Mickey Cohen

Mickey Cohen
birth place: Brownville, New York, USA

Mickey Cohen was Ben “Bugsy” Seigel’s darker half. While Bugsy dined with Hollywood’s royalty and bedded the stars, Mickey emptied their safes and broke their bones.

Mickey was a born hustler. His mother moved the family out of their Brooklyn slum to Los Angeles before Mickey was six years old. The Cohen’s ran a pharmacy and this being the time of Prohibition, Mickey’s brother ran one of the small gin-mills in the district. Mickey’s job was to deliver the moonshine.

Boxing became a practical passion for preteen Mickey, who often needed to defend his deliveries with his fists. At 15 he was a champion and,lying to his mother, he headed east to become a prize fighter.

In New York, Mickey met some of the city’s’ toughest crime bosses and, when he was beaten senseless in the ring and decided to change his career, there were plenty of outfits willing to hire his tough fists.

Mickey moved to Chicago, met Al Capone and worked for the Mafia’s gambling rackets. One day, walking down the street in his favourite camel hair coat, a mob hitman tried to assassinate Mickey. He survived unscathed, as did his coat, though the threat was enough for the ex-boxer to move back to LA to work with Bugsy.

Together, Mickey and Bugsy were an effective extension of the East Coast Syndicate on the West Coast. They changed organised crime in the West from a backwater operation into a multimillion dollar industry, that controlled narcotics, gambling, unions, and politics. After Bugsy was killed, Mickey was the mob's West muscle.

In 1961, Mickey was charged with tax evasion and sentenced to 15 years in Alcatraz. Two years into his sentence an inmate clobbered Mickey with a lead pipe, partially parallelizing the mobster. On his release in 1972, Mickey returned to live a quiet life with his old friends and follow the fights in LA.

Fugazy Hood Flops in Hollywood

John Di Mattia was a dismal failure as a mobster. He roared like a lion, but he was really as meek as a mouse. John was tall and rugged looking too, but then again, so was Rock Hudson. DiMattia was asked to prove his mob mettle on a hit and he faked a heart attack to get out of it. He used a bad back too. His back went out more than he did. Mobsters that worked with John DiMattia had this to say ," to get out of doing any tough guy work, this bum came up with more excuses than "alibi Ike".

Jack Lo Cicero Hollywood Mafia

Giacomo ”Jack” Lo Cicero was made in the Los Angeles Mafia by Nick Licata, Jack rose in rank to consigliare in the Crime Family under new boss Dominic Brooklier.Jack drove the getaway car for hitman Tommy R icciardi when Ricciardi whacked out mob rat Frank Bompansiero in a phone booth in San Diego

denise brown called ex mobster wonderful

Denise Brown, campaigning against domestic violence in the wake of her sister's slaying, sees nothing wrong with the frightening past of an ex-Mafia leg-breaker she calls a "very good friend."
"All the power to him," she said of Anthony "Tony the Animal" Fiato, who she met in Boston for a three-day visit.
Fiato, a North End native, rose to become a feared enforcer in the Los Angeles Mob in the early 1980s.

Hollywood Mafia, Salvatore "Dago Louie" Piscopo

Salvatore “Dago Louie” PISCOPO "Dago Louie" got his button/made in the Dragna Crime Family the same night Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno did. He ran the lay-off action at the race track, and a massive bookmaking operation that extended from Watts to Beverly Hills He got the nickname ” Dago Louie" because he spoke fluent broken English. Nobody ever called him that to his face. "Dago Louie" was a hothead. He killed two guys back in the “old country” in a dispute over a goat. Johnny Roselli was always a close ally of Dago Louie’s, but behind Johnny’s back, he secretly squealed to the Feds that Roselli’s real name was Phillipo Sacco, which made Johnnys’ residence in the United States Illegal. "Dago Louie" carried grudges, and a gun, well into his old age.. Some say he drove the slugger that whacked out Bugsy Siegel

Hollywood Mafia, Danny Wilson aka Iannone

James Iannone a/k/a Danny Wilson. Danny was a "made guy"in the Dragna Family.
Danny was a reputed killer and an expert extortionist. He organized, and shook down movie extra’s. He was also a shylock. In his later years he was a bookie/loan shark.

