Chapter 13 Section IX

Joseph Wallach, too, had become a connoisseur, and was a minor celebrity on "Kosha Nostra," and even his superiors asked him for advice now and then when they placed their bets.Soon, Wallach had his own horses, and he was willing to work hard and spend money on these animals, and he loved them more than his wife, son or even mistress.But he didn't actually make much money racing the horses because he wanted his horses to win every race and almost never heeded the demands of others who tried to join him in fixing the races. War is coming. "I'm referring to the war where the Japanese bombed us, not the infighting and fighting of 'Kosha Nostra' or something." Wallach added seriously. "Right now, the lottery business and loan sharks are in decline. There's more work and more money, and who's going to borrow money from you? The lottery is worse, do you know why? The lottery industry only thrives when the economy is bad. Buy lottery tickets They are poor people, they want money like crazy, and they have no other way to make money.” Before that, Wallach had sold his shares in the Happy Land restaurant. “A lot of colored people moved in there, they The taste is different from ours.” Only the Zhanwang Garment Factory is still booming because it has received an order from the army.

The members of "Kosha Nostra" are looking for another way.Two of Wallachi's best friends, Frank Livesey and Dominique Petriely, the smugglers, began trafficking morphine from Mexico to be turned into heroin.They invited Wallach to join, "I didn't know anything about drugs at the time, so I wasn't interested." Within a year, Frank and Kozui were in prison.Released after serving his sentence ten years later, Huozui was deported to Italy. One day, a gas station owner came to me and said, "Joseph, you are wild, can you get me some gasoline tickets?"Little did I know at the time, someone in Kosa Nostra was already doing black market gas tickets.You see, this gas station owner is better informed than I am.Since the Battle of Castle Rammon, I have been telling myself to keep as much distance as possible from "Kosha Nostra" but now, I'm afraid it will be difficult to do this.

There are all kinds of gasoline tickets, mainly the number of gallons is different, ranging from 1 gallon to 20 gallons.I asked him to write down the type and quantity he wanted, and the price he was willing to pay.I started calling everywhere.A few days later, a man named Frank Luciano—same last name, but not related to Charlie Luciano—said he had the stock, and comparing the two prices, I would make $189.That's not a huge deal, just 10,000 gallons of gas.But what did I do?One person gave me money, one person gave me tickets, and I just dumped my hands in the middle.I said to myself, I have done this business.

The second deal with Frank Luciano was 100,000 gallons, I netted $1,700, forget the price, just remember the profit.After gas stations get gasoline tickets, they can resell black market gasoline at nearly double the price, and the supply is still in short supply.After two contacts and one dozen, Frank became my partner.Later, I only did wholesale and bulk business.From the middle of 1942 to 1945, I made a total of more than 200,000 yuan, which is considered a small business. There are a lot of people in "Kosha Nostra" who have made millions on black market gasoline tickets.This kind of business needs an organization like "Kosha Nostra" too much, because there are many counterfeit tickets on the market very quickly.

The real petrol stamps are stolen from the price office, "but 'Kosha Nostra' doesn't do this kind of thing, and this kind of dangerous thing is left to individual gangs who specialize in robbery and robbery. They steal The gasoline tickets came and sold to us, because they don’t have a large enough wholesale sales channel.” There were more and more thefts, and some price offices sent gasoline tickets to the bank for storage when they were off work. Then sell on the black market.Later, recycled gasoline tickets also appeared on the black market.It stands to reason that gasoline tickets handed in at gas stations and garages should be destroyed immediately.But, in Wallach's words, "not many were thrown into the fire." "Kosha Nostra" paid off the authorities to get the unexpired portion of those gas tickets back on the market.At the same time, the underworld also manipulated some other commodities that were in high demand during the war, such as meat, sugar, dairy products and so on.

