Role of a Soldier Today

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Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by TallGuy19 » Mon May 04, 2020 8:20 pm

gohnjotti wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 12:43 pm He was indicted in 2011, so one would assume he’s still active, but he has a Facebook now so who knows. He’s still friends with the old Cutolo gang on Facebook.
Who are the former members of the Cutolo crew? I found Petillo's page and would like to see the others.

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by 116street » Mon May 04, 2020 7:08 am

gohnjotti wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 12:43 pm He was indicted in 2011, so one would assume he’s still active, but he has a Facebook now so who knows. He’s still friends with the old Cutolo gang on Facebook.

Thanks! Saw marino there^^

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Cacuzza » Mon May 04, 2020 6:50 am

I forgot to the mention the elderly grandfather who was also suffering with senility at the time came to the U.S. decades earlier. He was already inducted in Sicily before coming to the U.S. He was from Catania. His grandson used to call him "cornuto" as a private joke between them and a term of endearment.

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Cacuzza » Sun May 03, 2020 5:04 pm

Peppermint wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 9:30 am Thank you Cacuzza, your story really put it into perspective why someone would turn down the opportunity to be made. I guess the outcome of turning it down depends on the associate in question that turned it down.

I am sure there were associates, unlike those in your story, that rejected the offer to become made and were assassinated because of it. Then again, after having read your story, I realize that is actually kind of foolish. Because if they didn’t trust said associate to begin with, why even want to induct them? I guess they give them the benefit of the doubt if they refuse the offer, so I suppose it’s just me I am too paranoid to be that trusting.

Thanks again for clearing it all up, and great story very well written!
Peppermint I don't know if what I am about to say makes a difference or not. But the time frame and the mindset at that time might have played a role, or maybe not. The time the guy declined to be made was during the 1960's (approx 1964 to 1967?).

With the type people who may still inhabit that society (on the American side) today and the mindset of the more modern guys as well as the complete breakdown of any form of any thing that smacks of morality today (that is if the word morality could be used in the context of a group of organized criminals). I don't know what would happen to a guy who did that today or whether it would even be understood or comprehended by whoever is making the decisions. The thinking today, and I could be wrong, could be more myopic or ridged. They could perceive the guy as being untrustworthy and unreliable after which when he was told you have to go he would disappear in a hole someplace after being dispatched. Or both events could happen simultaneously. Shot in a hole and then covered over.

But I think the difference/s in this particular case, and maybe this fellow is the exception and not the rule and he was just one lucky bastard. These guys all grew in the same neighborhood as the Salerno's. They knew all the Salerno brothers and hung around with them. They were also known and close to the Pappadio's. All of the Salerno Pappadio guys knew all of these kids parents came straight off the boat from Italy. They also know because these kids although in some cases a generation or so behind the older made guys understood that because of where these kids came from knew the rules of what to do and what not to do as far as keeping your mouth shut and not seeing or knowing anything and certainly never involving the police in anything. In the environment they came from the rules of behavior (tenants of the mob) were more or less in the air they breathed and in the water they drank. So it was a given.

The other feature was because all of these people (young and older) all came from the same place and knew each other since they were all little kids was in a certain way like dealing with blood relatives. Coming from the same neighborhood and knowing and being involved with each others blood family where everyone had a common orientation understanding and outlook about how things worked, it was like they were already a known commodity to an extent. It was the other nuances that had to be taught but that took place when a guy with a button took you under his wing.

I don't know if that same type of cohesion or loyalty based on something in common even exists today in the U.S. And what it was based on then (the neighborhood and familiarity because of it) no longer exists.

Two other items that might explain why this fellow was so lucky (i just thought of it, this might be the answer). The fellow who moved to Long Branch his mother was a cousin to Tommy Lucchese and he was sill alive during this time period. And his grandfather on his mother's side who lived with them in the Bronx after his wife died (the young guys maternal grandmother) was a very old man who was frail and ailing at the time. But during his younger years his grandfather was a made man in Sicily before he came to the U.S. From the time he first arrived he did nothing but involve himself in the junk (heroin) importation business. That was all he did all he knew how to do and the reason he was here. But now he was an old sickly man and those day were long past although he still slept with a dagger type knife under his pillow even in old age.

