Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 29, 1973, Winnipeg, Manitoba Wok Kim Fth ftb5. Satt pay. Seth melt my life of the mafia 7 stores buy goods by Vincent Tekesa with Thomas c. A enter from fit Bode my life in a Errisu by Cartes tuft a and Bora c. Renaer Pue Tishea by Day la. To Teresa s table at the ebb tide came an endless Parade of Petty thieves and Iran shark debtors bubbling with ideas de signed to free them of their mounting debts. Teresa often smiled As the Earnest schemes unfolded. But unlike Many mob people who brushed aside the ideas of Small time thieves Teresa listened carefully. Listening Cost him nothing and on occasion an idea or tip or an inadvertent disclosure was converted into action and Cash. One night this Guy comes to see me at the ebb tide. He s in deep to the Loans barks and he s paying off his debts by set Ting up thefts where he worked the Gillette safety razor company warehouse in Boston. Now it in t known to a lot of straight people but razor Blades Are a big mob Racket. They make millions for us. We steal them by the thou Sands and sell them to drug stores supermarkets and other outlets across the country. No one asks questions when you re Selling them by the Case at a big discount. The store owners Don t want to know. They just want to make a Quick Buck like everyone else. I think that s one reason Why it s almost impossible to kill the mob. They grow and thrive because they use the greed of the average Guy the businessman in particular. Everyone s looking to save and make a Buck that the govern m e n t does t know about. Razor Blades was just one of hundreds of stolen goods we peddled to so called legitimate businessmen. This Guy up any heists for a while. When i asked Why not he said that Gillette was switching from one Type of Blade to an other and that it would be a few weeks before Large enough stocks of the new Blades would be available so that heists could be arranged without any one noticing what was going on. I asked the Guy what happened to the stocks of old Blades they had in the Ware House. He said they had been shipped to a Salvage outfit in Boston Harbor to be dumped at from a Barge. At least two truckloads of Blades Hadi after a Little discussion Over been sent to this Salvage com a the situation we agreed on a Pany. I figured Gillette should have its head examined for throwing away merchandise like that. I mean i had a ready Market for those loads. So i got the name of the outfit and the next Day i went to see the owner. He had the Blades All loaded on the Barge and ready to go. What Are you going to do with All the i asked. He shrugged been paid to dump them at he answered Deal 1 guaranteed him that Gillette would never know what happened. He d get paid by Gillette for dumping them and we d pay him a half a cell a Blade. There were of lax inspection of Homes protested Thompson Man. Staff mayor Tom Farrell is filing protest with the Central to Gage and housing Corporal Here and in Winnipeg regain working inside Gillette we called him a 10 percenter because we gave him 10 per cent of whatever he helped us steal and marked that much off his loan shark Bill. Every week and some times More than once a week this Guy would set aside ten or twelve cases of razor Blades for us to pick up with a truck. We d just drive up to the plan form Load up the truck As though we were picking up a Thomspon Homes which a far below the City s build ii requirements bylaw it a announced Here Friday. The mayor was requested take this action at the Regula City Council meeting thursday night after the matter a raised by Alderman Dale till ing. The houses in question a on Mitis to Bay in the Burn Wood subdivision wer built by the now defunct Cus torn Home builders during 197 72. A Chc inspector cer tilled the bindings on nov. 1 1972. On the Strenth of thei approval the mortgage holders the Bank of Nova Scotia pro ceded to support the up chases in the Sale transaction after repeated reports Fri the purchasers of. Excessive moisture an living room Walls cracking the City inspector Tony j. Niemi conducted a full investigation. Among the 13 contravention of City bylaw no. 520 which is based on the National building 2odb were the crawl space is no graded to Drain surface water of the catch Basin which is the cause of dump Ness. And Down order and drive off. Now each Case contained thousands of razor Blades. They came ten Blades to a package and each package sold in the drugstores and supermarkets for about a package. On a package aim us Vii spouts must be installed am downspouts connected directly to the storm sewers. This is required to prevent excessive drainage of storm water into the crawl space. The floor system is Ana ire Ealoms. The ratification and Hie re Hulting publicity was seen As n Effort to halt criticism lout the soviet Union s denial f human rights and to influx nce voting on a pending so it american Trade Bill on. Like razor Blades there s no Way to Trace film and there were businessmen standing in line waiting to bu3 our loads at half Price or less finally Polaroid moved to n e w location. Security a murder there and we could razor Blades those by approved up ski loads the Way we might be making thirty Are at 24-Inch centres were 19gg before. So we turned to a forty cents at most. We d of 16 Inch. The floor by the general method. We had our 1c to Iceni that same