Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: New York’s Top Mob Hot Spots
The lore of the New York mafia holds strong. While any Rao’s regular can tell you that the young guys are all psychos and drug addicts, and the tabloids have written of RICO, high-level rats flipping, and entire family leaderships repeatedly decimated since the Commission Trial of the mid-80’s, there is still a contingent you rarely hear about — the members that avoid lengthy prison terms through equal parts ingenuity and luck and maintain the specious traditions of la Cosa Nostra. And they love restaurants.
Owning them, frequenting them, shaking them down. In the history of the American mafia, restaurants are the rare physical place, besides courtrooms, where the cinematic portrayals ingrained in our collective consciousness — Louis’ Italian American Restaurant in the Godfather (“Try the veal, it’s the best in the city.”), the Bamboo Lounge and Copacabana in Goodfellas, Artie Buco’s Nuovo Vesuvio in the “Sopranos” — intersect with an observable reality. The mob restaurant is rare outside of New York, where families undeniably still have a place in the cultural firmament of the city — not to mention its illegal gambling, loansharking, waterfronts, and unions. There are recalcitrant factions left in cities like Providence, Philadelphia, and Chicago, but it was New York that was the focus of what Justice Department officials called the “the largest mob bust of all time” as recently as 2011, with former attorney general Eric Holder channeling his predecessor Robert Kennedy by calling those arrested “among the most dangerous criminals in our country.” Experts believe they’ve regrouped since, with the help of an FBI focus on terrorism that has reduced its number of mob squads from one for each of the five families to two total: one for the Genovese, Bonanno and Colombo families, and another for the Gambinos and Luccheses.
These particular New York institutions are united by a few common traits: valet parking; entire bottles of after-dinner sambuca served gratis with cups of espresso; signed celebrity photos at the entrance (favorites appear to be noted mob-buster Rudy Giuliani, deceased comedian Alan King, and former-Met Mike Piazza); sartorial choices for customers that run to zip-up leather jackets paired with black dress slacks for men and furs and boots for women; dinner rushes that begin as early as four; and generally above-average fare.
The following list represents the scope of the current mafia dining experience in New York, from the famed trifecta off bent-nose trattorias, Rao’s, Sparks Steakhouse, and Umberto’s, all three the site of bloody killings, to the haunts of Anthony “Fat Tony” Rabito, the reputed consigliere of the Bonanno family, who was banned by a judge from visiting not just Rao’s but Parkside Restaurant, Don Peppe, and Bamonte’s upon his release from prison in 2009 because of their reputations as mob hot spots. His colleague, Bonanno capo Vincent Asaro, recently declared, upon his stunning acquittal in the much-watched Lufthansa case, that his first order of business was heading “to my friend’s restaurant.” He didn’t say which.
Pasquale’s Rigoletto
2311 Arthur Avenue, Bronx
Try the: chicken Rigoletto (sautéed breasts topped with ricotta, prosciutto, mozzarella, and roasted red peppers), spiedino alla romana (fried bread with prosciutto and mozzarella in anchovy sauce), and calamaretti fritti con salsa piccante (fried baby squid in hot sauce)
Located in what many consider to be New York’s true Little Italy, the restaurant derives its name from Giuseppe Verdi’s three-part opera and Pasquale “Patsy” Parrello. Parrello is not you average restaurateur. He is an alleged caporegime who is said to run the Bronx for the Genovese family from his base in the Belmont section of that borough. Upon release from prison after a seven-year stint for embezzling from a union, he got permission to visit Pasquale’s Rigoletto — as long as he didn’t associate with any criminals.
Umberto’s Clam House
132 Mulberry Street, Manhattan
Try the: scungilli, mussels, zuppa di clams
The original Umberto’s was the sight of the infamous slaying of Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo in 1972 after the gregarious gangster wrapped up dinner with deceased Law & Order actor Jerry Orbach and his wife.
Orbach had befriended Gallo a year earlier while studying him for his role in the movie The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, based on Jimmy Breslin’s book of the same name. Umberto’s was controlled at the time by Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianiello, the legendary racketeer who ran vice in pre-Giuliani era Times Square and was briefly the purported acting-boss of the Genovese family before his death in 2012 at 92. The restaurant was also run for a spell by the federal government after then United States Attorney Giuliani took court action to administer it after evidence at one of Ianiello’s criminal trials revealed Umberto’s revenues were illegally making their way into his hands. According to a lawyer for Ianiello’s brother Robert, the listed owner who still had a say in menu and hiring decisions, the government ran Umberto’s into the ground. “What this proves is that the Government has no place in the restaurant business,” high-profile defense attorney Gerald Shargel told the New York Times.
