Gangland Wire

In this bonus episode of Gangland Wire, I follow up on my interview with Mafia historian Anthony DeStefano to discuss New York City’s organized crime more. One of the most significant topics Anthony and I covered was the Alto Nights social club. This was not only the title, but also the central character in the recent Mafia film written by Goodfellas scribe Nicholas Pileggi, who starred Robert De Niro in dual roles.

Gary sets the record straight on two pivotal New York crime hangouts—the Ravenite Social Club and the Alto Knights Social Club—which the media frequently confuse. The Ravenite at 247 Mulberry, tied to Carlo Gambino, played a crucial role in his rise to power after Albert Anastasia’s assassination. Meanwhile, the Alto Knights Social Club, at 86 Kenmarre, emerged from the old Cafe Royale, a well-known bookmaking hub, solidifying its place in Genovese family history. Only three blocks separated these clubs, but they were miles apart in Mafia history.

Listeners will hear about notorious gangsters who frequented the Alto Knights, including Vito Genovese, Michael Miranda, and infamous enforcer Buster Ardito. Through historical anecdotes and law enforcement surveillance records, this episode paints a vivid picture of mob life—its power struggles, criminal enterprises, and the relentless pursuit by federal authorities.

Click the link on Anthony DeStefano’s name to see his mob books.

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Transcript

[0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretappers. Good to be back here in Studio Gangland Wire. A little bonus episode here. Hopefully, you just listened to or watched my interview with Anthony DeStefano, who had these books about Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, and from which Nick Pileggi researched to write his screenplay for the most recent movie that’s just released, Alto Nights, It’s a pretty interesting movie. We haven’t seen a movie about the mob in the 50s since the 50s or the 60s, I don’t think. And they talk about the Alto Knight Social Club. That’s what this was all about, the Alto Knight Social Club. It was a Genovese social club. But what I’ve noticed is there’s a lot of discussion about where was this club? And there’s a whole school of thought, thanks to the New York Times or another New York newspaper, were obviously conflating the Ravenite Social Club and the Alto Knights Social Club. Two different clubs. So let’s look at the Ravenite, which was at 247 Mulberry Street. And what the papers are saying, that the Alto Knights name was changed by Carlo Gambino when he inherited it from Albert Anastasia after he was killed. Barbershop Quartet, if you remember, murdered him in the Barbershare most famous mob photos ever, I think. Bosley Gambino changed it to the Raven Knights, Raven Knights, like, you know.

[1:26] Knights with a sword and the raven, because he loved the Edgar Allan Poe poem so much, the one called the Raven, you know, the Raven, quote, the Raven nevermore. Now, it seems kind of weird that Gambino must have been a pretty erudite, sophisticated mob boss. If you read Edgar Allan Poe and poems, you know, I remember it because it’s just so immensely popular. It got to, you know, quote the Raven nevermore. It’s such a great line that, you know, you’ve heard of it. I don’t think I ever read the whole thing. It’s certainly not for fun, maybe in school. And Raven Nights was then slurred into Ravenite. And, you know, that makes sense. And that became Paul Castellano’s club. Uh neil della croce really don’t neil della croce took it from carlo gambino and and then castellano as he was promoted to boss not della croce uh he never went down there that was that was the the kick on him was he never wanted to get his hands dirty and come down to on the street level where all the guys hung out and and so that’s when gotti after he had castellano killed.

[2:34] He moved his crew from the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park and the Queens over to Manhattan, you know, the center of the world, Manhattan, New York, and took over the Ravenite, probably the most bugged or most attempted bug club ever. And this was about two blocks away from another club at 86 Kenmare, same general vicinity, real close to the old original New York City Police headquarters, or they called it the Broom Street Addicts or something like that. And the 86 Kenmare was a well-documented bookmaking center, and it was known as a Café Royale back in the day. Now, going back to 247 Mulberry Street, you know, it was, there’s another story that says it was Albert Anastasia’s club. This is a Ravenite, and it was called the Knights of the Alto Social Club. And he took it over from Joseph Profaci, who inherited it from Lucky Luciano in 1936. And so in order to, you know, the 247 Mulberry Street was always a Gambino Club, regardless of exactly how it got there. But Anastasia, Carlo Gambino took over that crime family after Anastasia was murdered. And, you know, I suppose he could have named it the Raven Knights Club. I don’t know. But then when Neil Delacroce dies, he gives it to his underboss, really, because he doesn’t like going down there anymore.

