THE RICHEST MOBSTER - the story of Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno

Anthony salono is considered one of the richest Mobsters in the history of the American Mafia he spent his entire criminal career in East Harlem but solero's Power extended to all of New York because he was one of the main gangsters who took control of the construction industry in the Big Apple so if you're interested in hearing about the second most powerful man in the geneves Mafia Family of the 1980s then meet Anthony Salerno on the other side of the law Anthony salero was born in 1911 in New York City and his childhood years were spent in East Harlem in those years Harlem had one of the largest Italian speaking communities in the United States about 100,000 people the family of Anthony's parents Alfred and Mary salono had many children Tony attended school as a child but never completed his education his parents puzzled by how to feed all their children did not devot much time to education Sir Anthony was educated and raised by the streets already at a young age cerno was part of the gang from 116th Street which since 1932 was led by Michael trigger Mike kapola the 116th Street gang controlled almost the entire Little Italy neighborhood in East Harlem at its peak the gang controlled virtually all of the local bookmakers offices by the early 30s the gang was stagnating but still made those around around them are forced to be reckoned with Michael capa's finest Hour came in 1936 when Lucky Luciano was sentenced to 50 years in prison and veto geneves accused of committing a murder fled to Italy it was Capa who swept up and took over all organized crime in Harlem even earlier in 1935 after the murder of Dutch schz Capa began to control the entire illegal gambling business in Harlem it was Kola who became solero's guide into the the world of organized crime under capa's tutelage Tony learned the ins and outs of Usery and extortion when and how Anthony was able to distinguish himself and attract the attention of Capa is unknown but it is clear that he was a very capable student already by the mid-30s he earned solid sums from the streets of Harlem when in 1948 because of charges of murder Capa had to flee to Florida his place was taken by Salerno there is no exact information about when exactly Sal was accepted into the geneves family but it was probably in the late 30s or early' 40s one police informant later reported that by the early ' 50s seleno controlled almost all of Harlem's loan sharks and his annual earnings totaled nearly $50 million in FBI reports there is information that by the mid-50s seleno was earning nearly a billion dollars a year such as some looks tooo fantastic but even if we consider the truth of the words of informance about earning of $50 million the amount still causes respect nowadays this amount is equivalent to $500 million salono was not only engaged in Usery and gambling in the early 50s he opened a firm called Metro Urban Music company which was engaged in the maintenance of gaming and Juke boxes almost all over New York Anthony had his own headquarters which was located in an establishment called The Palmer boys Social Club in East Harlem salono rarely left Harlem at all he realized how important it was to gain the support of the locals so he spared neither time nor money in helping them with their living problems and conditions even though the then population of Harlem almost entirely consisted only of Italians soleno hired people of different nationalities Italians Brazilians and Puerto Ricans all worked for him the only Criterion that interested soleno was the benefit that the newcomer could bring one of Solo's closest assistants was Alfred shaki kapola he performed the duties of accountant it is to him float all the money from the Enterprises of solo other members of Solo's Inner Circle included Vincent cavaro Anthony's brother Sereno and Angelo zanfardino zanfardino was rumored to be closely associated with Heroin sales drug sales may have also been one of Salerno's sources of income but there is no definite confirmation of this Anthony Salerno was also closely associated with the world of boxing he was friends with one of the most prominent trainers in the history of the sport cus deato one of the last students of cus the great Mike Tyson confirmed this when he recalled that as a teenager he had seen his teacher cus damato talking to Anthony saleno in one of the boxing gyms soleno and damato had more than just a friendly relationship in 1959 saleno was one of the financial organizers of a boxing match between a promising student of damato Floyd Patterson and ingamar Johansson that fight ended with a crushing victory for the Swedish boxer in the third round Patterson didn't look like himself in that fight before being knocked out he managed to be knocked down seven times it turned out that before the fight Patterson was given sedative drugs which had a negative effect on his reaction which ultimately led to his defeat people claimed that Patterson took this medication at the insistence of Salerno's men but this is not true the medicine and pharmacology of the time was not perfect this drug was prescribed by a doctor in order for Patterson to recover more quickly from an injury he received in preparation for the fight solerno was also rumored to be linked to another notable boxer of the time Sunny Liston and if you are more interested in the topic of how the mafia ran professional boxing you can watch my video on the subject on my channel even though almost all of Solo's life he was closely connected with Harlem the FBI for a long time failed to establish his exact residential address he divorced his first wife in the early 60s and after which he began living with a former prostitute there were rumors that solono owned several houses in the Bronx and Manhattan it is known that in the' 60s seleno purchased a large farm in the Reinbeck area of New York state in fact it was a huge estate that contained capacious Stables curiously one of these Stables even had a sign that read fat Tony's horse farm Fat Tony was Anthony salo's nickname rumor has it that salono didn't like it very much at first but closer to old age he got over it and used it himself one day he was with his underlings at the Brooklyn restaurant during the meeting they learned that the police were waiting for them outside it was necessary to leave the room urgently and discreetly so everyone decided to use the window near the back entrance everyone was able to get out quickly through the window except Salo who had a lot of trouble in the late '70s Tony was charged by the FBI with gambling and tax evasion Ceno's interests were defended by lawyer Bo Con in one of the most famous lawyers in the history of the United States of America and a future mentor of Donald Trump his clients included people like carine galante John Gotti and a host of other personalities known to be on the other side of the law con was able to get solo a sentence of only 6 