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In this episode of Gangland Wire, retired Kansas City Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins welcomes author Gregory Macalino, whose book “Little Pussy and Long Branch: Perfect Together” offers a deep dive into New Jersey’s underworld and the life of one of its most notorious figures—Anthony “Little Pussy” Russo.
Gregory begins by sharing his own story, growing up in Monmouth County amid the Italian-American enclaves where whispers of mob activity were part of daily life. His firsthand familiarity with the gambling, politics, and personalities that shaped the Jersey Shore inspired him to explore Russo’s remarkable and brutal reign.
Gary and Gregory trace Little Pussy Russo’s rise from a small-time Newark street thief to a powerful player in the Genovese crime family, detailing how he infiltrated Long Branch’s political and law enforcement circles to control the town for over twenty years. Gregory explains Russo’s business acumen, his use of gambling and real estate ventures to mask criminal operations, and the dangerous rivalries that emerged with independent drug dealers who threatened his dominance.
Listeners will hear how Little Pussy Russo’s empire ultimately unraveled amid violence, betrayal, and federal pressure. Gregory recounts dramatic gangland episodes, family connections, and the eventual collapse of a criminal fiefdom that had once seemed untouchable.
The conversation also touches on how Russo’s world parallels modern portrayals of mob life—especially The Sopranos—revealing just how much real New Jersey mobsters influenced America’s favorite mafia fiction. As the discussion closes, Gregory reflects on the lasting cultural footprint of men like Russo and what their stories teach us about power, corruption, and community identity.
This is a must-listen for true crime fans, Mafia historians, and anyone fascinated by how organized crime once ruled the Jersey Shore.
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Transcript
[0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretappers, good to be back here in the studio of Gangland Wire. For those of you who don’t know me, most of you do, I think, sometimes, a lot of repeat listeners out there, and I really appreciate all you guys that always come back and make comments on my YouTube channel and comment on my Gangland Wire podcast group page, and so I really appreciate all you. And for you guys that don’t know me, I was with the Kansas City Police Department. I spent about 14 years in the intelligence unit. We worked the Sabella crime family here in Kansas city and a variety of other things like that, uh, retired and did a couple other things and find out my last retirement gig is I’m a podcaster. And then this has just been so much fun for me, guys. I really appreciate all your support. I’m getting to know all these authors all around the United States. There’s not a place. If you’re an intelligence, you like to have contacts where you can learn something or find out something or get something done. Well, there’s not any city, I don’t think, in the United States, I don’t know somebody that’s been on my podcast that I can call them up or email them and say, what about this or what about that?
[1:06] So it’s really broadened my life and this made my life much richer. So anyhow, today, without further ado, we have Gregory Macalino. Gregory, welcome.
[1:17] Thank you. Great to be here, really, truly. Yeah, well, I really, as I told you when we were talking before, I really am pleased about getting you on the show and about your book that you wrote, Little Pussy and Long Branch, Perfect Together. This is about New Jersey and not just like New Jersey, just across the river, but down into New Jersey. And there’s a lot of mafia activity that went on down there. And I’ve not really covered it very much, just a little bit. Years ago, Scott D.J. did a book. Uh, I can’t remember the name of it now that got up into New Jersey. Uh, gang state, or I’m sorry, garden state gangland, garden state gangland. Yeah. And that was a God, that was, I was one of my early interviews. I sometime maybe in the first year, like five or six years ago. So.
[2:04] Gregory has put together a book about Anthony Little Pussy and Long Branch, which is part of the Genovese family. And he has really studied this, but he grew up here. So, Gregory, tell us about your life. And you grew up in this area in Monmouth County and Long Branch. And what did you see that then stirred you to eventually write this book about it? Well you know um being in lawn branch you will find out that there is a huge italian community and someone everybody knew everybody that knew someone that was connected and somehow and not like heavy hitters or anything like that but more like you know there was tons and tons of bookies there was numbers runners uh the local the local mob dudes used to hire high school kids that I went to high school with to be the runners.
