The Money Courier – Soldier Nicholas (Bobby Blanche) Belangi

Nicholas (Bobby Blanche) Belangi was somewhat of a bon vivant. Bureau agents who tracked his movements over the years took note of his frequenting some of the ritziest restaurants, nightclubs, and hotels in Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas, and wherever else he traveled during his underworld assignments and “missions.”

Nicholas (Bobby Blanche) Belangi - aka “Robert Bilangi” “Robert Blanchi” “Bobby Belangi” “Bobby Blanch” “Nicolo Belangi” (TN) - was born on February 22, 1903. Bobby was raised and reared at 111 Roosevelt Street in New York City and mostly operated during his younger years along Manhattan’s Lower East Side area.

Nicholas Belangi

In later decades, he listed his primary residence as 473 FDR Drive, Apt #1902K, also in Lower Manhattan. His apartment was located just outside the famed Mulberry Street area of “Little Italy” nearby Chinatown and the Delancey Street area which at the time was considered a poor Jewish ghetto.

Bobby lived within an area considered to be ‘ground zero’ for the New York underworld.

FBI # 602776, NYCPD # B-59746

By the early 1960s, the FBI had determined that Belangi had become a “made” member of the Luciano/Genovese Family of New York.

During the U.S. Senate Hearings on Organized Crime in America that took place during 1963 featuring the testimony of turncoat soldier Joseph Valachi, Belangi was named by Valachi as a fellow family soldier operating within the “crew” of Vincent Alo of the Bronx.

A Key Operative for the Jewish Mob

Although he was born of Italian ethnicity and was indeed a documented mafia “soldier” serving in the regime of iconic family capodecina Vincenzo (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Alo, multiple underworld informers and FBI wiretaps had revealed that Belangi was actually a “key” operative of the Jewish mob.

In fact, he was a very close associate and ‘aide de camp’ of none other than the top Jewish boss himself, the iconic Meyer (Bugs Meyer) Lansky.

How that came to be is anyone’s guess. But in later years while unwittingly speaking to a federal FBI informer, Bobby himself revealed why he had always been so closely associated with New York’s Jewish mob.

Vincent (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Alo as an old man at a family party in Florida

While driving in a car one afternoon making collections and payoffs to the gang’s various gambling operatives throughout the city relating to their weekly bookmaking and lottery rackets, Belangi told the informer that he had always gotten along well with the Jews.

It was Bobby’s opinion that in his interactions with Jewish racketeers, he generally found them to be more trustworthy, honest, and generous in their business dealings and transactions than his Italian counterparts.

These early close friendships and associations on Manhattan’s Lower East Side had brought him into the orbit of Lansky and other top Jewish underworld figures. Belangi operated for years under the auspices of Lansky.

This tight “Jewish connection” was said to have been one reason why it wasn’t until his later years that Belangi was actually officially brought “into” Cosa Nostra and took the oath of membership which made him an official “soldier.”

He was then placed within the crew of Jimmy Alo and it was thought that his eventual “induction” had been with the tacit approval and under the initial sponsorship of Jimmy Blue Eyes himself.

The Courier

Belangi had served loyally for years and was known to facilitate Alo and Lansky’s bidding unfailingly. It seems that Bobby’s value lay in his knowledge of gambling and in the trust Lansky and Alo placed in him as a responsible “courier” of mob monies.

Whether he was handling receipts for horse and sports bookmaking, policy numbers, or a huge football lottery they ran, Belangi was dutiful enough in his service to the mob that he was eventually tapped to serve as one of the Genovese family’s most important money couriers.

An aging Meyer poses for a quick photo

He was tasked with transporting the Las Vegas “skim” money that was, over the years, being robbed out of the counting rooms at various Mafia-controlled Las Vegas Hotels and Casinos.

Through the years, federal and local law enforcement agencies in New York City, Miami, and Las Vegas documented Belangi’s underworld affiliations and his steady contacts.

