“What do you mean, headquarters turned me down for the moving expenses? You’re the one that advised me to leave. Did you tell them that?”
“Yes, Joe, I told them, and they said that the case was costing the government too much money already. There’s nothing I can do,” Larry Doss said.
“Well, my friend, there’s something that I can do. Tell those empty suits in Washington that I said to go f____ themselves. I quit,” I said, hanging up the phone.
That’s par for the course. That’s how it had been all the while I was working for the FBI. It wasn’t the field agents; it was the moron agents in Washington. They didn’t know their ass from their elbow about what was going on. If they don’t want to keep their word, then I’ll walk. The agency in New York would suffer.
It didn’t take me long to find a new baby doll. She was gorgeous, a double for Morgan Fairchild. Naturally, I showed her one of my attributes and cooked her a nice Italian dinner before I gave her the salami. Daffney worked as a manicurist in a beauty salon, and when I went in to get my nails done it was instant love.
Daffney moved in, bag and baggage I had rented an apartment in a little town offshore from the beach on Tybee Island, in Savannah, Georgia. The apartment was nicely furnished. The kitchen was well stocked with pots, pans, and dishes.
Shrimp ala Pizzaiola
12 jumbo shrimp
Pizzaiola sauce (see recipe, page 195)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Rinse, shell, devein, and butterfly shrimp. Place shrimp, tails up, in baking dish. Top with pizzaiola sauce, then sprinkle Parmesan cheese over all. Bake until almost cooked through, approximately 6 minutes. Top with mozzarella cheese. Place under broiler until mozzarella is cooked through and lightly browned. Serve immediately. This dish is nice served with rice or pasta. Serves 4.
It was about three weeks before I heard from the FBI. A New York agent by the name of Richard Tofani flew down to talk to me. I’d advised him that I had already quit, and there was no way I was going to trial in New York anyway. I went to pick him up at the airport, and off the plane, last, comes this tall, good-looking Italian guy about six-foot-four. Tofani and I hit it off real well. He told me that the New York office would reimburse me for whatever money I laid out and proceeded to convince me, without threats, to continue to go on to trial. I agreed mainly because they had just caught Thomas Agro. He had been a fugitive from the get-go. He was the one I really wanted. The others convicted themselves, more or less.
Richard stayed at my apartment for the length of his stay in the Savannah area. I had a two-bedroom town house.
One night we went out to one of the clubs and took four ladies back to my place. Tofani had been bragging about how I made baked stuffed clams, so the girls volunteered to buy all the groceries that we needed if I would cook for them. I agreed because my chick, Daffney, was staying at her mother’s while Tofani was in town. At least, that’s what she told me. Oh, don’t misunderstand me now. Daffney wasn’t one to fool around. She was a gal who only bothered with one party. I just happened to be a Democrat.
Baked Stuffed Clams
4 dozen cherrystone clams, freshly shucked, left on half shell
1 package frozen chopped spinach
1 package frozen chopped kale
3/8 pound (11/2 sticks) butter
1 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon anchovy paste (or finely chopped fillets)
3 tablespoons chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup Madeira wine
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 tablespoon Tabasco sauce (approximately)
Lay clams on a very large baking sheet and set aside.
In a saucepan, steam spinach and kale in 1 cup water until soft. Drain off water and pat vegetables on paper towels to remove any excess water. Return to pot and add butter and melt it. Add all other ingredients except bacon and Tobasco sauce, and stir briefly to combine. Put mixture in a blender and almost purée it. Set aside.
Preheat the broiler.
In a skillet, fry half the bacon until well done, then crumble it and stir into blended mixture.
Run clams under broiler for 1 or 2 minutes, just until they are half-cooked. Remove clams from broiler and cover each clam with a 1-inch square piece of uncooked bacon. Put clams back under broiler for about 1 minute more. Then cover each clam generously with spinach-kale mixture, and pat mixture lightly to make sure it will stay in place. Splash a little Tabasco sauce on top of each clam. Bake clams in a 375°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Serve hot as an appetizer. Makes 48 pieces.
