THE RELATIVES ARE VISITING AGAIN AND youre stumped as to where to take them. On the day of the St. Valentines Day Massacre in Chicago in 1929, Capone invited more than 100 people to his Palm Island home for a party. The Pennsylvania Crime Commission said in 1987 that his use of naked brutal power and blatant and undisciplined violence is what ultimately undermined his regime. Cars owned by visiting Mafiosi used to line the dead-end street, and some bigger gatherings were professionally catered. Former Chicago mob hitman Nicholas Calabrese has died, a source said Monday. Three Brothers Build Legacy in 20th Century U.S. Gambling. Al Capone kept a villa in Miami Beach, where he died after a prison stint for tax evasion. By popular belief, never proved legally, Lansky taught the Mafia's crude leadership of the 1920s and 1930s, showing them the subtleties of financial manipulation, concealment and investment of the proceeds of bootlegging and gambling. Physical Description. Scarfo not only lived in the Spanish-style house he called Casablanca South, he rewarded loyal crime-family members with weekends there. Miami's independent source of But today the person behind the name is mostly misunderstood or forgotten, as is the story of his "magic space" (as one restaurateur called the Gold Coast). Meyer Lansky died on Jan. 15, 1983, after fighting lung cancer. (Another possibility involves internal mob drama, as the FBI believed Ippolito could have been related to a member of a Tampa-based mob syndicate.) Read Part 2: "How the Mob's Favorite Restaurateur Escaped Indictment and Saved a South Florida School.". After Genoveses death in 1969, Catena was regarded as the most powerful mobster in New Jersey, and reputedly controlled pillage, loansharking and gambling at the port in Newark. In 1979 the House of Representatives Assassinations Committee . All the powerful families have people down here. Some alleged Sonken was especially close to Chicago's underworld, including Al Capone. He was important in the Chicago underworld, running one of the ritziest casinos in the city. Joe Sonken (left) was proprietor of the Gold Coast Restaurant and the Cutty Sark Lounge, which were located on A1A in Hollywood. Those interested, it said, should apply to Halland Land Company, 5 Water Street NY for land prices. These addresses are all public knowledge, by the way. They grabbed $5,080.83 from the register. Steve Bertucelli, who became director of the Broward County Sheriff's Office's Organized Crime Division (OCD) in the 1980s, licked his wounds from the ill-conceived stolen food gambit against Gold Coast, which he had spearheaded as part of the Metro-Dade Police. Eventually though, he made it onto Al Capones hit list of people that have to be murdered, and was supposedly sent to Florida to be protected by the Lanskys and their cronies. Meyer Lansky In His Own Words Throughout the 1960s the G-men eavesdropped on the private conversations of Meyer Lansky by bugging his personal residence where he lived with his wife in. One alternative is a tour of the homes and hangouts of South Floridas mobsters, past and present. Once the car with the robbers and hostages began to move, police resumed their positions and opened fire, shooting at the tires. (There was also one on Hallandale Beach Boulevard, Hallandale, Florida). In at least one year, his salary from various union posts exceeded that of the top man, Hoffa. Change). In the early 1950s, the Kefauver Committee heard Broward Sheriff Walter Clark confess that, from 1933 to 1952, he had provided special policing for Lanskys illegal gambling houses and even deputized the Lansky men who ferried cash in armored cars from the casinos to banks. Meyer Lansky was saddled with the name Maier Suchowljansky when he was born in Grodno, Poland, sometime between 1898 and 1902. . Sonken was Gold Coast, which was famous for stone crabs and called one of the best restaurants in South Florida by the Miami News. It would be wonderful if someone would catalogue them, locate the architects, and provide accurate dates, before they are all torn down, as another of my favorites was (it was on the south side of City Hall Circle). But on this day in May 1986, his 8-year-old ocean-blue Oldsmobile barreled backward, crashing through the dock and plunging into the Intracoastal. By the early 70s the law was finally catching up with Lansky, but he proved a slippery character. Already seen the wiggles at the Mai-Kai, the