Interview With ex-Mob Boss Al Malandrino: "I've Gone Legit"
Al Malandrino
DIPLO DENIZEN: Al, thanks for agreeing to this interview. You've been out of the media's eye for some time now and people are wondering what you're up to.
AL: I'm writing a book.
DIPLO: No kidding. About what?
AL: About my life. About a kid who grows up in New York to poor immigrant parents and how that kid did good for himself.
DIPLO: What's the title? AL: I Never Slept With the Fishes.
DIPLO: Huh?
AL: Yeah. It's a play on that old mob expression. You know…like a made guy gets whacked and ends up sharing a co-op with some bass… DIPLO: Ah, yeah. I get the picture. I saw The Godfather too.
AL: The book's loaded with my special sense of humor. Heh, heh.
DIPLO: Indeed. Well. So, Al, when did you start going wrong -- I mean, what led you into a life of crime?
AL: I grew up in Bensonhurst -- in Brooklyn. Them days, times were tough. There were too many temptations. I dropped out of school at 16 and got involved with a gang called the Fulton-Rockaway Boys. Anthony Ruggiero and Willie Boy Johnson took me under their wing. Then I joined Carmine Fatico's crew.
DIPLO: What did you do as an understudy, if you will, with those guys?
AL: Oh, hijacking cargo from JFK mostly. We were thieves, plain and simple. I was a dumb kid. Do anything for a thrill. And these guys, they made it happen. Tons of thrills.
DIPLO: Did you have one of those outlandish mob nicknames?
AL: Oh, yeah. You bet. Mostly, I was known as "Al Two Toes." Other times, people called me "Al Artichokes."
DIPLO: How did you get names like those?
AL: When I was eight, this kid, "Johnny Blow," and I were stealing a cement mixer from a construction site. This machine was obviously too big for two little squirts to handle. But we pushed with all our might. Well, this cement mixer goes and falls on me. But it only hit my left foot, crushing two toes. Since then I've walked with a limp. As for "Al Artichokes," I love eating Caccioli 'nto Tianu -- Sicilian stuffed artichokes. My grandmother made the best!
DIPLO: Got it. Now back to when you were under the wings of those gentlemen you mentioned. Were you ever arrested?
AL: I've been busted six-seven times. Small stuff mostly. I did eighteen months at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary after getting caught hijacking $50,000 worth of cigarettes from JFK. I was lucky -- very lucky -- never having done some long-term hard time in the joint.
DIPLO: I've got to ask this. Ever "whack" anyone, Al?
AL: Listen, I was brought up in a strict Catholic family. "Thou shalt not kill," says the Bible. Am I right? It's a mortal sin to kill people.
DIPLO: Uh, you didn't answer my question. Did you, or didn't you?
AL: Let me put it this way. If I did ever burn anyone, I'd be behind bars right now, wouldn't I?
DIPLO: Not necessarily. Not if you copped a deal with the authorities -- turned state's evidence -- like Sammy "the Bull" Gravano did.
AL: Sammy The Bull?! Oh, yeah? Where's he now? In ****ing prison. Had a good deal after testifying against his old boss, John Gotti. Witness Protection Program. Free as a bird. Then the ciucciamoke blows it and gets busted, along with his wife and kids, for running an ecstasy ring. That guy's dumber than a box of hammers. Deserved what he got.
DIPLO: They say you carried out the hit against Nicholas "Little Nicky" Cirillo, that it was a paid hit.
AL: That's a loada ****. I was cooperating with the Feds by that time. Besides, everybody knows his old man, "Quiet Dom" Cirillo whacked his son. That's an infammia -- even if his kid had it coming. Who would kill their own kid? Those Cirillos are all animals.
DIPLO: Changing subjects, you go from a caporegime in the Gambino crime family to boss, then next thing we know, you're playing high stakes political poker with senior White House officials. You had a Secretary of State in your hip pocket and basically paid off, if indirectly, the President's National Security Advisor. The Russian intelligence service is in this swirl as well as a host of other figures we've never seen mixed up with the Mafia before. How did you do it?
AL: It's a) a long story; and b) a lot of it is off limits -- part of the deal I cut with the court. But I can tell you this much: the Russian mob is taking over the crime sectors that the Italian mob used to dominate. That nobody in our government is beyond corruption -- ever. Money and power dominate how the pezzonovanti -- big shots -- in Washington think. Hasn't changed since the days of the Borgias. Different era. New players. Same base motives.
DIPLO: In his book, Permanent Interests, James Bruno wrote that your thinking was that "History had found out only a fraction of the nefarious deeds of our leaders. Politics was just another racket and the government just another gang to deal with."
AL: That's correct.
DIPLO: Bruno also wrote about your dealings with Secretary Dennison back then:
"You're a rich guy. Very rich, I would guess. You come from a nice old family . . . Why would a guy like you be on the take for cash? You don't need it. How much richer do you need to get?"
"Al, I'm not 'on the take.' You don't get it, do you? This cash that exchanges hands from you to me doesn't stay with me. I don't keep it."
Al looked at him quizzically.
"The campaign season begins, next year is an election year, remember? Congress has tied our hands on funding over the years to such an extent that they have undermined the Constitution's intent for fair and free elections . . . You're naive if you think that fifty million conscientious citizens marking the box on their tax return for a three-dollar contribution to the election fund is going to make everything democratic and peachy. This is not Plato's Republic, Al. It's America."
AL: Like I said earlier, the Borgias could've learned from these guys. In the end, I served my country and helped bring them all down. I've gone legit. Jack Abramoff was a bit player in this corruption. It's much, much bigger than guys like him. I love this country. It's made me what I am.
DIPLO: Do you feel Bruno treated you fairly in his book?
AL: That guy's ****ing brilliant! He used to be a reporter -- even covered mob trials in New York. Then he joins the Feds, trained by the Navy too. I love his books. They're all bestsellers. And he's a paisan' too. That's why he's so smart. You want to know about the real Al Malandrino, what makes me tick? Read his book.
DIPLO: Thanks, Al, for taking the time to meet. And good luck with your book.
AL: Thanks. I'm trying to get Jim Bruno to ghost write it for me.
See also: Interview With ex-East German Assassin Horst Fechtmann