The Rise of the Gay Mafia, a Powerful Cabal That Never Existed - Atlas Obscura

Contents:

• HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE
• HOW THE MAFIA HELPED ESTABLISH NEW YORK CY’S GAY BAR SCENE
• WHY THE MAFIA CONTROLLED STONEWALL AND THE OTHER GAY BARS 1960S NEW YORK
• WHEN THE MAFIA CONTROLLED GAY BARS
• THE RISE OF THE GAY MAFIA, A POWERFUL CABAL THAT NEVER EXISTED
• HOW NYC’S GAY BARS THRIVED BEE OF THE MOB
• GAY LIBERATN AND THE MAFIA
• MOB H MAN OUT OF THE CLOSET: ROBERT MORMANDO IS GAY AND REGRETS LIFE OF CRIME, HIS LAWYER SAYS
• SOME OF THE FIRST GAY BARS NEW YORK CY WERE OPENED BY THE MAFIA
• THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE MOB
• GROUNDBREAKG BOOK DETAILS WHEN MAFIA CONTROLLED GAY BARS

HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

But between New York’s LGBT muny the 1960s beg forced to live on the outskirts of society and the Mafia’s disregard for the law, the two ma a profable, if uneasy, the gay muny blossomed New York Cy the 1960s, members had few plac to gather publicly. Unr the guise of New York State’s liquor laws that barred “disorrly” premis, the State Liquor Authory and the New York Police Department regularly raid bars that tered to gay the law saw viance, however, the Mafia saw a goln bs opportuny.

It was the only place where gay people uld openly dance close together, and for relatively ltle money, drag queens (who received a bter receptn at other bars), naways, homels LGBT youths and others uld be off the streets as long as the bar was open. “Fat Tony, ” for one, paid New York’s 6th Precct approximately $1, 200 a week, exchange for the police agreeg to turn a bld eye to the “cent nduct” occurrg behd closed Photo<em>An NYPD officer grabs someone by their hair as another officer clubs a young man durg a nontatn Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march New York, 1970.

HOW THE MAFIA HELPED ESTABLISH NEW YORK CY’S GAY BAR SCENE

David Carter explas his book Stonewall: The Rts That Sparked the Gay Revolutn, that durg a typil raid, bar owners would change the lights om blue to whe, warng ctomers to stop dancg and drkg. Sometim the ps even went to the extreme measure of sendg female officers to the bathroom to verify people’s get around laws that prohibed servg alhol to LGBT patrons, many gay bars—cludg the Stonewall—operated ostensibly as “bottle bars, ” private clubs where members would brg their own alhol. Apparently, too many high-powered dividuals—cludg Mafia members, police officers and big Hollywood nam—were implited as Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny.

WHY THE MAFIA CONTROLLED STONEWALL AND THE OTHER GAY BARS 1960S NEW YORK

Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them. As -founr of the Gay Liberatn Front, Rivera was known for participatg the Stonewall Rts and tablishg the polil anizatn STAR (Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari).

WHEN THE MAFIA CONTROLLED GAY BARS

After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad. ”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement.

THE RISE OF THE GAY MAFIA, A POWERFUL CABAL THAT NEVER EXISTED

Johnson is seen at a Gay Liberatn Front monstratn at Cy Hall New York, a large crowd memorat the 2nd anniversary of the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village of New York Cy 1971. 1 / 14: RxSome scholars have argued the famo Stonewall rts that sparked the natnwi LGBT movement were as much a ristance agast the mob’s exploatn of the gay muny as they were a stggle agast police harassment and discrimatory laws.

” Two of the ma gay-rights anizatns that me out of the rts, the Gay Activists Alliance and Gay Liberatn Front, actively champned gettg anized crime out of gay Mafia’s stranglehold on New York Cy’s nightlife bs took a huge h wh a seri of high-profile prosecutns the 1980s. Gog to a bar was dangero though, sce at the time, was illegal to serve gay dividuals alhol, have any homosexual public displays of affectn, and for two men or two women to dance together. The Mafia th was slowly troduced to a whole new dience who wanted to go to bars or clubs that tered to this margalized followed were years of fancial exploatn while the New York Police Department pletely ignored the LGBTQ+ muny’s ncerns, safety and the 1960s, the Mafia was well tablished this bs and 1966, a member of the Genove fay, Tony Lria, also known as “Fat Tony, ” purchased the Stonewall Inn then transformed om a bar and rtrant that only tered to straight clientele, to a gay nightclub.

Dpe s ls-than-ial ndns, Stonewall remaed extremely popular as was the one of the only plac where gay people uld openly dance together, drag queens uld perform, and homels LGBTQ+ youths and others uld safely orr to operate s gay bars, the Mafia would bribe the NYPD.

