by Ivan » Wed Jun 26, 2024 9:46 pm
PolackTony wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 9:14 pm
Ivan wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 3:11 am
Angelo Santino wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 2:49 am
If these two groups have any connections whatsoever (even down to a Colombo using a laundrymat that Buffalo owns), there would be formal introductions made, that's the mafia at play as a network. It's not exciting or sexy. It's as simple and easy as a Buffalo member attending a Gambino party and encountering one of the few remaining New Orleans' members (or a Chicago member or a Philly member, take your pick). They'll be formally introduced as brothers and what, if anything, they decide to do is their own business.
A very knowledgeable and reliable source has told me that Russell Papalardo in Cleveland still enjoys this sort of treatment as a "brother" in this way by other mafia figures and Cleveland is still regarded as "represented" amid mafia matters by him even though the family is defunct and he's the only made guy still living.
Since you brought up Papalardo, you might recall the case against Rudy Fratto in Chicago several years back, where he was recorded talking to a forklift company guy from Vegas who was getting squeezed by some Cleveland guys over a debt and ran to Fratto for help. In the transcript, Fratto told the guy to go back to the Cleveland guys and tell them that he was under the protection of a guy who was “the same as [REDACTED NAME]”, presumably referring to Papalardo. Showing that, of course, guys in Chicago knew who Papalardo was and recognized him as the same thing as them (which is not revelatory) and also suggesting that LCN membership was something that still carried significant weight even for guys in a city like Cleveland where the outfit is on the cusp of being extinct.
Yup, my source told me all about the Adventures of Russ and Rudy, but you have a couple details here I didn't know, so thanks!
Papalardo according to him is mostly "enjoying his golden years," hanging around Little Italy a lot, but still gets a piece of the Sinister Staffing Agency and still "reps Cleveland" (his words) in Cosa Nostra in 2024. After he's gone, I imagine the family will be
dead dead, but as of this writing the old cocaine-dealing real estate whiz is still keeping the fire going in the twilight of his life.
Should throw in the disclaimer that a couple of guys who were rumored to have been made by Iaccobacci (Ralph Bucci, Johnny O, I think one or two others) are also still alive but that was never confirmed.
[quote=PolackTony post_id=279822 time=1719461642 user_id=6658]
[quote=Ivan post_id=279759 time=1719396687 user_id=64]
[quote="Angelo Santino" post_id=279758 time=1719395342 user_id=69]
If these two groups have any connections whatsoever (even down to a Colombo using a laundrymat that Buffalo owns), there would be formal introductions made, that's the mafia at play as a network. It's not exciting or sexy. It's as simple and easy as a Buffalo member attending a Gambino party and encountering one of the few remaining New Orleans' members (or a Chicago member or a Philly member, take your pick). They'll be formally introduced as brothers and what, if anything, they decide to do is their own business.
[/quote]
A very knowledgeable and reliable source has told me that Russell Papalardo in Cleveland still enjoys this sort of treatment as a "brother" in this way by other mafia figures and Cleveland is still regarded as "represented" amid mafia matters by him even though the family is defunct and he's the only made guy still living.
[/quote]
Since you brought up Papalardo, you might recall the case against Rudy Fratto in Chicago several years back, where he was recorded talking to a forklift company guy from Vegas who was getting squeezed by some Cleveland guys over a debt and ran to Fratto for help. In the transcript, Fratto told the guy to go back to the Cleveland guys and tell them that he was under the protection of a guy who was “the same as [REDACTED NAME]”, presumably referring to Papalardo. Showing that, of course, guys in Chicago knew who Papalardo was and recognized him as the same thing as them (which is not revelatory) and also suggesting that LCN membership was something that still carried significant weight even for guys in a city like Cleveland where the outfit is on the cusp of being extinct.
[/quote]
Yup, my source told me all about the Adventures of Russ and Rudy, but you have a couple details here I didn't know, so thanks! 8-)
Papalardo according to him is mostly "enjoying his golden years," hanging around Little Italy a lot, but still gets a piece of the Sinister Staffing Agency and still "reps Cleveland" (his words) in Cosa Nostra in 2024. After he's gone, I imagine the family will be [i]dead[/i] dead, but as of this writing the old cocaine-dealing real estate whiz is still keeping the fire going in the twilight of his life.
Should throw in the disclaimer that a couple of guys who were rumored to have been made by Iaccobacci (Ralph Bucci, Johnny O, I think one or two others) are also still alive but that was never confirmed.