Mafia/Porn
luzd...@aol.com
Fredric Dannen's book Hit Men details the Mafia's domination of the rock
music industry since the 1950s through crooks such as disc jockey Alan
Freed and record company owners and executives like Morris Levy, Syd
Nathan and Walter Yetnikoff. The music industry, like porn and the rest
of entertainment, is largely run by Jews who work with the Mafia. Among
Morris Levy's partners was the originator of the child porn industry -
Tommy Eboli who became head of New York's Genovese family. Tommy died by
gunfire in 1972. Morris Levy's friend from childhood Vincent Gigante now
heads the Genovese family. Organized crime began its domination of the
porn industry in the 1960s. Two grand juries - New York and Bexar County,
Texas - found in the early '70s that organized crime controls 90% of
America's hardcore pornography business. In 1978, a group of law
enforcement officers, coordinated through the Investigative Services
Division of the Washington D.C. Police Department studied the level of
organized crime in porn because of its knowledge "that organized crime
generally involves itself in situations where the gain far outreaches the
risk. The pornography industry fits this description." The project found
a high level of criminal control of the sex industry because of the
billions of dollars involved and the low priority obscenity enforcement
had within police departments and prosecutors' offices. The imposition of
minimal fines and no jail time upon random convictions resulted in a low
risk high profit endeavor for criminals in porn. A police captain in
Fayetville, North Carolina told the Meese Commission, "Left unchecked,
organized crime, in a traditional sense, can suck the lifeblood out of a
community. Many times, their enterprises have been viewed as "service"
oriented or victimless crimes. However, it teasrs at the moral fiber of
society and through unbridled corruption, it can weaken the government."
The 1978 Federal Bureau of Investigation Report Regarding the Extent of
Organized Crime Involvement in Pornography concluded: "...Organized crime
involvement in pornography...is significant, and there is an obvious
national control directly, and indirectly by organized crime figures of
that industry in the United States. Few pornographers can operate in the
United States without involvement with organized crime.... The huge
profits gathered by organized crime in this area and redirected to other
lucrative forms of crime, such as narcotics and investment in legitimate
business enterprises, are cause for national concern, even if there is
community apathy toward pornography." The most organized part of
organized crime is La Cosa Nostra - this thing of ours - better known as
the Mafia. This group of thugs is best known to the public through The
Godfather movies, made with the cooperation of La Cosa Nostra, portray
the Mob sympathetically. The truth is much harsher. Over the past 60
years, the Mafia has murdered thousands of people, many of them innocent,
in its pursuit of money and power. The American Mafia remains the most
dangerous and resilient criminal organization in the world, able to
withstand until recently every legal assault, competition from new forms
of organized crime, and social change. "In the past few decades, when
every other social institution in America has either been shattered or
changed forever, the Mafia has continued to thrive... Like a virulent
parasite, it has adapted to the host body, fastening on whatever the law
or social convention allowed: organized kidnapping was abandoned for
rum-running during the Prohibition, bootlegging was replaced by the black
market during World War II, which was replaced by illegal gambling and
narcotics trafficking, and so on. "The Mafia is a big-city phenomenon,
because the right conditions exist there for it: unholy alliances between
politics, business and crime; police corruption..." (Goombata, 1993,
p.2,3) The American Mafia is a coalition of 24 separate groups of
organized criminals throughout the nation, with formal membership
restricted to men of Italian-American descent. Each group is known as a
"family," and the overall organization is usually called La Cosa Nostra
(this thing of ours). Law enforcement estimates its annual take at over
$100 billion a year. The boss of the Gambino family is America's most
notorious organized crime figure - John Gotti. Few leading mafiosi die
naturally. Most are knocked off. La Cosa Nostra has the world's worst
retirement program. (Fredric Dannen) New York hosts more than two-thirds
of the Mafia membership (about 3000 men) and the five ruling families
collect most of the approximately thirty billion dollars earned by
organized crime each year in this country. (Goombata, p.4) The Gambino