package beam should be on civil and political Center Tell us when a fifty cents so they could Grade on economic social of film was moving on each package if they wanted to. We had a the House plans but on site the Bottom of the beam rights. Many of the provisions of of the Plant and what route it was taking. Then we d i list of drugstores tha t documents such As the truck on the Highway take All the razors we the sub floor is of of speech press Lake the stuff Down to a come up with As fast As five eights of an Inch already. Are farm in severe. Each could get them. When it should the soviet Constitution would have at least one night the 10 per of an Inch Are not honoured in skids of film on it. In came to me at the ebb tide joists Are 24 inches Union or Are hours Arthur s said he would t be Able to Niemi Felt that would have shelves filled cracking of the living room Walls is caused by the carpark piling which is not As heavy or placed As deep in the ground As the piling on the main pan of the House and consequently heaves More readily in the Frost. What is concerning the Thompson authorities and Pur chasers of the Homes is who will pay for the corrections. Normally it would fall to the occupants but in this Case where the Chc inspection in he View of the Council was so a they must be prepared to ear the responsibility. The occupants will remain in the Homes pending the put come of the City s negotiations Vith Chc. Blades. We sold the Blades for t cents each. My share alone came to Twenty grand on the two truckloads and at least three other Guys were involved and got almost As much out of it As i did. We packaged the Blades in new boxes and shipped them to Philadelphia where we unloaded them through Jack Slace. He s new York City s biggest Fence. There in t anything he can t sell for you from diamonds and furs to securities ant razor Blades. The Guy is in credible. He s Worth millions and mobs from All Over the country use him to unload Sto Len goods. The razor Blade operation was a helluva Good score and we would never have pulled in off if that kid had t owed me Money and come in to Tell me what was happening at Gil letter that company must have taken a real Bath in Philadel p h i a their salesmen must have gone crazy trying to Fig ure out Why All the stores had ratifying of pacts hailed Moscow the communist parly daily pravda ailed Friday soviet Satifka on of two United nations so Many of the old Blades in Stock to sell at discounts when the new Blades hit the Market. We had a similar operation going at the Polaroid camera company when it was located on Atlantic Avenue in Boston. We a Black Man working at the warehouse who was in Hock to us up to his Eyeteeth. He paid up his Bills by setting up whole skids filled with to a warehouse each skid it s called a skid Row contains a Hundred cases of film. The skid is it can be picked up with a Blade truck and carried to a truck Llinat s used to transport Hie film All Over the country. One skid alone is Worth fifty grand or More now. It contained six teen thousand or seventeen thousand Small packages of Lam and each one of those for three Bucks in the stores. We could sell ski loads 1 Twenty five to thirty grand with f pm Selling at a i scout we used Arthur s to unload lot of our razor Blades too. Hijacking is big business for the mob. Most of the Jack loads whether it s cigarettes liquor furs appliances or food Are shipped by tie mob to discount stores i own or have connections with. That s Why it s almost impossible to Trace Down a i jacket Load. The stuff has a read Market waiting for it and in a matter of hours it s distributed. Hijacking is big business wherever you go in the country. In new England though we almost never use guns. It s too dangerous. Peo ple can get Hurt. We concen trate on the 10 percenter. Most of the Drivers and a lot of the warehousemen Are Gam Biers. They lost their salaries at mob card and Dice games and the games Are usually rigged. They get in a Hole and they Start borrowing from the loan Sharks. Then you have them. They can never get even never pay off All they owe because the juice mounts up. That s when you Start the squeeze. They have a Choice. Broken legs or arms a threat against the family or provide us with information on truck loads of goods they re hauling. Haroid film on platform. Now we Promise from arrest. To protect them we arrange for Reading role in the internal i o n a 1 struggle for human All Day to fences. The film was the hottest product the mob could Lay its too Muc is the Price of a Manitoba Golden sweepstakes football draw ticket. And it lot of value for the Money. First it buys Many excellent chances to very big Cash Prues on three Early Bird draws and nine final draw prizes including the grand prize of that s what it can do Foi second part of the proceeds from the Sale the tickets assist various clubs in Manti Alize the completion of sortie of their cherished Community and helps offer services they might not otherwise Able to to finance. And this helps i Ito a grow into a better place to live. Put you on a very Good thing the Manitoba Golden sweepstakes Good for you Manitoba them to Park the truck at a certain spot and steal the Load while the Driver is eating or we arrange to Stop him on the Highway tie him up and leave Liim in the empty truck when we be finished unloading it. When the cops find him he gives