jiggles at R Donuts? His basset hounds, Amos and Tillie, tagged along. It is located . He testified in 1968 before a state crime investigation committee checking into the mob presence in his restaurant, but nothing ever came of the committees report. Somehow, Lummus managed to survive calls for his firing by enraged citizens. GERARDO JERRY CATENA 2100 COCOANUT ROAD, BOCA RATON. These days, his name is emblazoned on a building at Nova Southeastern University in Davie and continues to grace charitable grants for causes across the area, including SOS Children's Village of Florida, Memorial Regional Hospital of Hollywood, and the South Florida Wildlife Center. One morning we took a short walk to Rascal House for lunch. "Get the hell out of here and take your gang with you," Sonken said, much to Sinatra's shock, remembers Thomas Lentini in his memoir, Silk Stocking Bandits. Scarfos Fort Lauderdale house was up for sale but is temporarily off the market until more than $1 million in liens are settled with the homes owner of record, Leonard J. Mercer Jr. A smooth-talking businessman with a long history of big plans and big debts, Mercer is serving a four-year federal prison sentence for obtaining a loan under false pretenses, perjury and income-tax fraud. There, he lived out the last years of his life suffering from peresis, a disease of the brain caused by syphilis. Jake kept a low profile compared to his brother, but was known to be at his side and also a money-counter both in Florida and later in the family's Las Vegas operations. There he transferred to the presidential yacht Potomac for a fishing vacation. In all there were over 100 camps, each with electricity, running water, and maid service. "Get me outta here," Sonken yelled in the last moments before the car sank. Around 4 a.m., as bartenders Ernie Baticki and Joe Galanti exited, two men with black stockings over their heads stuck guns into the bartenders' backs and said, "Get back inside!" There was a question about jurisdiction, but by 1937 Hollywood wasnt allowing gambling in the city. But alcohol was big business for the mob, and when Prohibition ended in 1933, the next big thing was gambling. Nope, sorry. Prohibition was totally ignored by the population.. Pivotal moments in mob history transpired over homemade ravioli and Gold Coast's famous Chicken Vesuvio (baked with potatoes and onion). On the evening of Jan. 25, the news finally came: The most famous gangster of them all was dead at the age of 48. The three-room gatehouse near the street was built before Capone purchased the property. Bertucelli, working under Sheriff Nick Navarro (who campaigned on his anti-organized crime bona fides), prepared to launch the daring "Operation Cherokee." The uproar in Miami Beach prompted a sympathetic Oakland Park mayor, Dewey Hawkins, to say that Capone was welcome to live in his city. 68 reviews. Every customer was important, but Sonken didn't kowtow. Upon their arrivals, all began to give generously to Hollywoods churches, synagogues, fraternal organizations, hospitals, and more. Kaufman died of a heart attack at age 40, avoiding prosecution for his crimes. The local farmers often made good profits selling their products to the casinos, and other local residents were happy to take advantage of the employment opportunities provided by the illegal establishments. Six years earlier, Green had dropped out of undercover work. Cant bear to buy another shark-in-a-bottle or seashell frog from a tacky tourist trap? Enter your email address to follow this blog an, Where to find Joan Mickelson, author, in2019, HOLLYWOODS EARLY SMALL HOTELS FOUND CHIEFLY IN PARKSIDE AND ROYAL POINCIANA: IN SUPPORT OF PRESERVATIONEFFORTS, Correcting Fake News about Hollywood,Florida, YOUR BLOGGER IS HAVING A BOOK SIGNING DEC.3, Listen to my WLRN interview; also read What Makes Hollywood FLspecial, Follow FLORIDA'S HOLLYWOOD: HISTORY and PEOPLE on WordPress.com. In Miami, Sonken partnered with two Chicago transplants who'd left the Devonshire under the dark clouds of their reputations: Petey Arnstein, a reputed jewel thief, and Arnstein's wife, Ollie, identified by police as a brothel madam. If South Florida was the mob's version of Switzerland, Gold Coast was its United Nations, where rival wise guys agreed to get along. Following their lead, other locals who supported them and their businesses also became big contributors to the citys organizations, and generally, most city leaders and