Tag Archives: True Crime

Books, Business, Technology

My 2022 Reading List

December 27, 2022 tremendousblog 1 Comment

Whenever I walk into the library, I think “How can I ever read all these books?”

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For me, finding the right books is hard. And something tells me you might be struggling too!

So here’s a quick review of everything I read this year! If something piques your interest, pick up a copy!

Top Pick: Nonfiction

The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby. This is on every VC’s list this year for a reason.

Mallaby does an amazing job recounting key moments in the history of venture capital. I found the story about Accel staking out Facebook headquarters to win its Series A fascinating.

If you’re in the technology industry, this is a must read! I wrote a series of posts about it here:

THE POWER LAW (PART ONE)
THE POWER LAW (PART TWO)
THE POWER LAW (PART THREE): ANGELS AND VC’S
THE POWER LAW (PART FOUR): THE FIRST VENTURE DEAL

Top Pick: Fiction

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg is my favorite poet, so a friend gave me this slim volume as a very thoughtful gift!

I find the Sunflower Sutra particularly beautiful. Ginsberg tells us “we’re all beautiful golden sunflowers inside.” This reminds us to value ourselves and not get too caught up in the day to day!

The Rest of the List

Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam. An excellent account of how Michael Jordan came to dominate the NBA.

Jordan was intensely competitive and hard working. But he was also unusually coachable.

I’m never going to rival Jordan on the court, but his example is instructive in any field.

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. The classic text on launching an MVP and iterating your way to success.

Little did I know that later in the year, Eric and I would wind up co-investors in the same startup!

More on The Lean Startup in this post.

Amp it Up by Frank Slootman. The Snowflake CEO provides great insights on leadership in this engaging and brief volume.

He includes tricks for increasing intensity like asking why a task can’t be completed tomorrow instead of next week. More in this post.

The Founders by Jimmy Soni. A deep dive into the founding of PayPal, one of the most iconic tech companies of our time.

Soni includes fascinating tidbits like how PayPal was originally designed to beam money between Palm Pilots. More in this post.

Hunting the Unabomber by Lis Wiehl. Ted Kaczynski is the mirror image of many of the successful founders profiled on this list.

Like many of them, he was precocious and Harvard educated. But he despised technology and its effects on society.

He also showed early signs of being disturbed, laughing as he tried to scald his mother with spaghetti sauce as a child. Perhaps some people are just born with problems.

Into the MIrror by Norman Mailer and Lawrence Schiller. Robert Hanssen was the highest ranking US official ever to become a spy for the Soviet Union.

This is the fascinating story on how he went wrong, and how the government caught him.

Founder by Amos Elon.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild founded the Rothschild banking dynasty. It became one of the most powerful families in Europe.

But the first Rothschild was born in a dank Jewish ghetto. He was orphaned at 13 and faced extreme discrimination throughout his life.

Rothschild grew his business by going out and finding customers, unlike most bankers. Once he had them, he was a loyal partner, always putting their needs first.

I’ve read this book four times now — it never gets old!

Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction by Jack Goldstone. This book covers revolutions from the ancient world to today, digging deep into their causes.

One surprising insight was that poverty alone doesn’t produce revolutions. A destitute populace is no match for a government’s armaments.

Elites also need to withdraw their support from the regime.

Zero to One by Peter Thiel. In contrast to The Lean Startup, Thiel advises founders to create a highly differentiated product 10x better than alternatives rather than a barebones MVP.

I’m not sure who I agree with. But Thiel’s book is a must for any entrepreneur or investor.

How New York Winters Helped Put Gotti in Prison

December 6, 2021 tremendousblog Leave a comment

No one could touch John Gotti. Prosecutors went after the Gambino crime family boss repeatedly, only to see him acquitted.

Rather than give up, they went after Gotti in his inner sanctum: the Ravenite Social Club.

As the Gambinos eventually learned, an FBI surveillance team, over Thanksgiving weekend 1989, had secreted bugs throughout the apartment two floors above the Ravenite Social Club at 247 Mulberry Street. The Gambinos had been using the apartment, which was owned by Nettie Cirelli, the widow of Gambino wiseguy Michael Cirelli (Nettie was away on vacation that Thanksgiving holiday), for years. In fact, Gambino underboss Aniello (Neil) Dellacroce also had used that apartment for secret meetings.
Gravano also is asked whether the Gambino bosses ever considered going outside to discuss topics like murder in order to avoid possible bugs.
“We had most of (those discussions) outdoors,” but it was “impossible to have them all outdoors.” This was because, as he said, sometimes the weather didn’t permit it and sometimes they were too tired.

