Philly Mob Informant Ron Previte Interview (2004)

about the only place the mafia is doing well these days is in the television ratings with The Sopranos everywhere else laosa Nostra has been decimated by Gangland killings and federal prosecutions with an entire generation of mobsters either knocking each other off or ratting each other out nowhere is that more evident than in Philadelphia where a former cop turn mobster turned government witness has helped send more than 50 maid members of his family and their Associates to prison big Ron prev he didn't do it to save his own neck he did it for nearly a million dollar in many ways previty's career embodies The Waiting days of laosan ustra in America where the only honor left is survival my occupation has been crook most of my life at 6 feet 300 lb with a physical presence and a wise guy persona previty certainly fits the s stereotype of organized crime and it's no wonder he grew up in Philadelphia a second generation Sicilian American and some of his earliest memories are of gangsters I used to see uh guys that were bookmaking doing things driving Cadillacs back then he's word of fedoras and I I guess that's what I aspired to be so to speak I didn't want to be an astronaut you know you want to be a gangster I wanted to be in that world I wanted to it's a shame to say I always wanted to do wrong and he did even when he was in the Air Force he was a petty thief and black marketeer and as a member of the Philadelphia police force then known for its corruption and brutality he fit right in I was a crook in the police department I robbed everything I could but by the same token I like making arrest too I got accommodations I had a good work record except I was a crook but most of the people I work with were Crooks really I never learned about crime till I went in the police department I always said that I really became an Adept Thief when I went in the Philadelphia Police Department he learned how to shake down pimps and drug dealers collect payoffs from bookmakers and Mobsters pocketing thousands of dollars a week in addition to his regular paycheck it was a nice life it was good and plus I had to badge I couldn't get any trouble so why'd you quit well I don't think I quit I think it was a mutual thing I wore out my welcome so to speak so you left by mutual agreement at the Philadelphia Police Department what did you do next I think the next legitimate job I had was at the casino in Atlantic City tropicano and what was your job there security fox in the hen house it was 1981 gambling in Atlantic City had just been legalized but there was still plenty of opportunity for the enterprising criminal he stole truckloads of furniture and bar supplies out of the casino's Warehouse clean out the guest safety deposit boxes and ran poker games and prostitutes out of unoccupied hotel suites making what he calls big money what are we talking about the end result was Millions I took Millions from the casino did the hotel know that you were taking the money well they couldn't prove it you know his success attracted the attention of two powerful organizations the mob which wanted tribute in the form of $500 every week and the New Jersey State Police which offered him income in exchange for information about the criminal underworld in Atlantic City so did they give you like an envelope full of cash every week yeah I used to meet them somewhere and they'd bring me the cash it's almost like they were paying you tribute yeah I guess they were but don't forget I'm giving them information too they they can't operate without informance when you develop this relationship with the with the state police did they tell you you got to go straight listen they didn't recruit me in the Seminary or at the uh Parish Hall why would they want me to go straight what kind of information they going to get from me if I go straight by the mid 1980s his lucky streak at the Tropic Cana had run out they actually paid him to go away and for the next six years he ran his own criminal Enterprise with a crew of old buddies from Hamington New Jersey he recalls those days as the happiest of his life I was just like a general practitioner of crime I didn't specialize in anything did you ever go to prison no not really how'd you avoid that I guess I was smart I used whatever I could to stay out out I used whatever connections I had because you're a criminal doesn't mean you have to go to jail you know only the bad ones go to jail only the stupid ones go to jail eventually previty's bookmaking operation caught the eye of mob boss homicide John Stanford who wanted a piece of the action by 1993 prevy was such a big earner for the Philadelphia mob stanfa made him his personal driver enforcer and a made member of laosa Nostra all of a sudden you got a lot on your plate got a lot on my plate too much on my plate extortions bookmaking attempted murder beating people up I mean it was a full day of crime from morning to night you know you talk about debt collection intimidation what would you do to people different people different things threaten them um you know beat them up hit them with baseball bats break their legs break their legs break their arms make them feel pain sometimes you have to do it because if somebody doesn't see it everybody thinks they can s but not many people stiff Ron previty we had this guy one time biggest dead beat in the world I mean he had more excuses so I had one of my guys grab him one time we lifted the hood of the car we put his face near the fan blade closed the hood on his head then I'd have the guy go in there and step on the gas you know the fan would just you know Nick his chin and was like giving him a close shave he paid paid real quick do you consider yourself a nice guy um in what context am I a nice guy I told you before that I was a crook How could a crook be a nice guy I didn't find it profitable to be a nice guy in my life did you ever kill anybody no never no you're morally opposed to it or you know money's not a reason to kill somebody make me mad I could kill you you fo my family I could kill you I'm not going to kill you for money it was