* * * * ATTENTION PUBLISHERS * * * *
To all Sho 'nuff Mob Study readers everywhere, we extend our unmitigated "WELCOME." We urge publishers who read our series to send us a complimentary copy of any recently, and/or soon-to-be, released organized crime book.
In the order in which they are received, the books will be read, then reviewed, and subsequently, cited in upcoming editions of the series. We ask only that our book donors remain patient.
Thank you.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
In Today’s column: "Let's Hear The Good News First;" "And Now, The Bad News;" "James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke (July 5, 1931-to-April 13, 1996)?;" "Is Henry Hill's Real Problem Today Drug Abuse?;" "Cathy Burke Indelicato As A 'Gooddame;'” and "Cathy Burke Indelicato As Mob Wife."
When A Candidate For Induction Into The American Mafia Must Be 100% Italian, PART III
Let's Hear The Good News First
Even though she is a "stand-up gal," i.e. the female equivalent of a "stand-up guy" and also a "gooddame," i.e. the female equivalent of a "goodfella," organized crime historians will never give Catherine* Burke Indelicato the credit she actually deserves. That's patriarchy, American mob style. Please see: What Is A 'Mafia Wife?' in Betty Tocco: Her Current Status With La Cosa Nostra U.S.A. As A Disaffected 'Mafia Wife', the Tuesday, 9 May, 2006 edition of the Sho'nuff Mob Study, pp. 1-2.
And Now, The Bad News
Cathy Burke Indelicato is a beneficiary of James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke's genetic crimijnal endowment.
The Gent, as an Irish-American gangster, was a nontraditional figure in the Italian American mob. Because she is a woman, observers erroneously assume that Cathy Burke Indelicato is likewise nontraditional. Observers often overlook
or underestimate her criminal potential and her impact in the largely Italian-American underworld.
Who was the late James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke?
James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke (July 5, 1931-to-April 13, 1996)
Please see: Burke, James 'Jimmy the Gent' in "Organized Criminals Who Are Buried In Publicly Unmarked Graves," the Tuesday, 17 January, 2006 edition of the Sho'nuff Mob Study at http://gangstersinc.tripod.com/Burke.html
Henry Hill, the mob rat, will probably agree that Cathy Burke Indelicato is a "gooddame."
Is Henry Hill's Real Problem Today Drug Abuse?
In 1987, Henry Hill was arrested on narcotics-related charges. Although he claimed to have been clean since; in March 2005 Hill was arrested for felony cocaine possession, and later pleaded guilty. Hill had left bags at Lee Bird Field Airport in North Platte, Nebraska, which later turned out to contain drug paraphernalia, including glass tubes with cocaine and methamphetamine residue. However the FBI, who'd helped him with Witness Protection, decided to force the judge to remove the custodial sentence and in it's place put in probation.
He was charged with two felony counts of possession, but was allowed to plead no contest to a lesser charge of attempted possession. In September 2005, he was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
Please see: "Henry Hill In "Trouble" Again," in Why a wiseguy today is likely to feel the time he has to spend behind bars is truly punishing..., the Tuesday, 5 April 2005 ecition of the Sho'nuff Mob Study, p.p. 13-15.
Cathy Burke Indelicato As A 'Gooddame'
Being the son of Cathy Burke Indelicato is a plus for any hypothetical son and his hypothetical criminal career. Apparently Cathy Burke Indelicato is no underworld slouch.
As Henry Hill, the mob rat, confided to Gus Russo (June 2004) in Gangsters and Goodfellas: Wiseguys, Witness Protection, and Life on the Run, M. Evans and Company, Inc., ISBN 1590770293:
"Just as we started gearing up to film Goodfellas, Jimmy Burke's fearsome daugheter Kathy reared her ugly head. She tried to shake down DeNiro for $100 large to give him the right to use the name "Burke." We said, "F----- her, we'll change the name." That's why the name is Jimmy Conway in the movie. Thank God this happened before they filmed all the Burke scenes" (P. 224).
Cathy Burke Indelicato As Mob Wife
Henry Hill elaborates to Gus Russo (June 2004):
"People are constantly asking me if I'm afraid that one of Paulie's or Jimmy's kids will come and get me----I'm not that hard to find these days. Believe it or not, even Paulie's family is friendlier to me than the in-laws. I still have some contact with Paulie's grandkids. They all
got out of the business, even though they were all starving when the jig was up. Everything fell apart for them: the unions, the Kennedy Airport free lunch, the numbers, the shylocking. Don't get me wrong; they wouldn't invite me to dinner or anything, but they seem to understand what happened and why I had to do what I did back then. If they had wanted to be done with me, they would've done it a long time ago. But they seem to realize how it all got out of hand. And they've moved on. They inherited the classy side of Paulie, for sure.
As crazy as it sounds, there is one person who I'm a little bit worried about and that's Kathy Burke, Jimmy's daughter. In New York she's almost like a made guy now, and she's married to a made guy. But he's doing eighteen years, so they got their own problems. She's mad at me because of all the money I made from the book and movie" (pp. 255-256).
Please see: What Is A 'Mafia Wife?,' "Hell Has No Fury Like A Woman Scorned" and The Disaffected Mafia Wife in the Tuesday, 9 May, 2006 edition of the Sho'nuff Mob Study, Betty Tocco: Her Current Status With La Cosa Nostra U.S.A. As A Disaffected 'Mafia Wife', pp. 1-4.
*Please note that James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke's daughter's name is spelled "Katherine/Kathy" as Henry Hill (June 2004) confides to Gus Russo in Gangsters and Goodfellas: Wiseguys, Witness Protection, and Life on the Run, M. Evans and Company, Inc., ISBN 1590770293. I spell her name "Catherine/Cathy."