[2:56] And so everybody knew somebody that was connected. And you couldn’t help but know. And as you read the book, you will come to find out that Little Pussy completely infiltrated the whole municipality in terms of the local politicians, the city council.
[3:14] There’s accusations of the police chief. There’s also Monmouth County police higher-ups that he completely corrupted and he basically ran the town of long branch for 20 years and he was in headlines constantly making headlines for 20 years and you’ll be amazed that there used to be a local newspaper it was over 100 years old it was called um the the daily register i’m sorry the daily record it was out of long branch it was over 100 years old it stopped i think it started in the 1880s and it stopped in like the late 1970s so or just around just about 100 years old and And if you went a month without a blaring headline about the mob in Long Branch, you’d be completely surprised. Because I went through micro-spice and tons of records from the old newspapers. And every other week, there was some big major headline about Anthony Pussy Russo and his little gang of guys and what was going down.
[4:14] And it was prevalent. It was just a constant. It’s amazing. I believe it. I tell you a little side story. Uh, when my son was in high school, he had this friend from who actually spent all of his life up until they got to high school and his dad moved back here in Tom’s river, New Jersey, which is kind of down in that area. And so my son, what they had, he loves sports and this kid loves sports. And he had, I looked down what he had. He had a parlay card. I said, where did you get that? He said, oh, he said, Eddie gets them. His dad gets them at work. He gets them from some guy that has one of those, uh, tow main wagons that comes around those coffee wagons and he gets them. And so we’re making our picks. I said, what are you doing?
[5:02] And he said, well, you know, I don’t know. Big Ed got them, gave them to Eddie’s, you know, we’re just making our picks. We like put five bucks down or I think like put, I think only put a dollar, a dollar down on our picks. I just said, oh my God. I tell you what, we didn’t have anything like that growing up, but in Tom’s River, New Jersey and Long Branch in New Jersey, that was pretty prevalent. I got to say, you probably saw stuff like that yourself when you were in high school and on up since then. Yeah. That’s like, that’s like 40 minutes South of Long Branch. Also, Eddie Murphy, Eddie will be so proud of me to do this show. And I have to, I got to get ahold of him as soon as I get off of here.
[5:42] And I’ll probably give him this book after I get done with it. Cause he’ll be really excited to read it. Anyhow, let’s talk about Anthony big pussy Russo.
[5:54] And, and he was, he was little pussy. His brother was big pussy. Okay. All right. All right. All right. Yeah. I got a little pussy. I just, my, my, I was trying to do two things at once in my mind. So go ahead. You go ahead and start telling us about this guy. Okay. So Auntie Little Pussy is from the Newark area. They migrated up to Newark from Brazil, the family. They were from a lot of Italians. Half of the Italians went to America and half the other Italians went to South America. So his family went to Sao Paulo, Brazil, I believe, and then they migrated to Newark. And he was born 1916, I believe. He was one of 13 children. the father died early and so he was on the streets of newark and he had two older brothers one was called ralph and the other one was called john ralph and john started working for richie boyardo who was a big you know big time bootlegger in newark and this is before the mafia was formulated before you know there was five family all that this is during prohibition and and So Anthony was like the runt of the family, and he idolized his brother, John.
[7:05] Well, one thing led to another. They all started working for Richie Boyardo. The only reason Anthony Little Pussy rose to the heights he did is because of his brother, John. John was the opposite of him. Anthony was boisterous, a loudmouth. He loved to draw attention to himself and supposedly wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box. But his brother was the total opposite of him. And he was a heavy hitter. He ended up going to jail in the 20s for a prohibition murder in the service of Richie the Boot. But because Richie at this point had influence, the 30-year stint that John got was reduced to only 10 years he got out. Meanwhile, the older brother, Ralph, was an incorrigible, unbelievable, and he was being told constantly by Richie the Boot, cool it, cool it, cool it. He didn’t. And supposedly, with the two brothers knowing, a little pussy and big pussy, knowing that Richie was going to whack their older brother, Ralph… It was okay with them. That’s how incorrigible and a wild man the older brother was.
