John Pennisi Sighting / Sit Down News

[Tonyd621]

Yeah we've come a long way from the first mob podcast beef, where Gene Borello called Franzese out for using words like caporegime only to be put in his place by both Franzese and Pennisi. Innocent times, haha.

That's one of the problems with the guys like Lindbloom, Alite/Borello, and Russo -- they trash and downplay the mafia and made members, then try to act like they have the inside scoop on what goes on inside the organization as much as a member would. Sure the mafia sucks at being a secret society and gossip spreads throughout Howard Beach, but there is a difference between a made guy casually mentioning that someone is a skipper or made member to an associate he knows vs. actually attending members-only meetings and going through the protocol. Pennisi has made that clear, and so do guys like DiLeonardo when they talk.

I wish Gravano would get more into the politics and protocol. We know from some of the lesser known parts of the Gotti tapes that John Gotti was much sharper on that front than many people realize (talking about ways to get around the rule for electing a new consigliere, etc.) and Gravano must have been as well. Would rather hear Gravano talk about high-level Gambino politics than forcing himself into the plot of Murder Machine.

Meanwhile Paulie Tanso watches on, the only made member on any of these shows who never flipped. The meek shall inherit the mob podcast world.

I can't stand Gunner. He also states how he doesn't care about mob history, current day mob, the context of how it's run. But yet, he has a clothing line called "our thing." Very hypocritical imo and I bet he's very unsuccessful with it.

[Nick Prango]

Borello is especially bitter.

Borrello is about as low as you can get on the Mafia totem pole......AND he’s a rat. From my experiences, when you know you're the real deal you don't need the recognition of others to solidify that knowledge. Gene Borrello is so annoying with his “I was the last tough guy, present day LCN are soft, I am the last violent Italian American in New York, they are all pussies” routines. Guy was very low-level and acts like he was a veteran of the life.

[Nick Prango]

The Q and A is fine with me... they do an okay job filtering the questions.

I question the ethical decision to put Pennisi's daughter on a while back, but that's their business and I didn't mind the interview itself. I don't need to see her friend do a cooking show, maybe that's just me, but the daughter was sharp and added more dimensions to Pennisi's story (the point of the show).

The last couple pages of this thread are a good example of why not to show your wife off on a mob podcast, haha. No idea why you'd bring her on just to sit there with nothing to say... she's distracting and it's not like you need her to sell the show. Half the viewers probably just got done looking at porn anyway and don't need Tom LaVecchia's wife as incentive to watch someone talk about capos and consiglieres.

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The thing Pennisi has to his advantage is his membership and understanding of the life. He can keep this show going a long time because as a former member he can always offer his take on new indictments and other info that hits the public.

The reason all of these associates are caught up in drama with each other is because they were running out of stories. All of the associates except Calandra have tried to say that the mafia doesn't matter, how they're the real tough guys, how they could have taken out the entire mafia if they wanted, etc. After a certain point, people really don't give that much of a shit about the weight of drugs you trafficked or who you robbed and beat up, so these guys either have to start lying or beefing on each other to maintain interest. People can watch black gangbangers and get the same stories, probably even more interesting in some cases.

What gives a made member the advantage is they can continue to talk about current events from the POV of a made member. If a new Lucchese or Gambino bust comes down in 2022, Pennisi is going to have hours of new material just giving his take on it. He's already done that with Philly. Are stories about his ~5 years as a member going to run on fumes at some point? Sure, and maybe they already are after doing 30 podcasts in 30 days. But look at what someone like Franzese has managed to create with just a few fumes left.

Anyway, I find it interesting watching how these different guys try to build their "brand".

I find the differences between Borrello, Alite, Hootie, Gunner etc and someone like Pennisi or Arilotta interesting. You can see how they carry themselves how one guy was a member and the other remained an associate despite his "reputation". Every ex LCN associate does podcasts about how tough they are and how everyone else is a rat. They are all full of shit. The real stand up guys are in jail.

[bluehouse]

lol break even they use their phones and do shows from their homes.Its not as if they are renting studios and have high tech equipment

[sdeitche]

Well good a thread as any to share my appearance on the show Tuesday night:

https://youtu.be/fDStwV9fPkc

[Pmac2]

the well dried up.

[CabriniGreen]

What gives a made member the advantage is they can continue to talk about current events from the POV of a made member. If a new Lucchese or Gambino bust comes down in 2022, Pennisi is going to have hours of new material just giving his take on it. He's already done that with Philly. Are stories about his ~5 years as a member going to run on fumes at some point? Sure, and maybe they already are after doing 30 podcasts in 30 days. But look at what someone like Franzese has managed to create with just a few fumes left.

