 
Margaret
Member
Username: Margaret
Post Number: 146
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 5:15 pm: |    |
my sister remembers being afraid of Grosse Pointe Park because of rumored mafia types with guns in their house windows. does anyone know about this? I don't recall it, and am curious... |
Mbr
Member
Username: Mbr
Post Number: 230
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 5:34 pm: | |
What time period? |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 4939
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 5:54 pm: | |
I think a lot of it is urban legend. There are also rumor of tunnels between homes in this area. I cannot verify if those rumor are true. |
Pgn421
Member
Username: Pgn421
Post Number: 132
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 6:21 pm: | |
yes it is, mycousins used to live on Middlesex. That was mafia row, we used to play and go to school with their kids. most of them are gone now |
Margaret
Member
Username: Margaret
Post Number: 147
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 7:27 pm: | |
I was referring to the 50s and 60s, that's when we were growing up on the far east side, right near the Grosse Pointe Park line.
interesting, Pgn. wow! we used to go to school with lots of Italian kids...hmmmm |
Lefty2
Member
Username: Lefty2
Post Number: 153
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 7:43 pm: | |
folklore |
Pgn421
Member
Username: Pgn421
Post Number: 133
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 7:51 pm: | |
U GOTTA PROBLEM WIT DAT? |
Michigansheik
Member
Username: Michigansheik
Post Number: 232
Registered: 09-2005
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 10:31 pm: | |
most if not all of the tunnels are closed up. i remember going with my parents through a house for sale in the park that had a freshly poured section of the basement foundation that was oval in shape. it wasn't a tocco residence but possible linked via tunnel, this home was on the lake side of jefferson. |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3673
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 - 11:15 pm: | |
Urban legend? Yeah right. The mafia there was for real.
It's all part of the illustrious history of a great city. |
Professorscott
Member
Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 751
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 12:29 am: | |
I have seen basements with interesting security features in that area, but can't confirm why they were there. The Vernier restaurant in Fair Haven has a bullet hole in the marble at the bar, which is supposed to have been the result of an altercation during the 1920s, when supposedly some of the Sicilian criminals hung out there to get away from the bustle of the City.
Of course, all of that is rumor.
My grandfather owned a small grocery in New York, and paid "tribute" to some gentlemen there, in exchange for which he was promised a life free of street crime. It worked, in the sense that he owned the grocery for nearly 50 years (in a fairly high crime area) and never had any trouble at all.
If you want to see the bullet hole at The Vernier, go there to eat; it's a nice place. M-29 east of I-94, perhaps six or eight miles east of New Baltimore. |
Hpgrmln
Member
Username: Hpgrmln
Post Number: 175
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 7:39 am: | |
Whats the restaraunt in or near St. Clair Shores that has a small opening in the ceiling where, in the olden days, someone would point the barrel of a gun from upstairs into the dining area? I was told about this from a SCS'er |
56packman
Member
Username: 56packman
Post Number: 1759
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 7:58 am: | |
I don't know what you are talking about. We run a regular business here, a legitimate business with desks, phones, file cabinets, you know...................busines s.
Do you think the Olive oil gets itself here from the old country? |
Bobj
Member
Username: Bobj
Post Number: 2405
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 8:56 am: | |
Some of the Tocco's still live on Middlesex |
Susanarosa
Member
Username: Susanarosa
Post Number: 1682
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 10:12 am: | |
My mom went to Regina with a few girls from mob families.
At that time most of them still lived in Detroit. Grosse Pointe was still a little too WASPY for the Italians. |
Aoife
Member
Username: Aoife
Post Number: 24
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 10:44 am: | |
In the book "The Virgin Suicides", there is a somewhat hilarious part where author has a character (the son of a mafioso) use the prohibition tunnels to get in and out of peoples basements. Eugenides used to live on the Middlesex, and based a lot of the characters in the book on people he grew up with.
Anyways, there were mob families throughout all of the Pointes, not just the big houses in the Park. I live in the "modest" area of the Farms and right around the corner from me is Joe Moceri's house. Which, by the way, is really cute and for sale if any of you are looking to buy.... |
Quozl
Member
Username: Quozl
Post Number: 1444
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 10:58 am: | |
Back in the early 70's when I was a chauffeur that drove Vito and Tony Giacalone around town to various locations, a favorite haunt of the boys was this Italian barber shop on Mack a few blocks east of Connor. It had a huge gambling den in the basement that was connected to the pet store basement next door.