The current resurrected version is no longer at the original location where Gallo was shot — it moved a couple of blocks up to Broome Street in 1996 and then back to tourist-laden Mulberry Street recently. It’s now run by Matty the Horse’s nephew Robert Jr., by all accounts a legitimate businessman.
Rao’s
455 East 114th Street, Manhattan
Try the: meatballs, lemon chicken, steak pizzaiola
Rao’s, once called the “Sistine Chapel of the mob,” has long been known as the major league of mob hangouts, where soldiers mingle with stars — not to mention politicians and judges. Owned by Frank Pellegrino — who played F.B.I chief Frank Cubitoso on “The Sopranos” and had parts in mob movies Goodfellas, Gotti, and Mickey Blue Eyes, as well as a couple of Woody Allen films (the director is a long-time patron) — along with attorney Ron Straci, the exclusive 119-year-old East Harlem eatery with only eleven tables was the sight of the 2004 murder of Albert Circelli, an alleged Luchese soldier, by low-level Luchese-affiliated bookmaker Louis “Lump Lump” Barone. Barone was offended that Circelli caused a scene while Broadway performer Rena Strober serenaded the other diners with Don’t Rain on my Parade, a story that became the basis for the Law & Order episode “Everybody Loves Raimondo’s.” Jay-Z wasn’t deterred, however — he filmed his video for Death of Autotune there soon after. More recently, the trattoria could be seen in Wolf of Wall Street, as Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort dined there with cop turned private investigator Bo Dietl, a real-life regular.
Sparks Steak House
210 46th Street, Manhattan
Try the: filet mignon, steak fromage topped with Roquefort, beef scallopini
While Rao’s boasts the most star power, Sparks Steak House wins for most infamous mob hit. The plush midtown clubhouse, billed as “the Fort Knox of Fine Aged Prime Beef,” was the site where Gambino boss Paul Castellano was shot to death in 1985 on the orders of John Gotti, paving the way for Gotti’s ascendancy to the top of the city’s mob hierarchy. Founded in 1966 by brothers Pasquale and Michael Ceta, the expense account haven still contends for title of best steakhouse (and wine list) in the city.
Da Nico
164 Mulberry Street, Manhattan
Try the: ziti quatro formaggi, osso buco, chicken cacciatore
Mulberry Street is now widely considered to be the territory of Perry Criscitelli, whose family controls a veritable empire with 5 restaurants on the Little Italy strip. There’s Pellegrino’s, Il Palazzo, La Nonna, Novello, and, most notably, Da Nico — a known favorite of Giuliani — there’s even a photo of him dining with Senator John McCain hanging in its front window.
At the 2004 trial of Joseph “Big Joey” Massino, the former Bonanno boss turned government informant, Richard “Shellackhead” Cantarella, a former Bonanno captain turned informant, testified that he witnessed Criscitelli’s mafia-induction ceremony. Criscitelli denied the charges but stepped down as director of the annual Feast of San Gennaro after the city began to investigate his organized crime ties that same year. The New York City Department of Investigation originally established a city monitor to oversee the operations of the annual street fair at the behest of Giuliani’s administration in 1995 when it was revealed that the Genovese family was allegedly skimming profits.
Fresco by Scotto
34 52nd Street, Manhattan
Try the: cavetelli with crumbled fennel sausage and broccoli rabe, pappardelle with duck-and-wild-mushroom ragu, tagliolini with blue crab fra diavolo, poached branzino, prosciutto-wrapped pork chop, steak fiorentina
This star-friendly midtown spot is owned by the Scotto family, which includes hometown celebrity Rosanna Scotto, the longtime news anchor on the local Fox affiliate, and her cousin Michael Scotto, the NY1 reporter that digraced — and currently incarcerated — Staten Island congressman Michael Grimm threatened to throw off the US Capitol balcony and “break…in half. Like a boy.” Rosanna’s father and the patriarch of the clan is Anthony Scotto, a former vice-president of the International Longshoremen’s Association who was one of Jimmy Carter’s candidates to become U.S. Secretary of Labor. In 1969, the F.B.I. identified him as a Gambino captain, a charge he “vehemently denied,” according to a Time magazine article published during his 1979 federal trial for 44 counts including racketeering and accepting illegal payoffs. Despite having character witnesses like former New York governor Hugh Carey and former New York City mayors Robert Wagner and John Lindsay, Scotto was convicted on 33 counts and served 39 months in prison. According to a 2009 article by top mob reporter Jerry Capeci, Scotto hasn’t been charged with a crime since and is still surrounded by politicians — Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., himself the son of Carter’s secretary of state, kicked off the fundraising for his 2010 election at Fresco.
