Did The Clown say NY wanted to take over Chicago?

[Frank]

Vincent "Elmo" Amarante was the Bonanno member. If I remember right he ran a club or strip club in Chicago.


Pogo

Yes that is the guy. I remember he ran a club. I just ran across his age and it appears he was young at that time. At the time I was thinking he was an older member that had family in Chicago. Without a big incident about it, I figured it must have been a favor. Yes there was bad blood between the Families, due to Joe Bonanno planting his flag all over the place. I believe Giancana was on the hit list of Bonanno's planned hit of Commission members. There is an incident with a cheese company in Chicago and Wisconsin of Bonanno being a partner or owner of. I'm interested about the war about Vegas you mentioned, was anyone killed? Also this Elmo guy must of had permission, because Chicago was still watching people in that time period, unless they thought it just wasn't worth the trouble.

I believe Pogo is jokingly referencing the terrible Bill Roemer book War of the Godfathers, which presented a fictionalized scenario in which Joe Bonanno goes to war with the Outfit over control of Vegas.

Oh, fucking Roemer and that stupid book. But which one aren't all his books fictional lol

[Villain]

It seems that Chicago and the Bonannos had a long standing beef. They even had some sort of conflict in Arizona

They even went to war over Las Vegas back in the mid 1980s.


Pogo

From the late 40s until the Bonanno conflict things were steady and quite profitable between the two factions, but after that it seems the whole so-called cold war lasted for over a decade

[Adam]

Not Pogo , the Clown Lombardo and it was nearly 20 years ago

Willy is joking.

It seems that Chicago and the Bonannos had a long standing beef. They even had some sort of conflict in Arizona

They even went to war over Las Vegas back in the mid 1980s.


Pogo

Ha. I remember back in the day people having to explain to new people over and over again how War of the Godfathers was fiction. And weirdly written fiction even for Roemer. Gotta love him having the boss of Chicago doing a hit on The Strip to take out Dalitz. Never got why he had Zerilli alive almost a decade after he was dead. And Bonanno actually running the Bonanno family in the 80s. Just a really weird confusing book. Like the diary of a madman.

[Wiseguy]

Vincent "Elmo" Amarante was the Bonanno member. If I remember right he ran a club or strip club in Chicago.


Pogo

Yes that is the guy. I remember he ran a club. I just ran across his age and it appears he was young at that time. At the time I was thinking he was an older member that had family in Chicago. Without a big incident about it, I figured it must have been a favor. Yes there was bad blood between the Families, due to Joe Bonanno planting his flag all over the place. I believe Giancana was on the hit list of Bonanno's planned hit of Commission members. There is an incident with a cheese company in Chicago and Wisconsin of Bonanno being a partner or owner of. I'm interested about the war about Vegas you mentioned, was anyone killed? Also this Elmo guy must of had permission, because Chicago was still watching people in that time period, unless they thought it just wasn't worth the trouble.

It was a strip club called Arnie's. 20 girls were also arrested at the time on charges of prostitution.

Hardly unheard of but, considering a strip club can be a technically legit, all cash place for the mob to skim and/or launder money, you'd think they wouldnt want to jeopardize it with the girls turning tricks on the side.

Not Pogo , the Clown Lombardo and it was nearly 20 years ago

Willy is joking.

It seems that Chicago and the Bonannos had a long standing beef. They even had some sort of conflict in Arizona

They even went to war over Las Vegas back in the mid 1980s.


Pogo

Ha. I remember back in the day people having to explain to new people over and over again how War of the Godfathers was fiction. And weirdly written fiction even for Roemer. Gotta love him having the boss of Chicago doing a hit on The Strip to take out Dalitz. Never got why he had Zerilli alive almost a decade after he was dead. And Bonanno actually running the Bonanno family in the 80s. Just a really weird confusing book. Like the diary of a madman.

The best part is Bonanno and Accardo meeting with Gotti in New York over the issue.

[ChicagoOutfit]

Can anyone provide the original quote from The Clown and what the context was? Thanks

[Pogo The Clown]

I know a lot of people hate War of the Godfathers but I loved it as a teen. Entertaining historical fiction.


Pogo

[Adam]

I know a lot of people hate War of the Godfathers but I loved it as a teen. Entertaining historical fiction.


Pogo

Come on Pogo. Not historical fiction. Historical fantasy really. An incredibly kind critic would call it alternate history. A very kind critic. Glad it was fun as a teen(and obviously I own a copy) but ugh, it confused a lot of newbies. And Jesus tap dancing Christ it was awful. But we all have mob fiction books we liked. I like Casino Moon and Trinities for some reason.

[Pogo The Clown]

Yeah you're right. It was more an alternatite history-fantasy. Still fun though. The Bonannos killing the Spilotros. The Outfit clipping Moe Dalitz for defecting and putting a bomb in the Bonanno casinos counting room. John Gotti and the Commission siding with Bonanno. It was entertaining.