Periodically Vito would have me drive patrons home, most of them lived close to the barber shop but on occasion I drove a few back to GPP. I remember once I had this guy that was totally bombed in the back seat of the Lincoln that had me drive him back to Buckingham Road in GPP, I found out a few years back it was Meg White's father.
(Message edited by quozl on September 18, 2007) |
Margaret
Member
Username: Margaret
Post Number: 148
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 12:15 pm: | |
we had Tocco kids in our Catholic elementary school. I remember them coming back really suntanned after being away in the winter, to Miami and other places. fascinating... |
Margaret
Member
Username: Margaret
Post Number: 149
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 12:26 pm: | |
I just found this...a 1996 Detroit News story:
Busting the Mob: Detroit's organized crime has roots in Sicilian village
By Gary Heinlein / The Detroit News Metro Detroit's organized crime family was created in the 1930s by a group of immigrants from the same village in Sicily, and it essentially has remained the domain of men connected to those same families, either as blood relatives or through marriage.
Investigators claim that William "Black Bill" Tocco and Joseph Zerilli helped found it and were its leaders until their deaths in the 1970s.
Tocco allegedly headed the family at one time, and Zerilli allegedly was its boss from about the mid-1960s until around 1979.
Organized crime in Detroit rarely generates headlines and kept a lower profiles than similar groups in other large cities, where disputes often lead to brutal slayings.
Federal officials in 1990 said gambling has been the main source of revenue for the Metro Detroit organized crime family. Bookmaking, numbers and illegal games in private homes and businesses are the chief forms.
Loan-sharking accompanies illegal gambling, authorities say, further victimizing those already hard-hit by gambling losses.
For many years, Tocco and Zerilli lived in a Grosse Pointe Park neighborhood known as "the compound." There, they were insulated from the outside world, including law enforcement.
According to the FBI, the leadership was passed down from "Black Bill" Tocco and Joseph Zerilli to their sons. Tocco's sons, Jack William and Anthony Joseph were among those indicted Thursday. The FBI says that Jack Tocco, 69, and still a Grosse Pointe Park resident, is Joseph Zerilli's successor as boss of the organization.
Both Tocco and the Zerilli long have disavowed any mob connections.
The two men were forced by the state Attorney General's Office to end their stakes in Hazel Park Race Track because of their alleged ties to organized crime.
And the FBI in 1990 said Anthony Tocco, 65, of Clinton Township, is among the "capos" or captains who make decisions with his older brother about operations in Metro Detroit. He is a former Grosse Point Park resident.
Joseph Zerilli's son, Anthony Joseph, also was indicted Thursday. The FBI says Anthony Joseph Zerilli, 68, of Sterling Heights is second-in-command of the organization, or "underboss" to his cousin Jack Tocco.
Perhaps emblematic of the low-key nature of Metro Detroit's organized crime is that its two alleged top men are relatively unscathed. Anthony Zerilli has one conviction and Jack Tocco has been convicted of attending an illegal cock fight 20 years ago.
Zerilli in 1972 was one of two alleged Metro Detroit mob leaders convicted of having a hidden ownership in the Frontier Hotel and casino in Las Vegas. He served 21/2 years in prison.
The other was Michael Polizzi, about the same age, who as recently as three years ago lived in Grosse Pointe and was identified by the FBI as a top captain in Metro Detroit organized crime. |
Quozl
Member
Username: Quozl
Post Number: 1447
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 12:36 pm: | |
I remember Joseph Zerilli, he was our big boss man. The dude was always sick and coughing up blood and crap into a white embroidered handkerchief he kept in his back packet. I remember helping his driver Johnny load him up in the back of his car and driving him over to Secours Hospital in November of '71. If I remember correctly most of Mr. Zerilli's kids died when they were still children.
Nice guy, was always a big tipper.