[8:12] Well, so they went from, and the way they got their nicknames, by the way. Yeah, I was just getting ready to ask that. They got to tell us about the nicknames. Yeah. So, and of course, this comes from the Sopranos as well. The Sopranos bought this. Yeah. You’re right. So with Ralph dead, the two brothers had been, before they joined Richie’s gang, they had been petty thieves. But they were renowned for being great cat burglars because they could climb up you know they were very athletic they could climb up the drainage pipes break into buildings second, story men b and e guys and they were renowned for doing that and when they when they became known throughout the streets of as because they were cat burglars as big pussy and little pussy so that’s where that’s where that comes all right okay so then they said right so And then they joined Richie the Boot’s organization full-time through Prohibition and then later into the 30s. And then, you know, Richie the Boot came under the auspices of the Genovese family through Lucky Luciano. Before it was even called the Genovese family, it was the Luciano family. And he had some problems in Newark with the Jewish gangsters, Longy Zwillman. And Longy Zwillman, you know, had some big associates. I mean, he was really good friends with Lucky Luciano. And he was very good friends with Al Capone, where Richie the Boot was not, regardless that he was Italian and he was Jewish. But they had a gang war. But after a while, it was settled. They became really good friends, as a matter of fact, Richie the Boot and Longy.
[9:41] And as he grew in all his endeavors, which after Prohibition, of course, included gambling, number one, try-locking, number two,
[9:50] and the numbers running policy racket. That’s where the Pussy Brothers went from being petty criminals to racketeers. And they just moved up and up and up. So now how did they end up down in Long Branch? We got Newark, but Long Branch, what you described for me is, what, an hour, a couple hours south of Newark, mid-state along the coast. It’s 50 minutes. Without traffic, it’s a 50-minute ride south from Newark to Long Branch. 50 minutes. Okay. And the way that happened was this. in, you know, I don’t know if you saw the movie The Alto Knights, the story of Costello and Vito Genovese. Those two were engaged in a, you know, for who was going to run the family. Right. The Luciano family. As we know, Vito Genovese’s chauffeur bodyguard, Vincent de Cingiganti, took a shot at Costello, wounded him, but he had to go on the lam because a doorman had witnessed and recognized him. While he was on the lam, Vito Genovese needed a new driver. So he asked Richie the Boot, give me one of your best guys to be my driving bodyguard.
[11:01] Well, everybody thought that big pussy, John, big pussy should get that gig, but Richie didn’t want to give him up because he was so valuable to him. He gave up his younger brother, little pussy, who at this point in the late 50s was annoying everybody in Newark.
[11:20] If it wasn’t for John… they would have not tolerated Anthony Little Pussy Russo. They would have probably killed him in the 50s. But he ended up getting the job as the chauffeur for Vito Genovese. As you know, that is a big-time position. That opens you up to—I mean, there’s been—Vincent Giganti was Vito’s chauffeur, and he ended up being the godfather. Other ones become—underbosses, other become powerful lieutenants and captains. So this was like a plum job to get. And he got it and the reason why he got it is as as loud mouth as he was and not as smart, he had two things going for him he was able to pull a pistol and shoot people yeah yeah which which you know when you’re doing bodyguard detail is a must but he could also make money he was he had he had a penchant for making money and and after at this point not so much i mean he was doing okay with his his what do you call it to the machines that they put in bars you know he had like Poker, slot machines, video poker. Back then it was slot machines. Now it’s video poker. Yeah, Joker. Joker, right. I know, pinball. So he had that going. And, you know, gambling and sports betting and even loan shark and all that. But so anyway, to answer your question was.
[12:37] Vito Genovese used to come to Jersey a lot. And when he came to Jersey a lot, he used to go to Long Branch a lot because there was a huge concentration of Italians there for about forever. And Vito ended up buying a lot of properties, a lot of businesses. Okay.
