Mob Labor Racketeer: George (Georgie) Papageorge

Despite his Greek heritage, George Papageorge became an intimate of key members of New York’s Italian underworld -- especially those connected to Profaci Family capodecina Sonny Franzese of whose crew law enforcement authorities say Papageorge was a longtime member.

George (Georgie) Papageorge -- aka The Greek -- was born in New York City on July 10, 1922. He was raised and reared and lived the better part of his life in Queens County. While he was still just a boy, Papageorge’s mother died. Thereafter, he and his kid sister, Estelle, were raised by their widowed father, Ignatius, in a small second-floor apartment above a storefront in the Kew Gardens section, at 82-66 Austin Street.

George Papageorge (circa late 1960s)

By the early 1930s, Ignatius -- a shoemaker by trade -- moved with his children one neighborhood over to the town of Corona, where they rented a small apartment at 34-21 102nd Street.

George attended the New York City public school system and reportedly got as far as the eighth grade before dropping out permanently, in favor of looking for a job.

34-21 102nd St., Corona

By the time he was in his mid-teens, Papageorge was working a series of odd jobs. This soon allowed the young man to save up enough money so that by the time he had turned eighteen, he had already moved out of the family home and was now living on his own, renting studio apartments in the nearby neighborhoods of Woodside and Elmhurst.

By 1940 or so, George decided to try his hand at bartending. As it would turn out, it was a very pivotal decision, because, over the course of his lifetime, the bar and nightclub industry would figure very prominently into his life, both socially and business-wise.

In 1942, during WWII, he registered for the U.S. Armed Forces. On his draft card, he listed his address as 39-34 65th Street, Woodside. He also stated he was then employed by the A & P Tea Company, 75-15 Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights.

As a young man, George Papageorge stood 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed a slender 140 pounds. He had a light complexion, sported brown eyes and a full head of dark brown hair, which, by his early 50s had turned salt-n-pepper. Although he would put on a few pounds as he aged, by his early eighties, old photographs still show Papageorge with a slim build and a full head of hair, which had turned completely white by then.

Joy Riding

In 1941, the eighteen-year-old, along with three of his buddies, was arrested in the State of Florida on charges relating to auto theft.

New York Police charged young Papageorge and his friends with having stolen an automobile from a local Queens resident and then “joy riding” all the way down to St. Petersburg, Florida, before later stripping the car for its parts and selling them for money.

Florida authorities detained the quartet before shipping them back to New York to face the music. The quartet was each found guilty of interstate auto theft and grand larceny. But because of Papageorge's youth and the fact that it was his first offense, the judge gave him a suspended sentence.

It was the first time, but not the last, that Papageorge would see the inside of a jail cell.

Rubbing Elbows with Mob Gentry

As a youth growing up in Queens, it’s believed that Papageorge befriended many young criminals and hoodlums who would grow up to later become key members of New York’s infamous Five Families as well as young Irish toughs who later gravitated to the city’s resident Irish Mob -- notoriously referred to as “The Arsenal Gang.”

This would be Papageorge’s ticket and entry into the world of organized crime.

His main stomping grounds were the neighborhoods dotting Queens Boulevard and nearby Roosevelt Avenue, both of which were populated with hundreds of little gin mills and nightclubs, as well as top-notch restaurants and little eateries in lively neighborhoods like Astoria, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Corona, Rego Park, and Forest Hills.

During the 1940s through 1960s era, these neighborhoods were considered to be among the city’s top entertainment districts, especially along the corridors of Queens Blvd., Roosevelt Avenue, and 37th Avenue.

Hijacking and Other Pasttimes

By at least the early 1950s, Papageorge had been identified by the New York City Police Department as an underworld figure. And by 1955, he had become a police target.

On July 22, 1955, Papageorge was one of nine suspects arrested by New York City Detectives for their involvement in a long series of heists and hijackings that included a $100,000 fur robbery in Manhattan.

Police said that the arrests followed an intensive four-month investigation that even took them across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.

Aside from Papageorge, police identified those arrested as Terrence Moriarty, Richard Langone, Lewis Sylvester, Charles Rehn, Joseph Vitacco , John Lusterino , Louis Arcuri, and James Surrago.

July, 1955 (L-R): John Lusterino, Joseph Vitacco and Richard Langone get booked for armed robbery.

The authorities said that on March 3rd, a truck hauling 5,000 canned hams valued at $22,000 was hijacked off a Manhattan street during which time its driver, Moriarty, was kidnapped. But police say the kidnapping was only a fake abduction to throw investigators off the trail.

