Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [9]
“My first shooting incident happened early one morning right around dawn. Jo Jo [Nicky’s nephew Joseph Corozzo, Jr.] and I had been out all night. We were on our way home and Jo Jo was driving his father’s Mercedes. I was in the passenger seat and starting to nod off. A friend of ours in another car and Jo Jo started playing a game of chicken.
“But some other guy was on the road with his girlfriend. This guy got pissed off and him and Jo Jo exchanged words and obscene gestures. When we stopped at a light, this guy pulled up behind us. In the rearview mirror, Jo Jo saw him get out of his car and start running up the passenger side of our car. Jo Jo hollered to me in an excited voice, ‘Wake up, Andrew! Wake up! Shoot him, Andrew! Shoot him!’
“I looked in the side mirror and saw this guy coming up toward my door. He was carrying a big knife, like a Bowie knife. I lowered the window and pulled my gun. When he grabbed my door handle, I swung around and shot him in the groin area. He dropped to the pavement and Jo Jo took off. We ran a red light and I saw some people at a bus stop as we rounded the corner. I fired a few shots in the air to scare them away, so they wouldn’t pay much attention to us or the car. We got away with no problem.
“I reported what happened to Nicky right away and he called me down to the club. He wasn’t happy. He said his brother [Jo Jo, Sr.] was pretty upset. He was hiding out in Florida at the time, ducking a subpoena, and didn’t need his car involved at the scene of a shooting. I explained to Nicky that this guy was coming at me with a knife and I didn’t have many options. He said okay, it would be taken care of. But he added that I might have to make it up to his brother by going to Florida and doing some work for him.
“Jo Jo Senior wanted to get the shooting mess cleaned up. He found out which hospital the guy I shot was in and sent two of his men to see him. They told him they knew his wound wasn’t life threatening. They had ten thousand dollars in cash with them and were prepared to give it to him right then and that would be the end of it. If he didn’t take the money and wanted to cooperate with the police investigation instead, his wound would become fatal and he wouldn’t leave the hospital alive. He took the money and that’s the last I heard about it.”
As 1983 ended Andrew was becoming a very active and valuable member of the Corozzo crew. He was loyal, an accomplished thief, and a good producer. He’d also developed a reputation as a tough kid who was willing to use a gun. These were all qualities men like Nicky Corozzo looked for in their subordinates.
Over the next several years, Andrew continued to hone his criminal skills and was given more responsibilities by his boss.
5
1984
Andrew’s mother Patrina was no stranger to having criminals in the family. Her husband Vincent was in federal prison from 1966, the year following Andrew’s birth, to 1971 after being convicted of hijacking a truck and criminal possession of a weapon. And, of course, Vincent’s uncle Paddy Macchiarole had been a Genovese family capo.
Patrina and Vincent never got back together after he was released from prison. She remarried in 1975. In 1984, the family, consisting of Patrina, her husband Morris, Andrew, and his twin sisters, lived near the intersection of East 72nd Street and Bergen Court in Brooklyn.
“My mother knew what I was doing and she didn’t approve. But I was on the cusp of becoming a man and my course was laid out. There was nothing she could do about it. She had no choice but to accept what I was. She was my confidant, very protective and always worried about my safety.
“My sisters were three years older than me. They knew how I made my money too. I’m not saying they were happy, but they never hassled me about it. One of them got married and moved out in 1983. The other one got married the following year.
“My father remained in Brooklyn