Criminal Associations

His roster of racketeer friends and partners reads like a who’s who of both the Italian and Jewish underworld for that era. They have included such mob notables as Genovese family “Acting Boss” Gerardo (Jerry) Catena and his capo brother Eugene (Gene) Catena; family capos Pasquale (Patsy Ryan) Eboli, Gerald (Jerry Ryan) Laietta; and crew soldiers Joseph (Joe Ross) DeNegris, Enrico (Harry) Lanza, Joseph (Joe Socks) Lanza, Carmine (Little C) Battaglia, Joseph (Joe Bedelli) Bernava, and Paul (Frankie) Carbo.

In addition to his Italian brethren, “Bobby Blanche” also maintained even closer daily relationships with such top Jewish hoodlums as Hyman (Red Hymie) Siegel, Jack Grill, Samuel (Red) Levine, Saul Katz, Philip (Little Farvel) Kovolick, and Philadelphia’s Perry Fishman.

Other top gamblers and racketeers he was known to rub elbows with included the renowned bookmaker Frank Erickson and New York labor racketeer Frank Breheney.

Frequent Flyer

He was also a regular visitor down to Miami Beach where he kept in close contact and received his orders directly from Lansky and Alo themselves.

The FBI also recognized him as a “frequent flyer” out to the famed strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he would spend a few days. After a day or two, he would quickly fly back to meet with Gene Catena in New Jersey, numerous top Genovese mobsters in New York City, or Little Meyer and Jimmy Blue Eyes down in Florida.

Once back in town, he’d dutifully deliver packages thought to exceed $100,000 to $300,000 per trip to his underworld superiors from their “mob representatives and casino frontmen” out in the midwest.

Federal authorities strongly suspected that Bobby was helping facilitate his borgata’s massive “skimming” operations being conducted during the 1950s and 1960s era in Nevada.

His regular “jaunts” were suspected of being for the purpose of better coordinating the safe transport of hundreds of thousands of dollars at a clip that had been “skimmed” from the gaming tables before reaching the record “counting rooms” at various Vegas casinos where the underworld held hidden ownership.

Las Vegas casino big shot Edward Levinson was said to have been installed in his position by Lansky himself and was responsible for the smooth coordination of the “skim” back to the bosses on the east coast.

Certainly, Belangi wasn’t the only money courier the mob used. There were dozens and dozens of innocent enough looking “beards” that were utilized as couriers over the years including John (Jack) Davies; Irving (Niggy) Devine and his wife Ida Devine; Jack Cooper; Lester Sigelbaum; John Pullman; and Richard (Dick) Kornicks, to name but a few.

But by far, “Bobby Blanche” was among the mob’s most important and trusted of those couriers. He was a major hoodlum in his own right and highly trusted as a blood-oath sworn “made man” of Cosa Nostra to boot!

Hidden Ownership in Vegas and Beyond

Side Note: Genovese acting boss Jerry Catena was well known throughout the underworld and law enforcement alike to have bought extensive blocks of hidden ownership “points” in several top Hotels and Casino operations along the Vegas Strip. These included The Fremont Hotel & Casino, Horseshoe Club, The Sands Hotel & Casino, and The Tropicana Hotel & Casino.

Catena probably held hidden ownership interests in other gaming casinos as well. Being the savvy mafioso he was, Jerry Catena offered some of his own “points” to fellow Genovese members. This served the dual purpose of helping Catena avoid the inevitable envy and jealousy generated from fellow mafiosi that came from his obvious great wealth and also made him a very popular and well-liked guy within the larger Italian underworld. Always a good idea for one’s continued health and well-being.

One of the wealthiest mafioso around was “Acting Boss” Gerardo Catena

The same can be said for Meyer Lansky himself who was suspected of having negotiated numerous backroom deals over the years to either gain hidden control or ownership interests in various casinos that he then “shared” with his Cosa Nostra partners and fellow Jewish underworld brethren in cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, and New Jersey. These included all the above-mentioned casinos that Catena was interested in as well as possibly several others.