Police said they first became suspicious of Moriarty after allegedly learning that he was spending large sums of money. After further investigation, police picked Moriarty up for questioning. He subsequently admitted the robbery was a hoax and that he had agreed to participate in the hijacking for a percentage of the loot. He named Langone and Surrago as his accomplices.

Subsequently, Langone and Surrago were charged with the ham truck hijacking. They were also hit with criminal counts of grand larceny and conspiracy.

On May 6th, another hijacking took place in Manhattan during which a truckload of prime steaks and beef valued at $9,000 was stolen. In that robbery, the truck’s driver, Clementi Napolitano, was also kidnapped.

Then, on May 17th, there was a holdup at the Bobby Brown Furs, Inc., 307 Seventh Avenue, Manhattan, in which three armed bandits bound and gagged six victims. The thieves then reportedly spent an hour inside the showroom packing over $100,000 in mink stoles and coats into cartons before making a clean escape with their haul.

In a funny twist to the case, police say that Vitacco was among a group of American tourists whom plainclothes detectives followed on a vacation cruise ship to Italy in connection with the $350,000 holdup of the Woodside Bank in Woodside, Queens.

However, the authorities say they already had Vitacco under surveillance in connection with the fur robbery. Langone and Lusterino were also named as Vitacco’s accomplices in that robbery. They were each charged with assault and armed robbery.

Papageorge -- who was 33 years old at the time --- was specifically accused of being one of the four armed men who hijacked the $9,000 meat shipment. When he was arrested, he gave his home address as 89-20 161st Street, South Ozone Park.

His three accomplices were Louis (Lou Curry) Arcuri , Lewis Sylvester, and Charlie Rehn, who was a known member of the aforementioned Arsenal Gang.

The four suspects were specifically accused of having accosted the driver of the meat delivery truck on a Manhattan Street, forcing him to pull over to the side of the desolate road at gunpoint.

Detectives said that two of the hijackers then drove the truck away while their two accomplices handcuffed the driver, holding him captive at gunpoint for several hours until their associates made a clean getaway and had safely unloaded the meat into a safe house. Only then did they eventually uncuff and release the truck driver on a desolate street corner in Whitestone, Queens.

After gathering up enough evidence, detectives reportedly nabbed the quartet while they sat inside a parked automobile one afternoon at the corners of 46th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.

Authorities said they found a fully loaded .32 caliber pistol during a search of the car.

At the time of their arraignment, the Court’s Magistrate initially ordered Papageorge and Langone held without bail in Felony Court. Vitacco and Lusterino were held in lieu of $50,000 bail each, and bail was set at $25,000 for Arcuri, Sylvester and Rehn. Moriarty and Surrago were held for arraignment the following day.

Eventually, defense lawyers were able to work out lower bail packages for Papageorge, Arcuri, Rehn, Vitacco, and the others, and they were released from the lockup for a later court date. But defendant Lewis Sylvester was held without bail for a later hearing.

All the defendants were later convicted during jury trials, and each was sentenced to serve a prison term.

The judge sent Papageorge away on a 1- to 2-year jail term to be served at Elmira Penitentiary in upstate New York.

Side Note: Many of the defendants in this case were later identified as Mafia members or associates, including Joseph (JoJo) Vitacco, who was a soldier of the Joseph Profaci Family. John (Johnny Tarzan) Lusterino, Richard (Mikey) Langone, James Rocereto and Louis (Louie) Musto were later identified as mob associates thought to have been part of a crew led by a notorious up-and-coming mafioso by the name of John (Sonny) Franzese .

John (Sonny) Franzese

Louis (Lou Curry) Arcuri was a known hoodlum and subordinate of Profaci Family capo Sebastian (Buster) Aloi . Another “connected” hoodlum was Alfonso (Al Palmer) Palma.

In connection with the famous Woodside Bank robbery, among those arrested in that case included a Queens-based DeCavalcante Family soldier named Frank (Big Frankie) Cocchiaro , and John O’Connell, a local tavern owner from Elmhurst who was a known member of the Irish mob.

Love and Marriage

When he was first establishing himself in the early 1940s, Papageorge met a young Greek girl, two years his junior (born 1924), named Helen Tzineris. They started dating, and it quickly turned serious. George and Helen were married in a civil court ceremony in Queens County on June 14, 1946.

Soon afterwards, in early 1947, Helen gave birth to their first child, a son. They would eventually have three children together. In the coming years, they were also blessed with two daughters.

George and Helen relocated to another apartment with their growing family. They chose a pretty little apartment located at 89-20 161st Street in the South Ozone Park section of the borough.

89-20 161st St., South Ozone Park

But by late 1950s, the family needed more space, so they relocated to a larger second-floor apartment nearby, at 82-26 229th Street, in Queens Village.

