Matthau
Fiato
Rizzitello
In the sixties,the Beverly Hills Friars club was a cash cow for major-league wiseguy Johnny Roselli. Johnny, and his crew of card cheats, milked the joint for a bundle of bucks.
Years later.the club was still fullof fat-cat entertainers, and Hollywood celebrities , who loved to gamble on sports.
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BIG ACTORS like the late Walter Matthau, and Get Smart, star, Don Adams, wouldn’t think twice about betting ten grand on a football game.
Through the years, the Friars Club resident bookies have always gotten rich off the losers. In 1980 Bobby Craig was the in-house bookie…He was making money hand over fist..The greedy fuck didn’t want to share the wealth with Capo Mike “Rizzi” Rizzitello.
I pushed Bobby down a flight of stairs in the Friars Club, and then he coughed up the cash….Two grand a week rent.
Next was an ex Brooklyn copper named Al Lazaar. Al took over the bookie action at the Friars Club when Bobby Craig died.
We did a job on Al too. Mike Hammer actor Stacy Keach was taking action up there for a while. I went to Stacy’s wedding in Malibu so I gave him a pass for a present. Anthony Fiato aka "The Animal"