A meeting with Pussy Russo was arranged for the guy who went to Long Branch for the purpose of Russo helping him find a legitimate job to get him started while he adjusted. He met with Russo in an office in the back of the then Paddock Lounge. He was offered the job of a driver of a tandem dump truck for a company in that area of New Jersey owned by five brothers who were nephews of Vito Genovese (I am pretty sure the five brothers are all deceased by now, the company is still there but run by the kids and grand kids). He didn't take the job. Instead he found a job on his own at a manufacturing plant that had a union shop that provided benefits a pension and a decent hourly wage.

Another thing he had for his benefit, he was an Honorably discharged veteran (he served a few years in the Army and was a Medic in Korean War) and he had a clean arrest record (amazing after all the shit they did for the duration of time they did it). Those two things alone helped him start anew without complications or problems. His past was never known to anyone unless he reveled it. There was no history or record. He was clean.

He died of cancer in 2001 at age 73.

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Confederate » Sun May 03, 2020 2:43 pm

gohnjotti wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 12:43 pm He was indicted in 2011, so one would assume he’s still active, but he has a Facebook now so who knows. He’s still friends with the old Cutolo gang on Facebook.
Facebook is something my daughter shares with some of her friends in High School. Even then I told her to get rid of it. :roll:

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Peppermint » Sun May 03, 2020 2:34 pm

gohnjotti wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 12:43 pm He was indicted in 2011, so one would assume he’s still active, but he has a Facebook now so who knows. He’s still friends with the old Cutolo gang on Facebook.
I just have to say, I think it is absolutely hilarious that these old mobsters use social media to stay in touch with each other. You would think they would absolutely resent it due to having an instilled paranoia of being surveilled by the federal government lol. It’s seriously ironic as hell.

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by gohnjotti » Sun May 03, 2020 12:43 pm

He was indicted in 2011, so one would assume he’s still active, but he has a Facebook now so who knows. He’s still friends with the old Cutolo gang on Facebook.

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by 116street » Sun May 03, 2020 10:21 am

gohnjotti wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 6:20 pm
Peppermint wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 5:41 pm
Cacuzza wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 5:33 pm
SonnyBlackstein wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:01 pm
Cheech wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:31 pm
SonnyBlackstein wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:30 pm The mafia is like any other organisation where people naturally wish to advance and climb the hierarchy. its seen as recognition of achievement and reward for service as well as respect among peers. Those that decline membership are still in the vast minority.
what are you basing this on, my friend?
It’s a speculative conclusion, but not one without base.
That the known cases of associates declining are few and far between. Of course there would be more that we don’t know, but the mob is still filling it’s ranks at whim it appears.
Additionally a soldier is a level above an associate and for the reasons I gave above coupled with that the position of soldier carries with it rights above that of an associate, all considered, I thinks it’s an easy conclusion to draw.
Is it true that if an associate is approached for membership and declines they are still respected but have to disassociate themselves? They are no longer allowed to associate as before and still hang around but have to leave but there is no prejudice or animosity. They are considered an outsider but with respect and are left alone and they can't come back. They had their chance. Is any of that true or sound familiar?
Sorry to interject, but...

I don’t see why that wouldn’t be true. Especially if the person declines membership under good terms, but I don’t know. If I was a made guy, and my offer to an associate to become made themselves was declined I would be suspicious of why that is, and become worried they’re turning into a rat. I would find it odd, that after having spent all this time working for my family, as a loyal associate and being a dedicated earner, not want to become made I would imagine that would be ultimately their goal.

So my question is, what reason would there be for an associate to spend all this time working for a family, and decline the opportunity to become made? Seems counterproductive, and suspicious to me.
https://nypost.com/2011/10/31/la-cosa-nostra/

This article helps explain some of the reasons why an associate might decline an induction.