Remember, too, that Lansky’s original partner Bugsy Siegel who was a boyhood buddy from when they were kids back on the Lower East Side was one of the original visionaries who is generally credited with actually having created Las Vegas with its first hotel and casino, The Flamingo. This was accomplished with Cosa Nostra money from back east which included the Luciano/Genovese family, Lansky, and others.

Siegel later paid with his life when his partners discovered he was playing fast and loose with their money and had embezzled millions from them. So Lansky and the Luciano/Genovese crew were at the very forefront of legalized gambling in Nevada from day one.

Lansky was also known to have held a documented legitimate ownership interest in the famed Havana Riviera in Cuba before Fidel Castro and his army of revolutionaries kicked Lansky and all his mobster friends out of the island nation.

A Watchful Eye

By the 1960s, Bobby was being kept under a semi-regular FBI surveillance. Through their informants and by physical surveillance during his regular activities in New York City, a team of federal agents documented several key meetings and contacts made by Belangi in furtherance of his underworld activities.

Law enforcement had him squarely in their sights. Checking for any prior record, the NYCPD provided his “rap sheet” to the feds which consisted of a homicide arrest when Bobby was a young man that he later pled guilty to after prosecutors agreed to reduce the original charge from first-degree murder.

Belangi was allowed to plead out to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to serve from 10 to 20 years at Sing Sing State Prison up in Ossining, NY. He ended up actually serving over 7 years behind bars before the New York State Parole Board granted his release.

But that didn’t last long. No sooner had Bobby returned to his old Lower East Side haunts when he was quickly rearrested for a parole violation charge and returned back upstate to serve more time in jail. His criminal arrest history also included a robbery charge, grand larceny, vagrancy, and malicious mischief.

A Slam Dunk Case

Side Note: The murder count mentioned above related to a March 1924 incident in which Bobby was one of five gunmen involved in the armed robbery of the “Oriental” Chinese restaurant located at 4 and 6 Pell Street in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood. One of the hoodlums shot and killed a thirty-one-year-old headwaiter and cashier named Yo Wing Bon.

A policeman who was nearby on patrol in the area heard the gunshot and a whistle blown by the restaurant’s owner. He quickly rushed into the restaurant and captured two of the five young bandits.

Bobby Blanche, twenty-one at the time, was charged with robbery and murder and booked under the alias of Robert Bilangi. His counterpart, a twenty-seven year old downtown hood named Ralph Cucco, was also arrested.

The arresting officer later testified that upon entering the eatery, he spotted one hood with a revolver in his hand and the other holding $203 in cash receipts taken from the cash register. It was a slam dunk case for the prosecution.

Making the Rounds

By the early 1960s, FBI surveillance squads noted Bobby’s periodic appearance at various mob social clubs and hangouts.

For instance, in November 1962, Belangi was tracked to the San Remo Cafe located at 93 MacDougal Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. A known mob hangout, the San Remo was a top headquarters and meeting place for important Genovese members.

Belangi was seen meeting with fellow soldier Joseph (Joe Ross) DeNegris, a convicted counterfeiter of U.S. currency and key Vito Genovese operative. After Bobby placed a telephone call on a payphone at the cafe, he and another Lansky operative named Jack Grill waited over a cup of expresso for approximately 15 minutes until Greenwich Village-based caporegime Patsy Eboli showed up.

At that point, he and Belangi went off and huddled by themselves in a corner of the little cafe while Grill waited patiently at another table for his friend.

Located between Thompson and Bleeker Streets after their private tete-de-tete between soldier and capo, Belangi and Grill left the San Remo and walked toward Belangi’s automobile which was parked a few doors down from the cafe. It was a brand new 1963 black Oldsmobile sedan.

