I went to Mike's house, Mike had no keys to get in so I went in threw the window, Mike was too fat. When I got in I opened the door for him, he said to be quiet. I wobbled to his bedroom and jumped on Cindy his wife! She said "What did you two morons do now! Dimatteo!" Mike told her, as I passed out. I woke in the morning with Cindy putting coffee under my nose, saying 'your father is looking for you assholes' I said 'does he know I'm here?, she said 'no, I told your wife you and my moron called that you went upstate.' Mike woke up and said to me 'we're fucked!, what are we going to do,' I said "hide!" The next day Sal Sorritino (we called him Brother) came in laughing and said he cooled Ricky down and everything was Okay, I asked how, he just smiled at me.
The next night Ricky, Mike, and me had to go to the bar to talk to Nicky. Nicky said he just couldn't do it any more and gave us time to get someone to run the bar. Dad said to stay away from the bar if I was drinking.
We needed someone to run the bar so I got in touch with an old friend of Ricky's, Fat Dom to run the place. A big fat guy who always had a cigar in his mouth. He used to run the "Intermission Lounge" for years. He wasn't doing anything at the moment so Dom came to the bar to run it.
Ricky had to turn himself in to jail to serve some time for some bullshit.
When I was younger and went to Dom's bar, he treated me good. A few years back I was driving down Coney Island Avenue, I fell asleep behind the wheel, drunk. I hit a parked car, pushing it in the street and my car was in the parking spot. I hit my head and face on the windshield, then on the steering wheel. I got out of the car, I saw the bar across the street, it was the "Island Lounge," it was a cop bar. So I walk up the block to "Georges Diner," I walked in and a few people started to scream, so I walked into the bathroom and man I was a mess! My face looked like one big blood ball! I walked back to the car and there were a lot of people there. I tried to get in the car but someone grabbed me. It was Fat Dom, he pulled me in the bar. I was so drunk I did not really understand what he was saying.
He got a cop car to take me to the hospital. As I was sitting in the hospital I started to come out of the drunk. The doctor cleaned my face and head. I had a few scratches on my head, but I needed about 40 stitches in my mouth, under my lips, top and bottom, I asked would it heal with no stitches. He said "if we stop the bleeding, yes, but it will take forever." I said "let me go." by then someone was there to pick me up. Dom called Ricky and said I was in the hospital and I was OK, but to report the car stolen. I got home and passed out. When I woke up I was in so much pain I wanted to die. Em got me some pain killers and I just laid in bed for a week. My mouth felt like it had nuts in it. I was in bad shape bleeding for days. It took four months to heal! I really didn't like to be stitched up, needles and thread going in my body freaks me out.
Fat Dom covered it all up with the cops, it was a big favor. Now that Dom was at the "Dis & Dat" he seemed a little different to me. I think he wanted the bar and I was in the way.
When Rick got back home I had to see my godfather Bobby Darrow. I went with my father and Roy Roy. He was at Auburn State Prison. Bobby was away for over 10 years. It felt like it was yesterday when he left. It was weird to see him in there. We talked like he was only going to be there for a little while, not realizing it would be for life.
We sat and talked, but no one could say too much because the law was listening. So everyone was talking in circles, but Bobby had a hard on with Pete "The Greek" and was saying that Pete was no good and mother fucking his lawyer Bob Weiswasser.
Ricky and Roy told him to stop bullshiting, that they took care of Bob, that he was dead. We talked about President Street. Roy said money was getting harder to make. Bobby called Blast a "Judas." When we left, Bobby was still smiling, like he was coming home soon. That night we went to eat at a 'hick' restaurant in the hotel. After eating we went to the bar, we stuck out like 'white guys at a black Panther meeting.' Everyone in the place knew we were from Brooklyn, by the end of the night. I think every broad in the place was talking to us. We had everyone singing "Bad Bad Lee Roy Brown the baddest man in all downtown," we went to bed whacked.