[4:02] 1985, Mr. Neil dies. John Gotti has had Paul Castellano murdered, and he’s now the boss of the Gambinos. And he moves over there, like I said before. But if you think historically, this was Albert Anastasia’s club, for sure.

[4:19] Gambino club, it’s just always been a Gambino club, not a Genovese club at all. And the Alto Nights in the movie Social Club is a Genovese club. Now, the other location is 86 Kinmar, K-E-N-M-A-R-E. That’s about two blocks away from the Ravenite.

[4:38] Still in the same area, Chinatown. You call that Little Italy, I’m not sure, in the Chinatown area. That’s where Anthony DeStefano claims the Alto Nights Social Club was after it was the Cafe Royale. There’s an old article that I found that shows some bookmaking going on and a guy named Willie, they said Willie Morati, who was a Genovese guy, was actually probably Willie Moretti was arrested there. So it goes back as a club Royale as a.

[5:10] Or Café Royale as a Genovese club, which then became the Alto Knights. Found a surveillance photo with the caption, Alto Knights Club, and that’s where these photos were taken. And that was, you know, many early members of the Genovese crime family, as well as Ben Ovidio Genovese and his underboss, Michael Miranda, were there. Another source, Scott Bernstein, reports from FBI surveillance logs in 1958. They documented that a Genovese soldier named Sally Byrne, called Sally Byrne, Salvatore Granello, said he was arriving at the Alto Night Social Club in the afternoon to meet with Genovese to discuss some recent jewelry heist and hijackings that Genovese was owed a piece of. And so, you know, he also talks about in 1955, the Genovese was photographed by the NYPD narcotics squad, going on walking talks with one of his Newark, New Jersey lieutenants, Little Pussy Russo, outside the Alto Night Social Club, which indicates it’s a different club. And this is in that area. And then it’s probably, it’s got to be where this Club Royale used to be because the Club Royale was at this 86 Kenmare. I found an article that said that. Never could find anything that said that address, that Kenmar address, but it’s a different location from the Ravenite.

[6:37] 1950s era newspaper, several photos taken in front of the Alto Knights Social Club. I may have said that before, showing Vito Genovese and a consigliere Michael Miranda standing there with some other photos of Genovese guys. You know, Michael Miranda, he was longtime consigliere, and he was actually part of the one. When Genovese went to jail after Costello and Luciano purportedly set him up to take a pension and actually ended up with a 15 year sentence for dealing narcotics and went to Atlanta. He set up a three-man ruling panel, which was Tommy Ryan Ibole, who was the acting boss, but Vito Genovese remained the boss, and then Jerry Catena and Michael Miranda. And they ran it, but Genovese relayed orders in the penitentiary. He did not like to give up control. Another photo in front of this alternate social club that shows some more long-term, well-known Genovese guys. A guy named John Ardito called him Buster Buster Ardito. He was a capital regime in the Genovese crime family under Mike Miranda.

[7:49] Caption said that he was a well-known narcotics peddler, and he was talking with Alphonse, good-looking Al Criscolo, who was also a well-known Genovese family soldier, and that Criscolo had been arrested once by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics when they, what the article said, smashed an international dope syndicate in 1945. I couldn’t find out much else about him. A lot about Buster Ardito. He lasted in the Genovese family, clear up to modern times, up in the 2000s. Came from Brooklyn. His legitimate cover job or a cover company, he was part owner of Butcher Shop at 590 East 156th Street in South Bronx. He was involved in narcotics. He took pops, took pinches for narcotics, extortion, loan sharking, gambling, the usual stuff. He was described as a button man in Michael Miranda’s crew. Ardito was once busted for slipping some medicine to a guy. A Genovese mobster was on trial in 1983, Gus Cercio.

