The allure of a mob connected restaurant

When discussing heading to the Green Mill in Chicago to hear live music and maybe a few drinks in the late 1980s, my friends were quick to point out that it had been owned by Machine Gun McGurn, a legendary and legendary cruel mobster, several decades earlier. That reputation hung over place, part of its brand, and part of the draw. The mob connection has been an enticement for decades for customers, or a segment of customers, possibly lured by a sense of perceived danger, however small, the notoriety, the assumed raffishness of the spot, or even the attraction to the power of organized crime figures.
 
In an article in the Washington Post with the cheeky title, “A Real Shot in the Arm for N.Y. Eateries” in 1989 quotes a regular patron to The Bankers and Brokers Ristorante not far from his work: “The fact there's a mob shooting connected with the place does sort of add excitement…You feel like you're in the middle of it all,” referring to an organized crime shooting stemming from an incident at the restaurant, which was allegedly connected to a member of the Gambino family. That appeal was widespread and the benefit for the business was noted by Tim Zagat, “It's sad but true that shootings are good for the restaurant business….It's more publicity than a restaurant would ever get through reviews; it's worth millions.” There can be a practical side for this, as restaurants have provided more convenient settings for shootings, as it might the only public spots to find these often reclusive and armed targets. Even these Italian-Americans have had a penchant for Italian-American fare, so the place with the attendant publicity is usually Italian-themed, one of the hazards of doing business for some.
 
The best mob association for an establishment might be to have hosted a sensational murder or publicized shooting, but the appeal is also for those reputed to be mob hangouts or owned by a mobster, even once owned. There’s been quite a few of these mob-connected spots over the years, mostly in New York, where there’s been much more Italian organized crime but also Chicago and Philadelphia, and elsewhere. There is, or was, even another aspect to the appeal of mobsters at restaurants. Star critic Gael Greene, in the early years of her restaurant review column in New York magazine, wanted to check out in 1969 the thought in New York that the “Mafia is widely advanced as ‘the Michelin Guide for Italian restaurants.” Aided in her quest by a “gourmet crew of Mafia Boswells and plumpish law enforcement officers” who had “shared their personal dining guides to Mafia-starred restaurants,” she visited eight restaurants, four of which were in Little Italy, and another just blocks away, each serving familiar local takes on Southern Italian-American fare. Greene was not too impressed with these. That did not have to diminish the draw, though.

Below are a dozen of the most infamous over the years, one with a very memorable name even hosted a couple different murders decades apart.

Photo: Umberto's Clam House - Jerry Mosey/AP/Shutterstock

Restaurant	City	Event Date	What Happened
Amici	Brooklyn	April 2004	A 65-year-old mob figure described by a law enforcement official as ''erudite and sophisticated'' fatally stabbed his brother-in-law yesterday on the street in front of the restaurant of which the victim was a co-owner.
Bravo Sergio	Manhattan	1987	Site of the slaying of mob bagman Irwin ''Fat Man'' Schiff
CasaBlanca	Queens	1990s	Owned and used for meetings by Bonnano family boss, Joe Massino, well-suited for the nearly 400-pounder.
Dante & Luigi's	Philadelphia	Halloween 1989	The attempted murder of Nicky Scarfo, Jr., the son of the Philadelphia boss. Shot eight times by a man wearing a Batman mask and holding a Halloween basket, but survived.
Joe's Elbow Room	Cliffside Park, NJ	October 1951	Mobster Willie Moretti murdered here.
Joe and Mary Italian-American Restaurant	Queens	July 1979	Carmine Galante and two others were murdered while dining there, in the patio in back. he became a target of the mob because he wanted to become ‘Bosses of all Bosses’ and wasn’t afraid to knock off his rivals to do so.
Mama Luna's	Chicago	Halloween 1975	Anthony Reitinger, a bookie who had refused to pay the mob's weekly street tax and continued running his operation, was shot to death in full view of the rest of the customers.
Nuova Villa Tammaro	Brooklyn	April 1933	Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria was murdered here by Lucky Luciano's men.
Palace Chophouse and Tavern	Newark, NJ	October 1935	At around 10:15 p.m., mobster Dutch Schultz was shot in the men’s room, staggering out to restaurant, eventually sitting down at a table before being taken to the hospital where he died.
Rao's	East Harlem	September 1941 December 2003	September 1941 - An intended mob hit on gangster Joey Rao who had an ownership stake in his family's restaurant left a woman dead and a police officer and one of the five thugs who shot up the restaurant wounded. December 2003 -  Louis Barone confronted another mobster Albert Circelli who was mercilessly heckling the singer at the restaurant. And then Barone fatally shot him.
Spark's	Midtown Manhattan	December 1987	The most famous mob murder in recent decades was this shooting of mob boss Paul Castellano on the street in front of the popular steakhouse brought John Gotti to the head of the Gambino family and soon national attention.
Umberto's Clam House	Little Italy Manhattan	April 1972	Top hoodlum Crazy Joe Gallo was famously shot here. And a scene in Martin Scorcese's "The Irishman" was set here, if quite fictitiously.