JokesComments Off on Joke Of The Day: Benny The Rod
Oct062016
Big Louie the Torpedo was becoming increasingly curious about one of the newer members of his mob, Benny the Rod. Benny had been in the business for many years in another part of the country. During that time he had garnered quite a reputation for being the most conscientious and honorable hit man available. He was also considered quite eccentric, perhaps odd, in that for the last ten years or so he always kept one hand in his pocket – clutching his cold steel weapon in readiness (hence the nickname, Benny the Rod).
When Benny arrived at Louie’s office, the question was put to him.
“So what’s the story with you and this here gun of yours, eh? Like, are you scared or somethin’ or you just want to always be ready or what?”
“Not scared…” Benny growled, “been doin’ it dis way ever since me sister-in-law’s weddin’ ’bout ten ten years ago now”.
“Oh yeah? … so …?”
“Well, I used ta know her fiance at da time – a no good chisler. He never even loved the goil so much… but he made her happy and so I kept me mouth shut about it”, Benny explained.
Louie leaned in, expecting the point of the matter.
“And since dat time I gotta do it dis way”.
“But WHY?!”, Louie finally demanded?
“Well, I was at da wedding”, grumbled Benny, and I wasn’t about to say nuttin’ about it then, so now I gotta do like da preacher said…
“Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Piece!”
The Sicilian bar in The Godfather, where Michael Corleone asked the father of Apollinia to help arrange the match, is still open for business today. Nothing has changed at Bar Vitelli since the movie’s release in 1972.
This video shows Bar Vitelli and the surrounding streets in Savoca.
In The Godfather, Sonny Corleone murders two enemies, then flees from New York City to hide in Italy. He goes to the a small town in Sicily and meets a pretty woman named Apollonia. He approaches her father at a bar and asks for permission to court her. You can watch the scene here.
The scenes were shot in the Sicilian town of Savoca. The bar is a real bar called Bar Vitelli. It still exists and remains open.
The book I Heard You Paint Houses came out in 2003, so it’s been gathering some dust on a number of bookshelves around the country for quite some time.
The book’s title, according to Amazon, comes from the first words infamous Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors.
The book is essentially the deathbed biography of one-time Delaware Teamster boss and mob hit-man Frank Sheeran and truly is a fascinating read.
[Spoiler alert: Before he died, Sheeran claimed to be the one who killed his friend and mentor, Jimmy Hoffa–whose body was apparently later cremated.]
Despite the book purportedly being made into a movie called The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro , Al Pacino , Joe Pesci, as well as directed by Martin Scorcese, it has not been released yet.
While the book has been out for some time, it wasn’t until last night, during Joe Biden’s prime time speech, that I was reminded of some of the books contents, most notably this piece that appeared in the Orange County Register a few weeks ago:
One additional item relates to Biden’s integrity. In the fascinating biography of Teamsters and Mafia hit-man Frank Sheeran, “I Heard You Paint Houses,” the lifelong thug describes a favor he performed while he was president of Teamsters Local 326 in Wilmington, Delaware.
In 1972 Sheeran received a visit from “a very prominent lawyer” he knew who was “very big in the Democratic Party” in Delaware. The November general election was approaching, and the race for the U.S. Senate seat held by a Republican was expected to be close. The lawyer wanted help in preventing the distribution of a paid Republican political ad – an insert in the Delaware-wide newspapers – that would run for a week and expose the campaign misrepresentations by the Democratic challenger. Sheeran promised the operative that he “would hire some people and put them on the picket line.” He added, “People nobody would mess with.”
The picket line went up, the papers were not delivered all week, and, as Sheeran said, “The day after the election the informational picket line came down, and the newspaper went back to normal and Delaware had a new United States Senator.” His name was Joe Biden. Thereafter, said admitted extortionist, thief and murderer Sheeran, of Biden, “You could reach out for him, and he would listen.” [Emphasis added.]
So, there you have it. The Vice President of the United States got his job as U.S. Senator with help from a Mafia hit-man and Delaware Teamster boss. No wonder Barack Obama picked Joe as his running mate.
Amusing, InformationComments Off on Al Capone’s “Lemon Squeezer” Up For Auction
May212014
Al Capone’s “Lemon Squeezer” Up For Auction
The gun is called “lemon squeezer” because when the user break-opens the frame it exposes the cylinder and resembles a lemon squeezer.
“You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone,” once said prohibition-era gangster Al Capone.
Heritage Auctions has just listed a very special Harrington & Richardson top-break revolver that once belonged to none other than Al Capone. While he’s more frequently remembered for his hat and cigar, there’s little doubt that he knew his way around guns, too.
The revolver is a Harrington & Richardson Second Model chambered for .38 S&W with a 3 1/2-inch barrel. These were popular pistols at the time and H&R made them by the truckload. They can still be found today, usually for less than $200.
Of course, Capone’s Second Model is expected to fetch a higher price. The opening bid is $7,500 and the auction house predicts the gun will sell for $15,000 to $20,000.
The estimate may be on the conservative side. Capone’s property, especially his guns, are hard to come by. Combined with his legendary notoriety, Capone’s guns fetch high prices at auction.
Capone rose to a position of fame as a bootlegger, along with his syndicate, the Chicago outfit, which eventually became known as “The Capones.” Running underground alcohol during the Prohibition in Illinois was widely held to be a public service, although his reputation sank after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was a gang-related shooting that lead to the ascension of the South Side Italian Gang over the North Side Irish Gang in Chicago in 1929. The massacre allowed the Capones to take over control of the city’s organized crime but cost Capone himself his reputation as a then-modern-day Robin Hood.
A Colt Police Positive .38 Special that once belonged to Capone sold for more than $100,000 just a few years ago at Christie’s.