I was struck by how something as simple as a cold night foiled this wily mafia boss.

It shows me how when we lose our discipline and lower our standards, we open ourselves up to catastrophe. This is a valuable lesson for those of us on the right side of the law, even if it comes from a notorious gangster.

This story comes from the excellent Cosa Nostra News blog. I’ve been speaking with the author lately, and he has some outstanding content on organized crime.

If you’re interested in the mafia, I strongly recommend checking out his site. Another great post: a fictional account of a mysterious mob hit.

It begins with a body floating in the Hackensack River.

Enjoy!

Paul Castellano’s Last Day

August 23, 2021 tremendousblog Leave a comment

Salvatore Gravano, a made member of the Gambino crime family, walked into a room with a heart shaped bed. The sheets were red velvet. Mirrors lined the ceiling.

This was no romantic getaway. Gravano had just murdered the most powerful mob boss in the country. Now he was on the run.

In an engrossing episode of the Our Thing podcast, Sammy the Bull describes the murder of Paul Castellano and its aftermath.

The love nest Sammy found himself in belonged to Joe Watts, a fellow soldier. Sammy and his crew hid there after the hit, bracing for the war they were sure was coming.

Gravano, exhausted, took the couch instead. His fatigue after the hit is a strange parallel to Irish mobster Whitey Bulger, who often slept after his many murders.

This is the biggest hit of all time.
Frankie DeCicco

The war never came. The Castellano hit had been conducted brazenly amid the crowds in Midtown Manhattan. Anyone who had a problem with Gotti and Gravano kept their mouths shut, afraid to meet to same fate.

John Gotti was made boss of the Gambino family in the basement of a school. A fellow mobster had a connection there.

I picture the children who came the next day, never knowing what happened.

‘They Gotta Go’: Gravano on the Castellano Hit

August 13, 2021 tremendousblog Leave a comment

Gambino family boss Paul Castellano had a problem: he couldn’t get hot water in his shower. The mansion he had built on Staten Island’s Todt Hill was so large that water cooled in the pipes before it could reach the bathroom.

The contractor he got to help him was a rising star in the Gambino family: Salvatore Gravano. Gravano had his men wrap heating coils around the pipes, and the problem was fixed.

Castellano couldn’t have known that the man who fixed his shower would one day murder him.

On this fascinating episode of the Our Thing podcast, Gravano breaks down how the notorious murder of Castellano, the most high profile crime boss in the country, happened. Castellano would be killed outside the exclusive Sparks Steakhouse on Manhattan’s 46th Street. The hit was planned meticulously for months and the shooters even obtained walkie talkies to communicate outside Sparks.

As the day of the murder approached, Gravano and Gambino consigliere Frankie DeCicco hid in the maid’s quarters of an associate’s home in Staten Island, practically under Castellano’s nose. And their scheming went beyond killing Castellano. Should John Gotti, who would become boss after the hit, not cooperate with them, they would kill him as well.

“This is a do or die hit.”
Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano

On December 16, 1985, a group of men in white jackets and distinctive fur hats began to approach Sparks. Castellano and his driver, Tommy Bilotti, pulled within a few feet of Gotti and Gravano on the narrow Manhattan streets. But they never noticed Gotti or Gravano, who directed the hit and was also there as a backup shooter.

Uniforms, radio communications, reserve forces: the hit had a military precision. Castellano and Bilotti were quickly shot to death, making John Gotti the boss of the Gambino family.

In this podcast, Gravano portrays Gotti as a reckless loudmouth, even as the late Gotti no longer has any chance to defend himself. It’s hard to know how accurate his account is, but it’s certainly entertaining!

Hoffa Murder Suspect Tony Pro’s Union Hall

July 2, 2021 tremendousblog Leave a comment

On July 30, 1975, James R. Hoffa, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, disappeared without a trace. In 1982, he was declared dead. No body has ever been found.