Anyway, I find it interesting watching how these different guys try to build their "brand".

This is something I wish these guys did more of. Speaking about the current landscape of OC, and giving perspective, as opposed to always talking about their own past.

Not just in America either. There was a recent bust in Partinico, talking about the " Balkanization" of Sicilian clans there. Fascinating shit to me, I would love to watch them discuss this with some guest experts, like Scott. They could morph into a kinda 60 minutes for OC content. Grab some video clips, cite some articles, edit a little. I'm just wondering, what's the endgame? What are they trying to be? An OC based, 60 minutes type show?

An interview based show? Like, Howard Stern? But they arnt crazy enough for that, too laid back. Like a Vlad then? Who will they interview? Only crime guys? Or will they do a pivot like Franzese and link up with say...... Ice-T? Celebrity types? I really like the Rogan approach where you talk to anyone about anything....

Are they, like......an alternative news outlet? It's not comedy.... not scripted. To me, it's not exactly entertainment, but not exactly infomative either.

Franzese does Mafia movie monday, or some shit. What if these guys would critique mob books on say, Wednesdays? I dunno.....Pennisis take on say, Al DArcos book or Murder Machine might be some good content.....



To me both Franzese and Gravano, just from the BUSINESS perspective, are leagues ahead of these other guys. Their production values and attention to details alone speak for themselves. I just think John and Tom, they gotta step it up a little. Tom is a business man, like get a real setup. I think it's more of a hobby for Tom, he gets to shoot the shit with a bonafide wiseguy.

I'm still tryna figure John's angle....

[joeycigars]

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[joeycigars]

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[CornerBoy]

I would bet anything that Tom is a brokester. look at his linkedin- there is nothing there. he is on council's that anyone can be on but i'll be his house is leveraged to the hilt. begging the 5 dollars for the "microphone fund"

[SolarSolano]

I would bet anything that Tom is a brokester. look at his linkedin- there is nothing there. he is on council's that anyone can be on but i'll be his house is leveraged to the hilt. begging the 5 dollars for the "microphone fund"

Spot on. I see these two splitting ways soon.

[Tonyd621]

It's hard to impress me with these guys, but what Pennisi has been able to do and Franzese some of the guests be has been able to retain has been impressive to me. Now anyone who pays these guys for business advice, personal etc is a shmuck themselves. I do think it would be a good idea for this board to maybe offer him some money for his time and we can ask him all the questions we want. Then again he may say something in a few weeks that may spark interest that may lead to other questions.

[Uncle Pete]

I would bet anything that Tom is a brokester. look at his linkedin- there is nothing there. he is on council's that anyone can be on but i'll be his house is leveraged to the hilt. begging the 5 dollars for the "microphone fund"

Spot on. I see these two splitting ways soon.

I agree. Tom seems like a nice enough guy so I really don’t want to bash him. But they’ve been doing this for a while now and their production value is still terrible. I really don’t think Tom has any business experience of value and getting an MBA doesn’t mean shit when you haven’t done anything with it. I think he is holding Pennisi back to be honest. I think there’s only so much they can do together.

I will critique him being visibly drunk and snacking during episodes. And I’m not gonna even get into him putting his wife or girlfriend on the show. That was just plain weird.

[Dapper_Don]

My two cents.

Tom is a nice guy and he has a good rapport with John. Tom has been pretty open with his past business struggles (scaled too fast/accounting issues, etc). He has years of experience in pharmaceutical sales at hospitals, medical devices in the NYC area - which for those that know there is boatloads of money in those areas. In terms of being a brokester, a quick targeted search of financial records shows his company pulling in six figures in revenues and getting a small PPP loan last year. He's doing good and this year will very likely do better.

[nizarsoccer]

My two cents.

Tom is a nice guy and he has a good rapport with John. Tom has been pretty open with his past business struggles (scaled too fast/accounting issues, etc). He has years of experience in pharmaceutical sales at hospitals, medical devices in the NYC area - which for those that know there is boatloads of money in those areas. In terms of being a brokester, a quick targeted search of financial records shows his company pulling in six figures in revenues and getting a small PPP loan last year. He's doing good and this year will very likely do better.

Is he getting ranked on the Forbes 100 list anytime soon? No. Is he probably doing well for himself? I think so. His basements is finished and looks decent, his front yard looked pretty big. I'm not sure what's the obsession with hating people that are middle class and calling them "brokesters". Aren't those people the real heroes of America?