Hollywood Mafia Tommy Ricciardi

Tommy Ricciardi a/k/a ”TR “ Ricciardi was an enforcer for the Colombo Crime Family before he became a member /soldier in the Los Angeles Mafia under Dominick Brooklier.

Ricciardi shot to death rat fink,Frankie “Bomp” Bompansiero in a phone booth in San Diego on Brooklier’s orders. The rub-out got ”TR” his button/”made” in the Family.

Ricciardi was known as the hitman with a pacemaker. His career as a memberof the LA Mob was short lived. Only a few years after whacking “Bomp”, ”TR” died of heart failure in a Federal prison while serving time for an exrtortion rap.

His wife and friends were convinced the Feds had a hand in letting Ricciardi die on the operating table.

Hollywood Mafia Nick Licata

NICOLA ”Nick” LICATA

Nick Licata became boss of the LA Mob after Frank De Simone died. He was called the “old-man” by the members of his Mob family – which is a tradition in the Mafia when referring to the boss . Licata was an ex-bootlegger from Detroit. He was old school and low-key. Nick provided mobster, Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno with a phony alibi the night Jimmy whacked out the Two Tony’s,Broncato and Trombino, on Jack Dragna’s orders. Nick was a big earner for the Dragna family before he became boss. . He owned barrooms and he operated as a Bookie and shylock out of a hangout on La Brea ave in Hollywood

RUSSO, GIANNI – THE GODFATHER (The Coppola Restoration)

Gianni Russo, scored his first acting role in The Godfather (1972); he visited Australia specifically to present the world premiere of the remastered and restored 35 mm print of The Godfather, part of the The Coppola Restoration of the Godfather Trilogy*, at a black tie screening at Sydney’s State Theatre (July 22, 2008) with accompaniment by a 65 piece orchestra. Andrew L. Urban asked him about the Popes and Presidents he knew, and his trysts with Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly among others

With a singularly nebulous background, which, by his account, included stints as a Las Vegas nightclub emcee, radio personality, and jewellery tycoon, and no acting experience, Gianni Russo won the role of Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather (1972) on the basis of his screen test. “You could say that,” he says now, laughing lightly in that throaty, Godfather-family kind of way as we talk in Sydney. But maybe, he suggests, it also had something to do with the fact that it was Russo who flew from Los Angeles to New York to have a little talk to Joe Colombo (1914 – 1978), the head of one of the five big Mafia families to persuade him to co-operate with the filmmakers for filming The Godfather. Colombo’s Italian Anti-Defamation League had shut down early production of the film in Manhattan

"I know all the criminals"


It is a fitting way to get a movie started about the way the Mafia operated on a network of favours and relationships. How did Gianni know Colombo? “I knew them all … that’s where I come from. I know all the criminals,” he adds, and after a pause “. . .unfortunately.” Russo was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the Rosebank section of Staten Island. He has Mob connections and his uncle was a soldier in the Gambino crime family. He has successfully defeated twenty-three federal criminal indictments on a variety of charges stemming from alleged organized crime associations.


Since his debut as Carlo Rizzi, Russo has remained busy as an actor, mostly playing assorted "wiseguys" and Mafia types. He was appeared again with Marlon Brando in a small role in The Freshman (1990) in which Brando parodied his Don Corleone role to good effect.


Russo claims that he has personally known three popes, five United States presidents as well as every Mafia boss in the United States. On one visit to Rome in the 70s, within a 90 day period he attended two Papal inaugurations and two Papal funerals. But he doesn’t know the current Pope – as yet.


He also claims to have had romantic trysts with Marilyn Monroe, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Liza Minnelli. He dated Dionne Warwick for a decade. That’s on the public record, but what isn’t much written about as yet is his relationship with “a woman we all think of as a saint … Grace Kelly. She was a gift from Mr Sinatra,” he confides.

As for Marilyn Monroe, who Russo refers to as “a sorry soul”, he says “we related to each other because we both had abusive fathers.” They met while he was a junior ‘shampoo boy’ in a hair salon frequented by Monroe. “She’d ask for me, and then one weekend when she was staying at the Waldorf, she was having her hair done and she again asked for me. I went up there on Saturday afternoon . . . and left on Monday …”

"a biography"

It won’t surprise you to learn that Russo has written a biography, from which he has extracted material for a screenplay, Don’t Shoot the Messenger, which he says David O’Russell will direct.

