Tonyd621 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2024 9:22 am
I have heard of Ron Fino, but I am listening to his story for the first time on Burnsteins podcast. Is that telling fairy tales or is he telling the truth... becoming an informant, becoming a clandestine agent for the CIA, going all over the world undercover. I saw he had a book called " Mr undercover" and gangstersinc had a trailer of some movie, but the clip was available. Can I hear some opinions and or someone inform me/send me to the authentic story if this is not it.
Not fairy tales. He started with CIA and there are journalistic sources that verify it. Some people have issues with him.
1. There are those who believed he used the forums to hawk his book and were upset that he didn’t correct posters when they wrote incorrect thing about the Buffalo mob, especially when it made Buffalo look bigger than it was or they say it was. I get the sense that the treated him like Scott Burnstein. (My knowledge is limited on this and more of my gut feeling as I wasn’t on The Real Deal site often when I first got into looking into the Buffalo mob stuff.)
2. Some in Buffalo believe that Fino protected the Buffalo mob or at least some of its factions (especially drug trafficking factions) even though he was an informant. Some think he and Coppola worked together to do this. Google what attorney William Iannacone has written about Fino.
3. Others in Buffalo will refer to him as Ronnie the Rat cause they do not like the a fact that he was an informant and did thing they believed hurt the mob an its influence here.
4. Some love him for what they believe he did for the union in their belief that he worked to diminish the mobs influence a stuck up for the workers, especially those of diverse races and ethnicities.
5. There are people in Buffalo that believe Fino was an opportunist that used his mob connections to his advantage and then turned on them or part of them for his advantage. There are are journalist and law enforcement people that don’t trust what he said because they viewed him this way.
6. I’m sure I’ve missed some opinions too.