What do gangsters eat

Go on, I dare you. Two years ago their search took them to Trapani, a coastal Italian city. Buried beneath layers of fraudulent paperwork, fake bank accounts and pseudonyms, they found the work of the Sicilian godfather. It was extra virgin olive oil. And this is no isolated case. So how long has this been going on? What are the implications? And what can we do to stop it? Mafia clans have been involved in organised food crime for years. As far back as the s, shady Italian businessmen like Don Alfonso were suspected of strong links to the deadly Camorristi clan as it dabbled in tinned meat and tomatoes.

In , even major food brand Cirio became embroiled in the murky mafia underworld after Italian police alleged they paid bribes totalling hundreds of thousands a year to mob bosses in exchange for a monopoly of the market. In Naples it has been estimated that out of 4, bakeries, 2, are illegal, controlled by mafia clans. The mob boss suggested a 'nice veal cutlet with cep mushrooms and a little madeira jus'.

The Dubliner countered with 'a nice veal piccatta with a side order of macaroni and a glass of chianti'. Pero roared with laughter, and the word went out that 'Irish' was to be kept safe, and for the next five weeks he was. Instead of regulation meals, Jews and Muslims received 'common fare' - raw vegetables with a can of tomato juice and the use of a microwave. Gallagher and the Italians bartered with them for the vegetables, and he would spend hours making stews.

Maybe I'd get an Oxo cube from somebody, or somebody would smuggle a spice from the kitchen. I'd spend as long as I could chopping vegetables as it would kill the time. He also gathered recipes from the Italians, and had each man sign his contribution; he's thinking of incorporating them into his next book.

And he learnt, he grins, as we sit talking in his car on the banks of the Liffey, that 'You can do a lot with a microwave. If you absolutely have to'. He's a free man now. Last month, having been flown back to Ireland for the trial, he was unanimously cleared of theft of the paintings. The relief is still palpable. There is nothing worse than being called a thief if you are not. It has been an unbelievable, a horrible time, but it's over.

Over, yes, but Conrad Gallagher has still lost his homes, his restaurants, his money and about three stone in weight. He's reviled by Irish columnists, distrusted by the banks, bad-mouthed on talk shows. On the other hand he's beloved by his wife, by his family in Donegal - he was going fishing the next day with his father - and, perhaps one day, by the high-rollers in some other city in some new country.

America or South Africa, he says, 'but it won't be me cooking, and risking everything; I'll go in to someone else's place in an advisory capacity. I still know food, I know how to make people happy, I know what works, but I just couldn't stand this kind of business nightmare again. At the moment. I love the Irish, the people, but I just don't know if they love me very much.

I never wanted to be remembered as that guy who stole the paintings. Maybe one day, now, they'll look back more kindly, in Dublin, and simply go, 'Do you remember your man the chef? Pan-seared porcini mushroom with shaved butternut squash, red and yellow bell peppers, baby fennel grilled in Madeira cream. Put a little olive oil in a large pan, then add the mushrooms; cook at high heat for two to three minutes.

Add the squash, pepper and garlic. On a chargrill, sprinkle the fennel with olive oil, salt and pepper; grill lightly.

Add Madeira, cream and olives. Pour mushroom mix into a serving dish. Add olives and Parmesan. Cut the potatoes into 1cm slices and place in a large roasting tin with two tablespoons of the olive; season generously. Toss to coat and roast for 20 minutes, then add the garlic and thyme, tossing again to coat and roast for another minutes or until the potatoes are crisp and tender.

Leave the garlic and thyme juices in the roasting tin. Meanwhile, heat a heavy-based roasting tin on the hob. Season the lamb chumps. Add the remaining olive oil to the tin and then add the lamb chumps. Sear on each side for a minute or so until well sealed and golden brown in patches.

Place each chump, skin-side down and roast for minutes until just tender but still slightly pink in the middle. Transfer to a warmed dish and leave to rest in a warm place.

Add the courgettes to the same roasting tin with the remaining garlic and thyme, tossing to coat in the juices and roast for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tossing again to coat and cook for another 5 minutes, remembering to turn the vegetables occasionally.

Arrange the potatoes on warmed serving plates and spoon over the cooked vegetables. Carve the lamb place on top, then drizzle the meat and vegetable juices as a sauce. Cooking for the mafia.

It was during the Prohibition days that underground tunnels were built underneath Green Mill for smugglers to run booze to and fro. Lewis was offed. Because of this, the place was bombed. And when the owners still refused, it was bombed again.

When the place was bought by Frank Barbato Sr. He started out as just an investor, but by , he was running the entire show — or at least he was trying to. Under his direction, the entire project was mostly financed by Eastern crime syndicate bosses.

After The Flamingo opened in , Bugsy barely had enough time to reap its rewards. He was gunned down on June 20th, in his Beverly Hills home.

His death spurred a war between the Gallo and Colombo families, resulting in the deaths of ten other mobsters. Four members of the Colombo crime family had just vacated four seats at the bar. Sheldon Epstein and Max Tekelch, along with their spouses and two friends, shortly claimed them.

Those shots were supposed to be for the Colombos. However, innocent bystanders were taken down instead in a case of mistaken identity — and this remains one of the only times in mob history that innocents were taken down in a hit gone bad. Scarfo in the s. Scarfo was the son of Philly mob boss Nicodemo D.