[12:53] And then his daughter ended up marrying a guy that lived in Long Branch by the name of Pat Simonetti. And Pat Simonetti was originally from Newark as well. A ton of people,
[13:03] everybody, all the Italians that were from Long Branch had migrated down from Newark. Okay okay it wasn’t only just a a summertime resort destination when it it also became home to a lot of these people that decided to leave newark so so next thing you know while little pussy is driving for veto he ended up spending a lot of time in lawn branch made a lot of friends, and veto used to school him you know buy property buy property you know it’s the best thing well Well, then that gig only lasted less than two years as his chauffeur because Vito ended up getting convicted and going to prison for narcotics trafficking. Okay. So at this point, everybody thought that Anthony Little Pussy Russo was going to be like, you know, disappear, you know, not ever be heard of again. But while in jail, Vito wanted Long Branch to open up Long Branch for the rackets. He saw real potential down there and he actually liked, a lot of people didn’t like Anthony Russo but Vito did, and he thought he was funny, that’s what I’ve been told, he thought he had a good sense of humor he was very voicey, so he instructed Richie the Boot.
[14:16] To put Anthony in charge of the Monmouth County Rackets with the mission control seat being in Long Branch. And next thing you know, Little Pussy started buying a lot of businesses in town, started making more money. And this is the point where he starts making a lot of money because now he learned the real estate business. He learned labor racketeering. And when you read the book, you’ll be amazed at how many legitimate businesses as he owned, including golf courses, hotels, mega restaurants, pharmacies, delis. He was all over the place.
[14:56] Wow. So now he’s got, he’s basically a crew now. Did he like become a capo or how did they refer to him as a capo down in New Jersey? Right. That’s funny how you became that because he was still just a soldier. But because Vito had picked him to be the, you know, to give him a territory to run. But I was told that there is sometimes they use for a cop, they use the word captain or they use lieutenant. Well, I’ve been told, I’ve been told that it’s sort of like a lieutenant was
[15:31] just under a captain, but over regular soldiers. Just like that’s our police department. Yeah. Right. Right. So exactly. So this is where he was. So technically, in a weird way, a little pussy, who had never been respected much within his best brethren, had actually risen to a higher position than his brother, who was very, very respected, technically.
[15:58] Oh, interesting. Because he was such a big moneymaker and had people under him and had a lot of power. I mean, you got a lot of people under you. He’s going to have political power down there. I assume he was instrumental in buying off the police and all the everybody in that county down there.
[16:15] Yeah. They owned that county politically, didn’t they? Correct. Absolutely. He did. And it wasn’t just that. And whenever Richie DeBoot needed him to go far and wide, he sent him down to the Caribbean to take over the casinos down there. He sent him to Las Vegas, where by the weirdest coincidences, they infiltrated a small mom and pop casino. Nothing, I mean, like almost like a joke of a casino. But it just so happened this casino happened to be owned by two guys from Long Branch over here. They own this outpost of the casino.
[16:51] The Jolly Trolley Casino, and Pussy Russo infiltrated it. And again, he was always seen as not too smart in making these absurd assumptions and all this. But there is a scene where, from the movie Casino, the character played by Joe Pesci, he was a real-life gangster by the name of Anthony Spilatro. They nicknamed him Ant. He was a very, very scary individual. well he happened to have a a jewelry store called the gold mind right behind the jolly trolley casino and he was extorting the casino okay and he said yeah well then pussy russo shows up there and there’s an encounter between the two and yeah and pussy russo didn’t know didn’t didn’t know when to shut up okay he always kind of made himself out the bigger he was and he gotten into Spolaccio’s face and threatened to kill him on the spot.