[8:58] And all of a sudden he had a heart attack, or it looked like a heart attack. And the FBI found out later that he had, Ardito, Buster Ardito, had secretly given him some medication to simulate cardiac problems to delay the trial. He ended up actually taking a conviction for conspiracy to instruct justice for that. He only did a couple, three years on that one. But, you know, it’s, I’ll tell you what kind of guy he is. Back on up into 2003, the FBI had a whole bunch of electronic surveillance on him, recorded in several different places. He was eating, meeting people in different Bronx restaurants. And they discovered some of the devices and he moved to retail shops and medical offices. But the Bureau was on him. They actually ended up bugging his cell phone where they could turn it off and turn it on, And once they turned on their cell phone, then it would be the listening device. That’s pretty scary, ain’t it? I was like, have your cell phone turned on by

[9:59] somebody, and they listen and tape everything you’re saying within earshot of that cell phone. You know, as a result of that big-ass surveillance in 2000, they charged Ardito and several Genovese family members with labor racketeering, mainly a bakery confectionary and tobacco workers union and the International Union of Operating Engineers. He was out on bail for these racketeering charges, and he died of pancreatic cancer.

[10:27] You know, three other guys are photographed together in this set of photos from the 1950s in front. What was described as in front of or next to the Alto Night Social Club, although you can’t really see the club in the background. Lorenzo Brescia, Joseph Jostretz Stracki, and Joseph Toriki Brescia, or we’ll call him Chappie, which is what everybody called him. He came from Italy, from Italy, or Sicily, I believe. And he had been a soldier in Mike Miranda’s crew for a long time. He had been a suspect at one time in the Anastasia murder.

[11:03] He’d been a strong-armed man, a killer for the Genovese family. He was part of their union racketeering, been arrested for homicide, extortion, conspiracies, all those different kinds of things. He really was a close associate and in a crew by a guy named Peter DeFeo and was supposedly DeFeo’s top soldier. A number one man number one killer that don’t gross joe stretch or strachy he was a long time friend of mafia and former of joe velacci again he’s you know obviously he’s a genovese guy, uh according to blotchy strachy was president the assassination of joe the boss masseria in that coney island hit uh back in 1930 so this guy you know he he is a long time genovese guy Uh.

[11:54] Strocky was actually came up under Lucky Luciano back in those days. And as, as a blot, she did another guy toward a Ricky, I couldn’t find out anything about him. Uh, but he was listed as a soldier in a, in a, uh, organizational chart in the family, but really it was people going back to Cyril, the artichoke King.

[12:19] Uh, Terranova and trigger Mike Coppola. So, I mean, these were long time guys. And, uh, another newspaper article identified this cafe Royals and gambling location. And they gave the address there, 86 Kenmar street. And, you know, that, that newspaper article had a guy named Willie Morata, M O R A T T A is proprietor. But at the time there was really well-known Genevieve’s bookmaker named Willie Moretti.

[12:48] So I got a feeling that to me that puts it together. My humble opinion the Alto Nights Social Club is was at 86 kenmar not 247 mulberry 247 mulberry the raven knight was historically anastasia and then gambino club and the alto knights was historically and always a genovese club going back to cafe royale so a little extra one thanks a lot guys how you like my uh my little uh got my book as my backdrop here kind of cool i just figured that out uh how to do that i’ll probably do some more different kind of fun backdrops to get tired of seeing my, uh.

[13:29] Stupid little office and studio here. And don’t forget, I like to ride motorcycles. So watch out for motorcycles when you’re on the street. If you have a problem with PTSD and been in the service, go to the VA website, drugs or alcohol, get hold of Anthony Ruggiano. I’ll put links down there to my author page. I’ve got three books out there. One on Chicago, a windy city mafia, and one on New York to Big Apple Mafia or something like that by the crime families. You’ll find it if you go to the, if you hit that link and my book on the Las Vegas skimming investigation from the Kansas city standpoint. And I’ve got movies out there. I got three documentary movies about Kansas city mob activities. You can get, you can rent those on Amazon for, I don’t know, buck 99 or two 99. And I go, that’s all I got to sell. Well, I really appreciate you guys tuning in and being supportive. You know, my YouTube page, you’re so supportive. We’re over 20,000 subscribers now and get a lot of comments. I really like it when you give me comments. I usually comment back or try to answer questions or, you know, whatever, as long as it’s a rational, logical question or whatever. So thanks a lot, guys.