Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [29]
This particular site consisted of two rooms on the ground floor of an eight-family apartment building that had previously been a Mob social club. The satellite, mounted on the roof, was invisible from street level. It could only be seen from passing subway trains running on the elevated tracks.
The betting parlor operated daily from about eight in the morning until 11 or so at night. The main room sat around 50 people comfortably and accommodated 100 or so for special events like the Kentucky Derby if some were willing to stand. Four large-screen televisions, three showing different racetracks and the fourth various other sporting events, ran continuously during business hours.
It was a customer-friendly environment with food and non-alcoholic drinks provided to the bettors for free. They were served by a waitress who worked for a salary plus tips. In addition, customers who wanted to partake in other games of chance could play poker or bet on the daily lottery number, with a percentage of the action going into the Mob’s coffers.
A second much smaller room was the manager’s office. This is where the bets were actually taken and all the digital equipment was kept. As Andrew explains, the financial side of the business was tilted somewhat in favor of the gangsters.
“Thanks to the stolen OTB computer chip, we ran our horse parlors pretty much as OTB ran theirs. The main difference was that we didn’t pay out quite the same as OTB. We didn’t pay track odds on bets like daily doubles and tri-fectas. If those bets hit at full odds, it could have hurt us bad, so we shaved them a little to our advantage. We did pay track odds on win, place, and show bets, as well as exactas.
“I ended up on Stillwell Avenue because Nicky asked me to give Joey, the guy running the place, a hand. Joey was like a godson to Nicky and was in his mid-forties then. But in reality there was more behind this than just helping Joey out. You see, organized crime is rife with nepotism. The bosses like to take care of their sons, brothers, nephews, cousins, and godsons by giving them positions within the organization with a chance to earn at least some authority. Of course, the people getting those jobs aren’t necessarily qualified to do them.
“In this case, Nicky was concerned about Joey. He knew Joey was drinking heavily, possibly skimming, and not running things with the family’s best interests in mind. So I wasn’t sent there just to help out. I was also there to observe and see what Joey was up to.
“When I first showed up, I wasn’t sure how Joey would take it. He was no dummy and had to suspect I was Nicky’s eyes and ears. But he treated me well and taught me the business side of the operation. We worked well together and before long developed a thriving business. Each week we were tens of thousands of dollars in the blue [on the plus side]. The overall volume of business tripled. We treated the customers like gold, feeding them well and sometimes making small loans to those in need. Things were going so well I even started to think of Joey as my friend.
“Nicky noticed the improvement in the profits. And he wasn’t the only one. John Gotti himself commented about it. His brother Gene was one of our best customers and saw first-hand how we ran the place and the business we were doing.”
But for Andrew and Joey, the honeymoon period came to an end within a few months, when Joey’s bad habits caught up with him. His alcohol problem got worse and affected his health. He became undependable, constantly taking days off or going home early. It all came to a head one day when Andrew was working and looking forward to his day off.
“That night I had to take Joey the money for the next day’s opening bank. I was on my way to meet him at a bar down the street from our social club on East Ninety-third and Avenue L. As I passed the club, I saw Nicky standing outside and pulled over to say hello. He asked me to give him a ride home. On the way, I stopped at the bar and took Joey’s money