I was on trial in Miami. This time it was for Tommy “T. A.” Agro and Andrew “Fat Andy” Ruggiano. This was the trial that I was waiting for. Not so much for Fat Andy, but for that low-life Agro. I had nothing against Ruggiano. His cohorts hung him with all their blabbering over the telephone. That’s what made him do fourteen years in prison. He should have never gone away. His own Mafia family put him in the can. Agro should’ve shown up in a wheelchair—another sympathy tool the mobsters use. DeSimone came to his trial wearing a neck brace, but the jury read his scam and convicted him anyway.
I looked over at Agro and gave him a pearly-white smile. He immediately snarled at me, which made me smile even more. I had tape-recorded him so many times that I myself couldn’t believe it. What really got him was when I wore the body recorder to all those meetings in New York City with him blabbing away, getting all his cohorts convicted.
Yes, I smiled at him so much that my face hurt at day’s end. There were a couple of wise guys seated in the courtroom, besides others such as private investigators and New York attorneys. Why those attorneys were here watching me testify, I didn’t know. I told the FBI that I would testify only in the Florida trials and that I wouldn’t go to New York. They had agreed with me, so there was reason for me to doubt them or to have concern.
This trial went on for fifteen days on my testimony itself. The case seemed open and shut to the agents and the prosecutors. I could taste victory before I even finished with my testimony. So I had some agents over and I cooked a real treat as the wine and Scotch were being poured freely. We were in for a big night, with me doing all the cooking.
Sauerbraten with Potato Dumplings and Red Cabbage and Apples
To make this great-tasting, long-cooking meat dish, use either cross-rib, top sirloin, or bottom round. The meat needs to have some fat on it.
MARINATING MEAT
4 to 6 pounds beef
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup wine vinegar or claret
2 cups water
2 onions, sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
12 cloves
6 bay leaves
6 whole peppercorns
2 tablespoons salt
1/2 lemon, sliced
To marinate meat prior to cooking, take a crock pot or large glass bowl and place meat in it. Pour in half of each of the liquids, or enough to cover the meat, which might take more than half the liquids; however, use equal amounts of the liquids. Add all other ingredients and leave meat in this mixture, refrigerated, for at least 2 days (depending on amount of meat used. Turn meat over in marinade once or twice a day. Keep meat covered with a tight-fitting lid during entire marination process.
COOKING MEAT
butter, beef drippings, or suet
Reserved meat marinade
1 cup crumbled gingersnaps (about 6)
3/4 cup flour
Vegetable or beef stock, if needed
Use dutch oven or roasting pot with a tight-fitting lid, large enough to accommodate meat.
Take meat out of marinating liquid and let drain. Reserve marinade. Pat meat dry with paper towels.
Place in the
cooking pot one of the following; butter, beef drippings, or suet, (just enough to brown meat on all sides, approximately 3 tablespoons fat). On medium to high heat, melt fat until it sizzles. Place meat in fat and brown well. Gradually add all reserved marinade, including all spices, then add crumbled gingersnaps. Cover. Allow meat to simmer slowly for 2 to 3 hours, depending on its size.
Just before meat is done, on a pie panplace 3/4 cup flour, distributed evenly. Run under broiler until brown. Add to pot with meat, and stir in quickly, cook for 10 minutes to thicken gravy. If gravy gets too thick, add a little vegetable or beef stock. After cooking 10 minutes, remove meat from pot and strain gravy. Place meat back in pot with strained gravy and cook 5 minutes longer. Remove meat from pot, slice, place on warm serving platter, and pour gravy over it. Serves 8 to 10.
