Anthony Guidice was an associate of the Colombo Crime family who was involved in bookmaking, pornography, and counterfeiting. But it seems his counterfeiting skills weren’t as great as he might have thought. After one bust, authorities described the quality of the “funny money” as awfully funny.
Anthony Guidice was born in 1932 and raised at 102-52 43rd Avenue in Corona, Queens. After he married, by at least the early 1960s, he relocated his family out to 1 Priscilla Lane in Terryville on Long Island.
He was thought to be active in gambling, shylocking, counterfeiting, and pornography distribution. Suffolk County law enforcement identified Guidice as being allied in a bookmaking ring with Felice (Philly Cigars) Vizzari under the auspices of capo John (Sonny) Franzese.
In May 1967, he was arrested for running a bookmaking ring that accepted over $1,000 a day in bets while working at a Port Jefferson Taxi Cab company as a dispatcher.
In 1968, he was one of three men nabbed by Secret Service agents for operating a “funny money” ring throughout the New York metropolitan area. Soon, federal authorities picked up a fourth member of the operation, Joseph Marulli, adding him to the indictment.
Guidice, who was considered the “boss” of the operation, and his associates, Anthony Fontana of Sound Beach, Peter Myers of Long Island City in Queens, and Marulli of Centereach, were arrested in Brentwood, Long Island after a month-long investigation into the counterfeiting gang. Fontana was named as an enforcer and aide of Guidice’s while Marulli and Myer were considered “passers” for the ring. All three were charged with aiding and abetting Guidice in the sale of counterfeit money.
Side Note: Guidice was additionally charged with possessing pornography after the agents who raided his house with a search warrant looking for more evidence of counterfeiting discovered several boxes full of new porno-film reels awaiting sale and distribution.
The men were accused of passing phony $10 bills that one Secret Service agent described as being of very poor quality. Both the texture of the paper used to print on and the printing design itself was of such a quality that it was easily detected. Hence, they started their probe after victim store owners had complained to the authorities.
The trio was said to have obtained the phony currency from sources in New York City for re-distribution out on Long Island. They offered the bills to small-time thieves and drug addicts at the rate of $160 of “good” money for every $400 in “bad” money sold. Guidice and Fontana were both specifically charged with making hand-to-hand sales on multiple occasions to an undercover federal agent.
They were all convicted after a five-day jury trial. Guidice was convicted on six counts of possession and sale of counterfeit money. The others were convicted on lesser counts. They each faced maximum jail terms of 15 years and a $5,000 fine on each count.
Between 1967 and 1969, Guidice had been repeatedly arrested for bookmaking, assault, grand larceny, possession of pornographic material, and the possession and sale of counterfeit currency. He was convicted on all but the assault charge which had been dismissed. He served a federal prison term on forgery-related charges after his counterfeiting conviction.
No more was ever heard from Guidice after he was released from jail. It’s believed he may have relocated to the Westchester area. No DOD available.
Until next time…”The Other Guy”
