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04-03-2009, 09:44 AM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sebeka, MN
899 posts, read 444,582 times
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I did meet someone with an extensive numbers back ground in Pittsburgh, not quite Mafia but similar and who knows, probable connections. Tony Grosso was the reputed numbers runner. He served plenty of time for those crimes. Even later in life I hand delivered envelopes from him to someone at the Airport. Grosso was a nice enough guy, so I never questioned it.
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04-03-2009, 10:09 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa
73 posts, read 51,381 times
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You must tell more...
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04-03-2009, 10:30 AM
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RAKIM ALLAH'S biggest stan......
Status:
"HIT DOGS always HOLLER"...lmao"
(set 28 days ago)
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Pittsburgh's 'EAST SIDE'
1,431 posts, read 509,263 times
Reputation: 1420
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The FED'S are probably reading this thread like
Name droppin' and just spillin' all types of TEA (info)
Last edited by Little Mizz Pittsburgh; 04-03-2009 at 10:44 AM..
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04-03-2009, 03:14 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2009
17 posts, read 10,865 times
Reputation: 23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slamont61
I did meet someone with an extensive numbers back ground in Pittsburgh, not quite Mafia but similar and who knows, probable connections. Tony Grosso was the reputed numbers runner. He served plenty of time for those crimes. Even later in life I hand delivered envelopes from him to someone at the Airport. Grosso was a nice enough guy, so I never questioned it.
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Ah, Tony Grosso! He was often in the news, and they never just called him "Tony Grosso." It was always "numbers man Tony Grosso" or "numbers kingpin Tony Grosso." He and his guys controlled the Living Room in Mt. Lebo/USC, which still exists but is under new ownership.
They also controlled Jo-Jo's House of Donuts on Rt. 19 in Peters before it got all built up out there. Right after my family moved here, my dad went in looking for donuts. None of those, but six Italian guys playing cards in the back. Place was almost never open, but occasionally you'd see tons of Caddys in the lot late on a Tuesday night.
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04-03-2009, 03:37 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: May 2008
2,753 posts, read 1,103,377 times
Reputation: 1508
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Magarac
Ah, Tony Grosso! He was often in the news, and they never just called him "Tony Grosso." It was always "numbers man Tony Grosso" or "numbers kingpin Tony Grosso." He and his guys controlled the Living Room in Mt. Lebo/USC, which still exists but is under new ownership.
They also controlled Jo-Jo's House of Donuts on Rt. 19 in Peters before it got all built up out there. Right after my family moved here, my dad went in looking for donuts. None of those, but six Italian guys playing cards in the back. Place was almost never open, but occasionally you'd see tons of Caddys in the lot late on a Tuesday night.
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Sorry double post... gotta break down and get a new lap top. |
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04-03-2009, 03:38 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: May 2008
2,753 posts, read 1,103,377 times
Reputation: 1508
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Magarac
Ah, Tony Grosso! He was often in the news, and they never just called him "Tony Grosso." It was always "numbers man Tony Grosso" or "numbers kingpin Tony Grosso." He and his guys controlled the Living Room in Mt. Lebo/USC, which still exists but is under new ownership.
They also controlled Jo-Jo's House of Donuts on Rt. 19 in Peters before it got all built up out there. Right after my family moved here, my dad went in looking for donuts. None of those, but six Italian guys playing cards in the back. Place was almost never open, but occasionally you'd see tons of Caddys in the lot late on a Tuesday night.
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Tony Grosso had at one time the biggest book in Pittsburgh, but he was not in the mafia. I know you're not saying he was, but many people confuse the two. Where and when i grew up i knew both, made or connected guys and just racketeers who had to kick up to the boys. Tony Grosso was such a family friend that when my parents wanted to buy their first house he lent us the down payment ... at no interest! Speaking of numbers men, the late great Art Rooney started as a numbers man on the North Side, with what I have heard was a $5 book, just like Tony Grosso who was from the Hill. I've heard, read many posts on this thread citing East Liberty (Mike Genovese) and New Kensington (the Volpe brothers) as mafia hotspots and of course it is true. But the Lower Hill, the part that was torn down to make way for the Civic (mellon) Arena was also home to a lot of racketeers and in fact, made mafia guys. Does the name Frankie Valente ring a bell for anybody?
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04-03-2009, 05:37 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Mar 2009
18 posts, read 9,882 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheReason
Interesting post....tell me more about how Pittsburgh took over the Youngstown and Wheeling Profits.... I'm more interested in the Wheeling profits.
Any info on the people who ran the Wheeling area?
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Sorry bud, I focus more on the 26 mafia in major cities, not so much their extensions. I do not think Pittsburgh placed many people in Wheeling area (if they had buttons living there at all), it was probably just a couple of thugs or maybe associates who went down and ran the gambling in wheeling, although I can tell you that Genovese lived in West Deer, and mobsters like Jo Jo Pecora (died in 1985) were from WVA. so there was Pittsburgh mobsters very close to the WVA area most of the time. Again I'm not too sure what all the Pittsburgh mafia was involved with in Youngstown and Wheeling but they definitely had prosperous dealings in each of these cities. I believe that a couple of the guys who ran things in Youngstown flipped which did some damage for the Pitt. mafia there.
**One thing I forgot to mention in the other post was I heard that the new Pittsburgh 'Don' lives somewhere in Hopewell or Alaquippa, anyone have any info on this? My personal opinion is that the Scranton mafia is really the only mafia in PA thats still organized. Philly has been a mess since the late 80's when Bruno and Testa (I think was the underboss, could be wrong) were killed, and Pittsburgh has not been allowed to make any new soldiers since the late 1980's from what I understand--this could have changed when the Commission was taken down though.
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04-04-2009, 04:12 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa
73 posts, read 51,381 times
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This is all very interesting to me. American mafia is one of my favorite subjects, but to hear about it in our backyard is very interesting....
My question... Being that grosso was NOT mafia, don't you think he would have created a lot of enemies with his success and fortune?
He must have been sending a nice taste up to the "made" men...
And... I don't buy the fact that wheeling didn't have soliders. In the 40's and 50's Wheeling was a growing city of 70K, with a big upside... I'm sure Pittsburgh had some people down there taking care of the books and running liquor sales...
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04-04-2009, 04:36 AM
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Member
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa
73 posts, read 51,381 times
Reputation: 34
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This is all very interesting to me. American mafia is one of my favorite subjects, but to hear about it in our backyard is very interesting....
My question... Being that grosso was NOT mafia, don't you think he would have created a lot of enemies with his success and fortune?
He must have been sending a nice taste up to the "made" men...
And... I don't buy the fact that wheeling didn't have soliders. In the 40's and 50's Wheeling was a growing city of 70K, with a big upside... I'm sure Pittsburgh had some people down there taking care of the books and running liquor sales...
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04-04-2009, 08:43 AM
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Bringing chaos out of order
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: North Beach, MD on the Chesapeake
2,531 posts, read 943,925 times
Reputation: 1084
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Does anyone remember back in the late '70's or so when the Lottery drawing was fixed and Grosso was the one that ratted it out?
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