A prime suspect in that disappearance was Teamsters Local 560 President Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano. In fact, Hoffa was actually on the way to meet Tony Pro when he disappeared.

A member of the Genovese crime family, Tony Pro ruled Local 560 with an iron fist. Anyone who opposed him had a way of winding up dead.

Hoffa and Provenzano’s beef seems to date from prison. Whether Tony Pro had other reasons for wanting Hoffa dead isn’t known.

Today, I went in search of the remains of this history. Tony Pro’s Local 560 Union Hall is in Union City, NJ, a town that was once heavily Italian but is now mostly Hispanic. Though it has changed since Tony Pro’s day, its working class roots are very much intact. Nearby are Tonnelle Avenue and the Lincoln Tunnel, where many of Local 560’s members drive their trucks every day.

Looking at the door to the union hall, I imagined a small, bespectacled man leaving at the end of the day with a sheaf of papers. Who would think he had the power that he did?

Tony Pro’s habit of disappearing anyone who got in his way eventually caught up with him when he had the local’s treasurer, Anthony Castellito, murdered at his country home in the Catskills. Like Hoffa’s, his body was never found. But years later, an informant tipped the FBI to Tony Pro’s involvement, and Tony went to federal prison, where he died in 1988 of heart failure.

Hoboken’s Most Powerful Gangster

June 18, 2021 tremendousblog Leave a comment

Inside a low-slung building surrounded by trees in southern Minnesota, there is an old man. Now ailing and in his 90’s, he was once one of the most powerful members of the American mafia. This building is Federal Medical Center Rochester. This man is Louis “Bobby” Manna.

Genovese family consigliere Louis “Bobby” Manna, right

Manna was born in Hoboken in 1929 and, by the 80’s, he had reached the pinnacle of the underworld: consigliere in the Genovese crime family. Of the family’s 14 capos, 4 operated in New Jersey and reported to Manna directly. His empire included a $20 million a year gambling ring, the largest port on the east coast, garbage contracts, and union corruption that netted millions more in ill-gotten gains.

Manna ran this empire from Casella’s Restaurant in Hoboken, a bunker-like structure with almost no legitimate clientele. There, he met with his capos and ruled on disputes. Even corrupt police officers came there to pay their respects.

But despite Manna’s power, all was not well for the Genovese family’s vast operations in the Garden State. John Gotti, leader of the larger Gambino family, wanted a piece. After the Bruno/Scarfo family of Philadelphia fell on hard times, Gotti insisted on taking their lucrative South Jersey rackets, leaving only the less profitable territory in the north to Manna and the Genovese.

Manna couldn’t accept this. He was also incensed by Gotti’s murder of the prior Gambino boss, Paul Castellano, in blatant violation of Cosa Nostra’s rules. As the summer of 1987 faded into fall, Manna began to plan Gotti’s murder.

With lookouts everywhere and his own soldier as the owner, Manna felt comfortable at Casella’s. Perhaps a little too comfortable. He spoke openly of killing Gotti, even using Gotti’s full name and instructing his lieutenants in detail how to murder the Gambino boss.

Perhaps so used to power, Manna destroyed himself by his brazeness. An FBI bug picked up the conversation, along with many others. Manna was convicted of multiple murder plots and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1989 under the RICO Act.

Manna’s story has an intriguing postscript: in his 90’s and facing the coronavirus pandemic, he petitioned the court to release him to live out his last days with his stepson in Bayonne, NJ. A Change.org petition even circulated to spring the elderly convict from prison.

Federal Judge Peter Sheridan ruled against Manna in December 2020, likely consigning him to death behind bars.

Shortly therafter, his former headquarters was demolished to make way for a park.

More interesting spots in New Jersey:

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NYC Area

The Mafia’s Hoboken Fortress

June 11, 2021 tremendousblog 1 Comment

On a narrow street at the edge of town sits a squat brick building. There are no windows. On the street, lookouts watch for unfamiliar faces. The few who do enter are carefully watched.

Inside: the headquarters of the most powerful mafia family in this country.

This is Casella’s Restaurant in Hoboken, NJ. In the 1980’s, it functioned as home to the Genovese crime family. Law enforcement attention had made the Genovese family’s usual haunts in Little Italy uncomfortable, and much of the family decamped to New Jersey to meet.