Russo is also an accomplished singer and in 2004 he released a CD called Reflections that pays homage to Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

Gianni ate many times with Mafia Mobster, Anthony Fiato at Patsy's Villa Capri inHollywood.

Me and My Shadow, Bugsy

Allen Smiley aka "Smiley The Russian"
1947

.First of all, and last of all, Allen Smiley was Bugsy Siegel’s friend. In a sense, he was Bugsy’s shadow. When you saw one, you usually saw the other The hitman that shot Bugsy Siegel saw them together too…
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Bugsy and Smiley were both seated on the same couch when the Slugger blasted Bugsy to smithereens..Smiley dove down on the floor, and he ended up with three bullet holes in his jacket sleeve
but none of them in him.

Bugsy had died , but his legend was alive and well in the person of Allen Smiley.

Fast Forward 30 years
I walked into the La Cierniga Bridge Club on Pico blvd with my shylock partner Puggy Zeichick..The place was a haven for big time Jewish bookies and gamblers. Even a few hoodlums were allowed in the joint. That would be us.

But on this particular day we are meeting Danny Wilson aka James Iannone. Danny was a made guy back when Pikes Peak was just a pebble. He was sitting at a table with a guy playing gin.


Like a goo-goo-eyed-groupie, Puggy says to me, ” Anthony , look, look, do you see the guy with Danny Wilson? That’s Al Smiley, Al was there with Bugsy Siegel when he got whacked” .

I already knew that about Al. I had heard it many times before Like the time I was in Schwab’s drug store on Sunset boulevard with my cousin Mario the actor. Smiley was sitting in a booth talking to the owner Leon Schwab

After Smiley left, Leon Schwab sees us and rushes over to the counter where we are sitting and says, ” Mario , did you see that guy I was talking to.”?. I stop Leon, I say, “ I bet you one of your famous coffee shakes that I know what you’re about to say.” Bingo, the boy won a shake.


Al Smiley wasn’t a gangster, or mobster, those labels are stamped on tough guys. His persona was more polished than rough. It made him a fabulous front man for the Mob. So “Organized Crime Figure” fits him better.



Al knew many of the Mob’s General’s . He was well connected with Mafia , maven, Frank Costello. He steered suckers with big bankrolls to Costello’s illegal gambling parlors for a percentage of their losses.

He was a first class felon.. On his rap sheet his repertoire of rackets included Ponzie schemes and trafficking in narcotics.

I knew Al, but not that well . He was old when I met him. His star had long since fallen, and mine was on the rise. He was always a big gambler and sometimes he went bust.


Although one day I ran into Al at the track when he was flush with cash . I knew he had just made a score with a scam artist associate of mine named Jack Fine.

Jack could sell holy water to a Vampire. They both probably sold some sucker the Brooklyn Bridge. That was the last time I saw Al .




Al Smiley died broke,but he ended his criminal career on a high note when he beat a racketeering beef with Mob boss, Dominic Brooklier and Capo, Pete Milano… .


Smiley lived in Bugsy’s shadow, but the shadow belonged to Al’s best friend.




By Anthony Fiato

Mob Hitman shot blanks

Mafia Hitman Frank "Bomp" Bompensiero was prolific with a pistol and shotgun--- but he shot blanks in bed. Bompensiero bore the brunt of many mob jokes because he was impotent. Mobster, Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno told Mafia Mobster, Anthony "the Animal" Fiato, "Bomp clipped plenty of bums, and "Bomps" cock was just as dead as they were"

GALLO GANG HITS HOLLYWOOD

Pete the Greek Diapoulas was Mobster, Joey Gallo's bodyguard . . Pete was sitting with "Crazy Joey" when he was shot to shreds in Umberto's Clam House. Years later the Greek was doing a show with Mafia Mobster's , Jimmy Fratianno ,and Anthony Fiato. . While sitting in the green room, Pete had Fratianno and Fiato busting-a-gut with a Gallo Gang story .. Seems.the gang was shaking down a restaurant up in the Bronx, and the stubborn owner wouldn't play ball with the bad guys from Brooklyn..".Crazy Joey" had the Greek get a dozen hamsters and dye them all black so they looked like rats.. Gallo sent three gang members into the joint during the dinner hour and turned the so-called rats loose in the place. Women screamed, and jumped up on the tables , waiters dropped their trays, others chocked on their food, the place was a mad house. .The next day the hump paid Joey to get rid of his rat problem.. .. When the Greek left to take a leak , Fratianno said to Fiato, " anyone who hires this fuck'en bum for a bodyguard , 'is committing suicide."..