family is the richest of all the families, taking that name in honor of
its progenitor, the late Carlo Gambino who was the mafia's preeminent
figure in the pornography trade. Carlo is also the model for Mario Puzo's
godfataher. Gambino operated his porno business via his lieutenant,
Ettore (Terry) Zappi and Zappi's son Anthony. When the video cassette
revolution arrived, Carlo set up companies that handled the new
business, which his family soon dominated. (Goombata, p. 77) "Gambino was
much more circumspect about his connection to the extremely profitable
field of child pornography. His family dominated that trade, despite the
reluctance of some Gambino chieftains; their normally quiescent wives
were raising hell about being involved in a "filthy" business. "Gambino,
a premier criminal capitalist, plowed profits from crime into
cash-transaction businesses in which the proceeds of illegal activities
could be hidden. Favorites included garbage collection, vending machines,
trucking, construction, garment manufacture, restaurants, and assorted
restaurant supply companies. All of these specialized businesses were
suited perfectly for Gambino's favorite ploy, the "vertical monoply," in
which he controlled the business, it's workers and largest customers. The
potential for profit under such an arrangement, a monopolist's dream,
were breathtaking." (Goombata, p. 77-78) The Gambino family earns its
millions through drugs, extortion, illegal gambling, pornography, union
racketeering, robbery, business swindles, hijacking, auto theft,
loansharking and murder. Competition can be deadly when the Mob enters
the game. Fighting between mobsters over the sex industry killed at least
25 persons in the last half of the 1970s in New York City, Long Island,
upper New York state and northern New Jersey. At stake were Mob-dominated
printing, distribution and sales of X-rated books, magazines, toys, and
movies in addition to control of massage parlors and other forms of
prostitution. The book Murder Machine details the exploits of the DeMeo
gang who worked for the Gambino family. Roy DeMeo and his boss Anthony
"Nino" Gaggi were made members of the Gambinos. Nino was particularly
close with Carlo Gambino and his successor as godfather, Paul Castellano.
In the late 1960s and early '70s, Paul Rothenberg, with his partner
Anthony Argilla, dominated the processing of porno films in New York. Roy
DeMeo muscled in on the business and on July 27, 1973, murdered Paul.
"For 32-year old Roy, the murder was an epiphenous moment. He tried
explaining it to his young followers. "Ya know somethin'? After you kill
someone, anything is possible." (Murder Machine) After his initial
killing, Roy and his followers mowed down about 100 persons in the next
15 years. As well as dealing in extortion, car theft, drugs and murder,
Roy DeMeo bought and sold pornography in the millions of dollars. He
specialized in child pornography and bestiality. (Murder Machine) One
evening Roy came by Nino's house and was drawn into an argument between
Nino and his newphew Dominick. "Nino, a guy can't live on two-fifty a
week with two kids and a wife. Tell you what: Let's let Dom take care of
our New Jersey porno thing - that'll get him some more money." The
suggestion set Nino off. "No way! If his grandmother ever saw him
arrested with porno, it would kill her." "What would she say," Dominick
said, "if she saw me arrested for helping shoot someone down in the
street?" Nino: "It's not the same thing. End of discussion!" (Murder
Machine)
Go West Young Man
In early 1970, elements of the Colombo, Bonanno, Gambino and DeCavalcante
crime families moved from the East Coast and established porn operations
in California. As money from Deep Throat poured into organized crime
through the Perainos, the mob increased its infiltration of the porno
business. During the mid - 1970s, they engaged in extortion and violence
to gain control over independent pornographers. A report by the
Administrative Vice Division of the Los Angeles Police Department
estimated that by 1976 organized crime controlled 80% of the Los
Angeles-based porno movie production and distribution business.
"Organized crime families from Chicago, New York, New Jersey, and Florida
are openly controlling and directing the major pornography operations in
Los Angeles." An investigative report submitted to the California
Legislature by the Attorney General of California discussed organized
crime infiltration into the pornography industry: "In the early
1970s...four organized crime groups moved in on pornography operations in
California. They met relatively little resistance because the
weak-structured organized crime group of Southern California lacked the
strength to deter the infiltration of organized crime from the East.