probably 20 years too late he'd have been a great gangster in the 50s George Anastasia is one of the most respected crime reporters in the country he's covered laosa Nostra for the Philadelphia Inquirer for 20 years he found previty such an interesting character he's written a new book about him called the last gangster he knew how to work in the Underworld he knew how to make money he knew how to use fear intimidation and intelligence and sophistication to generate income Anastasia says previty was a throwback to old style Mobsters like Angelo Bruno and Carlo Gambino from the days when laosa Nostra bragged that it was bigger than us steel and a lot of ways Bruno in Philadelphia Gambino in New York they probably in another time in another place could have been the CEO of a company but you know the best and the brightest in the Italian-American Community are not gangsters anymore they're doctors they're lawyers they're entertainers or whatever and so you scraping the bottom of the gene pool perhaps the best example was skinny Joey Marino a particularly vicious mobster obsessed with his own Public Image Joey was a party guy he liked to go out he liked to drink he liked to gamble he liked to High Life Marino patterned himself after New York City's John Gotti and seemed more interested in making headlines than making money he invited TV Crews to his annual Christmas party for the homeless and was a regular fixture at the city's nightclubs restaurants and sporting events Joey always was calling attention to himself uh and and he got under the skin of law enforcement if Gotti was GQ these guys were details or Maxim you know the MTV gangsters very very attuned to the media very they they like the media attention and it all contributed to their downfall to top it all off prev says Marino and his associates weren't very good at what they did they weren't gangsters they were crook thieves I always figured I develop crime I did this or did that and I worked it they didn't work anything they just wanted to Rob everybody and their own people surrounded by what he thought were incompetence previty began to worry about his future when he got into the top of the organization he looked around and he said you know I'm not going to survive they're going to kill me I'm going to kill them or we're all going to go to jail so being the the intelligent individual that he was and the mercenary that he was he said you know I got to have an insurance policy that insurance policy was the FBI his friends at the New Jersey State Police had made the introduction back in 1992 andess had been feeding them dribs and drabs of information as a paid informant finally in 1997 the bureau told him that it could not protect him forever and convinced him to become a cooperating witness previty wore a wire for more than 2 and A2 years recording more than 400 hours of conversation many of them with bosses and under bosses then they got puts it on TV he don't get his facts right see he goes he puts on there five families not ain't no five you know no City commission there is no money reach now John Terry who now heads the FBI's organized crime division in Philadelphia was previty's Handler I mean how dangerous was that for him it was extremely dangerous on on any given day if any member or associate of the mob found out that he was wearing a recording device for the FBI he would have been a target for death his life was and is in Jeopardy but previty was well comp compensated cutting one of the best deals in the history of the FBI $99,000 a month a car insurance and various expenses it quickly added up we paid Mr previty $750,000 beginning in 1992 and ending in 2002 you had no case against previty correct he was doing this of his own volition that's correct for money for money in addition the FBI gave previty seed money for drug deals bookmaking and loone sharking operations with the understanding that any proceeds would be returned to the FBI his history is that he's stolen from everybody he's ever worked for did he steal from you no not as far as I'm aware of I mean we we calculated what we thought the value of his information and services were the FBI and we paid him for it the FBI says it was worth it with previty's help the government managed to convict more than 50 made members of the Philadelphia mob and their Associates including three mob bosses and the mayor of Camden New Jersey I think I was underpaid I should have made more money I took a chance every day I was like jumping out airplanes every day when I hear people say how much money I made well you go do it you go do it strap that thing on and you know go in a Viper pit every day it's almost if you're going to survive in the Underworld today this is what you got to do you got to look out for yourself and it's no longer about loyalty and honor and and a sense of organization it's about you know I guess in a lot of ways it's like America number one you know look out for yourself which is exactly what Ron previty is doing today he didn't trust the justice department to protect him and didn't want them to tell him where or how he was going to live so he opted not to go into the witness protection program the FBI's John Terry thinks he's taking a big risk why did he decide not to do it I don't think he felt as though he could live under the uh guidelines that are in place for that program they're very strict guidelines do you think there people that would like to see him dead absolutely you think they're looking for him I'm not going to comment on that I don't want to sound like a tough guy because I'm really not a tough guy I just never let fear permeate my being I have no control over what's going to happen when I'm going to get killed when I'm going to die I I just have no control so I I just say don't worry about it have you ever felt loyalty to anybody mate every time I shave I feel really loyal

Channel: MOBFAX

Views: 33,420

Keywords: SkinnyJoeyMerlino, PhillyMob, Mafia, Mobsters, RonPrevite, CosaNostra, OrganizedCrime, Gangsters, JoeyMerlino, PhiladelphiaMafia

Id: dvGOTC9vgQI

Length: 12min 32sec (752 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2024