Casella’s was owned by Genovese soldier Martin “Mots” Casella, but the real power belonged to Louis “Bobby” Manna, consigliere of the Genovese family. As one of the top leaders, Manna held numerous meetings at this bunker-like restaurant. Another fixture was Hoboken bookie Peter “Petey Cap” Caporino, whose own social club was a few blocks away.

Genovese family consigliere Louis “Bobby” Manna

In 1987, Manna began to plot the murder of Gambino family boss John Gotti. He made those plans where he felt most comfortable: at Casella’s. Gotti had broken mafia rules by killing prior Gambino boss Paul Castellano. The Gambino family was also the Genovese’s biggest rival.

Before the hit could be carried out, the FBI tipped Gotti to the danger, likely saving his life. But how did the FBI know about the plan in the first place?

Shortly before Manna hatched the plot to murder Gotti, the FBI had done what they previously thought impossible: placed a bug inside Casella’s. It gave them the planning of the Gotti hit, the murder of associate Irwin Schiff, and a lot more.

Manna and other top Genovese members were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in a trial that was a who’s who of future political stars: NJ Attorney General Samuel Alito went on to become a Supreme Court Justice, federal prosecutor Michael Chertoff became Secretary of Homeland Security, and the judge happened to be future president Donald Trump’s elder sister.

After a sale, closures due to code violations, and a fire that destroyed the apartments above, Casella’s was finally demolished at the end of 2020. All that remains of this intriguing piece of history is a vacant lot.

I wish I could visit the old Casella’s and order a plate of pasta…if they’d let me in.

More interesting spots in New Jersey:

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NYC Area

A Notorious Mob Informant’s Hoboken Headquarters

June 4, 2021 tremendousblog 1 Comment

A slight, bespectacled man with white hair sits behind a table, going over today’s bets. At his side: a beeper. You might not even notice it.

Inside the beeper is a tiny microphone. This unassuming bookie in a nondescript storefront is about to take down the most powerful organized crime family in this country.

Peter “Petey” Caporino, a Hoboken native, got into running numbers while working for a trucking company, taking bets from the drivers. He later expanded into a growing numbers racket. It got so big that he needed protection, and the Genovese crime family came to his aid. For a price.

Petey operated his business out of the Character Club and Resolute Club 404 in Hoboken, NJ. Business was good…perhaps a little too good. Caporino’s operation caught the attention of the FBI, who threatened him and his wife with prison unless he cooperated. Caporino didn’t want to see his wife go to jail and worried over who would care for his disabled daughter. So he agreed to cooperate. Caporino fed the FBI information for 18 years, severely weakening the Genovese family.

This week, I went in search of the remains of this shadowy world. My first stop was the Resolute Club 404, at 404 Madison Street. The building seems to have changed little over the years, although 404 is now a private residence. Next door is an appropriately clandestine-looking members only club:

I imagined Petey there, quietly recording everything and probably terrified that these gangsters would discover his secret and kill him. Next, I stopped at what was the Character Club at 111 Monroe St:

Like so much of Hoboken, it has become high end condominiums. All the more reason to search out this history before it disappears completely.

Here’s how it looked in Petey’s day:

Caporino’s testimony led to the conviction of 16 high level mafia members. His tapes provided evidence on bookmaking, loan sharking, and even murder.

Despite this reprieve from punishment, Caporino couldn’t seem to leave the life. Just a few years later he was arrested for bookmaking yet again. In a sign of the mafia’s dwindling power, he had been able to simply continue his business much as before, despite testifying against top mobsters.

Caporino wound up in prison after all, and after his sentence, his trail runs cold. But if you stand outside the Resolute Club, you can almost imagine him coming and going, beeper always at his side.

Have a great weekend everyone!

More interesting spots in NJ:

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Tremendous

Tag Archives: True Crime

My 2022 Reading List

How New York Winters Helped Put Gotti in Prison

Paul Castellano’s Last Day

‘They Gotta Go’: Gravano on the Castellano Hit

Hoffa Murder Suspect Tony Pro’s Union Hall

Hoboken’s Most Powerful Gangster

The Mafia’s Hoboken Fortress

A Notorious Mob Informant’s Hoboken Headquarters

An angel investor's take on life and business