Over the next decade, George and Helen moved several times to apartments around the same area, including 224-14 Stronghurst Avenue, Jamaica.

By the early 1960s, they had three kids in tow, and their current living quarters were cramped. So they relocated back to Queens Village, where they found a larger apartment at 85-36 217th Street. This is where George and Helen would reside for the next thirty years.

He Knew Everybody

During his long career as a hoodlum and later as a union official, Papageorge was said to have gotten to know many members of the local underworld, especially mob figures connected to the Joseph Profaci Family -- later renamed as the Joseph Colombo Family.

As mentioned, he was believed to be most closely allied to the notorious Sonny Franzese and other key members and associates of that crew, including Joseph Vitacco, Lawrence (Larry Baccala) Abbandando, Albert (Al) Maione , and Joseph (Joe Bella Nap) Vito.

But if Papageorge was Colombo “oriented” -- throughout his lifetime he also befriended and interacted with many other gangsters all across the city, including such men as Frank (Big Frankie) Cocchiaro, Louis (Louie Beans) Foceri , and Anthony (Tony the Sheik) Carillo -- known members of the DeCavalcante, Lucchese and Genovese Families, respectively.

Still others included Frank (Machine-Gun Sonny) Campbell, Joseph (Red) McGinnity, and brothers John and Raymond O’Connell. Each of these men was closely connected to the city’s so-called Irish Mob.

And aside from the occasional truck hijacking and robbery, over the years Georgie was known to have also dabbled in bookmaking, gambling, and other racket-type activities.

Labor Racketeering

A longtime bartender by trade, Papageorge became intimately familiar with numerous workers and operators in the restaurant and nightclub industry over the years, as well as many of the labor officials active in trying to organize employees to join the bartenders' union.

By the late 1950s and early 1960s, these industry associations eventually led him to help spearhead the Profaci/Colombo Family’s incursion into labor-union racketeering in the restaurant industry in Queens County and Nassau County, Long Island.

Thereafter, and for years to come, Papageorge and certain segments of the Colombo mob became actively engaged in various racketeering schemes, including shaking down restaurants, bars, and nightclubs under the threat of strikes and unionization and selling labor “peace” through so-called “sweetheart contracts” entered into with businesses that favored management’s interests over those of company workers.

In fact, Papageorge was so active as a labor racketeer that in the spring of 1964, he was singled out in a five-part Newsday investigative series aptly titled “How Hoods Gobble Up Restaurants” that first exposed Cosa Nostra’s growing infiltration of Long Island’s legitimate businesses, including its fast-developing nightclub and restaurant industry.

The newspaper identified Papageorge as a top “lieutenant” of mob boss John (Sonny) Franzese and a key operative in the mob’s “push” into various liquor-licensed establishments operating along the Hempstead Turnpike corridor in Franklin Square, and a section of Old Country Road encompassing the towns of Westbury, Mineola and Carle Place -- referred to by locals simply as “The Strip.”

George Papageorge (circa 1980s)

By that point, Papageorge’s reputation was such that Newsday reported the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) had revoked the liquor licenses of three different Franklin Square restaurants and bars because investigators were able to trace Papageorge's financial investments in those establishments to Papageorge, whom they identified as “a trusted lieutenant of Franzese.”

The newspaper article continued, with Newsday stating, “Papageorge then shifted his operations to a popular Old Country Road restaurant in mid-Nassau. The restaurant was managed by another Franzese lieutenant. This mid-Nassau restaurant also specialized in supplying prostitutes for customers and is expected to be named in expected Nassau County vice-ring indictments.”

The restaurant described in the article was The Clam Box Restaurant & Lounge, located on Old Country Road in Westbury. Located less than a half-mile from Roosevelt Raceway, The Clam Box quickly became another popular watering hole and nightly hangout for underworld figures.

Other local licensed premises mob figures frequented included Conrad’s Restaurant, Jericho Lounge, Bella Napoli Restaurant, The Cloud Room, The Westbury Chef, and Val Anthony’s, among dozens of other popular restaurants and nightspots.

A year earlier, in 1963, investigators with the Federal Department of Labor Racketeering and the Office of Nassau County District Attorney William Cahn investigated an underworld attempt by Papageorge and other hoodlums to infiltrate and seize control of Nassau-based Local #164 of the Restaurant & Bartenders Union, formerly operated by embattled union President Charles (Chuck) Browne, who was a popular labor leader of that era.

As it turned out, Papageorge and the Colombo mob were unsuccessful.