Pogo

[Adam]

Yeah you're right. It was more an alternatite history-fantasy. Still fun though. The Bonannos killing the Spilotros. The Outfit clipping Moe Dalitz for defecting and putting a bomb in the Bonanno casinos counting room. John Gotti and the Commission siding with Bonanno. It was entertaining.


Pogo

And don't forget that Roemer got to have a fictional idealized version of himself(under a new name) in a fictional work. That in no way deviated from his own portrayal of himself in his non fiction works.

[Pete]

Vincent "Elmo" Amarante was the Bonanno member. If I remember right he ran a club or strip club in Chicago.


Pogo

Yes that is the guy. I remember he ran a club. I just ran across his age and it appears he was young at that time. At the time I was thinking he was an older member that had family in Chicago. Without a big incident about it, I figured it must have been a favor. Yes there was bad blood between the Families, due to Joe Bonanno planting his flag all over the place. I believe Giancana was on the hit list of Bonanno's planned hit of Commission members. There is an incident with a cheese company in Chicago and Wisconsin of Bonanno being a partner or owner of. I'm interested about the war about Vegas you mentioned, was anyone killed? Also this Elmo guy must of had permission, because Chicago was still watching people in that time period, unless they thought it just wasn't worth the trouble.

It was a strip club called Arnie's. 20 girls were also arrested at the time on charges of prostitution.

Hardly unheard of but, considering a strip club can be a technically legit, all cash place for the mob to skim and/or launder money, you'd think they wouldnt want to jeopardize it with the girls turning tricks on the side.

Not Pogo , the Clown Lombardo and it was nearly 20 years ago

Willy is joking.

It seems that Chicago and the Bonannos had a long standing beef. They even had some sort of conflict in Arizona

They even went to war over Las Vegas back in the mid 1980s.


Pogo

Ha. I remember back in the day people having to explain to new people over and over again how War of the Godfathers was fiction. And weirdly written fiction even for Roemer. Gotta love him having the boss of Chicago doing a hit on The Strip to take out Dalitz. Never got why he had Zerilli alive almost a decade after he was dead. And Bonanno actually running the Bonanno family in the 80s. Just a really weird confusing book. Like the diary of a madman.

The best part is Bonanno and Accardo meeting with Gotti in New York over the issue.

Arnie’s is still open and still doing the same stuff. Not sure who runs it now I thought Elmo got jammed up on a beef in ny but I might not be remembering correctly

[JeremyTheJew]

The thing about War of the Godfathers is that in libraries its categorozed in the True Crime section (364.01 is the # section in libraries everywhere for true crime)

[Confederate]

I know a lot of people hate War of the Godfathers but I loved it as a teen. Entertaining historical fiction.


Pogo

Come on Pogo. Not historical fiction. Historical fantasy really. An incredibly kind critic would call it alternate history. A very kind critic. Glad it was fun as a teen(and obviously I own a copy) but ugh, it confused a lot of newbies. And Jesus tap dancing Christ it was awful. But we all have mob fiction books we liked. I like Casino Moon and Trinities for some reason.

Roemer should have never written "War Of The Godfathers". It only undermined his other books. I think Roemer sercretly wanted to be an Outfit guy. He fancied himself as another Tony Accardo or Murray Humphreys. Roemer wanted to be a high class Outfit guy who didn't get his hands dirty so he could justify it in his mind.

[HairyKnuckles]

The thing about War of the Godfathers is that in libraries its categorozed in the True Crime section (364.01 is the # section in libraries everywhere for true crime)

I pity the newbies who finds it in hopes of reading a true crime book. They probably end up on gangsterbb asking for the casualty list!

[eboli]

War of the Godfathers is up there with The Godfather sequel books by Winegardner. I never undestood why Roemer used real life figures in a fictional universe. I'll tell you this, after reading it for the first time, my estimation about Bill Roemer as a writer fucking plummeted.

[Rocco]

Vincent "Elmo" Amarante was the Bonanno member. If I remember right he ran a club or strip club in Chicago.


Pogo

Yes that is the guy. I remember he ran a club. I just ran across his age and it appears he was young at that time. At the time I was thinking he was an older member that had family in Chicago. Without a big incident about it, I figured it must have been a favor. Yes there was bad blood between the Families, due to Joe Bonanno planting his flag all over the place. I believe Giancana was on the hit list of Bonanno's planned hit of Commission members. There is an incident with a cheese company in Chicago and Wisconsin of Bonanno being a partner or owner of. I'm interested about the war about Vegas you mentioned, was anyone killed? Also this Elmo guy must of had permission, because Chicago was still watching people in that time period, unless they thought it just wasn't worth the trouble.

There must be some agreement or relationship between the bonnanos and the outfit. bonnanos soldier vinny faraci worked with joey the clowns brother on a daily basis for many yrs at the crazy horse in vegas. I would imagine elmo being in Chicago was part of that connection.