THE BLACK HAND FORUM

PolackTony wrote: ↑Thu Dec 03, 2020 12:03 am

funkster wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 6:48 pm On a more anecdotal note, why the hell are a family of Chicago polacks naming their video gambling joints Davincis?

The name stuck out to me as well, made me wonder if they're fronting these places for someone else.

funkster wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 6:48 pm On a more anecdotal note, why the hell are a family of Chicago polacks naming their video gambling joints Davincis?

PolackTony wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 1:12 am

funkster wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:56 pm What were the outfit connections in the initial story? The link appears to be dead.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/chicago.su ... idge-home

I guess that Ed Gobbo and Alex Pissios were customers of the bank? Or just that these guys were based out of Bridgeport? I dunno, any potential connections may be pretty tenuous. While the fact that the Kowalski family is now known to be involved in video gambling out in the burbs does raise my sensors, this could also just be a bunch of Polacks who got popped for running a bank fraud scam.

funkster wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:56 pm What were the outfit connections in the initial story? The link appears to be dead.

PolackTony wrote: ↑Sun Nov 22, 2020 3:43 pm Update on this story. Looks like the family of Bob Kowalski, pal of the late John Gembara and facing charges for his role in the Washington Federal bank fraud case, has been running video gambling bars in Chicago Ridge. The feds teasing that more indictments are forthcoming. I suspect that this may be leading to charges that the Kowalskis were investing some of the embezzled funds to their gambling establishments. We'll see.

Also really appreciate the mug shot of Kowalski here, just screams tacky corrupt Chicago business dude lol.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/10/2 ... ar-gembara

NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:22 pm Yeah those areas are full of jagoff yuppies, Wicker Park is the main yuppie area these days. Bridgeport, Canaryville, Grand Ave, Beverly, Mt Greenwood, Midway, and a few on the northwest side are pretty much the last of the old-style hoods.

Ivan wrote: ↑Thu Mar 08, 2018 2:33 am

NickyEyes1 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 07, 2018 5:15 pm Yep they have a Croatian Church and fest every year. West Bridgeport is mostly Eastern-European and Mexican and the southern end more Irish near the Canaryville border. Melting pot of everything but Blacks lol.

Sounds awesome, I'll have to check it out.

The places I had to stay in when I was in Chicago were Yuppie/Hipster hell. (Old Town was the worst.) It's nice to hear that some of the old-style neighborhoods haven't been taken over yet. I figured that was all out in the suburbs now (that was the impression that I got when I was there - that the people in the old, interesting Chicago had all moved out to nice suburbs lol).