months in prison which solo fully served in 1981 spending 6 months behind bars did not have the best effect on salon's Health shortly after being released Anthony suffered a strug broke by this time Tony had risen quite high in the hierarchy of the geneves family some sources refer to him as the under boss but this is not entirely accurate the management top of the family after veto jev's death was quite messed up some say that there was one boss who used the others as under bosses for the public and the authorities others leaned towards div verion that there was a group of people who collectively made decisions cerno by the early 1980s was part of that group along with Al FS Frank theer Phil Lombardo and Vincent gigantti in 1981 theer and Lombardo stepped aside for various reasons and gigantti and soleno remained in power here again there are two versions on how the management of the family was organized some believe that Vincent and Tony were a coalition others give tony the role of a boss only to the outside viewer while gigantti was given the real power the second version is more widespread and its main confirmation is the words of solerno himself FBI officers taped one of the conversations during which solerno discussed with one of his cronies the acceptance of new family members and during this discussion soleno said that this would require the approval of the family boss this version was confirmed by later testimony in the court by salo's own right-hand man Vincent fish Cafaro in the early' 70s salono withdrew from Usery and gambling entrusting the business to his subordinates he now concentrated on the construction ruction business together with Gambino family boss PA castano and Mobsters from other families they were able to build an Empire charging almost every building contractor in New York City a percentage for the opportunity to work in the city in this business solo was closely associated with Vincent DiNapoli who controlled several drywall plants and Larry wer through whose hands the construction contracts passed also part of this company was Nick olto who owned a concrete plant this plant would later come under salo's control Salo earned several tens of millions of dollars a year from the construction business in 1985 the federal government indicted soleno this was the beginning of the commission trial in which 11 leaders of various crime families were charged with extortion racketeering and contract murders the US attorney for the southern district of New York Rudy guliani decided to declare war on organized crime and at one stroke to eliminate all the families of the city even though solo was not the real boss of the geneves family the Press considered him the protagonist according to journalists only the head of the family could make as much money as Sola had salo's position was complicated by the fact that in 1986 one of his closest AIDS Vincent Cafaro became an informant Cafaro was charged with racketeering related to the construction business and so in order not to go to jail he decided to cooperate with the authorities it was from Vincent kafara that investigators learned that the geneves family was involved in racketeering and also controlled almost all the revenues from the largest business centers in New York the javitz convention center and the Coliseum also Vincent Cafaro mentioned one dispute that was between him and solo according to Vincent he owed solo about $65,000 solo expected to receive not only the money from Vincent but also the proceeds from some of the slot machines that Cafaro owned Cafaro claimed that solero threatened to beat him with a cane if he did not agree to give him what he wanted however this story is only known to the investigators through Vincent's own words Cafaro also Drew attention to the fact that soleno was never the real boss of the geneves family soleno pleaded not guilty to any of the charges he had no Illusions about his sentence and treated it philosophically in the courthouse journalist witnessed an amusing scene while waiting for the beginning of the session Anthony solo was eating a candy bar one of those present offered him a cereal bar saying it was healthier than chocolate soleno politely declined the offered food stating that it didn't matter in the slightest now because he would end his days in jail anyway during the court hearings Salona did not comment on his situation in any way once after one session a journalist approached Anthony and asked him to comment on the completed Hearing in response seleno sent the journalists off with foul language this was the only comment that the sharks of the journalists were were able to get but it did not prevent them from calling 75-year-old solono the main gangster of the United States of America the court had no evidence of Anthony Ceno's involvement in the murders all the investigation had was a few audio recordings in which his name was mentioned in connection with the construction business as well as the already mentioned recording on which Anthony discussed the admission of new members to the organization seleno ran his business perfectly managing to make a colossal Fortune over the course of his long career without ever getting dirty nevertheless in January 1987 Anthony soleno was sentenced to 100 years in prison without parole as well as a fine of $240,000 this punishment seemed insufficient to the lawmen and a year and a half later in October 1988 Tony was found guilty of other episodes and sentenced to another 70 years in prison a fine of $376,000 and confiscation of half of the income due to the stress Ceno's Health deteriorated significantly he had health problems before because of excess weight but the trials and imprisonment finally finished him Anthony suffered from diabetes and in the early '90s doctors diagnosed him with prostate cancer on July 27th 1992 saleno died within the walls of the medical center for prisoners in Springfield Missouri he was 80 years old Ceno's name continues to awe a certain segment of people even now in 2013 a petty Thief was caught stealing precious metals from Crips in a New York City Cemetery he was caught red-handed but he still claimed his innocence the cops only had to tell the thief that one of the graves he desecrated belonged to Anthony solo after which the guy instantly admitted his guilt and returned all the loot Martin scesis the Irishman was released in 2019 in a huge mural depicting the criminal world of America of the turn of the 60s and7 s Anthony Salo found the place he was played by Dominic lombardoi instead of loud words and deeds Salo always prefer to keep in the shadows thanks to this quality as well as his steadfastness during the trials he is remembered not only as one of the richest mafosi but also as one of the most loyal to the geneves family

Channel: On the other side of the law

Views: 4,857

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Id: MTN2ksFprig

Length: 14min 21sec (861 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 13 2024