"Organized crime figures first focused on production and retail
operations in California. In this effort, they established national
distribution networks and effectively resorted to illegal and unfair
business tactics. The newly arrived organized crime groups formed film
duplication companies which illegally duplicated the films of independent
producers and displayed them at nationwide organized crime controlled
theaters. Faced with continued piracy and lost profits, many legitimate
producers were forced to deal with organized crime controlled
distribution companies and film processing labs. "After gaining control
of many wholesale and retail companies, organized crime forced other
independent retailers out of business through price manipulation.
Wholesale prices to independent retailers were raised while prices to
organized crime cdontrolled outlets were lowered. Independents were
undersold by organized crime controlled outlets until lost profits forced
them out of business. Many competitors were bought out which allowed the
subsequent raising of prices in other parts of the market." In April,
1975, Los Angeles boss Dominic Brooklier met with Jimmy Fratianno before
Brooklier went off to prison for a couple of years on federal conspiracy
charges. Fratianno remembers the meeting this way (Vengeance p. 255).
I says, "How come you let all this pornography get away from you?" And he
told me that Nick Licata thought it was por carilla - that's Italian
meaning dirt. He didn't want to fool with it. And he says, "From now on
we're going to fool with it." He says, "I want you to go to Cleveland. I
want you to talk to Leo Moceri and Tony DelSanter and tell them to grab
Reuben Sturman. Tell them he can't operate in California unless we have a
piece of it. Also...grab...Teddy Gaswirth. Dominic told me that Sturman
[would] run to [the] New York [Family] and New York would contact Los
Angeles and we would split it three ways. He said, Cleveland a third, New
York a third, and Los Angeles a third.
When Dominic Brooklier and the hierarchy of his Los Angeles Mafia went to
prison in June 1975 on a federal conspiracy charge, Brooklier authorized
Fratianno, who lived in San Francisco, to become acting underboss for Los
Angeles. According to former California Attorney General John Van De
Kamp, the arrival of home video cassette recorders on the market in 1979
stimulated the Gambino, DeCavalcante, Luchese and Columbo crime families
to enter the porn market through companies that produced, duplicated,
distributed and sold adult video tapes. Because porn profits are usually
in cash, no one knows exactly how large the porn business is. Also, cash
can be more easily hidden from the IRS. Cash businesses such as porn
allow the Mob to introduce money earned from drugs and other illegal
schemes into the general economy. "...Meyer Lansky developed, refined,
and nearly perfected the techniques now used by the Mob to protect and
disguise their ill-gotten revenues. Lansky's larcenous genius must also
be credited with developing hte use of tax havens, such as The Bahamas,
as a shelter against IRS scrutiny." (Rachel Ehrenfeld, Evil Money, p.5)
Mafiosi Joseph, Anthony and Louis Peraino became millionaires after
making and distributing Deep Throat. "They used profits from the film to
build a vast financial empire in the 1970s that included ownership of
garment companies in New York and Miami, investment companies... The
Perainos also used profits from Deep Throat to finance drug smuggling
operation in the Caribbean." (FBI) Aladena Fratianno, a made member of a
La Cosa Nostra organized crime family and a former Capo and later acting
boss of the Los Angeles crime family, told the Meese Commission that
large profits keep organized crime in porn. The 1986 Meese Commission
concluded that "organized crime in its traditional LCN forms and in other
forms exerts substantial influence and control over the obscenity
industry. Though a significant number of producers and distributors are
not members of LCN families, all major producers and distributors of
obscene material are highly organized and carry out illegal activities
with a great deal of sophistication." A 1975 LAPD memo claimed that the
success of Deep Throat prompted a large migration of major New York mob
figures to Los Angeles. The report warned that, once established in porn,
the mob's next logical move would be into the legitimate Hollywood movie
business. And that's what happened. In September of 1973, a Hollywood
