The food industry, integral to our basic survival, has long been a focus and target for underworld domination. As far back as Ciro Terranova – infamous as “The Artichoke King” of New York City, who gained a monopoly on the importation and distribution of artichokes – a staple of the Italian dining table – the Mafia has sought to control and monopolize key segments of the food industry.
From the Fulton Fish Market to the Bronx Terminal Market, from the wholesale meat district on Manhattan’s Westside to wholesale food distributors who supply the litany of restaurants, catering houses, diners, pizzerias, and nightclubs that dot the five boroughs and the thousands of retail food shops and chain stores around the greater metropolitan area and beyond, the mob has permeated every single facet of our daily life.
Now don’t get me wrong; the vast, vast majority of these businesses are simply wonderful! They provide the highest quality and products and bring a level of enjoyment to the public that few others could ever match! In fact, I don’t know where we’d be if not for the magnificent influence of the Mafia within the food industry.
I, for one, personally frequent and consume products from many of these companies — so-called mob-owned restaurants and nightspots. And I can tell you that wiseguys know their stuff when it comes to good food.
Having grown up in homes where their grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters, and wives were all wonderful cooks, mob guys typically know their way around the kitchen very well and generally what good food is. So, it’s almost natural that after making some money, they would go into the food business in one fashion or another. It’s very often near and dear to their hearts.
Do they sometimes look for an edge over the competition? Maybe, but ultimately, what comes to your table is top quality! Some of the very best restaurants in the city and its outer environs were, and are, owned by knockaround guys. And the public simply loves it!