Since I made this thread back in 2018, I've learned a lot more details about Guerra and Petillo's aborted inductions.

Unsurprisingly, the only examples I have of this are Colombo family-related. But, as that article said, both Joseph Petillo and Francis Guerra allegedly turned down membership proposals in 2010. Although the NY Post article doesn't go into detail, Petillo was a former associate of William Cutolo/Michael Spataro. He was a wealthy associate, primarily involved in loansharking with rumors that he was also involved in drugs, according to Peggy Cutolo. In 2010, eleven years after Cutolo's death left his crew in disarray, Petillo was proposed for membership by Andy Russo, the Colombo family's street boss, who was attempting to "re-energize" the crime family's dwindling numbers by bringing back wayward members and associates like Joe Petillo back into the fold. Petillo declined, however, because he feared it was a set-up. According to Liz Geddes in Andy Russo's detention hearing (or Petillo's detention hearing, I can't recall exactly which), Petillo and Russo were incarcerated together in the 2000s and had some sort of prison dispute. Given the Colombo family's well-documented history of double-crosses: Petillo was caught up in the fringes of the 1991-93 Colombo war, was around for the assassination and poaching of his captain William Cutolo and his crew, and witnessed firsthand the double-crossing and turmoil that occurred with Cutolo's crew afterwards. Petillo presumably thought the ceremony was a set-up to be whacked, and didn't attend. In reality, from what Geddes said, it appears Russo really was trying to induct Petillo, and Petillo later expressed on tape regret for not attending.

Guerra is a different story, because he has been a proposed member pretty much since 1993, alongside Big Anthony Russo, when he participated in the Joseph Scopo hit that concluded the war. He was first scheduled to be inducted in 2000, one of the youngest in a batch of patiently-waiting proposed associates, but was arrested on drug charges. When he was released from prison, he was proposed once again but was caught on tape wondering whether it would even be worth it. By this point, Guerra had already been mistakenly ID'ed as a Colombo soldier when he was Allie Persico's personal driver, and Guerra was/is incredibly close to the Persico brood (particularly Allie, Teddy Sr., and Skinny Teddy), as well as captains Big Anthony Russo and Reynold Maragni.
When Guerra was asked if he wanted to be inducted in the Feb. 2009 ceremony along with his friend Big Anthony Russo and others, Guerra "passed" on it. With some prodding by Anthony Russo, who had been promoted to acting captain just over a year after his induction, Guerra eventually agreed to be inducted in the next upcoming ceremony in Dec. 2010, and a list was passed around with Guerra's name on it. However, the ceremony was cancelled due to FBI heat.
In April 2011, a wired-up Reynold Maragni had a conversation with Guerra confirming that he had seen Guerra's name on a list, and discussed with Guerra the fact that he "had a birthday coming" and Guerra would now be "the same as your friends."

Gohn, do you know if petillo is still active?

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Peppermint » Sun May 03, 2020 9:30 am

Thank you Cacuzza, your story really put it into perspective why someone would turn down the opportunity to be made. I guess the outcome of turning it down depends on the associate in question that turned it down.

I am sure there were associates, unlike those in your story, that rejected the offer to become made and were assassinated because of it. Then again, after having read your story, I realize that is actually kind of foolish. Because if they didn’t trust said associate to begin with, why even want to induct them? I guess they give them the benefit of the doubt if they refuse the offer, so I suppose it’s just me I am too paranoid to be that trusting.

Thanks again for clearing it all up, and great story very well written!

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Cacuzza » Sun May 03, 2020 6:50 am

For the sake of further context to the above story. The young guys were between the ages of 20 and 25 when they first started. The older made guys in question were between the age of 40 and 50 years. The guy who was allowed to go moved to a town called Long Branch, New Jersey. The other guy who stayed and ended up running a few smut shops married had children and moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey form where he commuted back and forth into the city. They kept in touch by phone and periodic visits in both directions to spend a day eating drinking and talking. When the guy who stayed ran the smut shops for Joe Bikini he was now in his early 40's. By that time the older made guys had died off from various natural causes, heart attack, cancer, etc. After Joe Bikini died the guy who ran some of the Black Jack stores stayed and ran them under whoever took over Joe Bikini's operations until Times Square was cleaned up and all the porn was shut down. Everyone in the story is dead today except the one who stayed his whereabouts are unknown although if he survived he would be at least 90 years old today. It is possible he is no longer living.