POTATO DUMPLINGS (KARTOFFELKLÖSSE)
6 medium potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup bread cubes
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon farina
Boil potatoes in their jackets. When cooked, remove skins and put through sieve or ricer. Spread on a clean towel for 1 hour to dry out moisture. Place potatoes in a large bowl and sprinkle 2 level teaspoons of salt over all. Make a hollow in middle of potatoes and break two eggs into it. Stir in flour, bread cubes, nutmeg, sugar, and farina. Work this all in together until no more sticks to your hands. If mixture is too wet, add a little more flour and a few extra bread cubes.
Roll this mixture into small balls and then drop into boiling salted water. After potato balls come to surface, let them boil for about 12 to 15 minutes. To test for doneness, take one ball out and cut through it. When cooked, center should be dry, not soggy. (You must be careful not to boil too long because potato balls will fall apart or become wet and soggy.) Remove all potato balls from water with a slotted spoon. Once they are removed from the boiling water, place them on a hot, lightly buttered platter. When ready to serve, pour the gravy over them or pass it separately. Serves 8 to 10 as a side dish.
RED CABBAGE AND APPLES
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium head red cabbage, cored and shredded
1 cup water
1/2 cup red-wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
11/2 teaspoons salt
Pepper to taste
1 dried bay leaf
In a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat, heat butter or margarine until hot but not burning. Add apples and onion and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add cabbage, water, red-wine vinegar, sugar, salt, a pinch of pepper, and bay leaf and heat mixture to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer about 40 minutes stirring occasionally, or until cabbage is very tender. Discard bay leaf before serving. Serves 8 to 10 as a side dish.
I was on the witness stand for two more days. When I was leaving the seat that I’d occupied for fifteen days, I looked at Agro and blew him a kiss good-bye and said something out of earshot of everyone else. The judge yelled at me over the defenses’ objections. I didn’t care. I smiled anyway. While the agents were driving, I noticed they were doing an awful lot of talking on the radios. There were also four cars full of agents, when normally there were two. I was concerned, naturally.
“What’s up, Larry? Why all the cars?” I asked.
It took him a moment to answer me, and then he said, “Eh, we want to get you safely on the plane, Joe. You did a great job, by the way.”
I noticed that we were going through a gate where there were three guys with rifles, and I saw that they were waving all four cars through, I knew they were FBI agents outside there and we were driving onto the tarmac at a clandestine airport.
“Hey, Larry!” I shouted. “What the f____ is going on here? This ain’t the airport that I fly out of.”
Everyone was quiet. Then Larry said, “I didn’t want to tell you this, Joe, but the Mob is watching for you at every airport, so I teletyped headquarters and told them of the urgency to get you out of here and how it was an emergency to see that you arrive safely and all, so Webster sent his own private jet to fly you there.”
Wow! I thought. The boss of the FBI is really concerned. I mean, like, come on now, I really gotta be somebody. I’ll tell you the truth, it felt nice. It really felt good. “But what about my clothes?” I asked. “What are you gonna do? Mail them to me?”
“We already packed them for you, Joe. You’re all set,” Larry Doss said.
They rushed me onto the Lear jet. Agent Rich Tofani was on the plane. That was odd, Tofani put a Scotch-on-Ice in my hand as the plane took off.
“It won’t take us long to get to Savannah in this thing, will it, Rich?” I observed. I noticed a look of surprise on his face.
“Savannah? Didn’t Doss tell you that you had to testify in the Colombo trial in Manhattan? I swear to God, Joe, he told me you knew and that you agreed.”
I was silent. I didn’t say a word. I just kept staring at Richie. I didn’t believe what had happened. I wasn’t mad. I had been had. It was my own fault for trusting them. Tofani was probably a part of this conspiracy. I laughed. “So then all this bullshit about the airports being watched is really all bullshit, huh?”
“No, it’s not, Joe. You’re a hot ticket. I saw the Teletype Larry sent, and that’s the only way we could have gotten Webster’s jet and his pilot. Didn’t you see all the agents with guns? They were ready for war. Don’t worry Joe, we’re well equipped to take care of you in New York,” he added. “There won’t be any f____ ups here.”
