showed that the Capones did not practice the mumbo-jumbo blood initiation rites that informer Joe Valachi said were performed in the Costa Nostra.
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Arm, on the: Freebies, Mafia style
An enduring myth is that wise guys are notorious big spenders. Actually they are moochers, wanting everything "on the arm"that is, for free. This is generally the code in mob-owned places, a sort of courtesy from one crime family to another. It is all a matter of esteem among wise guys.
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Once undercover cop Donnie Brasco (Joe Pistone) was hitting New York joints with Tough Tony Mirra, who Brasco considered "the nastiest, most intimidating guy I met in the Mafia," and a bunch of wise guys. They occupied half the bar half the night, not paying for a drink and certainly not keeping track of their drinks, which included various offered to assorted wise guys who happened by.
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When they finally prepared to depart, Brasco slapped $25 down on the bar, which enraged Mirra. "Take that money off the bar," he snarled. "Nobody pays for nothing when they're with me."
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Donnie explained he was just leaving a tip for the bartender, that that was the way he operated. Mirra growled that when he was with him, he operated the way he told him. Brasco picked up the money.
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Some topflight establishments become mob joints precisely because they are victimized in this manner by wise guys. In desperation the owner will cut some mob big shot in for some of the action on the assumption that it will cut down the mob depredations. The mob boss gets his cut of a few grand a week, but the place continues to attract on-the-armers. When it gets too bad, profits suffer, but the mob big shot doesn't care. He wants his cut in full, good times or bad. It's strictly according to mob rules.
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Atlantic City Conference: Underworld convention prelude to national crime syndicate
It was far more important in criminal history than the notorious Apalachin conference in 1957. It was more significant than the Havana conference of 1946. The 1929 Atlantic City conference represented the first concrete move toward establishment of the national crime syndicate. It started out with screams and curses but ended in the sweetness of reasonable accommodation, unanimously arrived at.
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This was demonstrated even by a relatively minute matter in which Al Capone agreed to go from the resort to Philadelphia where he would be arrested on a gun charge and clapped in jail. In the wake of the ruthless St. Valentine's Day Massacre which had outrage the entire nation, something had to be done to soothe the national temperament. It was agreed that Capone clapped in jail, even on a slap-on-the-wrist matter, would be good public relations. Capone saw the light; even the Chicago savage was being tamed by the brains of the underworld.
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The Atlantic City confab was hosted by Nucky Johnson, the boss of the city. He was able to guarantee there would be no police interference. However, some of the gangsters were subjected to a grievous affront: Johnson had registered them at the exclusive Break Hotel along the Boardwalk, which was restricted to white Protestants, and he had used proper Anglo-Saxon aliases. Once the management got a look at Capone, Nig Rosen and others, the monikers didn't wash and they were refused admittance. The hotel did not know with whom it was dealing but the gangsters who had to keep their identities secret, had to accept the ignominy of being drummed out of the place. By this time Johnson had joined the group, and Capone screamed at him that he had failed to make the proper arrangements. A loud argument ensued and the gangsters were afraid the pair would come to blows.
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Suddenly, Johnson, who was taller and heavier than Capone, shoved him into a limousine and ordered the others to join the caravan. The cars headed for the Ritz and its neighbor, the Ambassador. Still fuming, Capone ripped pictures from the wall of the quiet Ritz lobby and heaved them at Johnson. As Lucky Luciano recalled, "Everybody got over bein' mad and concentrated on keepin' Al quiet. That's the way our convention started."
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Amazingly it went on to become a huge success. Deals were struck involving a wide disparity of interests and criminals of varied backgrounds. Among the delegates present were: Greasy Thumb Guzik, in addition to Capone from Chicago: Nig Rosen and Boo-Boo Hoff of Philadelphia; King Solomon of Boston; Abe Bernstein of the Purple Gang from Detroit; Moe Dalitz and Chuck Polizzi of Cleveland; Longy Zwillman of New Jersey; John Lazia (representing Tom Pendergast) of Kansas City; Daniel Walsh of Providence, Rhode Island. New York offered the biggest contingent, including Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Johnny Torrio (with whom Capone had an emotional reunion), Frank Costello, Joe Adonis, Dutch Schultz, Louis Lepke, Vince Mangano, gambler Frank Erickson, Frank Scalise and Albert Anastasia.
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Equally important were the two men who weren't there: Joe the Boss Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, two old-line mafiosi ready to square off in New York in a war to claim the position of boss of bosses. Their obsession with such a claim ran counter to the desires of the Atlantic City conferees who were looking for a
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