When gay bars were owned by the Mafia

Stonewall was a front for the Mafia.

The mafia used to own a ton of bars in New York, gay and straight.

This dynamic is highlighted in "The Deuce"

In my city the mob owned the biggest gay bars. The owners worked through fronts and the fronts worked through managers who staffed and ran the place.

The mob men stayed away. Their contacts were private and business-related. They paid off the cops and city workers, and kept the sissy beaters away.

Underage clientele could get in if with legal adults, as I started going when I was 17. This was handled by charging a nominal cover charge. Some places acted like that made it a private club. There was sex in the corners and downstairs, drinking and dancing and drag upstairs. Some places were big and had contemporary or retro design and decor, but mostly they were dark, a little dingy and focused on men getting with men, there or afterwards.

If anything else was going on with mob people it had nothing to do with the average customer. Or staff, for that matter. But once in a while you'd hear of a raid, and that meant that one faction was up against another, or more often than that someone didn't pay the PD off that month.

Mob town Kansas City I am certain that was the case

They knew not to use phrases like “Sleeping with the fishes” at the bars.

[QUOTE] Were guidos roaming around the dancefloor then?

Yep. Nobody could cut a rug better than Al Capone.

I'm sure some of those mobsters must have been curious about what was going on in their clubs.

For the most part, the mob will do business with anybody as long as they get their cut of money. They are non-discriminatory that way.

This alliance must explain why Italian men have squeaky clean holes.

And here’s what it means to “do business” with La Cosa Nostra:

[QUOTE] With little police enforcement of local laws, Fat Tony was able to cut corners on safety and hygiene. Bartenders did not have access to running water behind the bar, so often served drinks in dirty, used glasses; many Gay Rights groups blamed the Stonewall for a 1969 outbreak of hepatitis among its patrons. In violation of city code, Stonewall also lacked a rear exit, leaving the narrow front door as the only escape in the event of a fire or emergency. The alcohol served at the bar (rumored to be stolen or bootlegged) was watered-down and sold to patrons at top-shelf prices.

[QUOTE]Stonewall's owners also reportedly engaged in extortion. Employees singled out wealthy patrons who were not public about their sexuality, and blackmailed them for large sums of money with the threat of being 'outed.' This practice eventually became the most profitable aspect of the Mafia's club management.

[QUOTE]Stonewall also lacked a rear exit

Ironic

They owned the disco clubs too, didn't they?

They controlled the porn industry, adult bookstores, prostitution, gambling ... all the fun things.

Why then were the bars always getting raided by the cops? Didn't they get paid off?

Johnny LaRue was behind the whole thing:

The West Village used to be a huge Italian neighborhood. It was a mix of mafia owned gay bars and Catholic Italians.

Back then, the Italian mob used to run many big cities. People feared them. I guess that's pretty incomprehensible for some kids these days.

[QUOTE] Why then were the bars always getting raided by the cops? Didn't they get paid off?

There’s different kinds of cops. Some are harder to pay off than others.

[QUOTE] Despite the police pay-offs, Mafia-run establishments were not exempt from state laws, and owners were prepared for regular raids. If a bar was shut down by police or the SLA, most owners could pick up and relocate the entire operation to a nearby alternate space, filing new liquor licenses under new names. Managers kept few liquor bottles actually on the premises, as they would be confiscated during a police raid. Rather, alcohol was often stored nearby in a parked car, or in some cases, behind a hidden panel in the wall. With these precautions, an owner like Fat Tony could open for business the day following a raid having suffered few losses.

I remember the entryway of a Greenwich Village lesbian bar in the early 1980s having a card table where an Italian gentleman sat collecting the entrance fees. We were told he was there for our protection from straight men trying to gain entrance.

LOL R5

[quote] There’s different kinds of cops. Some are harder to pay off than others.

All the police back then were Irish and those stubborn Micks kept having children so their payoffs kept going up and up.

They ran the casinos and defended the nation's ports during WWII.

Yep R21. It also explains some of the Irish Italian tension of that era.

During beer blowouts back then, the mafia served spaghetti rather than the hamburgers they do now.

Italian mob + gay bar sounds like quite the fusion restaurant.

The doormen had names like Joey Longfingers

New York, late 1960's, before the Stonewall riots : Julius' had straight, mob bartenders and security. They were a bit gruff, but the place maintained its' Village/ neighborhood feeling. I also went once with someone to Stonewall . We were looked over at the door by this mob guy, I suppose to see if we were sufficiently gay or something. I was amused when the guy told my friend to put out the joint he had just lit. I found it ironic in that the entire place was illegal. And then there was the International Stud, where a couple of men started making out. This gnarly guy had them stop, and said " wadda ya want me to lose my license ?" Also, in the summer of 1970, San Francisco: same sex couples couldn't slow dance.

Why did the micks and wops hate each other again?

They fought over draining pasta, Rose.

hyuyuu

The mob is - or was - always running businesses in the margins. That's why they're the mob.

Competition for jobs, housing and control of the Catholic Church, R28.

What else?

More.

I had no idea the Stonewall was owned by the mob.

Cosa Nostra controls the olive oil business in Italy. So you see, there is nothing too sacred that they won't get their mitts on.

I love you R15.