Bobby invited another associate (believed to have been FBI informant #NY-3586-C-TE) to take a ride with him around town as he kept a few prior appointments. Over the next several hours, the two men drove to several spots on the Lower East Side through Downtown Manhattan and then proceeded Uptown to the famous Manny Wolf’s Kosher Delicatessen located at 3rd Avenue and 49th Street.

There they met with two more Lansky associates and bookmakers named Katz and Solly. The two old friends then headed over the Williamsburg Bridge into the Ridgewood section of Queens on still more mob business.

Once Belangi and Grill had arrived at Palmetto Street in Ridgewood, Bobby stepped out of the car and went into a building where he allegedly met and delivered more white envelopes earmarked for additional members of Lansky’s crew.

Upon his return, to the car Grill asked why he was making all these stops. Belangi told him that the twenty-some-odd envelopes he handed out represented the weekly payroll doled out to various Lansky crew members who performed various functions within Meyer’s gambling network.

A Unique Initiative

Whether they were “salaried” bookies or policy runners working under Lansky’s control or limited partners within the gambling operation is anybody’s guess. But all of them were placed on a steady weekly salary they could each count on toward their regular annual income.

In this respect alone, Meyer Lansky showed a unique and even-handed initiative in the way he treated his men. A rare occurrence in the underworld in any era. He treated and ran a “street racket” the same way a legitimate businessman would operate a legal business. I think this incident alone shows how business savvy and intelligent Meyer Lansky really was.

Belangi also said that their Palmetto Street location served as the central “bank” for a huge bookmaking and lottery operation run by the Jews.

The Ridgewood location was allegedly chosen as their gambling headquarters and nerve center because of the deep infiltration, penetration, and “hooks” the mob had into the local Police Department in Queens County. The mob felt it was the safest borough to conduct such illicit, wide-open criminal activity.

The Bon Vivant

“Bobby Blanche” as he was widely known within the national underworld was also a bit of a Bon Vivant. Bureau agents who tracked his movements over the years took note of his frequenting some of the ritziest restaurants, nightclubs, and hotels in Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas, and wherever else he traveled during his underworld assignments and “missions.”

Among his favorite watering holes and eateries were The Drake Hotel, The Copacabana, The Sheraton, Ratner’s Deli on Houston Street, and the aforementioned Manny Wolf’s in midtown.

He also liked to bet the ponies on occasion and could be spotted inside the clubhouses at Aqueduct Raceway in Queens and Yonkers Racetrack. When down in Miami, he would sometimes spend a leisurely afternoon at the dog track.

Always Available

For many years Bobby Belangi maintained a small office inside an office building along Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan, off 50th Street. This location served as his base of operations, so to speak, and was where all his underworld associates knew they could either contact him directly or leave a telephone message for him.

It was also said that whenever Meyer Lansky flew to New York City (which he did often,) Belangi was a constant sidekick, serving as his driver-bodyguard and all-around top aide.

Lifelong pals and partners Little Meyer and Jimmy Blue Eyes make the “first cut” on a birthday cake.

In closing, let me state that once, back in 1961, an unnamed New York FBI informer once dismissively described Belangi to his agent handler as, “nothing more than an errand boy for Alo and Lansky.”

That reference was most probably just sour grapes talking and a bit of jealousy on the part of that rat. Because one thing is for certain, during a lifetime in the underworld, Bobby Blanche’s name became almost synonymous with those of Lansky and Alo.

And by all accounts, Bobby served his underworld friends and the Genovese borgata unfailingly.

There was no official date of his passing that I could ascertain for this biography about him. But I suspect that Nicholas (Bobby Blanche) Belangi is still helping handle all the betting “action” upstairs with the rest of the guys.

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

The Money Courier – Soldier Nicholas (Bobby Blanche) Belangi

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The Money Courier – Soldier Nicholas (Bobby Blanche) Belangi

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The Eugene Catena Regime Leadership Chart

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