residents looked the other way and didnt make a fuss over what was going on. But the presence of the larger-than-life mobsters the knights errant of modern life always stood out. Operation Cherokee would end up taking its toll on Green, his wife, and their three children. He saw the car in the water and froze. He gave the boot to Frank Sinatra and his crew for being disruptive. That arrangement ended when Castro came to power in 1959. It was an Old World eatery with small lamps on the linen-covered tables, where diners dressed up for dinner and servers raked away crumbs between courses. His family still wonders where it. One. The asking price for the house has been reduced from $850,000 to $795,000. 11.3 miles from Stadtkirche St. Marien. His Gold Coast had long been a place of infinite possibility, where an impromptu jazz-concert-as-wake for a blind pianist could be followed by a hostage-taking robbery. The joke among waiters was if he liked you, he cursed at you, and if he didn't curse at you, start looking for a job. "They are here to make money." He served five years. We had an ocean right here, after all, she pointed out. The result is 2019's "Meyer," for which Lang wrote the story and text (illustrations by Andrea Mutti and Shawn Martinbrough), a fictionalized account of Lansky's last days hiding out in a Miami . Once, when Sonken heard a reporter snooping around the restaurant asking about the mafia, the boss waved the phone receiver from behind the bar and announced loudly, "Call for Mr. Capone, telephone call on line two for Mr. Al Capone!" Show prices. Catena was the underboss, or number two man, in the mighty Vito Genovese Mafia family of New York. He had amassed a multi-million dollar fortune, and left the bulk of it to local charities, most notably Nova University. His basset hounds,. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. "We're coming out!" Joseph Sonken died at age 83 in 1990 with no wife or children, in Plantation, Florida. "We're not fooling around," a source with the investigation told the Fort Lauderdale News, as officers lugged out 40 cases of mushrooms, 96 cases of tomato juice, and five cases of anchovies. So whats the connection? 9. Amanda Jones specializes in social media marketing. The Inn was neither colonial nor an inn. Our first visit to Rascal House was during the second week of May, 1970. Wolfies was a 24-hour-a-day haven for the elderly living in kitchenless beachfront rooming houses (destined to be restored as art deco boutique hotels in the 1990s). That same year Lansky became a U.S. citizen. I remember the date because we were on our honeymoon from Long Island, New York, and staying at the Desert Inn on Collins Avenue. The restaurant's name referenced its double identity "Gold Coast" was both a term for Florida's Atlantic cities, including up-and-coming Hollywood, and for the once-swampy stretch of Chicago that through creative redevelopment improbably became elite. Im not a member of the Mafia, he said. "If you try anything, we'll kill them!". Both photos were published in Youngs Hollywood Reporter, edited by Behymer. The maitre d' and a share of diners wore tuxedos, but Sonken, son of a tailor, eschewed even a tie. Kaufman and the Lanskys soon teamed up with another well-known mobster, Vincent Jimmy Blue-eyes Alo, and opened another casino in Hallandale, the Colonial Inn, which was a carpet joint a fancier, upscale gambling establishment with bookmaking, roulette and craps tables. After reaching North Miami Beach, the thieves released the hostages and traveled on foot until they were picked up by an accomplice. Bertucelli had convinced a former colleague, Dave Green, to join his department. This was going to create a loss of revenue for the hotel, he points out, and very likely other local merchants. The few criminal charges brought against Sonken never stuck, and in May 1994, the restaurant was sold and turned into a Miami Subs Grill. one of the robbers yelled as they made their way to Pendleton's car. Meyer arrived to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1911. There he holds court with visitors regardless of their professions or business connections with his English bulldog, Bozo, sitting at his feet. Although he could never be a "made man," Lansky was the unofficial "consigliere" (advisor) to mob chairman Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Everything we did back then is legal now, Jimmy Blue Eyes was said to lament soon