A Nightclub Owner Says He Has Woes--the Mafia

An October 10, 1974 article (“A Nightclub Owner Says He Has Woes—the Mafia”) by Nicholas Gage from the New York Times states:

When Shamsher Wadud, a 29-year-old native of Bangladesh, opened a $250,000 discotheque last May on the East Side, he envisioned himself as the man who would introduce Bengali food, music and culture to New York’s best society.  The young entrepreneus already owned a luxurious penthouse restaurant on Central Park South and a boutique on East 58^th Street.  But for the last three months Mr. Wadud says he has been living in terror of being killed, afraid to venture out of his apartment alone or even to answer the telephone.  Mr. Wadud blames organized crime for his plight.  He says gangsters have tried to take over his discotheque and have threatened to kill him.  “It’s impossible to operate a nightclub or discotheque in this city without dealing with the Mafia,” Mr. Wadud said the other day in his soft, elegantlt accented English.  “If you don’t want to deal with them, you wind up in trouble.”  Like many ambitious men who enter the nightclub business with limited capital, Mr. Wadud was a prime target for the attentions of underworld elements.  * * *  One of Mr. Wadud’s favorite haunts in 1970 was a discotheque called the Nepantha on East 48^th Street, and he confided to its maitre d’hotel, a former convict named Francesco Gioseffi, his desire to purchase a discotheque.  Mr. Gioseffi, who is known as Frankie Gio, took Mr. Wadud to see five nightclubs that he said were available for purchase, but Mr. Wadud rejected all of them.  One of the clubs was the was the Salvation on Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village which had gone out of business when its owner, Robert Wood, was found shot to death in February, 1970.  The murder was never solved.  On the evening of May 20, 1970, Mr. Wadud happened to run encounter Mr. Gioseffi, who said he had still another nightclub to show him.  Mr. Wadud said he got into Mr. Gioseffi’s car and found another man inside whom he did not know.  At an isolated spot Mr. Gioseffi, who is six foot two and weighs 200 pounds, stopped the car and seizing a tin can of fruit that was on the floor, used it to beat Mr. Wadud on the face and head.  Then Mr. Gioseffi said according to Mr. Wadud, “You’ve been trying to make a fool of me.  I want $3,000 for my troubles.  If you go to the cops, you’ll get the same thing that happened to Bobby Wood.”  * * *  The success of the Nirvana penthouse restaurant inspired Mr. Wadud to resurrect his dream of a discotheque for the “beautiful people” and last May he opened one, also called the Nirvana, at 151 East 50^th Street.  * * *  Two weeks after the opening, Mr. Wadud’s discotheque entertained three men, one of whom the owner said he recognized as the man who had been in Frank Gioseffi’s car the night he was beaten up four years earlier.  The other two men, he said, introduced themselves as Anthony Graziano and Thomas Pennini.  “You’ve got a terrific place here,” Mr. Wadud quoted Mr. Graziano as saying.  “But you should be doing a lot more business than this.  Give us a call.  We can do a lot to help you.”  Mr. Wadud did not call and two nights later Mr. Pennini, who is 29 years old, returned.  Shortly after his arrival, Mr. Wadud said said, a group of about 15 men came in and began disrupting the discotheque by fighting among themselves and harassing customers.  Mr. Pennini interceded and persuaded the men to leave, Mr. Wadud said, and later Mr. Pennini told him, “This kind of problem can happen all the time.  When you wind up in the hospital, you’ll wish you had called us.”  * * *  One day in June, while Mr. Wadud was in his Central Park South restaurant, he was approached by a man named Anthony Mirra.  * * *  Law enforcement officials described Mr. Mirra as a member of the Vito Genovese family of the Mafia and Mr. Graziano as an associate in the Thomas Luchese family.