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Cacuzza » Sat May 02, 2020 10:05 pm

Peppermint wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 5:41 pm
Cacuzza wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 5:33 pm
SonnyBlackstein wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:01 pm
Cheech wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:31 pm
SonnyBlackstein wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:30 pm The mafia is like any other organisation where people naturally wish to advance and climb the hierarchy. its seen as recognition of achievement and reward for service as well as respect among peers. Those that decline membership are still in the vast minority.
what are you basing this on, my friend?
It’s a speculative conclusion, but not one without base.
That the known cases of associates declining are few and far between. Of course there would be more that we don’t know, but the mob is still filling it’s ranks at whim it appears.
Additionally a soldier is a level above an associate and for the reasons I gave above coupled with that the position of soldier carries with it rights above that of an associate, all considered, I thinks it’s an easy conclusion to draw.
Is it true that if an associate is approached for membership and declines they are still respected but have to disassociate themselves? They are no longer allowed to associate as before and still hang around but have to leave but there is no prejudice or animosity. They are considered an outsider but with respect and are left alone and they can't come back. They had their chance. Is any of that true or sound familiar?
Sorry to interject, but...

I don’t see why that wouldn’t be true. Especially if the person declines membership under good terms, but I don’t know. If I was a made guy, and my offer to an associate to become made themselves was declined I would be suspicious of why that is, and become worried they’re turning into a rat. I would find it odd, that after having spent all this time working for my family, as a loyal associate and being a dedicated earner, not want to become made I would imagine that would be ultimately their goal.

So my question is, what reason would there be for an associate to spend all this time working for a family, and decline the opportunity to become made? Seems counterproductive, and suspicious to me.
I didn't put the question into context.

The time frame is late 1950's to early 1970's. The place is New York City uptown. The people in question who are not members are a hand full of young Italian American guys who all know each other and grew up together in the same neighborhood in the Bronx. Because of where they lived and grew up they and there families were known to made members who grew up in the same neighborhood but have since moved away but comeback to Harlem everyday to conduct their business and still have family living in the old neighborhood who know the families of the your guys.

Some of the young guys seriously wanted to be recognized accepted and inducted someday. A few of the guys didn't really want it and are prepared to decline it if it is ever offered. In the meanwhile they keep hanging around together doing the things they are doing either individually or together for some of the made guys.

One of the made guys in particular almost considered these guys as his own little personal crew or gang. Or looked at them as a bunch of sons. They would do whatever he asked or told them to do. For them it was fun they actually enjoyed it and their tasks became a form of competition for them. A lot of the tasks in those days involved labor racketeering and union organizing related tasks, lots of personal violence and property damage not to mention doing some collection work as well as intimidation, whatever needed to be done.

If they were told to do something they would try to out do each other looking to see who would earn the recognition and praise of the made guy who now had a close relationship with them. They knew where he lived, been to his house a few times and knew his wife and kids.

One of the young guys who did all of these things with his friends from the same neighborhood really did not want this life as far as being inducted. It wasn't because he was a potential "rat." And it wasn't because he did not have "balls" because he already proved he did time and time again.

He did not want the commitment that automatically came with official membership. He always wanted to be able maintain that sense that he was "free" to an extent and could just walk away if he ever chose to, even if that meant in order to walk away clean he might have to "lam" it from the made guys and his life long friends without anyone knowing what his intentions were if he ever decided to do that and completely breaking all contact while moving to another state and living whatever kind of life he wanted to start for himself without be dictated to.

