In October 1966, while waiting in a Queens courthouse for his turn to be questioned by a grand jury about the infamous LaStella meeting (later dubbed “Little Apalachin”) held a couple of weeks earlier on September 22, Santo Trafficante Jr., who was the boss of the Tampa Bay Crime Family, overheard reporters talking about someone getting arrested for murder.
So, Trafficante mosied on up to find out the scoop from a Newsday reporter.
Trafficante: Who’s getting arrested?
Reporter: John (Sonny) Franzese.
Trafficante: I don’t know him; who’s he?
Reporter: He’s a capo in Joe Colombo’s Cosa Family.
Trafficante: Oh. Who is he supposed to have killed?
Reporter: Ernie (The Hawk) Rupolo. He’s some guy that was supposed to be stooling for the feds.
Trafficante (shaking his head): Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s terrible. how was the man found?
Reporter: Floating in Jamaica Bay with a weight around his neck. But it wasn’t heavy enough to sink him. It was a sloppy job, but what can you do with the kind of help you get nowadays?”
Trafficante (laughing and slapping the reporter on the back): You’re a card!