[17:53] You know, Spolaccio was someone you didn’t do that to, but Spolaccio then, figured out who he was and that he was hooked up with Richie the Boot. And if you know about anything about Richie the Boot, he was a very scary person himself. And you’ve probably heard of the famous, or maybe you haven’t, but I’ll tell you now, of the incinerator that he had way back in his… Did you ever hear that? No, I didn’t hear that one. Okay. There’s a great book called In the Godfather Garden. It’s all about Richie the Boot. and he was known to have he had 60 acres I think 30 acres up in Livingston and way way way back in the forest he had like a great like a big grill, giant, human sized grill where he was known to get rid of his yeah.
[18:46] It’s actually, they actually recorded them having this conversation on those books in the early 1960s, you know the Cavalicante family and pussy Russo’s on there talking about it so as as scary as Anthony Spilatro was he had heard rumors about the the newer crew and they were and he backed down and he backed down to Russo yeah that’s interesting that’s kind of like mob deal you know like if if somebody’s connected guy if you find out somebody’s a connected guy you got to hold that back and then go to the bosses and And then let them talk about it and then
[19:23] figure out what you’re going to do. And it’s Latro. He was a violent guy, but he knew the rules. He did know the rules. Right. No. And almost pussy Russo almost didn’t, you know, it’s like, he just, you know, acted. He was a reactionary, but in this one time it worked in his favor.
[19:42] Ah, interesting. That was, that’s crazy. And, and, and so they were, I believe that, did he just move in on these guys because they were from Long Branch and he was so intimidating that, that they just start giving him a piece of it. Is that how that worked? Cause you know, normally these casinos were controlled by mob because they arranged for loans from the Teamsters pension fund. But I don’t sense that was going on here. This is what happened. So the guys that owned the casino in, in Las Vegas that lived here in Long Branch. These three guys, two of them lived in Long Branch. There were three of them. These three guys owned about 10 restaurants in the Long Branch area. Well-to-do restaurants, classy restaurants. Okay. So two things are happening. One, these three guys are being extorted by Anthony Spolatro in Vegas and they didn’t like it. Okay. The other thing is when Pussy Russo found out that the guys that owned that casino were living in Long Branch, he sent his men to all the restaurants and said, look, you’re going to have labor problems here. You’re going to have picketing out front. We’re going to, we’re going to unionize all your, so they said, give us a piece of that casino or you’re going to have union problems. Okay. Well, they all heard about Pussy Russo. They knew who he was. They knew he was like as serious as any thing can be.
[20:58] And in a weird way, it was, they were happy to get Pussy Russo to get the aunt out of there, to get Spolaccio. who they didn’t like. So, by the way, those three guys ended up going to prison. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. They were like, you know, rich guys that owned, you know, well, they went, two of them went to prison. I think the third one didn’t for some reason. I can’t remember correctly, but it’s an interesting story.
[21:25] Yeah, that’s, Little Pussy, that’s a name that was real familiar in The Sopranos. And you mentioned when we were talking about how David Chase must have read that. Now, was there some of these stories that you remember that are really ripped from real life here in Long Branch? Okay, so this is going to blow your mind too, and you’re probably going to think it’s not true, but it is. Okay, about three years ago, I used to own a bar, a rock and roll bar. It was called the Brighton Bar, okay? And it’s one of the oldest rock and roll original, not cover bands, right? Not doing original rock and roll venues. you know they started doing original music in the mid 70s like 74 i ended up buying it in the 96 and i sold it in 2022 okay okay it’s the only rock and roll joint in long branch for mega years and again it’s original so i don’t know if you’re you know familiar with the sopranos there is a whole two years worth of a story where.
[22:36] The character Montessanti, Christopher Montessanti. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Girlfriend take over a live rock and roll bar in Long Branch, New Jersey. Yeah, I remember that, yeah. And being convinced by the FBI and the state police for illegal activities with drugs and all that, okay? That directly comes from my bar, Brighton Bar, okay? Everybody knew it. And as a matter of fact, on two different episodes, while in the bar they have two bands that play themselves on the show were actually play the brighton all the time and a guy that lived right around the corner from the bar ron haney he was the technical advisor for clothing on the soprano show he was he was one of those bands that played at the brighton all the time and i’ve he’s a friend of mine from way back and he lived right around the corner from the Brighton bar.