Another true Hollywood Story. Anthony Fiato

BROKEN DOWN MOB SLOB

Carmen "Flipper" Milano was a balding pot bellied slob. He looked more like a down-at-the-heel hobo than a high-level Mafia member. He was dead broke,- and just disbarred from a dismal law practice.-- when he got the not-so -bright idea to tie up with his older brother Pete -- who was the new boss of the L. A..Mafia . Pete slipped Flipper into the second slot as his Under boss --which in the L.A.mob , was the equivalent to slipping into the second spot in a soup line... Pete used Flipper as a go-between, him, and other Mafiosi .. Flipper became the target of all the heat meant for Pete. , Flipper's mob career mirrored his calamitous career in law. The FBI busted a gut when they picked up Flipper on a wire tap mooching a double saw-buck off of another crumb-bum, Capo, Louie Gelfuso , who was broker than he was

Another true Hollywood Story

Flipper Milano is mentioned in Anthony Fiato's book " The Animal In Hollywood "

Los Angeles Crime Family Fink Jimmy The Weasel Fratianno.

Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno was a chip-on-his-shoulder mob-shooter who transplanted to "Tinsel Town " from Cleveland . Fratianno had over a dozen mob hits under his belt . "The Weasel" never thought while on a mob ordered rub-out , when he coined the phrase ,".I'll take the back seat",. that it would become infamous in underworld folk lore -- but it did, when he used it to get sure-shot aim-- to blast two tough hoods' in the back of their heads -- from the back seat of their sedan. . Fratianno was always a rock-solid, stand-up guy, that is, until he sold his mob amico's down the river when he finked to the feds. . Jimmy ''the Weasel " Fratianno died a, miserable, dismal, death, demented from Alzheimer's disease .

Another true Hollywood story by Anthony Fiato.

jAMES CAAN WANTED MAFIA TO GRAB GOODFELLA STAR

James Caan's Mafia connection in the L.A. Mob was vicious, Mobster, Anthony 'The Animal" Fiato . The F.B.I. intercepted a phone conversation between Fiato and Caan concerning actor Joe Pesci. James Caan asked his Mafia pal to grab and "take care" of Joe Pesci after learning about an $8,000 bill that wasn't paid after Pesci stayed with Princess Diana's late lover Dodi Fayed at a pal's Miami, Florida, hotel in 1982

Another true Hollywood story .

PIZZA FACE PUGGY

Puggy " Pizza face" Zeichick bankrolled a seven figure juice loan operation that was backed by Mafia, mobster, Anthony Fiato's mob muscle . Zeichick and Fiato incorporated all the top west coast Jewish bookies into their mighty crime syndicate.. Law enforcement and Mafiosi alike referred to Anthony Fiato and Puggy Zeichick as the Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky of Los Angeles.

Mobster leg breaker loses leg

Joe "Joe Fish" Grupa had a wooden leg, but that didn't stop him from strong-arming pornographers with Hollywood, Hitman , Tommy Riccardi.. When Riccardi died from heart failure, Joe Fish went to work in the garment district for Mafia, mobster, Anthony Fiato . One night Fish steered a garment sucker of Fiato's to a crooked crap game --- the joint suddenly got raided.-- Fish lambed it out of the place so fast--- that he fell---and his wooden leg broke off.......Two coppers spotted fish floundering on the ground. One cop , said to the other, " we better get this poor prick a doctor" , Fish then shouted out," I DONT NEED A DOCTOR, 'I NEED A FUCKING CARPENTER "

Mob Hitman shot blanks

Mafia Hitman Frank "Bomp" Bompensiero was prolific with a pistol and shotgun--- but he was a dud in bed.. .Bompensiero bore the brunt of many mob jokes because he was impotent. ..Mobster Jimmy Fratianno-- said to Mafia enforcer Anthony "the Animal" Fiato.," Bomp "clipped" plenty of bums--'but his cock was deader than they were"-Los Angeles Crime Family members