Rob the Mob Part 1

Rob the Mob Movie

In this first of a 2-part series, Gary and Aaron reveal that John Gotti inspired the Bonnie and Clyde couple made famous for robbing New York City mafia social clubs. The story was made into a crime film in 2014. Rob the Mob was directed by Raymond De Felitta and written by Jonathan Fernandez. The film stars Michael Pitt, Nina Arianda, Andy García, Ray Romano, Aida Turturro, Frank Whaley, Michael Rispoli, and Joseph R. Gannascoli and is based on a true story. It was released on March 21, 2014.

Rob the Mob: The Real Story

Rob the Mob begins in 1992 when a drug addict ex-con named Tommy Uva got a job with his wife and fellow drug addict Rosemarie at a debt collection agency. The boss, Michael Schussel, would later say that they were both were entranced with Gotti and the mafia. He described the pair as Mafia groupies who had at one time asked for days off to attend the trial of the Gambino boss John Gotti.  The movie suggests that was where Tommy Uva got the idea because Sammy the Bull testified that mob guys played high stakes card games and never carried guns inside the social clubs. Sammy the Bull did testify at that trial and it would be probable that he would say something like this.  Gotti was in a trial during the spring of 1992.

Why pick Mafia social clubs

Like most drug addicts, the  Rob the Mob couple made decisions based on their chemical feelings of invincibility and never thought ahead to the future or to the consequences of their actions. It is said that in one club, as he was brandishing his heist weapon of choice, an Uzi sub-machine gun, one of his victims pointed out the foolhardy nature of his choice of robbery venues. He looked at the man through his ski mask and replied: “Everybody dies.” The movie depicts Tommy trying to figure out what to do with a fully automatic Uzi and having trouble with his first robbery by accidentally firing off long bursts. When you fire a long burst from an automatic weapon, the continuous recoil moves the barrel up. This is one technical depiction that the film got right.

Many people asked why they picked these social clubs and one New York reporter said, “Maybe they were just plain stupid.

After they got started doing these robberies, the stress took its toll. Rosemarie fainted at work after people were passing around a newspaper that contained an article about one of their robberies. Tommy would be fired for fighting with Rosemarie at work.




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12 thoughts on “Rob the Mob Part 1”

  1. Stephen Lee Cullity

    Listening 2 the 97th minute of the 2hrs n I think u might have spent 6 minutes talking about the uva couple

    1. Well, I did not realize we spent so little time on them as persons. I guess we focused on the mafia guys too much. I think most fans want to know about the mob guys and how they reacted. Plus we wanted to compare the movie with the real events. The movie dealt with their relationship quite a bit.

      1. Anthony Joseph Uva

        Yous wanna kno the real story call me get in touch with me ok I’ll set that straight real quick Gary

        1. Thank you for your comments, although you did call me a lot of names. Seems like the guys who killed him might be better targeted for your anger. I am just trying to tell the story working with the news reports I can find and compare and contrast to the movie. Just respond with a more accurate story if you want and I will see if I can get a podcast episode out of that to correct anything I got wrong.

  2. You stupid mother fucker my uncle tommy didn’t give a fuck about dying get your facts straight you stupid cunt wanna be u give Italians a bad name u scumbag low life cocksucker get ur facts straight douche bag

    1. Yeah, reading your comment, I can see that it is definitely others that give Italians a bad name, and certainly not you, lol.

  3. Sorry, i didn’t mean to be rude. I was just fascinated at eho would be that stupid. They lived in the same neighborhood and used their own car. Holy Jesus

  4. Clement L McMurray

    I liked this movie very much, because it made very clear how difficult it was for gang land people to face the burdon of knowing how to handle all the secreacy of Organized Crime, without writing down some of the information.

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