The next morning we were driving back to Brooklyn. The whole drive Ricky and Roy were debating if Pete "The Greek" was a rat and set up Joey. Ricky said, "If he did his job, body guarding Joey, he wouldn't be dead." Going over it again, Why was Pete shot in the ass? What made Joey go outside? If Pete would have thrown himself on Joey, then Joey would not be dead. Joey got hit inside, but the shot that killed him was outside. Why was Pete yelling at Matty "The Horse" and not with Joey outside? Bobby also said that Pete introduced the broad to him and told him it was 'OK' to leave. Pete said that Bobby met the girl, and asked to leave. Bobby said "that was bullshit," and 'you can't tell me you can't find a Chinese restaurant opened in China Town.' It just don't add up. Then Ricky said it would not have happened if Joey had someone else with him, not Pete. There were real men that could have been with him. Then Ricky said "I never liked that Greek, but we can't say he's bad until we prove it, or our asses' are on the line."
When we got back to the block Ricky and Roy went into Roy's club. They stood there for a few hours talking to the guys, then he came over to Armondo's Club. I said to dad, "How did it go," he said, "You'll know, if need be."
Our friends from Canada at the Dis & Dat Lounge
All of us with Joe Shep Gurney Inn in Montauk Long Island
CHAPTER 20
The Pinch
Louie and me were running the "Brooklyn House of Pasta," trying to build it up, so we could get some time off. Louie was getting burned out from being in the kitchen. I was in the front it was easier but the drinking was burning me out. I had two little kids and needed more money.
In 1984, there was an undercover operation from Long Island that was on to us. A prick that we knew, named Mal got pinched for drugs and made a deal with the law to give them "us." So he became an Confidential Informant a "CI" named Mal. He then got in touch with Ricky to buy some ludes, he came all wired up to the buy, now they had us! So they started a sting operation, Mal kept coming back every week for more.
Now they wanted a "key of coke," so I get the call from the "CI" and I reached out to a seller, we made a deal to meet at the restaurant with the "CI." With him came the undercover cop. Not knowing that there was cops on the roofs of all the buildings. We were waiting for the seller to come, as we were waiting, we were sitting at a table. My wife came over to sit and eat, the "CI" who was a friend of my uncle Chubbys was telling stories. I went outside to call the seller, but got no answer. It was getting late, so I went back inside and said "I don't think they were coming," so the "CI" said to set it up for a different night, I said 'OK'. I got a call the next morning from the seller that when they got there they saw the Law all around so they took off. I said "your kidding," they said "fuck no." I said, "Just drop me off the package," they said, "No, that I was hot!"
I then called Ricky and told him what happened, he said that Chubby told him that he was hearing that Mel was not good. Ricky didn't believe him then asked me if I was sure that happened. I said "I didn't see no Law," he then said 'let him take care of it'.
I wanted to open a fast food chicken store on Smith Street. I found a store front for $500 a month. I grabbed a friend that owned "Globe Montes" and made him put every thing I needed in the store. We opened October 1984, everything was going fine then I get a call from the "CI" again asking me about a meeting they were having in my store. "I said I had no idea". I called Ricky and he said that our friend Phil was going to do a deal with Mal and to give them a table. That week I got a ton of calls from Mal asking me how was the stuff and if the guy was good. I got a bad feeling, so I just clammed up saying "I don't know, ask the guy when you see him", I tried to be as aversive as I could. Then I got a call that everyone was coming to the chicken joint and to just give them a table. First the "CI" Mal came in, then the undercover cop came, they were waiting for Phil. There was small talk, the undercover cop asked me if I had
any ludes. I said 'no, that I was busy with the restaurants', that ended the small talk. Then Phil came in and asked who Mal was, so I introduced him, "bad move," they all went into the back and made the deal, on the way out everyone said goodbye to me and left.
On March 22nd, 1985, I'm home sleeping, it was 8.00 in the morning, the phone rang, my wife answers, she then woke me saying there was a detective on the phone that he wanted to speak to me. I got on the phone, the first thing he said to me was "we don't want to come to the house, we know that you have two small kids," that I should come right over to the restaurant. I said I'll be right there. I hung up the phone, I looked at Emily and said "were in trouble," then I called my lawyer and told him what I thought was going down and to meet me there. I got there and two detectives were there and told me I was under arrest for drug sales. I looked at my lawyer Jay Holick, and he said "go with them, he'll take care of it". The story gets better; I go with the detectives to Central Booking and get booked. I was there about four hours then the same detectives come in and said I was leaving with them.