HOW NYC’S GAY BARS THRIVED BEE OF THE MOB

“Fat Tony, ” for stance, paid New York’s 6th Precct an timated $1, 200 a week exchange for the police agreeg to disregard the activi gog on at Stonewall amongst other gay bars.

In his book, Stonewall: The Rts That Sparked the Gay Revolutn, David Carter explas that durg a typil raid, bar owners would warn ctomers to stop dancg and drkg by changg the lights om blue to whe.

Many scholars have argued that the Stonewall Rts June of 1969 were as much a ristance agast the Mafia’s exploatn of the gay muny as they were a stggle agast discrimatory laws and nstant police harassment. Not only did a handwrten msage on a board-up wdow of the Stonewall Inn state “Gay Prohibn Corpt$ Cop$ Feed$ Mafia, ” but also the two ma gay rights anizatns that me out of the rts – the Gay Activists Alliance and the Gay Liberatn Front – actively champned gettg anized crime out of gay Activists Alliance, NYC, 1969.

GAY LIBERATN AND THE MAFIA

Although the LGBTQ+ muny was ntuoly exploed, the Mafia, some ways, provid them wh a much need haven at the time when the rt of the untry was still very much unwelg, homophobic, and discrimatory. Tal of New York Cy gay nightlife, before the 1980s HIV epimic and the wispread gentrifitn that transformed the cy, sound legendary to those of who weren’t around to wns .

The club eventually hosted numero leather groups at the time, cludg the Fist F—ers of Ameri (FFA), the Total Ass Involvement League (TAIL), the Interchange (a biker club), and the Gay Men’s S&M Associatn (GMSMA). He also said closeted actor Rock Hudson, Queen ontman Freddie Mercury, gay philosopher Michel Fouult, and Liza Melli’s father Vcente Mnelli were among the gay lumari who ma si the legendary club.

He spected that a self-policg gay group wh the cy ernment who were ashamed of the gay leather scene helped anize s shutdown, though the Mafia’s shady tax algs wh the bar certaly didn’t help, he add. You might thk the Italian mob and gay clubs don’t exactly go hand hand, but as far back as the 1930s the seemgly opposnal groups ma a profable, if uneasy, match. As New York’s gay scene began to take shape the 60s,  was still illegal to serve gay patrons alhol, to display homosexualy public or for two gay people to dance together.

MOB H MAN OUT OF THE CLOSET: ROBERT MORMANDO IS GAY AND REGRETS LIFE OF CRIME, HIS LAWYER SAYS

“Sure, many mobsters had a homophobic bent and often exprsed their ntempt for gay patrons, but generally there was a benign tolerance for the LGBT+ muny based on fancial terts, and they separated their personal liv om bs affairs. He and his associat regularly greased the palms of the NYPD exchange for turng a bld eye, and their monthly payoff of $1, 200 to the 6th Precct allowed the Stonewall Inn to thrive as one of the largt gay bars Ameri.

“Ined, after the Stonewall protts, one of the prcipal goals of the activist groups such as Gay Activists Alliance and Gay Liberatn Front was to get anised crime out of the gay bars. Wh days of the rts, activists were handg out leaflets nmng “the Mafia monopoly, ” and their fury was reflected the graffi on the Stonewall’s board-up wdows: “GAY PROHIBITION CORRUPT$ COP$ / FEED$ MAFIA”. While the mob’s relatnship wh the gay muny may have been mutually beneficial, was far om equally beneficial, and the mob’s stranglehold on New York’s nightlife was undoubtedly exploative.

“The repeal of Prohibn may have rtored Amerins’ right to drk alhol, but municipali and stat found var ways to curtail gay people’s abily to drk together public. In San Francis, Sal Stoueman’s Black Cat Cafe (ma particularly famo by Jack Kerouac and Allen Gsberg) hand out “I’m A Boy” nametags to patrons, so unrver ps uld not arrt s drag performers, “gay screamg queens” (TM Gsberg), or even “gray flannel su typ” for female impersonatn wh tent to d or ceive someone to sex. Out California, a group of San Francis gay bar owners had band together to go public about the massive brib they were payg police orr to rema open, the effect beg, they exposed signifint police rptn.

SOME OF THE FIRST GAY BARS NEW YORK CY WERE OPENED BY THE MAFIA

“The good half of the story, om there, is that the 1960-61 bar closur marked some of the most important pre-Stonewall gay rights protts and publicly broadst activism. Several bar owners’ groups (the Tavern Guild particular) formed to lobby specifilly for the rights of owners to urt a gay clientele; even The Advote started publitn rponse.

In New York, a massive group of gay men staged a public prott of, sentially, “beg gay public” midtown until ps and policians basilly allowed bars to operate for a perd of time so they would go be queer out of sight. “Word of mouth that Stonewall (Cherry Lane Theater, Fifth Avenue Bar, etc) were ‘perdilly safe’ plac for gay people to drk and be gay public was ccial for the Mafia to keep their gay bars profable, particularly a plete dive like Stonewall for which the space was really the only attractn. The gay muny had s own formal means of munitn, like the Mattache Society’s Gay Scene Gui that rmed rears the Stonewall Inn was one of a very few (maybe the only?

