Those Who Would Lead Must First Serve

Go get me an ice cream

               Anthony “Ham” Delasco

History does not record whether the ice cream in question was a Nutty Buddy or a cone of Neapolitan, but when Anthony “Ham” Delasco told young Anthony Accetturo to fetch a cold confection Delasco’s desire for a frosty treat wasn’t really the issue. The issue was the one that sets the context for all others matters on the street—who’s in charge.

Delasco was the guy who said what was what, particularly when that what involved slot machines, the numbers game and loan sharking in his part of North Jersey. Accetturo, who at that point helped to run Delasco’s numbers game and collected the occasional pound of flesh for his shylocking operation, was standing on the corner, cracking wise with his cronies when Delasco sent him on his errand.

Saint Augustine once observed those who would rise must begin by descending, to “first lay the foundation of humility.” Accetturo, who eventually rose to lead the New Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family, later admitted in an interview with Selwyn Raab that the errand had nothing to do with Delasco’s sweet tooth. “I new that if I wanted to to stay with Ham and learn from him he had to have absolute control over me… He had to break me and I took the bit in my mouth.”  Delasco became his Myagi, teaching him the niceties of his chosen craft, such as how to take the wax off of recalcitrant debtors.

Years later Dylan would sing that you need to serve somebody, even if you are “high degree thief.” The irony is that Accetturo would become both a high degree thief and a singer of sorts when, in his dotage, he informed on his colleagues to the feds. His desire to serve a different master was set in motion when Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso—a blood thirsty assassin --broke what Accenturo considered a key principle of La Cosa Nostra by targeting Accetturo’s wife for murder. For Accetturo, service was a two-way street.

  

Wiseguy Wisdom is a guide to personal growth based on books, movies and government tapes.

Love What You Do

Make sure you do everything your supposed to do...Don’t dog it. Stand your ground.

Vincent Asaro

Vincent Asaro, a captain in the Bonanno crime family and a real desperado, is said to have been part of the crew involved in the infamous Lufthansa heist immortalized in the movie Goodfellas. A pro’s pro of sorts, he clearly had an opinion or two about doing your job correctly. In this case, his instructions to his son bring to mind the old observation that the difference between involvement and commitment is the difference between ham and eggs. The chicken was involved but the pig was committed.

A commitment to one’s craft demands a lot. At a minimum it calls for mastering the compulsory figures a job requires, knowing how to do what you’re expected to do and then doing it over and over again. Author Malcolm Gladwell claims it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become a master at something. Practice, he believes, isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing that makes you good.

In the case of the 80 year-old Asaro, what he’s been good at, more or less, is crime. For over 50 years he practiced his craft, performing the compulsory figures of his profession, such as arson, pornography, hijacking, doling out beatings and, in at least one case, strangling a guy with a dog chain, burying the body in a basement in Ozone Park and then arranging to have the body exhumed and reburied.  

To civilians this may sound like a lot of work, but, as fashion designer Christian Louboutin once said, "If you do what you love, it is the best way to relax."

Wiseguy Wisdom is a guide to personal growth based on books, movies and government tapes.

Having Standards Can Make All The Difference

I have killed no men that in the first place didn’t deserve killing...By the standards of our way of life.

                                                         Mickey Cohen

It’s been said that you are what you call yourself and after that it’s just a matter of the degree to which that’s true. Standards, an agreed upon way of doing things and determining how well they are done, help us to parse those degrees in any given profession. Patti Smith once observed that in the arts nothing is a hobby and that each discipline is its own world with its own high standards. Cohen’s world definitely had its own standards.

Mickey Cohen was heir to Bugsy Siegel's criminal empire in mid-century Los Angeles. Addicted to cash, cashmere and ice cream, he was notorious for escorting eponymous starlets, such as Candy Barr and Beverly Hills, through LA’s nightlife. Known for holding cordial conversations with the likes of Billy Graham and Ben Hecht, Cohen could also dispatch guys with names like Itchy, Hooky and Little Jimmy to do his bidding.

The late Helen Thomas, a doyen of the White House press corps, held that standards helped the profession and the public distinguish between a real journalist and just another joker with a laptop. While the recipients of his rough justice would probably disagree, Cohen, as indicated by his comments to journalist Mike Wallace, also saw himself as member of a profession that had certain standards that guided what he could and could not do.

Standards can inform judgement, help to rein in our emotions and keep us from regrets. They alone, however, weren’t able to keep Cohen from becoming a resident of Alcatraz.

Wiseguy Wisdom is a guide to personal growth based on books, movies and government tapes.