They took me to Queens, to a jail there. They wouldn't take me either. Now they take me to Chambers Street in New York, so they could get some papers they needed. So I stood in the car with no handcuffs, and the car running, it was about 9.00 p.m. They came down and told me we were going to the restaurant, they asked if I was hungry. We called Louie and told him we were coming to the restaurant to have dinner. We got there and had dinner and two bottles of wine. Then they told me to go home but to be at the Court by 9.00 a.m.
What happened was they didn't have the right papers to arrest me. It was a Nassau indictment but we were in kings County, so they let me go home. In the morning Jay called Emily and told her to get ready to bail me out. She said that I was there sleeping, he said, "Impossible!" I got the phone and told him what happened, he said, "Once you are booked only a judge can let you go." I said, "I'm fucking talking to you ainte I." I got to the Court with Emily at 9:00 a.m., met Jay and the two dicks. Everyone said I should make bail and go home. That didn't happen, the Judge held me on a two million dollar bond! He didn't have the case in front of him so he needed to make the bail high. We couldn't make the bail, so I was off to jail. It took a month, back and forth to hearings, and they still didn't have the paper work. Meanwhile Phil made bail right away and Ricky was in the Alantic Avenue tombs for a couple of hours. I saw him for maybe an hour, then he made bail. The judge finally got the paper work and charged me with four A-l felonys for narcotics sales, all twenty-five to life bids, I think we had to put up twenty thousand cash and someone's home, then I was out. I can't explain how scary the feeling is that you might go to jail for twenty -five years. I was twenty-eight years old with two kids three and two years old.
A few months later my lawyer Jay Holick dies of stomach cancer. So I needed to find a new lawyer. Benny "The Sidge" a "capo" in the Gambino family heard I needed a lawyer and told me to go to his lawyer, that he was a good one. So I went to meet him, Santos Sgarlato, Jr. he wanted one hundred thousand dollars, I said 'OK'. Where I was going to get the money, who knew? but he said "If I blow one of the charges, it was twenty-five years in prison."
When I got home, I said to Emily 'how the fuck am I going to give Santos $100,000?,' she said. "something always comes along to make money." A few nights later I get a call from this junkie I knew. He said he had a shit load of diamonds. I meet him in the restaurant, he had about seventy-five thousand worth of diamonds! I got them for twenty-five hundred and pieced them out for fifty thousand, giving the cash to Santos and the rest he said to give him as I get it, boy I lucked out. The bad thing I was thinking about killing the junkie and taking the diamonds, if I had to pay any more for them.
As the months went buy I had a hard time making any money, except for working the newspaper route. I had a twenty-four hour 'tail', every where I went the law went. At one point even the money I was getting from the old drug deal was getting too hard to get my hands on. My partner had to find ways to get it to me, I have to say he was a smart one. Every other night while I was out he would call Emily and ask if she needed anything for the kids. She would complain that she needed something, then he would go to my house and bring baby food or diapers or toys and always in the bag was my envelope! The first time he brought it, Emily threw it out, she didn't look in the bag! I came home and asked her 'where's the money', she said 'he didn't give me anything', I said 'no way'. I looked in the bag that was in the garbage, there it was the five hundred! I told her that there would 'always be money in the bag', she just laughed. After a while, when I got home at night I'd go, over to the detective's and say "I'm not going out", they said that if I fucked them it would be the last thing I do and they went home. Then they'd come back in the morning, I knew not to fuck with them, I couldn't win. This went on for nineteen months. At the court hearings the judge was having trouble with all the paper work. A few times they called me Ricky and the judge didn't like that. All the paper work was from Nassau, and the shit went down in Brooklyn. Months later we were just preparing for pre trial hearings when the D.A. asked for a meeting with me. At the meeting he told me we're going to put you in jail for at least seventeen years! He said, "If I would say that my father was the boss and set everything up, they would hit me with an E felony, which would get one to three years."