At that time, the market price of black market gasoline tickets was generally three to five cents a gallon.The Price Office estimated that throughout the war an average of 2.5 million gallons of black-market gasoline tickets were traded each day.Chester Bowles, director of the National Price Committee, made a public speech on this, urging people across the country to boycott the black market, saying: "The lives of the soldiers in front are maintained on these tens of thousands of gallons of gasoline." Joseph Wallach bought another racehorse with money from black-market gas tickets and bought an Ada's on 2nd and 111th Streets. "This is really a very good restaurant. I pay the chef $250 a week and the second chef $175." At that time, the salary of a policeman was only more than $200 a month.

In early 1945, Wallach got a call. "Hey Joseph, have you heard?" "No." "Victor is back." Was Victor Sinovance extradited by the police, or for the murder ten years ago. In 1935, Victor and a column captain of the Luciano family defrauded a serious businessman twice for a total of 160,000 US dollars.One villain who helped them in their deception was Ferdinand Portia, nicknamed Shadow.The Victors originally promised to pay Shadow $35,000 after the event was completed, but later turned around and refused.Shadow is an old oily man who has followed Victors all day long to collect debts relentlessly, and even smashed a hotel "protected" by Victor with his friend William Gallo.The Victors became murderous.One of the gunmen was Ernis Rupero, and his task was to wait until the shadow was done before killing William Gallo.

Shadow was secretly murdered, and even the corpses were cleaned up.After receiving the letter, Ernest Rupert attacked William Gallo.But William managed to escape with only minor injuries. According to the testimony of William Gallo, the police arrested Ernes Rupero and summoned Victor Jinnovance, causing Victor to die in Italy for ten years. Shortly after being released on bail in 1944, Ernes Rupolo was implicated in yet another attempted murder.Violations of the criminal law during bail will be punished severely.Because Victor Sinnovance has not been seen for nearly ten years, Ernish decided to dare to tell the police about the murder of the shadowy Ferdinand Portia in exchange for a lighter sentence.Ernish had only circumstantial evidence, which was not enough to prosecute Victor Novance, so he called in another witness, Peter Ratampa, who witnessed Shadow's murder.This Peter Ratampa is the "inmate" who stabbed Joseph Wallach in Sing Sing Prison 20 years ago.

Upon hearing that Victor Sinovance had been arrested in Italy and was about to be extradited to the United States, Pete Ratampa immediately asked for police protection. He was sent to a special cell at the Brooklyn Jail.Pete LaTampa has a stomach bug. On the night of January 15, 1945, he went to bed in his solitary cell after swallowing a few stomach pain pills and never woke up.The forensic medical examiner's autopsy report said the dose of poison in his body was "enough to kill eight horses". The death of Pete LaTampa remains a mystery to this day.The Brooklyn police and the Attorney General's Office spent more than a year trying to find new witnesses and evidence in the case, but found nothing, and finally had to acquit Victor Sinovance.

Ernest Rupero was also released.Although the police had warned him and offered to protect him.But perhaps it was too much time in prison, and Ernish insisted on getting out.The rest of Ernis Rupero's life was filled with fear and dread, and he died in 1964. (According to the records of the New York City Police Department: On August 27, 1964, a male body was found on the beach of Jamaica Bay. The back of the deceased’s head was cut off by a bullet, and dozens of stab wounds were made on the chest and abdomen. The murder weapon should be an ice pick The deceased was identified as Ernis Rupero, who disappeared three weeks ago.)