Don't Forget The Personal Touch

Tom, don’t let anybody kid you. It’s all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of  **** every man has to eat every day of his life is personal....They call it business but it’s personal as hell.   
Michael Corleone

   

That modern Machiavelli, Dale Carnegie, promoted the idea that prosperity favors the personable. He believed acknowledging the unique talents of another person and their value was a key element of success in business. There are several instances where Puzo’s Corleone demonstrated a similar approach to people and profits. For example, he once admitted to a close associate that he didn’t feel the need to wipe everyone out, just his enemies.

Michael Corleone knew that every time we tell someone to get in the trunk--either figuratively or literally--we are planting a seed that can grow into a grudge--and grudges can be bad for business. This notion applies whether a person’s livelihood involves retail, finance or a truckload of consumer electronics for which there is no receipt.

Corleone’s insight that all business is personal also enabled him to employ what some consider to be the three levels of leadership.

The first level is the ability to get folks to eat dirt. The second level is to get folks to eat dirt and like it. The third level of leadership, by all accounts the most subtle and difficult to master, is the ability to get folks to eat dirt, like it and think it was their own idea.

Wiseguy Wisdom is a guide to personal growth based on books, movies and government tapes.

The Importance Of Really Listening

I tell you, you listen you learn. You talk, you teach.

Paul Castellano

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus held that humans have two ears and one mouth so we could listen twice as much as we speak. Paul Castellano, a former poultry packing executive and associate of the late Carlo Gambino, would  probably concur. Aware of the dangers brought on by unguarded comments, Castellano encouraged associates to be circumspect in their speech.

However, real listening, as author Simon Sinek points out, is more than just waiting for your turn to talk. For Castellano, real listening allowed him to glean as much information as possible from those around him, whether they intended to share it or not, and apply it in a profitable manner. It also kept him in tune with the agendas of rivals and subordinates. As Thelonious Monk once said, “Just because you’re not a drummer, doesn’t mean you don’t have to keep time.”

Castellano lived in a period when many believed a secret was something to be shared with only a person or two. For him, that would be two too many. He was particularly worried that unnecessary chatter would lead to “teaching” trade secrets to those who were not on a need to know basis--such as the FBI.

The irony here is that the reason we have a record of Mr. Castellano’s musings on the need for discretion is because law enforcement had more bugs in his residence than one is likely to find in the proverbial cheap hotel.

Wiseguy Wisdom is a guide to personal growth based on books, movies and government tapes.

Visualization Can Help You Achieve Your Dream

Donnie, as a wiseguy you can lie, you can cheat, you can steal, you can kill people legitimately. You can do any goddamn thing you want and nobody can say anything about it. Who wouldn’t want to be a wiseguy?  
Benjamin “Lefty Guns” Ruggiero

In the words of that Polynesian pundit from South Pacific, Bloody Mary, “If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?” Increasingly, high achievers in sports, business and the arts are attributing at least part of their success to their ability to visualize their goal and how to achieve it.

As a soldier in the Bonanno crime family, Ruggiero achieved success in a number of ways, including bookmaking, extortion and loan sharking. Experience had given him the ability to visualize the different challenges that life might send his way, such as a stick up, a screw up or a line up.

Aristotle once said the soul never thinks without a picture. In Mr. Ruggiero’s case, his soul had a picture of a life well spent scamming, cheating and stealing the pot of gold at the end of someone else’s rainbow.

Unfortunately for Lefty, however, his powers of visualization did not include the ability to see that the mook he knew as Donnie Brasco was really FBI agent Joe Pistone working undercover. That Johnny Depp must really be some actor.

Wiseguy Wisdom is a guide to personal growth based on books, movies and government tapes.

Communication Is Key

You know why  I killed him? He didn’t call when I told him to come in.  

John Gotti

When we communicate we do more than exchange information. Communication also provides an opportunity to acknowledge the contribution others make to our well being. When we make the time and effort to call, email or send a card, we let others know we value the relationship we have with them.

Sincere face-to-face communication, open and accepting, is especially valued by some, since it is less likely to leave a messy paper trail or end up marked as “People’s exhibit 12.”

Van Morrison once said that if you didn’t hear from him, it just meant he didn’t call. Philosopher and therapist Paul Watzlawick took a different position. He believed we cannot not communicate and failing to communicate is in itself a statement on the status of a relationship. Mr. Gotti, a successful plumbing supply salesman from Queens, seemed to concur when he expressed his disappointment that a colleague had failed to take the time to get in touch.

If fact, there are those who contend Mr. Gotti later reached out to the person in question and expressed his disappointment in a manner that was clear, concise and for which there is no emoji.

Wiseguy Wisdom is a guide to personal growth based on books, movies and government tapes.