One day he was approached by the older made guy and told that he was going to be proposed for membership. He asked the made guy not to do that because he would decline it and did not want the made guy who he looked up to like a surrogate father to be embarrassed or exposed to being questioned as to his choice of proposal when the guy doesn't even want it. It would make it appear that the made guy did not know his guys well enough, even after years of observation, and feared they would question the made guys judgement and question if the proposed guy who declined the offer when it was expected he would accept it, in that case what else did they not know about him or what other tendencies did the potential proposed guy have that they were unaware of which again would reflect negatively on the older made guy as well.

When it became known that he did not want to be inducted and the reason why (did not want the life long commitment) he was shown more respect than before but was also informed that he had to go (not killed). But had to leave and not come around any more. He proved himself enough that they trusted he wouldn't go around talking. He got married moved away got a job became a father and lived a working class straight life. But he kept in touch with a few of his friends who knew where he was and what he was doing who also kept him updated as to what was going on over there.

One of the guys he kept in touch with who was still there and wanted to be inducted more than anything stayed there but was never made. He kept getting passed over year after year no matter how hard he tried. He ended up running a few Black Jack smut shops in Times Square back in the day for Joe Bikini as a civilian not a made man.

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by gohnjotti » Sat May 02, 2020 7:06 pm

Pogo The Clown wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 6:27 pm Massino said he initially turned down being made because he felt he didn't need it because he was already direct with the Boss. He of course accepted soon after because Rastelli went to prison.


Pogo
That pretty much mirrors Reynold Maragni’s thought process too, in that he testified he never put much stock into “being made” because he was direct with Colombo admin since the 1980s, only being made in 2008 due to Tommy Gioeli’s impending indictment.

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Pogo The Clown » Sat May 02, 2020 6:27 pm

Massino said he initially turned down being made because he felt he didn't need it because he was already direct with the Boss. He of course accepted soon after because Rastelli went to prison.


Pogo

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by gohnjotti » Sat May 02, 2020 6:20 pm

Peppermint wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 5:41 pm
Cacuzza wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 5:33 pm
SonnyBlackstein wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:01 pm
Cheech wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:31 pm
SonnyBlackstein wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:30 pm The mafia is like any other organisation where people naturally wish to advance and climb the hierarchy. its seen as recognition of achievement and reward for service as well as respect among peers. Those that decline membership are still in the vast minority.
what are you basing this on, my friend?
It’s a speculative conclusion, but not one without base.
That the known cases of associates declining are few and far between. Of course there would be more that we don’t know, but the mob is still filling it’s ranks at whim it appears.
Additionally a soldier is a level above an associate and for the reasons I gave above coupled with that the position of soldier carries with it rights above that of an associate, all considered, I thinks it’s an easy conclusion to draw.
Is it true that if an associate is approached for membership and declines they are still respected but have to disassociate themselves? They are no longer allowed to associate as before and still hang around but have to leave but there is no prejudice or animosity. They are considered an outsider but with respect and are left alone and they can't come back. They had their chance. Is any of that true or sound familiar?
Sorry to interject, but...

I don’t see why that wouldn’t be true. Especially if the person declines membership under good terms, but I don’t know. If I was a made guy, and my offer to an associate to become made themselves was declined I would be suspicious of why that is, and become worried they’re turning into a rat. I would find it odd, that after having spent all this time working for my family, as a loyal associate and being a dedicated earner, not want to become made I would imagine that would be ultimately their goal.

So my question is, what reason would there be for an associate to spend all this time working for a family, and decline the opportunity to become made? Seems counterproductive, and suspicious to me.
https://nypost.com/2011/10/31/la-cosa-nostra/

This article helps explain some of the reasons why an associate might decline an induction.

Since I made this thread back in 2018, I've learned a lot more details about Guerra and Petillo's aborted inductions.