them a phoney Story about being held up and de scribes three or four Guys dressed in stocking masks or something like that so he can t describe faces. The technique s used All Over the country not just new England. Most so called hijacks with guns never happened that Way. It was All set up before by the mob. Cigarettes were a popular item. They still Are. They la always be a hot product As Long As the states keep raising the Ante on cigarette taxes. I could get rid of a truckload of cigarettes in a matter of hours. I d give the thieves seventy five cents a Carton and double my Money Selling it to fences or discount stores in Boston and Revere and Providence. The discount store owners were Griedier than the mob. They d buy All you could get them no questions asked whether it was liquor men s and women s clothing furs television Sels appliances or shoes. I could have sold ten trailer loads of goods a Day if cd had them available particularly around the christinas holidays. These so called Hon est businessmen would just put Jie goods on the counter and sell them at discounts to shop pers who came in looking for what they thought was a legitimate Deal. One of my Best outlets for really find goods like furs Coats and High class clothing arid diamonds was a provi Dence Fence known As Alfredo the Blind pig Rossi. He was a Bald headed Man about live foot five on the heavy Side and Blind As a Bat legally Blind. He idolized Tameleo and Patriarca and they protected aim. Everyone in the mob was ordered to Deal squarely with him or. Else. He was an Amaz character. He sold his hot clothes from the cellar his Home in Providence. When you went into the cellar there were Racks of clothes arid furs and Coats the length of the House. Each one had a Las on it. A 250-Buck suit might sell sixty five Bucks a full length Mink coat Worth three grand would go for eight Hundred Bucks Mink jackets sold for two Hundred Bucks and stoles went for seventy five Bucks. Now you d think a Blind Guy like this could be taken advantage of by the people who were buying his stuff. Not on your life. You d bring a suit a coat or a sweater to him he d feel it and Tell you exactly what Price was on the tag. When a mob Guy would bring him a hot coat to sell he d feel it blow on Tho fur a Little bit and Tell you to the Penny what it was Worth. With diamonds of course it was different. He could t Tell the color so you lad to Tell him about that. If i of lied Tameleo would have lad you whacked out in a min Ute. But you d hand Alfredo he Diamond he d hold it for a second and Tell you within a Point How Many Karats it weighed. But the thing that rugged me the most about him was the Way to could Tell the Merence Between the Denom lations of Bills. I still Don t understand How he did it. If i handed him a ten Buck Bill and Aid it was a Twenty he d say come on Vinnie Don t kid around Titis is a ten Buck Lill All the time he was feel n g the edges where the lumbers were. It was in Anny. His place was known Ivery where. Cops judges poli icons and just Plain Joes wild come in to buy stuff hey knew he handled Only High class merchandise and no us asked questions. Monday fixing horse Isaccs White drugs 394 Portage ave Between Eaton s the Bay phone 9434446 specials in effect till october 6 a Nirol shampoo in 1.39 with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. I gravel tablets 1.39 with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 1.1 200 of. With this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 6 1 1.09.1 14 of. With this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. T Rowntree s chocolates Fin ii Quality 11b.jj with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 6 panty Hose first Quality 2 pair 7 with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 8 arrid extra dry Spray deodorant with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 6 Al Colgate tooth paste 100 ml.0v with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 6 is soft que Bath Oil beads .99 with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 6 31 Coric Idin tablets 70c 7 24 f with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 8 Gillette stainless Blades 70c 7 with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 6 Ani Isol suppositories or Auniol with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. T Vicks vap rub 1.38 with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 6 anacin tablets t is with this Coupon Coupon expires sat., oct. 6 1c prescription service available photo finishing 25% off we Are now offering lower prices on the developing and printing of your film instead of providing so called free compare our Low prices save on is 127, 120, 620 Sugg. 1.32 is 126 12 Sugg. 1.32 is 126 20 Sugg. Retail. 1.69 1.29 is 135 20 Sugg. Retail. 1.69 1.29 Kodachrome ii super 8 movie film 464p Sugg. Retail. 4.98 3.69 Kodo Chrome k or Kex 135-36. Sugg. 6.32 4.49 Kodachrome 35 my 20 exposure k-135-20 or Kex 135-20. Sugg. Retail. 4.22 3.09 Kex 126 20 Sugg. 4.22 3.09 flood Rome sex 126 20 or 135 20. Sugg. Retail. 2.43 1.77 save on Polaroid films Polaroid Type 87 Sugg. 2.50 Polaroid Type 88 Sugg. Retail. 3.69 Polaroid Type 107 Sugg. Retail. 3.35 2.49 Polaroid Type 108 color Sugg. 6.45 4.59 . Disposable Needles 40 or 80 nulls 30 a. Miss Breck hair Spray 16 of. Triv sol drops 50 cd. 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