In 1967, four members of the Kosa Nostro were arrested and sentenced for the murder of Ernes Rupolo. Wallachi did not immediately meet with the second boss who had just returned, he was being troubled by his own troubles. Frank Lucianola and I partnered with the "Lido Nightclub."We paid $15,000 each and the license was registered in the name of his son Anthony, who had no criminal record at the time. On the opening day in the winter of 1946, more than 250 guests came, and the business was very good, with a monthly income of 2,500 US dollars.I wondered if I was dreaming. Gradually, something went wrong.Every time I asked Frank for my part, he faltered and hawed.Months passed without seeing a penny.I ran into a bookie in the Bronx the other day and he said, "Hey, Joseph, that father and son partner of yours is making us money." I said, "Did they lose badly?" "Losing like hell. First horse racing, now baseball." I had a showdown with Frank that night.The old boy actually said that he hired a lawyer. If I have any concerns about him, I can talk to his lawyer-of course, the internal lawyer of "Kosha Nostra". I said, "Frank, listen to me. We've been doing it together for all these years, dumping gas tickets and all that stuff, and in good conscience, we've worked pretty well together. Don't let me find out what you're up to, or you'll have to Get a lawyer." This obviously didn't work for him.On my way to the Lido the next evening, I happened to meet him taking a roll of bills from the office safe.I grabbed him and said, "Frank, you're taking a big joke." He said: "If you dare to stop me, I'm really anxious to you. I threw a lot of money to the Yankees, what if I don't get it back? Don't worry, I will win it back." There is a very strict commandment inside "Kosha Nostra", which was set by Salvador Maranjano back then: one member is absolutely not allowed to do anything to another member, we call it the "law of forbidden hands".In New York, this precept is particularly strict, because here, unlike other cities, such as Buffalo, there is only one family, and all the people stir the horses and spoons in one pot.There are five families in New York—six, actually, counting Norwalk, New Jersey—and you're stepping on anyone's turf if you're not careful.I mean, this guy might steal that guy's business, and that kid might take away this kid's clientele.Therefore, there must be a very strict "no hand law". In 1940, Bobby Doyle was such a grandson that I didn't dare to beat him. But that night Frank pissed me off.In fact, when I raised my fist—believe it or not, I really remembered the "Law of Forbidden Hands", but I couldn't care less about it.I opened my bow left and right, and first slapped him with a few big ears.He got up and wanted to run, but I chased him and blocked him in a corner, and I punched and kicked him again.His blood splattered all over me.If a few cooks hadn't stopped him, I would have chopped him up. Frank was beaten unconscious by me.I got a bucket of water and poured it on him, and went to the bathroom to tidy myself up.Then he walked past me without saying a word.I saw one of his eyes was swollen like a rotten peach, and the bridge of his nose was broken.When he got to the door, he turned to me and said, "Wait, you bastard!" I think that means he'll come back with a gun.I called two men at once, and told them to fetch my pistol. I sat there waiting for Frank, thinking I was right about it because he was cheating on me.Fortunately, he was right and I was wrong.If it comes to court, it will not be him who will be tried and punished, but me.I also wondered if this old boy set up a trick to let me beat him up. An hour later, instead of returning, Frank called and said, "I'm sorry, OK. I think we'll just forget about it and act like nothing happened." I agreed.But after thinking about it later, if I didn't say anything, he would still steal money to gamble, so wouldn't it be worse for me? I found Anthony Bender and told the whole story from beginning to end. "Then here's what we'll do," Anthony said, "and I won't say anything. If anyone brings it up to me, I'll go to Frank again and say, 'I was just trying to talk to you. Joseph told me all about it.' '" A few days later, Anthony called and said, "Frank sues you for beating him, and you two have to go to court. It's the same place, the Duke's Restaurant in New Jersey. I'll let you know when the time comes." Anthony and I have been at odds ever since the usury episode.Now I want to point him to the court with me, I can't help but feel uneasy.Anthony has a confidant, who I introduced to Kosha Nostra.He told me that Anthony was really serious about going around for me this time, "You're lucky, Frank doesn't have a lot of people." I had only hoped that Frank's wrongdoing would offset some of my guilt, but then an unexpected turn of events arose.Frank's column captain was in poor health, so his promotion was postponed