by Wiseguy » Mon May 14, 2018 11:53 am
If memory serves, Basciano was acting boss but never official boss. He may have been so if not for all his own indictments and eventual life sentence.
The Cicale Files is more of a large pamphlet than a book but does have some interesting things including a hilarious story about a meeting he and Basciano had with the Anthony Urso.
Anthony "Tony Green" Urso was also interested in attractive young ladies - to a fault. On street corner meetings, he was known to suddenly lose interest in the topic of discussion whenever a fetching young woman happened into his field of vision. "Tony thought he was God's gift to every woman who passed by," Cicale said. "He'd make it so obvious too, looking a woman up and down."
"Urso was single and in his late 60s-early 70s. He looked good for his age," Cicale said. "Tony Green stood about 5-foot-8 and weighed around 170 pounds and was always hanging out at the gym, the tanning bed, and nightclubs." Cicale recalled a time when he and Basciano were waiting for Urso to meet them. "Urso steps out of his tricked-out, pimped-out black Hummer H2 wearing bright, shiny, royal-blue skintight spandex. Urso actually looked as if he was about to get on stage at a male strip club."
"Vinny and I were standing in the supermarket parking lot waiting for Urso. We watched him park his car farther down the lot from us. When Urso got out of the Hummer in that outfit, Vinny starts whispering shit to me without moving his lips so Urso doesn't notice. 'Oh my fucking God,' Basciano told me. "Is this man crazy or what? Dom, look at his sagging balls. They're huge. This guy is fucking kidding, right?'"
Smiling at the recollection, Cicale said, "Tony was only several feet away and I'm trying to hold in a major bursts of laughter. I'm trying to keep my lips together and stop myself from losing it. Then whispered again, like a ventriloquist: 'Bo, shut the fuck up. You're gonna make me bust out laughing right in this guy's face. You're gonna get us killed.' I'm busting a gut inside, thinking if any of the other families see this guy, then we're all gonna get killed, the whole fucking crime family."
Urso walked towards them, arms outspread to give both Vinny and Dominick the standard wiseguy greeting with a kiss on each cheek. Basciano's whispered commentary still rang loudly in Dominick's head and Dominick was having great difficulty maintaining his composure. As Vinny and Urso hugged, Dominick suddenly leaned over.
"A loud sound had come out of my mouth, " Dominick said. "I acted like I was gagging to cover up my laughter. I knew at this moment that Vinny wanted to kill me. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I straightened back up with tears rolling down my cheeks. I kept acting like I was choking."
Dominick, pretending that he had something stuck in his throat, walked back to his car to get a drink as Vinny had thoughtfully suggested. As he was halfway to the car, Tony started calling out to Dom, with true concern in his voice: "Dom! You sure you're okay! You need help?" Dominick raised his hand, indicating that he was okay and didn't require the Heimlich maneuver, which Urso appeared ready to apply.
"Once in the car I turned on the engine, placing my head against the steering wheel. I started laughing so hard that I almost pissed myself. It took me at least five minutes to compose myself."
In addition to the skintight spandex, Urso wore a toupee - which was crooked. "It was half-on and half-off his head," Cicale said. "Not to mention, Tony was so overly tanned from hours on tanning beds that his scalp, which was normally covered by the hairpiece, was exposed and was a totally different color than the rest of him."
Domonick had finally composed himself enough to return to Urso, the acting boss of the Bonanno family, and Vinny.
I knew Vinny's every moe and if I hadn't caused such a scene, Vinny would have told Tony to fix his toupee. But Vinny knew if he did that now or anytime during the conversation, Tony would realize that my coughing fit was not a coughing fit at all. So Vinny was now forced to keep his mouth shut, and we were both forced to continue to look at this spectacle."
Once the discussion had ended, Vinny and Dominick were back inside their car watching Anthony "Tony Green" Urso drive away in his humongous vehicle. They could finally break into uproarious laughter getting it all out of their system.
"Five minutes later, we were finally pulling out of the supermarket parking lot heading back into the Bronx. Vinny told me that I could never do that again and that I had to control myself. As Vinny said that, I quickly turned my attention from the road to him. Just by my look, he new that I was thinking: 'Okay, BO, but this was no doubt a huge exception..."
