Prominent mob historians offered contrasting views on some of the most debated questions in American Mafia history during a series of recent interviews, ranging from the origins of murder weapons to the legacy of a Kennedy family patriarch. Scott DeCicco, author of *Garden State Gangland* and *The Silent Don*, discussed Frank Viserto Jr. , a key figure in the infamous East Harlem Purple Gang who supplied firearms to the Genovese crime family. Viserto Jr.
grew up in East Harlem, where his father, Frank Sr. , was closely tied to Genovese operations, though it remains unclear whether the elder Viserto was ever a formal “made” member. By the early 1970s, Frank Jr. had emerged as one of the most notable figures in the Purple Gang, appearing frequently in police and district attorney reports as a leader, even though he did not work as closely with other gang leaders like the Meldisch or Prisco brothers as one might expect.
By the mid-to-late 1970s, Viserto Jr. began working alongside feared Genovese mobster John DiGilio, specifically in supplying weapons to DiGilio’s crew. Viserto capitalized on the fact that guns were far more accessible in Florida, where he vacationed like many New Yorkers. He began buying batches of weapons, including .
22s, shotguns, and . 45s, often using fake names at gun shops and shows in Broward County, and then transported them back to New York for resale at a substantial profit. He was even caught with the personal pistol of a Hollywood, Florida, police captain. The weapons began surfacing at murder scenes between 1976 and 1979, leading police to group them under the term “.
22 caliber killers. ” Through ballistics, the FBI traced several of these guns back to the Florida gun shops. DeCicco noted that the FBI identified at least eight to ten murders definitively connected to each other through ballistics and the Florida guns, with some of the same weapons used in multiple killings. The guns were primarily used by the Genovese family, including in the murder of Johnny “Coca-Cola” Lardiere and other peripheral figures like Frank Chin.
In a separate discussion, Paul Hodus, former FBI analyst and author of *Steel City Mafia*, shed light on how Charles “Chucky” Porter, a man with an English surname, became the underboss of the Pittsburgh Mafia family. Porter’s heritage was unusual for a Mafia leader. His mother’s family, the Giallanellas, were purely Italian, hailing from the Avellino area east of Naples. Porter claimed his father was half Irish and half Italian, but Hodus noted that genealogical research suggested Porter’s paternal family might have had no Italian blood at all, with roots tracing back only to Texas.
Despite the traditional rules requiring Italian ancestry for induction, Porter was formally made in 1986 at age 52 without any apparent questions about his background. By that time, the rules had loosened from requiring both parents to be Italian to just the father. Hodus found no evidence that Porter’s heritage was ever a concern during his induction. While some leadership figures, particularly the consigliere, had misgivings about Porter’s drug business, his loyalty and ability to generate significant money for the family outweighed other concerns.
As New York Lucchese family member Al D’Arco noted, Pittsburgh simply “did things differently. ” Porter was seen as a national leader, and his Italian heritage through his mother was sufficient for the family to bend the rules. Author Alex Hortis, who wrote *The Mob and the City*, weighed in on the debate over which year was more pivotal in Mafia history: 1931 or 1957. The case for 1931 includes the bloody Castellammarese War, the assassinations of bosses Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, and the abolition of the official “boss of bosses” title.
The case for 1957 includes the murder of Frank Scalise, the attempted hit on Frank Costello, the murder of Albert Anastasia, the closing of the books to new members, the disastrous Apalachin meeting, and Jimmy Hoffa’s first indictment. Hortis called it a close call with no right or wrong answer. He argued that 1931 had more significance for the internal affairs of the Mafia, as abolishing the boss of bosses was a major structural change. However, he leaned slightly toward 1957 as more consequential externally, because it set into motion the events that brought the FBI and informants like Joe Valachi and Gregory Scarpa into play, leading to the real legal cases against the Mafia.
Hortis added that while the 1931 assassinations were known, they were not framed as a coordinated Mafia threat at the time, whereas 1957 triggered a massive public and law enforcement reaction. James Gladwish, the interviewer, offered his view that 1931 had a positive impact on the mob by ushering in stability and peace, while 1957’s impact was arguably negative, marked by high-profile violence and the public disaster that galvanized authorities. Finally, Eric Dezenhall, author of *Wise Guys and the White House*, addressed the persistent claim that Joseph Kennedy was a bootlegger during Prohibition. Dezenhall insisted that Kennedy was not a bootlegger, stating there is no evidence he was.
Kennedy was in the liquor business before Prohibition, as was his family, and he returned to it afterward. During Prohibition, he purchased liquor companies overseas, buying an English company and renaming it Somerset Distillers, a name chosen from a WASPy Boston social club that had rejected him. He also invested in alcohol for medicinal purposes during that time. After Prohibition, he entered the big liquor business in the United States, partnering with James Roosevelt, the president’s son, and even Winston Churchill, who was an investor.
Dezenhall noted that the public has a deep psychological need to believe Kennedy was a bootlegger, a claim that often provokes anger and even threats when challenged in his books. Kennedy was a “real rough customer,” but he was slick and smart. He made most of his fortune through what would today be called insider trading, which was not a crime at the time. Kennedy was investigated for government positions at least four times, and nothing was found regarding bootlegging.
He was investigated when his son John F. Kennedy ran for Senate, and again by Nixon-era operatives seeking to destroy JFK, but nothing surfaced. Kennedy did deal with the mob world as an investor in gambling, most likely in Florida racetracks and Nevada through fronts, and his biggest mob dealings came through his ownership of the Chicago Merchandise Mart, the largest building in the world at the time, where he needed mob help.
The only bootlegging incident Dezenhall could find was Kennedy supplying liquor at one of his Harvard reunions.