Despite the best efforts of Chuck Browne and his mob cronies, Browne was eventually outed from his union post after a contentious election in favor Anthony (Chick) Amodeo -- a dissident member of Local #164 -- who went on to buck and challenge Browne and win the election to become the union’s new president.

Chick Amodeo also later became a major power within the Long Island Federation of Labor, a coalition of labor unions representing various local industries on the island.

Side Note: By the late 1970s, the ‘union reformer’ Anthony (Chick) Amodeo had also been publicly identified by the FBI as having been a longtime mob associate under the jurisdiction and control of the rival Gambino Family and an intimate of Family boss Paul (Big Paul) Castellano.

The Union Official

By the mid-1970s, Papageorge finally succeeded in joining the American labor movement after he was named an official with a New Jersey branch of the Hotel, Motel, Restaurant & Bartender’s Union International (AFL-CIO).

Enter union official Andrew (Andy) Carr.

Andy Carr happened to be a personal friend of Papageorge. Carr also happened to be an associate of the Colombo Family who had recently been elected president of the Service Employees International Union, Local #3.

In turn, Carr appointed his good friend Papageorge as Local #3’s business agent. A bit later, he further elevated Papageorge up the labor ladder by naming him the local’s secretary and treasurer.

Coincidentally, by that point in time, another old friend of George’s from his early days in Elmhurst, Queens, had also gravitated to the labor movement.

Raymond (Ray) O’Connell became a business agent for the Restaurant & Bartenders Hotel, Motel & Club Employees Union, Local #6 -- an extension of the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council. These were two other Colombo-oriented entities headed by union president and mob associate Vito J. Pitta.

Over the next two decades, Papageorge would become a top official for the union’s northeast region and a close associate of International Union President Edward T. (Ed) Hanley himself.

Years later, Hanley appointed Papageorge as an International Trustee with the union back in Chicago. Known collectively as the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE). Thereafter, Papageorge became even more powerful and influential within union affairs.

Based in Northern New Jersey, Papageorge’s union local represented bartenders, waiters, waitresses, and other workers employed by hundreds of Garden State restaurants, catering halls, bars, and nightclubs, not to mention the nearby Meadowlands Sports Complex, over which his local also held dominion.

After becoming vice president with the International, Papageorge also allegedly exerted influence as an overseer of union locals whose members worked in the restaurants and cocktail lounges inside the hotels and casinos dotting Atlantic City’s boardwalk.

His high rank within the International Union also expanded his reach into upstate New York.

Leaving the Grind Behind

As the decades passed, their old Queens neighborhood had changed significantly -- and not for the better. So George and Helen, already well into their late seventies, decided to start spending some time in Florida during the winter months. They eventually acquired a three-bedroom condominium at 1212 S.E. 6th Terrace in Cape Coral.

By at least the early-2000s, they had also decided to leave Queens County altogether, moving out to the suburbs of Long Island where their children and many of their friends lived. They chose the Town of Huntington in Western Suffolk County,

Subsequently, George and Helen moved into a Colonial-style home at 236 West Neck Road, set on a third of an acre.

236 West Neck Rd.., Huntington, LI

In the coming years, Georgie, who had already long since retired from his union post and collected a pension from the International, enjoyed the relative peace and quiet of a country squire out on Long Island. He occasionally still kept in touch with several of his old cronies, but his days of underworld shenanigans were long past him.

George Papageorge died on January 2, 2014. He was 91 years old.

An elderly Papageorge, seen here shortly before his death.

On review, despite having been arrested several times in his life, that one short jail bid he served back in 1955 for truck hijacking, and his lifelong association with members of the underworld, for the most part, Papageorge was successful at ducking the clutches of law enforcement for the rest of his life.

Until next time…“The Other Guy”

Mob Labor Racketeer: George (Georgie) Papageorge

You May Also Enjoy

Salvatore (Sammy the Assassin) Peritore

The Carione Brothers: Colombo Family Garbage Racketeers Extraordinare

Colombo Soldier: Frank (Frankie Camp) Campione – Sonny’s Longtime Driver & Bodyguard

Welcome Back!

Create New Account!

Retrieve your password

Are you sure want to unlock this post?

Are you sure want to cancel subscription?

Mob Labor Racketeer: George (Georgie) Papageorge

Unlock The Door to the Underworld

Purchase Subscription

You May Also Enjoy

Salvatore (Sammy the Assassin) Peritore

The Carione Brothers: Colombo Family Garbage Racketeers Extraordinare

Colombo Soldier: Frank (Frankie Camp) Campione – Sonny’s Longtime Driver & Bodyguard

Welcome Back!

Create New Account!

Retrieve your password

Are you sure want to unlock this post?

Are you sure want to cancel subscription?