Unsurprisingly, the only examples I have of this are Colombo family-related. But, as that article said, both Joseph Petillo and Francis Guerra allegedly turned down membership proposals in 2010. Although the NY Post article doesn't go into detail, Petillo was a former associate of William Cutolo/Michael Spataro. He was a wealthy associate, primarily involved in loansharking with rumors that he was also involved in drugs, according to Peggy Cutolo. In 2010, eleven years after Cutolo's death left his crew in disarray, Petillo was proposed for membership by Andy Russo, the Colombo family's street boss, who was attempting to "re-energize" the crime family's dwindling numbers by bringing back wayward members and associates like Joe Petillo back into the fold. Petillo declined, however, because he feared it was a set-up. According to Liz Geddes in Andy Russo's detention hearing (or Petillo's detention hearing, I can't recall exactly which), Petillo and Russo were incarcerated together in the 2000s and had some sort of prison dispute. Given the Colombo family's well-documented history of double-crosses: Petillo was caught up in the fringes of the 1991-93 Colombo war, was around for the assassination and poaching of his captain William Cutolo and his crew, and witnessed firsthand the double-crossing and turmoil that occurred with Cutolo's crew afterwards. Petillo presumably thought the ceremony was a set-up to be whacked, and didn't attend. In reality, from what Geddes said, it appears Russo really was trying to induct Petillo, and Petillo later expressed on tape regret for not attending.

Guerra is a different story, because he has been a proposed member pretty much since 1993, alongside Big Anthony Russo, when he participated in the Joseph Scopo hit that concluded the war. He was first scheduled to be inducted in 2000, one of the youngest in a batch of patiently-waiting proposed associates, but was arrested on drug charges. When he was released from prison, he was proposed once again but was caught on tape wondering whether it would even be worth it. By this point, Guerra had already been mistakenly ID'ed as a Colombo soldier when he was Allie Persico's personal driver, and Guerra was/is incredibly close to the Persico brood (particularly Allie, Teddy Sr., and Skinny Teddy), as well as captains Big Anthony Russo and Reynold Maragni.
When Guerra was asked if he wanted to be inducted in the Feb. 2009 ceremony along with his friend Big Anthony Russo and others, Guerra "passed" on it. With some prodding by Anthony Russo, who had been promoted to acting captain just over a year after his induction, Guerra eventually agreed to be inducted in the next upcoming ceremony in Dec. 2010, and a list was passed around with Guerra's name on it. However, the ceremony was cancelled due to FBI heat.
In April 2011, a wired-up Reynold Maragni had a conversation with Guerra confirming that he had seen Guerra's name on a list, and discussed with Guerra the fact that he "had a birthday coming" and Guerra would now be "the same as your friends."

Re: Role of a Soldier Today

by Peppermint » Sat May 02, 2020 5:41 pm

Cacuzza wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 5:33 pm
SonnyBlackstein wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 1:01 pm
Cheech wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:31 pm
SonnyBlackstein wrote: Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:30 pm The mafia is like any other organisation where people naturally wish to advance and climb the hierarchy. its seen as recognition of achievement and reward for service as well as respect among peers. Those that decline membership are still in the vast minority.
what are you basing this on, my friend?
It’s a speculative conclusion, but not one without base.
That the known cases of associates declining are few and far between. Of course there would be more that we don’t know, but the mob is still filling it’s ranks at whim it appears.
Additionally a soldier is a level above an associate and for the reasons I gave above coupled with that the position of soldier carries with it rights above that of an associate, all considered, I thinks it’s an easy conclusion to draw.
Is it true that if an associate is approached for membership and declines they are still respected but have to disassociate themselves? They are no longer allowed to associate as before and still hang around but have to leave but there is no prejudice or animosity. They are considered an outsider but with respect and are left alone and they can't come back. They had their chance. Is any of that true or sound familiar?
Sorry to interject, but...

I don’t see why that wouldn’t be true. Especially if the person declines membership under good terms, but I don’t know. If I was a made guy, and my offer to an associate to become made themselves was declined I would be suspicious of why that is, and become worried they’re turning into a rat. I would find it odd, that after having spent all this time working for my family, as a loyal associate and being a dedicated earner, not want to become made I would imagine that would be ultimately their goal.

So my question is, what reason would there be for an associate to spend all this time working for a family, and decline the opportunity to become made? Seems counterproductive, and suspicious to me.

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