showbiz paper announced that "two New York businessmen" named Louis and
Joseph Peraino had established "a major new film production and
distribution company" called Bryanston, with plans for making "at least
10 feature motion pictures within the next year." The Perainos
established Bryanston in July, 1971, shortly after creating Damiano Film
Productions. The two were "twin companies engaged in the financing,
acquisition, production and distribution of motion picture film products
of every kind, nature and gauge," according to a joint company prospectus
that Louis Peraino prepared for a New York bank. Damiano did porn while
Bryanston went legitimate. One of the first legitimate movies that
Bryanston financed and produced inhouse - for $600,000 - was The Last
Porno Flick which was released in August, 1974 as The Mad, Mad
Moviemakers. It tells the story of two cab-driving buddies who, to raise
$22,000 to make a porno, con their Italian Roman Catholic family and
friends into investing in the projecting, telling the ladies it's a
religious movie. Complications arise when the porno becomes a hit. The
film, which bombed, also features a Brando-esque mafia boss. The story
pokes fun at the Perainos experience with Deep Throat, which cost them
$22,000 to make. According to a Bryanston press release, the film was
"based on a story and concept by Joseph Torchio." As Louis Peraino took
his share of Deep Throat profits and turned his attention to mainstream
movies in 1973, father Anthony and uncle Joseph took over the
distribution of Deep Throat, shifting the base of operations from New
York to a network of companies in Miami. But Louis oversaw L.A. area
distribution of Deep Throat even as he pursued respectibility in
Hollywood. Playing 13 times a day for ten years at the Pussycat Theater
in Hollywood, Throat earned $6.4 million at that one location according
to the theater owner. One of Louis Peraino's key Throat reps was former
Brooklynite Joseph (Junior) Torchio, described by one LAPD investigator
as "the best-known trunk-buster (auto break-in artist) in New York." In
1973, Joseph became Bryanston's director of finance. Torchio first came
to the attention of police in 1969, when on March 14, he set up the
shooting of mafia associate Alfred Adorno. Junior Torchio moved to LA
later that year and set up a porn production company with Jacob (Jack)
Molinas, described in a California Department of Justice report as a "con
man, swindler, disbarred attorney and former pro basketball player [Fort
Wayne Pistons]." An All American at Columbia University in the 1950s,
Molinas was convicted in 1963 as the "master fixer" in a point shaving
scandal that rocked college backetball in 1961. After his release from
prison in 1968, Molinas moved to Los Angeles and entered the porn
business. He delt with several known figures in organized crime including
Michael Zaffarano. Torchio and Molinas received loans of $250,000 from
Louis Peraino in 1973 and 1974, which they defaulted on. With partner
Bernard Gussoff, Molinas used his money to set up a fur importing company
called Berjac as a front for distributing porn. In September of 1974,
Bryanston filed a lawsuit against Molinas for non-payment of the loan.
Two months later, Gussoff was beaten to death in his Los Angeles
apartment. The murder was never solved. Less than a year later, in
August, 1975, Molinas was shot and killed as he stood with a female
friend in the backyard of his Hollywood Hills home. Three weeks later,
Torchio was struck by a car and killed on the Las Vegas strip. All the
murders appear like mob hits.
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darkstar
luzd...@aol.com wrote:
: suggestion set Nino off. "No way! If his grandmother ever saw him
: arrested with porno, it would kill her." "What would she say," Dominick
: said, "if she saw me arrested for helping shoot someone down in the
: street?" Nino: "It's not the same thing. End of discussion!" (Murder
: Machine)
Good one..thanks for sharing!
My thoughts: If the Mafia were that involved in the money side of porno,
you would think they could put a stop to all this free distribution on the
Internet. You'd start seeing pimply pasty=faced 14-year-old Harold (from
the Stand) types in dumpsters with their kneecaps all bashed in.
: business. During the mid - 1970s, they engaged in extortion and violence
: to gain control over independent pornographers. A report by the
Did they do Bob Crane?
Bill the Cat
So...So what are you sayin'?
fancy
Bill the Cat wrote:
>
> So...So what are you sayin'?
LMAO!
