JohnnySalami wrote: ↑Thu Jun 25, 2020 7:40 pm
The Colombo’s were using the Sons of Italy organization as a front for their gambling and Shy rackets on Long Island specifically Hauppauge and lindenhurst. my dad would go there for their Holdem tournaments and I delivered food a handful of times. The guy Paulie Guns operated the spot till he flipped. This was like in 2010. I know the spot in Hauppauge isn’t around it got turned into a pediatric office and not sure about the lindenhurst place if it’s still around but there is one in deer park but I’m pretty sure that one is legit. Also there was caffe Messina in lindenhurst off straight path I believe that was mobbed up
Great post, Paulie Guns owned gambling spots from Long Island to South Brooklyn even as an undercover informant. As an informant, he helped push Big Anthony Russo to muscle in on a gambling house that was just across from the Del Rio Diner on Kings Highway. I don’t know if the Del Rio Diner is still there because this is mid-2000s that we’re talking about.
A Sons of Italy club was also used by Long Island-based Colombo captain Michael Uvino who operated extensive gambling clubs across Long Island, as well as bookmaking operations in NY, NJ, CT, and even Vegas IIRC.
The more I think about it, the more I realize Michael Uvino was hanging around a lot of the same Long Island circles as Tommy Gioeli. I think Gioeli specifically kept the Bay Parkway Boys (Dino Calabro, Dino Saracino, Joe Competiello, etc.) at an arm’s length from Gioeli’s crew in Long Island because hardly anything about Gioeli’s Long Island crew came up in his trial. There was barely a peep about Paulie Guns Bevacqua, Tommy’s longtime acting captain, or Sonny Franzese, Tommy’s underboss, from Calabro and Competiello on the witness stand.