Don Peppe
13558 Lefferts Boulevard, Queens
Try the: stuffed mushrooms, linguine in white clam sauce, veal parmigiana
Located in the South Ozone Park shadows of Aqueduct Racetrack and JFK airport, Don Peppe’s is the former domain of old-school alleged Genovese captain Ciro Perrone, who the government claimed took over Ianiello’s crew when Matty the Horse was bumped up to acting boss following the imprisonment of the legendary Vincent “The Chin” Gigante. According to another Capeci dispatch, seven jurors took up Perrone’s offer to dine at Don Peppe following his acquittal in his 2006 racketeering trial, which featured tapes of Perrone talking at the restaurant’s large back table, at one point telling alleged Genovese associate John Yannucci and Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo that the Gotti grandsons from “Growing Up Gotti” “look like girls.” Perrone passed away in 2011 at age 90, two months after being released from prison, but Don Peppe lives on.
Parkside Restaurant
107–01 Corona Avenue, Queens
Try the: stuffed artichoke, frutti di mare, rigatoni mattriciana
Known as a politico hangout that’s counted both Giuliani and Ed Koch as patrons, the eatery’s entry boasts both of their photos along with a shot of Luciano Pavarotti preparing to shovel a fist-sized serving of pasta into his mouth. It’s run by Anthony “Tough Tony” Federici, a 75-year-old who’s been personally honored for service to his community by former Queens Borough president Helen Marshall and fingered by the feds as a Genovese captain.
Located down the street from the legendary Lemon Ice King of Corona and across from a small park with an immaculate bocce court painted in the green, white, and red of the Italian flag, Parkside features the stunning palm-filled Garden room, a basement winery where its house red, a heady mix of sangiovese and merlot, is made, and a coop for Federici’s racing pigeons on the roof, where he once blasted a hawk with a shotgun for preying on them, earning a visit from the NYPD.
Marco Polo Ristorante
345 Court Street, Brooklyn
Try the: beef carpaccio, oysters Rockefeller, baccalá alla Livornese (fresh cod with olives, capers, onions, and potatoes), zuppa di pesce, veal marsala
Owner Joseph Chirico, known as “Joey Marco Polo” in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, pled guilty in 2008 to laundering money for the Gambino family and once owned downtown Brooklyn’s legendary Gage & Tollner restaurant, the site of an alleged attempted shakedown of tough-guy actor Steven Seagal by members of the Gambinos in 2001. Former Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz submitted a letter to the judge on Chirico’s behalf during his sentencing — he received six months house arrest, sans ankle bracelet, during which time he was allowed to work in Marco Polo for 10 hours a day. “Being connected with this gang has been useful in his business, he’s looked up to, unfortunately, with respect,” federal judge Jack Weinstein said at the hearing.
Bamonte’s
32 Withers Street, Brooklyn
Try the: baked clams oreganata, braciola, pork chops alla Bamonte (sautéed with hot and sweet peppers), zeppole
Located on a rusty street hard against the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Bamonte’s is one of the city’s oldest restaurants, and, as his local favorite, at the top of Rabito’s no-visit list.
Opened in 1900, it seemingly hasn’t been renovated since — you can still ring the ancient tuxedoed waiters clustered at the set-like front bar, complete with a cigarette machine, by pressing a buzzer built into the wall next to each table.
Royal Crown Bakery
1350 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island
Try the: eggplant parmigiana, prosciutto bread, octopus salad, rainbow cookies
Owner Giuseppe “Joe the Baker” Generoso has forked over a lot of bread to the Gambino family over the years after turning to captain-turned-snitch Michael “Mikey Scars” DiLeonardo to fend off advances from murdered Colombo underboss William “Wild Bill” Cutolo. With a motto that reads “Ingredients: Olive Oil, Garlic, Oregano, and Amore,” the haunt was later turned into a personal ATM by Gambino soldier Anthony “Todo” Anastasio, the nephew of similarly monikered Murder Inc. honcho Albert Anastasia, who was famously gunned down while getting a shave in the defunct Park Sheraton Hotel’s barber shop, now a Starbucks, on 56th Street and 7th Avenue.
Todo committed suicide in 2010 at 81 rather than face a 2 1/2-year prison term for nearly twenty years of misdeeds, including shaking down Generoso, an alleged Gambino associate who took a bullet in the face in 2005 in an unsolved ambush outside of his Staten Island home — and then drove himself to the hospital — after rebuffing Anastasio’s increasing demands by telling him and his muscle, William Scotto (no relation to Anthony Scotto) “I’m my own strong arm,” when asked who his mob protector was. Anthony Scotto’s wife Marion and “Todo” were cousins and her father, also named Anthony Anastasio but nicknamed “Tough Tony” and Albert Anastasia’s brother, founded Local 1814 of the International Longshoreman’s Association, the union Anthony Scotto and Todo would eventually take control of at the behest of the Gambino family.
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