Another Genove guy, Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello, had a hand nng more than 80 bars, rtrants and diss the 1970s, many of them terg to the gay muny. Meticuloly documents how the mob once had a near-monopoly on gay bars for s New York and Chigo, and reli upon an extensive llectn of primary sourc cludg FBI fil many of which were not publicly available until acquired by the thor through the Freedom of Informatn Mafia and the Gays by Phillip Crawford Crawford illtrat how the gay bars historilly were tegrated to the Mafia rackets.

THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE MOB

Among the powerful mobsters who oversaw vast terts LGBT nightlife were Gambo unrboss Aniello Dellacroce, Genove po Matty Ianniello, Colombo unrboss Sonny Franze New York, and Joseph DiVar who ran the Rh Street crew on the Near North Si for the Outf Mafia had ti to some of the most inic gay tablishments cludg the Contental Baths the Hotel Ansonia om 1969 to 1976 on the Upper Wt Si which received protectn om the Colombo fay exchange for stallg s vendg mach. Contental owner Steve Ostrow — a classilly-traed opera sger — veloped such close ti wh Joe Colombo that he was performg “The Star–Spangled Banner” at the June 29, 1970 Italian-Amerin Uny Day rally Columb Circle when the mob boss was LGBT muny once was married to the mob out of forced necsy but after gay bars beme legal the relatnship often ntued many tablishments out of mutual nvenience well to the 1980s. If a bar had a back room for anonymo sex, operated afterhours, or sold dgs or boys, then odds are was a Mafia jot, and that volved numero plac durg the 1970s and Mafia hijacked gay liberatn for polil ver and ed so-lled Auntie Gays — the Uncle Toms of the gay muny — as ontmen for their bars to eva spicn.

The wiseguys allegedly even filtrated the Christopher Street Liberatn Day Commtee and Christopher Street Ftival Commtee which ran New York Cy’s gay pri para and some related events for much of the 1970s and the s there has been a fair number of gay guys the mob’s ranks cludg cross-drsg Genove soldier David Petillo who once was a boy prostute; hman Vo Arena om Roy DeMeo’s Gambo crew; and DeCavalnte boss John D’Amato. Was terviewed for VICE about The Mafia and the Gays, and Culture Trip clus the book on s list of 10 Books About the Mafia You Need to Read as “a surprisg but sential history of the mob’s ntrol over New York’s gay club scene well to the 1980s. But there was a time Amerin history when there was a real fear that a gay mafia—known llectively as “homterns”—existed, wieldg ntrol across Hollywood and throughout the arts and entertament dtri.

GROUNDBREAKG BOOK DETAILS WHEN MAFIA CONTROLLED GAY BARS

In his new book Homtern: How Gay Culture Liberated the Morn World, English amic Gregory Woods chronicl the rise of the “homtern, ” explorg how the longstandg fear of homosexual men spurred a century-long paranoia about an alleged gay mafia ntrollg areas of ernment, the arts and amia. In the mid-19th century the pair rrpond about the threat of “perasts”—an antiquated term referrg to men who had sex wh younger men, sce “homosexual” did not yet exist as a label—to their goal of tablishg non-sexual raship between other men. Woods wr that was this obssn to tegorize so-lled “unsaid” male sexual impuls and behavrs that actually enuraged the fear of the homosexual figure larger society.

” This sire to study and fe sexual behavr further phed rearchers to “un-closet” the homosexual, all an effort to mystify a sexual inty that had long been ostracized and stigmatized but never really pned down through scientific quiry. Des later, “homtern” entered Cold War disurse, beg reappropriated by nspiracy theorists that exploed s munist associatn and claimed referred to a longstandg “ternatnal homosexual nspiracy” across the untry, whose one goal was to perate posns the Amerin ernment and urp tradnal Amerin valu of fay and heterosexualy. Wh Amerins fearful of the tonatn of an atomic bomb and a enzy about polics beg overtaken by munist fectors, the elive figure of the homosexual—known but never seen public; closeted but apparently everywhere—was ripe to explo to spire fear.

Woods says that the anxieti around homosexuals Cold War Ameri take some of their orig the social “cleansg” mpaigns enacted Nazi Germany and Soviet Rsia, mpaigns lnched to eradite homosexual men (and other “unwanted” dividuals) om society. ” The report claimed the “filtratn” of homosexuals to Amerin polil life meant that homosexuals would “envabl[y] … attempt to place other homosexuals Government jobs. The backlash agast homosexuals was only pound by the growg visibily of gay men public life, pecially the arts and entertament dtri, which only pound the ia of an unrground nspiracy of a “gay mafia.