The 5th New York family (and possibly the most powerful) is the Genovese Family. It was called the Luciano family prior to being referred to as Genovese. The Chicago family is commonly referred to as The Outfit.

Thank you for watching and commenting!

Thank you for the kind words!

Yes he did

This is very true!

As in from the Sopranos?

I appreciate you noticing the effort focused on the visual content I added during the video! It is a lot of work, but it helps bring some of the history to life.

@ def brought his story to life! Great stuff!

I'm not 100% sure. Maybe Nick can answer?

What I was saying is Bologna was wearing a wire for 7 years and Arillotta found this out while waiting for trial. It was one of the reasons he flipped. Bologna had taped conversations of crimes Arillotta committed. There's no evidence that Anthony ever wore a wire...

Hi there! First, thank you for watching and commenting. I always appreciate the opportunity to have interaction. Regarding your comment: If you're referring to the immigration and the Mussolini piece, I think I was generalizing that a key reason for many mafioso to flee Sicily (and Italy in general) was the persecution by Mussolini and Cesare Mori. While you're right that Italy was technically a monarchy, with Mussolini it was very much bordering on a dictator-style government. I could be wrong on some of the details, but generally speaking I think I'm correct on the broader details. Mussolini began coming into power between 1910-1920 and was elected Prime Minister in 1922. This period was during the time of mass Italian immigration to the United States (e.g. 1880 - 1920), and as I said above, many of those going to the United States were mafiosi and of the criminal element. Happy to debate any of the points and I hope you are well.

I think he has a long-term friendship in which he agrees with some things and adamantly disagrees with other things his friend has done. I'm sure there is more to it than that, but that's not for me to say. It's between Nick, Anthony, and the rest of their childhood group to determine.

Hi Bret! Thank you for watching. It sounds like you probably have some great stories to share. What year did this occur?

Thank you for sharing! It was a spur of the moment question, and had I prepared a little more ahead of time I might have armed myself with that information. Oh well, you live and learn. I do appreciate you digging into it.

Yes!! They were making a sucker out of Bruno..

Hi Jay! First, thank you for watching and commenting. I always appreciate the opportunity to interact. Regarding your comment: You may be correct in that there may be details not widely known to the public which weren't discussed during the interview. Additionally, there are likely details that only a handful of people would know if they were "in the room" as you've suggested you were. I will defend Nick in saying that the information he relayed generally aligns to what I've ready and heard myself about this story over the years in terms of how things played out. Does that mean that every detail is 100% accurate? Of course not. But if you're suggesting that the story is entirely wrong, then a lot of people including myself are misinformed. Perhaps there is more to the story with Artie, Ray, Mitch, and Dennis that doesn't often get told. Sounds like a great opportunity to add that to the public record. I hope all is well.

Well then...

I appreciate that! I try to be as detailed as possible. It slows my process down, but listeners seem to like it. Going forward, I'm going to try to strike more of a balance in order to put out more content.

Thanks for listening Omar! I really enjoy capturing the stories (especially the lesser known ones). Paperwork is thin on Benny Squint, but I'd love to do a show just on him some day.

@ My pleasure it’s a great show. That “squint” episode would be great, I think your best is the Mike Miranda one.

I know, I know. I'm trying to do better. Hopefully you enjoy the interview.

@TheGanglandHistoryPodcast just joking man, but seriously. You brazen breeds, and a few bad men are my go to, plus I just love your long videos. This was really good. Thank!

Thanks Steve! I enjoyed the interview with Nick, and as I knew it would, it's inspiring some very strong opinions.

Sounds like he knew what time it was. I guess I would expect nothing less.

Thank you! I always appreciate kind words.

Hi Gianni! First, thank you for watching! I always appreciate any support I get. Second, regarding your comments. I took it as Anthony simply has a head for numbers, dates, times, memorization, etc. Potentially an eidetic memory. Outside of that, I think it's clear that the assassination of Al Bruno set the stage for the ultimate decline of the Springfield mob. Additionally, in the 1990's being a mobster was much more difficult in my opinion and whether Arillotta was a "genius" or not, the climate was not as conducive to operating successfully and evading law enforcement as it had been in the days of Cufari, Scibelli, etc. I'd be interested to hear what Nick might say on this comment though.

@ I’m not trying to disrespect Nick, honestly I apreciate the fact he’s shedding light on our little corner of the world because too much of this type of content concentrates on redundant NYC stories..mainly the Gambinos and John Gotti.. I grew up with all these people, really not much diferent than Nick just the other side of the river from him and maybe an age diference..Our families, our friends families all involved in some way or another at one point in time. And I knew all those guys pretty well, it’s just a tough pill for me to swallow putting Anthony anywhere near names like Cufari, Scibelli, DeLevo, even Bruno. I don’t put his failures or the fact he was a lousy boss at the price of doing business in these times. His missteps led to what we have now. I suppose it’s just diferent when you know the people being discussed as opposed to reading or listening about them, hard not to speak a peice of mind. Anyway, you did a great job on this. I hope my opinion dosent take away from that.

Hi Gianni! I take no offense, and I'm always glad to have people like you adding additional context to the discussion. It's even more valuable when you were there and have first-hand experience. I truly appreciated it and I hope you are well.

Gianni there is no sense of talking to this guy he’s friends with Arilotta . These people have a warped sense of thinking . Rats and rat lovers . They think these rats are hero’s . I’m sure the pugs love this guy still . He asked me to pass a message to TY because I speak to Ty . Does he really think Ty wants to hear from him ? It’s crazy

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Hi Mercy! Thank you for watching and commenting. On one hand, yes I agree that Cerrito was soft as a boss and somewhat feckless. He did not inspire fear as far as I could tell in my research, and he'd have been eaten alive in any other family (though he likely would've never risen to the boss position). However, on the other hand, he was very much ahead of the game with respect to legitimizing himself and requiring that members of his family do so as well. If it weren't for the LIFE magazine lawsuit (which he was forced to file by The Commission), I think he'd have remained relatively obscure. All that said, there were people like Marino who in my opinion were undermining him and gunning for his job, especially in the 1970's. I'm very surpirsed there were no assassination attempts. But again, that's the San Jose family in a nutshell during his reign as boss.

Thank you for watching Stanlee! Glad you enjoyed it.

Hi Scott! You're right. Since starting this podcast, pronunciation hasn't been my strong suit. I don't recall calling myself and expert, but I may have. To me, lack of ability to pronounce something just means I can't enunciate as well as I'd like to. Does it mean that the information I put forth in this episode is wrong? I don't believe so. That being said, I do see how it is a turnoff to some listeners and I understand that. I've been working to get better, and I think if you listen to my more current episodes you'll notice a difference. In any event, I hope all is well with you.