[23:32] So that’s, there’s that connection, you know, David Chase, I’m sure knew this. Okay. Yeah. Right. So, and just the word, just the nickname pussy as, as that comes from that. And then there’s the whole drug, the whole drug thing, because Vito Genovese, when he got busted in 59 for drugs, the Genovese family went in the opposite direction and had this moratorium totally against any kind of narcotic,
[23:57] any kind of narcotics. Okay. So there ended up being a gang war in Long Branch starting in 75, ended in 1980 between Pussy Russo and this loose knit of, of, of criminals of a drug ring. And he didn’t want any drugs in Long Branch and they were pushing for drugs. So they actually, what ends up happening, about eight people died. Eight people died. Yeah.
[24:23] So he had, he had guys under him, The Genovese family came down hard on no drugs, and he had guys that were already working under him that were making money off of drugs. Yes, but that’s not the other. He was battling a whole set of guys that weren’t even involved in the mob. They were just drug pushers. They were just drug pushers. Oh, okay, I got it. He was trying to get them out of town. They were trying to stay in town, and not just in town, you know, surrounding towns too, Asbury, Redback. Yeah. That’s interesting. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of history there. Yeah. And it’s all, it’s all in the book. You’re going to, you’re going to, you’re going to enjoy reading about the mob, the mob war between the two factions, you know, and see who’s who and all that. I think you’ll really like it. What is, you got a lot of stories in here. I’ve brushed through it. Haven’t been had time to do it. A lot, a lot of stories in here. Tell us another one that, you know, that, that you found particularly interesting.
[25:23] Well, to me, it was always, so here’s how, this is what happened. Because of all these weird connections, I was a kid, you know, we happened to like rent our house out to an individual who was one of the guys that ended up going to war with Pussy Russo over this drug thing. So, you know, we rented our house out to them and we found out soon after like, oh my God, what did we do? you know? And, and, you know, it’s, it’s just, it’s all this intercalculated like connections
[25:52] that just kept revisiting and revisiting, revisiting. And, you know, I, I was present one time, well, I met Pussy Russo one time and. What were the circumstances of that? Oh, so here’s what the circumstance was. It was my, it was my, my parents’ 25th year anniversary of marriage and we had gone over to dinner as it was like sort of like a family own only, pre-anniversary just a family my sister flew in from california and we went to the surf lounge now the surf lounge you know unbeknownst to me at the time i was i was only like 12 years old, is owned by pussy russo and his guys but it was known as the best italian restaurant around so we went there and this weird circumstances occur where there was these two men there. And my sister was staring at one of them, which I didn’t understand why, while the other one was staring at my father.
[26:46] And, and I was the only one to notice this, you know, that these two staring contests were going on.
[26:52] And then all of a sudden there’s some guy comes over to the table and he, in a not a nice way, he was like to my father, I know you, but it’s bothering me. Where are you from and my father my father who’s a complete legit guy completely just was very happy to tell him it’s it’s i used to do your floors my my uncle my father and all his brothers had a floor waxing business uh-huh and they used to do all the businesses around here and the guy that would said to my father who who are you was pussy russo and my father recognized him right away and said i used to do your floors and before i used to do your floors i used to do vito genovese’s floors And I know you from both times. So that came out. And then it turns out that my uncle, my father’s brother, who invented a floor wax, and that’s the basis for their business, made a ton of money off of selling it, ended up buying a million-dollar house in deal in the 60s. And he lived maybe five blocks away from Pussy Russo, who owned like an $11 million house, and they became friends. So meanwhile my sister’s staring at the other guy and the other guy was tony dale agolino who was one of pussy’s intimates my sister recognized him and you won’t believe from where from las vegas my sister moved to california and california she used to go to vegas.