And they both burst into another round of laughter.
If memory serves, Basciano was acting boss but never official boss. He may have been so if not for all his own indictments and eventual life sentence.
The Cicale Files is more of a large pamphlet than a book but does have some interesting things including a hilarious story about a meeting he and Basciano had with the Anthony Urso.
[i]Anthony "Tony Green" Urso was also interested in attractive young ladies - to a fault. On street corner meetings, he was known to suddenly lose interest in the topic of discussion whenever a fetching young woman happened into his field of vision. "Tony thought he was God's gift to every woman who passed by," Cicale said. "He'd make it so obvious too, looking a woman up and down."
"Urso was single and in his late 60s-early 70s. He looked good for his age," Cicale said. "Tony Green stood about 5-foot-8 and weighed around 170 pounds and was always hanging out at the gym, the tanning bed, and nightclubs." Cicale recalled a time when he and Basciano were waiting for Urso to meet them. "Urso steps out of his tricked-out, pimped-out black Hummer H2 wearing bright, shiny, royal-blue skintight spandex. Urso actually looked as if he was about to get on stage at a male strip club."
"Vinny and I were standing in the supermarket parking lot waiting for Urso. We watched him park his car farther down the lot from us. When Urso got out of the Hummer in that outfit, Vinny starts whispering shit to me without moving his lips so Urso doesn't notice. 'Oh my fucking God,' Basciano told me. "Is this man crazy or what? Dom, look at his sagging balls. They're huge. This guy is fucking kidding, right?'"
Smiling at the recollection, Cicale said, "Tony was only several feet away and I'm trying to hold in a major bursts of laughter. I'm trying to keep my lips together and stop myself from losing it. Then whispered again, like a ventriloquist: 'Bo, shut the fuck up. You're gonna make me bust out laughing right in this guy's face. You're gonna get us killed.' I'm busting a gut inside, thinking if any of the other families see this guy, then we're all gonna get killed, the whole fucking crime family."
Urso walked towards them, arms outspread to give both Vinny and Dominick the standard wiseguy greeting with a kiss on each cheek. Basciano's whispered commentary still rang loudly in Dominick's head and Dominick was having great difficulty maintaining his composure. As Vinny and Urso hugged, Dominick suddenly leaned over.
"A loud sound had come out of my mouth, " Dominick said. "I acted like I was gagging to cover up my laughter. I knew at this moment that Vinny wanted to kill me. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I straightened back up with tears rolling down my cheeks. I kept acting like I was choking."
Dominick, pretending that he had something stuck in his throat, walked back to his car to get a drink as Vinny had thoughtfully suggested. As he was halfway to the car, Tony started calling out to Dom, with true concern in his voice: "Dom! You sure you're okay! You need help?" Dominick raised his hand, indicating that he was okay and didn't require the Heimlich maneuver, which Urso appeared ready to apply.
"Once in the car I turned on the engine, placing my head against the steering wheel. I started laughing so hard that I almost pissed myself. It took me at least five minutes to compose myself."
In addition to the skintight spandex, Urso wore a toupee - which was crooked. "It was half-on and half-off his head," Cicale said. "Not to mention, Tony was so overly tanned from hours on tanning beds that his scalp, which was normally covered by the hairpiece, was exposed and was a totally different color than the rest of him."
Domonick had finally composed himself enough to return to Urso, the acting boss of the Bonanno family, and Vinny.
I knew Vinny's every moe and if I hadn't caused such a scene, Vinny would have told Tony to fix his toupee. But Vinny knew if he did that now or anytime during the conversation, Tony would realize that my coughing fit was not a coughing fit at all. So Vinny was now forced to keep his mouth shut, and we were both forced to continue to look at this spectacle."
Once the discussion had ended, Vinny and Dominick were back inside their car watching Anthony "Tony Green" Urso drive away in his humongous vehicle. They could finally break into uproarious laughter getting it all out of their system.
"Five minutes later, we were finally pulling out of the supermarket parking lot heading back into the Bronx. Vinny told me that I could never do that again and that I had to control myself. As Vinny said that, I quickly turned my attention from the road to him. Just by my look, he new that I was thinking: 'Okay, BO, but this was no doubt a huge exception..."
And they both burst into another round of laughter.[/i]