Even the old-school gangsters are flipping.
Long-time Genovese associate Julius "Spike" Bernstein spilled his guts to the feds shortly before dying in 2007 at the age of 85 in order to avoid hard time on an extortion conviction according to recently-released FBI documents as reported by Greg B. Smith for the Daily News.
Among other underworld activities Spike allegedly took over a union with reputed capo Matty "the Horse" Ianniello, and managed the bookmaking racket of boss Frank "Funzi" Tieri. Tieri sponsored Ianniello into the Genovese family according to former Daily News reporter and editor Thomas Collins Jr. in his 2002 memoir NewsWalker.
Bernstein's betrayal of the crime family must have been personally humiliating for Ianniello who not only apparently vouched for the Jewish gangster but was the best man at his wedding.
Ianniello had interests in many gay bars from the 1960s through the 1980s, and was convicted in 1985 for a skimming operation involving some of them.
Further reading that may be of interest:
Greg Smith is a good Mob author, but what I hate about people like him is they are always too quick to proclaim the fall of the Mob. The Mob will always be around in one form or another, and Mr. Bernstein is far from being the last Jewish gangster. Hell half the Jews are crooks, need we start focusing on the Jewish bankers and the Federal Reserve?
Another thing is that Spike waa not a made man, so he never took a Mafia oath to not inform on the family. Yes made men flip too, but let's not use Mob associates as examples.
Last but not least, he never took the witness stand against the Genovese family, and he made one last $20,000 extortion before he died. So what did he actually tell the feds? Who went to prison based on what he said? It seems to me nobody did, and if he was truly with Team America I don't think he still would have been extorting people but instead be in protective custody.
Then again, the government is known for letting mobsters get away with crimes (even murder) as long as they are passing along information. It's a dirty game out there, haven't people figured that out yet?
Posted by: Clinton Fussell | 02/26/2012 at 12:45 PM