repeatedly.Later, Albert Anastasia, the second boss of their family, decided to replace the captain of the column. I'm going to talk to you about this Albert Anastasia, who later became the owner of the Anastasia family in New York.His last name was so long that we all called him Albert A. behind his back, or "The Crazy Man" - that was his nickname.Albert lived in New Jersey, a huge house surrounded by high walls.At that time all the docks in New York were his.He also hung several murder cases with the police - there was no evidence. Everyone on "Kosha Nostra" knew him as a whim, a hothead, and a wild killer who killed, killed, killed whatever came his way.If someone told him that there was something wrong with so-and-so, he would immediately say: "Abolish him, abolish him!" Who knows what this madman will talk nonsense in court. ………… I was a little uncomfortable when I entered the Duke's, and they told me that Victor Sinovance was in a booth on the second floor. Anthony Bender took special care of me and said: "Remember, don't interrupt when Albert A is talking, you know his virtue. So for Jesus' sake, you must control your tongue." Albert was really crazy, and he decided the case on his own regardless of so many judges present.As soon as he came up he yelled at me, "What the fuck is wrong with you? You've been in 'Kosha Nostra' for 20 years and you don't know any rules?" I was about to explain and said, "Albert, I—" "Shut up. Like I said, discipline is discipline. Did you know you can't be disorganized? Did you know that doing what you did could start a war?" "But, Albert, he cheated on me, and he embezzled over $18,000." "That's exactly what I'm going to tell you. You're right, but you're wrong when you break the precepts." Frank Luciano hastily intervened to defend himself, only to receive a scolding from Albert.After scolding enough, Albert A asked him: "How is the situation in the store now?" "It's a mess." "Why is it such a mess?" Without waiting for Frank to answer, Albert went on to say, "I have already investigated this matter, and you have to thank Joseph for not abolishing you. Well, let's do this. You two can't handle it. Once we get together, we will stop cooperating. I rule that the store belongs to Joseph. Frank, what is your share?" "$15,000." "Albert," I said, "I won't pay him fifteen thousand. He stole that much money." "I know," said Albert, "nobody's making you pay fifteen thousand. Give him $3,500 and the store is yours." Frank yelled that it was unfair, and Albert interrupted him and said, "Frank, I have already decided. In a word, do you want the 3500 or not?" "Albert," I said again, "and a liquor licence, in Anthony's name, you know, Frank's son. Without a liquor licence, a store isn't worth a dime." "Oh, by the way, how did I forget that. From now on, Frank, you guarantee that your son's license plate will hang in the store every day. As long as the store is still there, the license plate must be there. As long as Joseph wants it, the license plate will be there." Gotta be. Remember what I said, I'll ask you if something went wrong." "Crazy Man" Albert A walked away after saying that.Frank asked me, "When will you pay me?" "Let me check the account first, and give you the rest first, and wait if you don't have one. From now on, don't hang around in front of me. Every time I see you, I want to beat you up." Immediately I went upstairs to meet Victor Genovance, the first time I had seen him in years. "Hi, Boss," I said, shaking his hand, "nice to meet you. You look good." "I feel fine, too. How are Meltrow and the baby?" "they are very good." "And you?" "No, it's just over." "I know. How?" "Very well, it's all settled." "Are you short of money?" "That bastard messed up the store and he embezzled $18,000 to $20,000. Who knows, maybe I'll have a little trouble turning around." "Did you hear that?" Victor said to another person in the booth, "Lend him as much as he wants." I later learned that his generosity to everyone in the family was part of his efforts to win hearts and rebrand himself as boss.Actually Frank Costello wasn't a problem, he just didn't care.But he helped many people earn money, so many people inside and outside the family have regarded him as the boss, and he has won himself the title of "Prime Minister" because of this.The real boss, Charlie Luciano, was sent to Italy by the police and suddenly reappeared in Havana with an Italian passport and a Cuban green card.He was one thing in Italy, completely different in Havana, America's backyard.I remember a time when the bosses of the "Kossa Nostra" families were flying back and forth between the continental United States and the island nation.Charlie invested everywhere in Cuba, where the government and people wanted him to stay.It was later heard that Washington had put pressure on him by threatening to embargo medicines to Cuba, and Havana sent him back to Naples. …………