great neighbors. Very generous, whenever I needed a few dollars as a kid I would wash his cars, water his plants, etc.

Thats nice, did he ever talk to you more apart from doing that?

[The Greek]

I had the dumb luck of being seated on the table next to a 100yr-old Sonny Franzese at Bamonte's in 2019. He was with his nephew and convicted loanshark John Capolino, who I don't believe he was allowed to be meeting due to his probation conditions.

Great spot in Williamsburg with delicious food - both the Italian-style and American-style cheesecakes were delicious.

Bamonte's is great. The waiters are as old as the restaurant. It's in the Soprano's a couple times also.

[The Greek]

the reality is that its so weird and childish how some of the guys we talk about on here that supposedly have all this power with genovese and gambino will give yyou nasty looks well into their 70's even after you've been introduced. ffuck them i don't really care one way or the other but its so bizarre. like if I meet eyes w someone I don't know I either nod my head subtly in a nice way or friendly smile to make them comfortable. a lot of these guys don't even want strangers to be comfortable. tony parkside was a very friendly guy ffor example.

Punchy Illiano glared at me for 2 years before he relaxed when I lived across the street from him. I'd wave and sell "Hi Mr Illiano".. dead silence. not even a head nod. He relaxed eventually and would at least acknowledge my existence

You lived across from Punch Illiano, for how long? I would imagine they would want to try and blend in as much as possible. Not be the old grumpy neighbor that nobody likes

I lived directly across the street for 2 years then I moved a block away for 6 years but saw him every day sometimes multiple times. He was always with his guys on Court Street and various places including his restaurant.The first day I moved in my landlords daughter told me if my girlfriend(then wife, now ex wife ) had any trouble just let "Punchy's boys know." At that point I knew nothing about anything but I definitely got intrigued. He conducted business at this coffee shop called Coo Coos nest. He got comfortable enough in front of me to just be himself eventually. One time I was in Coo Coos nest having lunch and Kid Blast was outside letting people come in to sit with him. The worst thing he ever said that I could hear had to do with jukeboxes and vending machines. Pretty harmless. Sonny Ciccone was around at this time too usually Tuesday nights at Monte's on Carroll St. CG was such a great neighborhood then.. Still is but a lot of the Italians are gone.

[Tonyd621]

the reality is that its so weird and childish how some of the guys we talk about on here that supposedly have all this power with genovese and gambino will give yyou nasty looks well into their 70's even after you've been introduced. ffuck them i don't really care one way or the other but its so bizarre. like if I meet eyes w someone I don't know I either nod my head subtly in a nice way or friendly smile to make them comfortable. a lot of these guys don't even want strangers to be comfortable. tony parkside was a very friendly guy ffor example.

Punchy Illiano glared at me for 2 years before he relaxed when I lived across the street from him. I'd wave and sell "Hi Mr Illiano".. dead silence. not even a head nod. He relaxed eventually and would at least acknowledge my existence

You lived across from Punch Illiano, for how long? I would imagine they would want to try and blend in as much as possible. Not be the old grumpy neighbor that nobody likes

I lived directly across the street for 2 years then I moved a block away for 6 years but saw him every day sometimes multiple times. He was always with his guys on Court Street and various places including his restaurant.The first day I moved in my landlords daughter told me if my girlfriend(then wife, now ex wife ) had any trouble just let "Punchy's boys know." At that point I knew nothing about anything but I definitely got intrigued. He conducted business at this coffee shop called Coo Coos nest. He got comfortable enough in front of me to just be himself eventually. One time I was in Coo Coos nest having lunch and Kid Blast was outside letting people come in to sit with him. The worst thing he ever said that I could hear had to do with jukeboxes and vending machines. Pretty harmless. Sonny Ciccone was around at this time too usually Tuesday nights at Monte's on Carroll St. CG was such a great neighborhood then.. Still is but a lot of the Italians are gone.

What a mean all the Italians are gone? Moved away? Upward mobility type of thing?

[The Greek]

the reality is that its so weird and childish how some of the guys we talk about on here that supposedly have all this power with genovese and gambino will give yyou nasty looks well into their 70's even after you've been introduced. ffuck them i don't really care one way or the other but its so bizarre. like if I meet eyes w someone I don't know I either nod my head subtly in a nice way or friendly smile to make them comfortable. a lot of these guys don't even want strangers to be comfortable. tony parkside was a very friendly guy ffor example.

Punchy Illiano glared at me for 2 years before he relaxed when I lived across the street from him. I'd wave and sell "Hi Mr Illiano".. dead silence. not even a head nod. He relaxed eventually and would at least acknowledge my existence

You lived across from Punch Illiano, for how long? I would imagine they would want to try and blend in as much as possible. Not be the old grumpy neighbor that nobody likes

I lived directly across the street for 2 years then I moved a block away for 6 years but saw him every day sometimes multiple times. He was always with his guys on Court Street and various places including his restaurant.The first day I moved in my landlords daughter told me if my girlfriend(then wife, now ex wife ) had any trouble just let "Punchy's boys know." At that point I knew nothing about anything but I definitely got intrigued. He conducted business at this coffee shop called Coo Coos nest. He got comfortable enough in front of me to just be himself eventually. One time I was in Coo Coos nest having lunch and Kid Blast was outside letting people come in to sit with him. The worst thing he ever said that I could hear had to do with jukeboxes and vending machines. Pretty harmless. Sonny Ciccone was around at this time too usually Tuesday nights at Monte's on Carroll St. CG was such a great neighborhood then.. Still is but a lot of the Italians are gone.

What a mean all the Italians are gone? Moved away? Upward mobility type of thing?

All of the above and a lot of the older ones died off. My landlords are both gone and now the daughter lives in the house on 2 floors but rented 2 to couples with children etc. Not nearly as Italian as it was. Esposito's Pork Store on Court St just closed recently after 100+ years. Stuff like that