I told him to "go fuck himself" and walked out! Santos said they had something that they were not telling him. In October 1986, we went to court on a Monday, as soon as we got there the judge postponed the case till Thursday, I asked Santos, "Why?" He said, "He didn't know, so I said, 'Go fucking ask them', he did and got no answer. Thursday we get to court, while I was waiting for my case to be called I went into the bathroom, as I was pissing the District Attorney walked in and said "Good morning Mr. DiMatteo," I said, 'hello.' he then said to me 'he feels like its going to be a good day for us.' He pissed and walked out. When I got back to Santos I told him what happened in the bathroom, he said 'Let's see'. The case was called, when the DA started to speak, Judge Reinzi stopped him and said, "Mr. Crowe, I'm going to ask you three questions. I want a yes or a no answer, do you understand me?" The DA said, 'yes'. Judge asked, "Number one Mr. Crowe, did you have any evidence that Frank DiMatteo made any money on this sale?" The DA replied, "No but." The judge said, "Yes or no?" "Number two, do you have any evidence that Mr. DiMatteo ever processed any narcotics in his hand?" DA said, "No but." The judge said, "Yes or no?"" Number three do you have any evidence that Mr. DiMatteo put the deal together?" The DA said, "No but, his father....." The judge said, "Yes or no". The judge then said, "Were taking a 30 minute break!" When the judge came back he said to DA Crowe, "I have a hundred felony cases in the back, don't ever bring one like this to me again!" Then he turned to me and said. "Mr. DiMatteo go home!" I turned to Santos and said, "What happened?" Santos said, "He didn't know, but lets just go." The judge threw all the charges out on me, but they had thirty days to reindite me, that never happened!
A week later Louie and Jo took Emily and me to Bermuda for a week, it felt good being free! When we got back Louie, Goombaiel, and me took off to Florida, for a few weeks.
When I got back Ricky was leaving for prison from the Flordia pot case, and the two lude deals. We got the coke case thrown out. All together he gets convicted for three years in prison He gets out in 1987.
While he was away, I started to make the bar into a restaurant. So I went everyday and changed whatever had to be done to get it opened. We named it "Amelia's" after my mother.
It was in the Mill Basin section of Brooklyn. We had people with money coming in and a ton of wiseguys. Carmine Lamandozzi, the Clemenza brothers, Benny "The Sidges" crew, and Joe Shep were there often, we did pretty good as a restaurant.
When Ricky got out of jail, he wanted to change some things in the place. He don't like stem glasses so he called Bobby Brooksey from the "Gemini Lounge" and asked him if he had any glasses. Bobby said 'yes' and sent over four cases of glasses that I stil
l have! Ricky said wise guys didn't like stem glasses. I didn't hear any one complaining, he was old fashion and wanted to keep somethings "old school." Like the booze, he didn't think that 'Gray Goose Vodka' would sell. We sold a case of it to every "old bottle of booze", he just wanted it there. A few months after he got back home and was able to to speak to the guys, Ricky had a few of the guys with their girls at his house, for a "Welcome Home" get together. Ricky, Punchy, Blast and Joe Shep were sitting and drinking. Me and Goomba was sitting in the living room. It was snowing bad outside. We were at the little bar area Dad had near the bay window, laughing and telling stories. Punchy was drinking his campia and soda, Blast, his wine and Ricky his Dewars and water. Shep was having Rob Roys, they were putting them away, when Blast dared Punchy to jump in the bay behind the house! They were joking about how cold the water was in the bay, so Punchy jumped out the window, ran down to the deck where the boats were and jumped in the water! The water must have been 20 degrees! It was freezing! We all ran after him, by the time we got to him he was trying to get back on the deck, but he was having a hard time. It was slippery, so we grabbed him and pulled him on the deck, we were all soaked! We got him back in the house. My father gave him some dry clothes. We all sat back at the bar. Punchy was freezing, it took him a while to get warm. After a while Blast and Ricky said to Punchy "Are you fucking crazy". Punchy said "Why it's nothing I told you it wasn't even cold!", as he shivered. They said "you're fucking nuts" and laughed and kept on enjoying the night.
Goomba and Me also in Florida
Goomba and Louie in Florida
Lion in the Basement Growing up in the Gallo Crime Family Page 15