[28:19] While in Vegas, some guy comes up to her, who’s this guy, Tony Dale, and offers her two free tickets to her and her girlfriend over there to go see Elvis at the Hilton. Oh, wow. So in 1971, 72, my sister got to see Elvis for free. Yeah. One of those half moon booths. Oh, yeah. She said it was one of the greatest concerts she’d ever seen. And she was treated like a queen, you know, free champion, all this. The guy who did this was the guy that was in that restaurant. I recognized him. The guy, plus he was recognizing my father. It was like all the weird, weird, weird stuff. Unbelievable. It’s all in the book.
[29:02] Crazy, crazy. You got a lot of great stories in this book. I know that. I don’t know if I’m doing it justice and you’re following if I’m giving too much detail. That’s exactly what I want. We don’t want to give it all away, but there’s no way as big as this, as thick as this book is, guys, there’s no way he’s going to tell all the stories. No matter how many stories you tell, Greg, there’s going to be a whole lot more in this book. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I’ll tell you, it’s just a taste.
[29:27] These are really great stories. Yeah. Now, little pussy in the end, what kind of an end did he come to?
[29:33] Well, okay. So it was during the time that he was having this gang war with this drug ring, independent drug ring. And everybody thought that the independent the drug ring had killed him but it wasn’t he was killed by his own people because his chauffeur was a guy by the name of patrick pazuto patrick pazuto now patrick pazuto he met in in jail they were they were bunkmates and he was a very tough guy patrick pazuto he was not a mob guy he was not a mob guy he was a he was a gunman you know a stick-up man yeah but but he was a tough guy and he used to do favors for Pussy in jail, you know, go get him his meals. Pussy Russo was illiterate, by the way. He couldn’t read or write. So Patrick Pizzuto, who happened to be very intelligent, by the way, very, very intelligent and a tough guy, would write all his letters, read all his letters. And at one time, Pussy Russo, who was in jail at the same time with his second in command, a guy by the name of Babe Miraglia, were stabbed by the black population.
[30:37] And who came to their, to their, to their rescue was Patrick Pizzuto. And throughout a couple of weeks, he stabbed a couple of black guys in jail and all that. Anyway, when they both got out of jail at the same time, and he immediately went to work for him as a chauffeur. Now, again, a chauffeur is always a stepping stone to a big… Oh, yeah. So…
[30:58] So now they’re battling this drug ring and they set up a guy to get killed. He gets killed. They forgot to wipe the fingerprints off the car. Patrick Pizzuto was one of the guys on the hit. Went back to the location at a rest stop after the murder and wiped it down. And then based on the fact that it took place in a murder and that he went and wiped down the thing and really put his life on a line twice in one day. Yeah pussy russo put him up for induction official right and then unfortunately.
[31:34] He got caught patrick brazuto with an old indictment from the 60s before he even met pussy russo he had he had robbed a grocer an 81 year old grocer up in posaic and then the guy, lunged at him he shot him and killed him and he had been able to stay you know stave off the the prosecution but now they had him dead to rights so he actually turned state’s evidence against the mob this is right towards the end of the of the of the warring faction over the drug ring so what ends up happening is the head of the genovese crime family from new york sent word down to richie the boot that pussy russo had to go no matter how much money he was able to generate and he was able to generate a lot of money for the family but the fact that he almost was you know a hair
[32:22] away from letting in a guy that just turned state’s evidence he had to go. So most people thought it was the drug ring that killed him, but it wasn’t. It was his own people. So his two very good friends came to Long Branch, and they whacked him out right in his great Long Branch here at his apartment. Yeah, that’s a great story. They found him surrounded by stuffed cats. Right, exactly.