When we landed I was half bombed. There was a slew of agents at this clandestine airstrip, too. “Oh, well . . .,” I said as I departed from the plane.
The Colombo trial in Manhattan was exasperating for me. I was extremely tired, getting off one witness stand and onto another in a different state against a different Mob family. It was exhausting. There were twelve defendants on trial. Carmine “Snake” Persico was one of the defendants, “Little Dom” Cataldo, who at one time was my real close friend and compari (before he put out a contract on my life), was also there, plus the under-boss captains and a slew of soldiers—or wise guys, as I would refer to them. The year was 1985. While I was on the witness stand, reputed Mob boss Paul Castellano of the Gambino family was gunned down in front of Spark’s steakhouse on Manhattan’s east side. I don’t know if that was what caused a defense attorney to become ill, but the judge gave the defense a ten-day time-off period for that attorney to get well before the trial started again. I welcomed the delay. I couldn’t wait to return to the Savannah area. Thank God the piles on that defense attorney’s a____ had burst.
I was at my apartment on Tybee Island again when I received a call from a gentleman named, John Andronokis. He owned a jewelry repair shop in the Ogtethorpe Mall in Savannah. He and I became friendly, and although I had ulterior motives—because, as always, I was looking to make some money the easy way—I proposed an illegal scam to John, thinking he would jump at the chance.
He said, “Joey, my friend, I came to this wonderful country when I was a boy, and I love the American way. I would never do anything dishonest for any reason. I make a nice living now, but there were times I was in bad shape—real bad shape. So, Joey, I have to say no to you.”
I admired the guy for his honesty, and he and I became good friends. John came from the countryside in Greece. He was a big, muscular man with that handsome European look. His wife, Betty Jo, was a darling pretty southern lady. The reason for the call was that John had invited me to the house that he built in Blairsville Georgia, which was in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I desperately needed a rest, so this was a god sent. We met, and the three of us, with me riding in the backseat, drove up to the mountains. He had a beautiful house with a lake close by, so I relaxed with a fishing pole in my hand.
My stay there was nic
e, and while I was there, I prepared a dish for John and Betty Jo.
Béarnaise Sauce
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 small shallot, finely minced
11/2 teaspoons dried crushed tarragon
4 egg yolks
Pinch black pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and kept hot
1 teaspoon parsley, minced
Boil vinegar and reduce by half. In a blender on high speed, put reduced vinegar, shallot, tarragon, egg yolks, and black pepper and blend for 1 minute. With blender still on, slowly add bubbly hot butter through blender-cap opening in a steady, slow stream. Make sure not to let any water from hot butter get into sauce. Blend for 30 seconds. Place sauce in gravy boat and stir in parsley. Serve this great, rich sauce with some favorite steak dishes (see recipes, pages 000 and 000). Makes 1/2 cup sauce.
When I returned to New York to resume testifying, I was well rested and tough on the defense attorneys. It was my third day back and the Snake’s lawyer asked me in open court but out of the jury’s presence if I would meet with him and his client alone in the judge’s chambers. I was surprised. I was lost for words. I didn’t know how to answer because we had never talked about anything like this while we were practicing. I looked around the courtroom to see if I could get some sort of clue from one of the three prosecutors, but they didn’t show any emotion or anything. I didn’t even want to be at this trial. I had nothing against the Colombo family. Their big mouths, talking on the phone, had got them into this jam. I really didn’t want to be here, but I had no choice. They made the evidence, and I was here to attest to it. Everyone’s eyes in the courtroom were on me, and it was so quiet you could hear a fish fart.
The court said, “Mr. Iannuzzi, you’re allowed to meet with the defense if you want. Nothing will happen to you. That I can guarantee. If you choose not to, it’s all right also. It’s your decision No one can force you.”
The Mafia Cookbook Page 12