afterwards. Alo outlived most of his pals he died of natural causes in 2001 in Florida at age 96. Flamingo Las Vegas. NICODEMO LITTLE NICKY SCARFO 3100 NE 47TH ST., FORT LAUDERDALE. The character Johnny Ola, portrayed by Dominic Chianese, in the film The Godfather Part II (1974) is based on Alo. He was tough enough to be violent when he had to be violent, says Col. Clinton Pagano, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. "It's a stupid job," he lamented at the time. So if you hear that somebodys grandmother lived in a tent on the beach, she no doubt was not exactly roughing it here in Tent City. Note: VirtualGlobetrotting is an entertainment website is and is not associated meyer lansky house hallandale. [Someone please tell the Miami TV announcers that it is pronounced like HAL not HOLL, and the settlers were Swedish, not Dutch.] He is buried at Mount Nebo Cemetery in Miami Beach. And it was all about the drinking. Now, although most of the Alo-Lansky establishments were in Hallandale, whats interesting to this blog is that the proprietors actually made their homes in Hollywood. jansens butchery brakpan contact number; funny things to cheer someone up; chris olsen tiktok college; five star alliance membership Sonken, 82, concedes that mobsters eat at his restaurant but notes that judges, businessmen and politicians do too. This 1940s postcard indicates that their complaints fell on deaf ears. My thanks to all of you who write me to share with me your knowledge of early Hollywood history. Your film on Meyer Lansky is loosely based on . While Rascal House's featured dish was their classic stacked corned beef sandwich, they also served Jewish home cooking, such as Matzah brei, a breakfast meal consisting of strips of matzoh cooked like scrambled eggs. Accetturo recently left town, and authorities speculate that there could be a contract on his life. The Club Boheme was on Hallandale beach, literally on the beach, just south of Hallandale Beach Boulevard. Widening manhunt for Texas gunman who killed five neighbors slowed by zero leads, Golden Beach police sergeant in stable condition after shooting during chase of car-theft suspects, Skies clear in South Florida as residents clean up from 130-mph tornado in Palm Beach County, Mike Shannon, who spent 50 years in the St. Louis Cardinals broadcast booth after winning 2 World Series, dies at 83. Who were these wise guys? Lansky had no colorful moniker such as Scarface or Bugsy. Most often he was referred to as the mobs financial genius.. THE HANGOUT JOE SONKENS GOLD COAST RESTAURANT 606 N. OCEAN DR., HOLLYWOOD. As it happened, J. W. Young himself was out of town at the time of the Presidents visit. When the committee probed a donation from Sonken in the Broward County Sheriff's race, it learned the restaurant owner had left the candidate an envelope containing two pennies. Lansky moved from New York to Miami Beach in 1933 and to Hollywood in 1934. There was no way to avoid proximity to mobsters in the hospitality field in 1930s and '40s Chicago. Society columnist Walter Winchell even met with gangsters to learn underworld gossip. "You better not hurt the hostages!" Never a true Mafioso because he was Jewish, not Italian, Lansky outlived nearly all of his Mafia associates. Nor is there any indication of a movie sound stage in the many plans, plats, and descriptions of buildings erected by Young or his Hollywood Land & Water Company. His arrest record dates back to 1956, yet he seldom has been convicted, and his longest sentence was four months, served at Eglin Federal Prison Camp, a minimum-security federal institution in North Florida. Boy, do I miss those days. (Two houses down, 543 Palm Drive, was the home of Joseph LaRatro, now dead, who authorities say was a capo in the Lucchese La Cosa Nostra crime family.). Note the stairs to the deck, the straight horizontal and vertical lines, and the use of pink stucco. Ive heard that it was originally a private home (its long gone now). While Capones thugs machine-gunned seven members of the rival Bugsy Moran gang in Chicago, a half-dozen bodyguards served champagne to Capones guests, providing him with scores of witnesses who could account for his whereabouts at the time of the killings. Along with the sandwiches we devoured complimentary Kosher dill pickles, fresh coleslaw, sweet peppers, small sour tomatoes and delicious Cucumber salad, all served in shiny silver bowls. Matthew Pearl, all rights reserved.