(Message edited by quozl on September 18, 2007) |
Irish_mafia
Member
Username: Irish_mafia
Post Number: 1038
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 1:40 pm: | |
Quoz1,
Did you live in GPW? |
Quozl
Member
Username: Quozl
Post Number: 1452
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 1:42 pm: | |
No, but I crashed over there many times at a friends house. |
Irish_mafia
Member
Username: Irish_mafia
Post Number: 1039
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 1:43 pm: | |
another quoz that I was thinking of...went to Brownell |
Lefty2
Member
Username: Lefty2
Post Number: 164
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 8:52 pm: | |
Guns in windows, I don't think so. Though I encourage people to arm themselves in their homes. The only time you might be whacked is if you stole or owed people money or you might be able to indict someone. Some people probably deserved to be whacked because of their dumb behavior. |
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 144
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 10:05 pm: | |
C. Columbus was the original "whacker!" When he first landed in the Indies he began whacking the Arawak Indians, hence the term, "whacking." By the year 1650, there were no remnants of the Arawaks on the islands. It is thought that a small remnant of them are surviving in South America. |
Lefty2
Member
Username: Lefty2
Post Number: 169
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 10:20 pm: | |
Muhammed was the original "whacker" during the Islamic crusades! before the cristian crusades |
Ray
Member
Username: Ray
Post Number: 1021
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, September 30, 2007 - 11:16 am: | |
Organized crime is gone. Now we have disorganized crime. |
Homer
Member
Username: Homer
Post Number: 238
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, September 30, 2007 - 12:38 pm: | |
I went through Army basic training at Fort Knox in the late 60's with a joe zerelli from GP. Didn't think much about it at the time till we flew home for leave and he was picked up from the airport by a big black limo while I hailed a cab.
Funny thing is he went on to train as an MP...... |
Terridarlin
Member
Username: Terridarlin
Post Number: 29
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 - 5:32 am: | |
I went to GPS with Nina Giacalone in the 1970's and she took me to her home one afternoon.
She drove a brand new Mercury Cougar, her back seat was filled with new copper cookware. As we pulled up to the house it had security bars(which I remember seemed odd for G.P.) on all the windows and doors. She beeped her horn and her mother opened the garage door. It was a real fortress. As I waited for Nina in the kitchen, her mother opened the refrigerator and I've never seen so much produce. It looked like the produce section at the grocery store. Her mother commented how nice the sales lady was to her at Jacobson's earlier that day, and she was going to send her a gift basket.
Right after graduation, Nina married her 2nd cousin, and I never heard from her again. |
Boynamedsue
Member
Username: Boynamedsue
Post Number: 19
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 - 11:09 am: | |
The Mafia in GPP was not an urban legend. There are many homes in GPP that have hiding places, and safes throughout the homes, including my home. In my house the first safe we found was in the living room closet. Under the book shelf in that closet was a steel safe buried in 4 feet of cement in the ground. Unfortunately there was nothing in it other than a few ruberbands. The next safe we found was in the old master bedroom closet. That was hidden under the shoe shelf in the back corner of the closet. On the top of that shoe shelf was a board that you could pull back and a 1.5 by 2 foot hole was revealed that led up to the attic. But the coolest thing was the hidden rooms in the attic. In the attic was a bookshelf and if you pulled the lower shelf out, the slot in which the board came out revealed a door bell ringer. When you pushed that button, the back of the book shelf swung open. That led to a 4 by 4 foot hiding room. It had a light bulb and a few magazines in it. Years later another room was discoved inside that first hidden room. There was a false wall inside that first room which when you pushed that same door ringer and put pressure on that wall, it would swing open and lead to another 4 by 4 foot room. That room made it real handy if you did not have a lot of time to hide, and time to put the bookshelf back together, and place books on it to make it look like nothing was really there. We know that the previous owners of the house were in the Mafia family and the house was built in the 50's. I also had an old friend on Essex that had a hiding room in his basement in which a brick wall would swing open and a huge room was revealed. |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 10551
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 - 11:23 am: | |
Holy shit, that is the coolest post in a long while, thanks Boynamedsue.
Kick ass welcome to the forum to you.
quote:Funny thing is he went on to train as an MP......
That is NOT so funny, evil groups have for years populated positions of authority, especially police forces...their natural enemies! How much better to have a mole within the organization that seeks to destroy you? What better way to gain easy entrance into the private sector than to develope a reputation in the military, especially above Top Secret clearance that nobody questions?! |