[32:45] Crazy, crazy, crazy. Gregory Macalino. I’m looking forward to really getting into this book. And I know my little friend Eddie is going to be reading this too. We’ll be passing this around. Great. I really appreciate that you put all this together. Like I said, this is not covered that much. Five families up there are covered too much almost. And I cover them too much, but there’s so many great stories. But now I moved down into New Jersey. I’ll probably go through this and maybe come up with another show or two out of your book. I’ll give you credit. I’ll make sure I let them know that I got this out of there. I was thumbing through there. I see Bruce Springsteen’s name. You know, he was, did he ever play your club? I guess you didn’t have his club until after he got big tied, did he? Yeah. As a matter of fact, I was there now. Listen, this is, I was at the time I was actually underage. I didn’t know it then. I said, I’m a musician and I used to play at that club, the Brighton bar all the time. And I was always using my brother’s ID, but when he played there a couple of times, Bruce, and I was there one time. Yeah. So we have a wall of fame and it’s now in my basement. I took it because, you know, I sold the place because of a pandemic. I owned it for 26 years, but I sold, I sold, but I have, he’s on the wall, he’s there. And, you know, he, his wife.
[34:02] Was Next Door Neighbors with Pussy Russo. I mean, literally, her family lived right there. Really? That Patty Scaffo? Yeah. And as I say in the book, you know, Bruce sings about the pink Cadillac. There’s only one that had a pink Cadillac convertible, and that was Pussy Russo.
[34:20] Interesting. I know he has a pretty good one about Atlantic City. That’s a pretty good one. He’s got a pretty good mob song. And not a lot of songs about the mob, but that’s a good one. I agree. I agree. Yeah.
[34:33] And, and, and Pussy Russo was like, you know, was in with all those guys with Angelo Bruno and Nicky Scarfo. He did time. They became really good friends. So, you know. Yeah. That’s another little explored aspect is that connection with Philly. Yeah. Atlantic City. That’s right. New Jersey and New York. I mean, they were really all intertwined with each other. Exactly. And you, and you do know that the Philly mob also has an outpost in Newark. They have a little section of Newark as well. Oh, I didn’t realize. Oh, as a matter of fact, Angelo Bruno, who was killed, I’m sure you know that, he was killed by his own consigliere who was running Newark for him. Okay. A guy by the name of Tony Banan Cabanigro. Okay. Oh, yeah. Okay. I remember that name now. I’m trying to put that together. There’s so much sometimes runs through my head. I can’t remember it all, but I do remember that name, Cabanigro. So that’s why those names I probably have butchered in stories in the past. Right, right, right.
[35:39] All right, Gregory, I really appreciate you coming on the show and imparting some of these stories with us. And guys, you got to get out and get this book. It’s just if you want to know about Newark and New Jersey and on down the coast in New Jersey, it’s got it all in there. It’s got it all.
[35:57] And I want to, I want to thank you and I’m honored for being on your show. And by the way, I loved your Bobby Maddo section. That was good.
[36:04] Fantastic. Tons and tons of details that I never knew. Great stuff. Yeah. I worked like, I worked a lot on that one. I actually had a guy from New York help me. He gave me kind of the basis and I went in and, and learned a bunch more. So it was, it was a pretty fascinating story. Yes, definitely. Well, thank you. I enjoyed it. Thanks a lot for coming on this show. Thank you for having me, Gary. Appreciate it. Don’t forget, I like to ride motorcycles. So when you’re out on the streets there and you’re a big F-150, watch out for those little motorcycles when you’re out. If you have a problem with PTSD and you’ve been in the service, be sure and go to the VA website. They’ll help with your drugs and alcohol problem if you’ve got that problem or gambling. If not, you can go to Anthony Ruggiano. He’s a counselor down in Florida. He’s got a hotline on his website. If you’ve got a problem with gambling, most states will have, if you have gambling, most states will have a hotline number to call. Just have to search around for it. You know, I’ve always got stuff to sell. I got my books. I got my movies. They’re all on Amazon. Just go. And I got links down below in the show notes and just go to my Amazon sales page and you can figure out what to do. I really appreciate y’all tuning in and we’ll keep coming back and doing this. Thanks, guys.