12/24/2023 0 Comments Mafia news nyc![]() ![]() David Carter explains in his book Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, that during a typical raid, bar owners would change the lights from blue to white, warning customers to stop dancing and drinking. Raids often occurred in the early afternoon, when few customers were present, so businesses had enough time to resume normal operations by night. But first they would tip off the owners, who told them the best time to come by. Not that the police didn’t still raid the LGBT establishments. “Fat Tony,” for one, paid New York’s 6th Precinct approximately $1,200 a week, in exchange for the police agreeing to turn a blind eye to the “indecent conduct” occurring behind closed doors.Īn NYPD officer grabs someone by their hair as another officer clubs a young man during a confrontation in Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march in New York, 1970. To operate its gay bars, the Mafia greased the palms of the NYPD. It was the only place where gay people could openly dance close together, and for relatively little money, drag queens (who received a bitter reception at other bars), runaways, homeless LGBT youths and others could be off the streets as long as the bar was open. The club also lacked a fire or emergency exit.ĭespite its less-than-ideal conditions, Stonewall quickly became a popular destination in the gay community-even something of an institution. Run on the cheap, Stonewall was known for being both dirty and dangerous: It operated without running water behind the bar, glasses were “cleaned” by being dunked in tubs of dirty water, and toilets regularly overflowed. ![]() “Fat Tony,” purchased the Stonewall Inn in 1966 and transformed it from a bar and restaurant that attracted straight clientele into a gay bar and nightclub. The Genovese family, one of the so-called “five families” that dominated organized crime in New York City, reigned over Manhattan’s West Side bar scene, including the Village where the LGBT community was taking root.Ī member of the Genovese family, Tony Lauria, a.k.a. Since the days of Prohibition, when alcohol was outlawed, the mob controlled much of New York City’s nightclub business-with special expertise in its shadowy, illegal fringes. A family chart of the Vito Genovese mob family. ![]()
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