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...Jimmy Coppola, the guy who picked up the cash. He was later stabbed and killed in prison. And all this came about because Harvey Ross [Harvey Rosenthal, longtime employee of VCA, video pirate, duper, died of cancer about 1995] got me [Fiato] to pressure Marty Krause [Los Angeles crime figure], who in turn went to Mike Esposito [longtime pornographer, owner of Gentleman's Video], who went over to his father Sal [who worked with the Anthony 'Tony Ducks' Corrallo crew out of Harlem, part of the NY based Lucchesse crime family] and then went to Walter [Stevens, veteran LA crime figure].

Sal tried all kinds of things to get us to lay off [pornographers and other businessmen associated with the Lucchese crime faimly]. He called me up one day and said, 'Butchie Peraino says to say hello.' And then he asks, 'Is this coming from Mike [Rizzitello, veteran LA crime boss]?' Because if it is, they know where to go to get it stopped. I [Fiato] said, 'This is coming from me.' I know Butchie is with the Genovese people [NY Mafia family], but he's nothing to me. They were all in the porno business together. The Perainos had that Deep Throat movie. I told Sal, 'Well, say hello to Butchie for me and tell him to stay the hell out of my business.'

But two years earlier I had had guys pressuring the Espositos. That was what set up the Red Morgan move. They threatened to go to everybody they knew. Sal Amarena, Jimmy Fratianno's old friend from San Francisco...

In the middle of it, I back down... So when I figured they'd dropped their guard, I sent Fat Steve Munichiello and Carl Cataldo over to Mike Esposito's office. And they give him the beating of his life.

So what's your point, Luke? Is porn in the business of selling heroin because a couple of junkies are in the biz? As usual, you would prefer to prove a pre-existing prejudice, rather than assay a field of information and come to a reasonable conclusion. I    remember Sal and Mike shooting a Seka video a long time ago, and everyone on the set knew they had shadowy mob connections.

Why was this interesting?

A: Because of its very uniqueness. Many had never seen such athing in years in the biz. If mob connections were rife, nobodywould have given it a second thought. Instead, it was THE buzz for days.

B: Because no one on the set had any real knowledge of the "Mob"that the Espositos were rumored to be connected with (and, moreimportantly, DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW MORE). This was my first clue that the connection between porn and XXX was a lot more tenuous than was assumed as gospel by biased custardheads out in general society.

C: As usual, the connections are precisely what I said they were:money connections outside the experience of working porn people.Whether a movie is shot with Union Retirement Funds, with Senator Graham's campaign contributions, or with Mob Money, the effect is merely to rent the equipment, and neither Union Organizers, Senate Aides nor Mobsters are ever seen by the actual porn workers.

After I bailed out Harvey Ross [aka Harvey Rosenthal, long time employee of Russ Hampshire who died of cancer in 1994, thief, assisted in the 1982 murder of actor Frank Christi with pornographers and dupers Alan Betts and Ronald Coe who are associates of Robert Zeichick aka Puggy, criminal, thief, pornographer], he started coming to the club regularly and told me all about the pornographers he knew. Now Harvey's acting like one of my crew… He tells me he's working for a place called the American Video Library for Russ Hampshire, who Harvey says wants to have somebody killed. Russ realized who I [LA mafia enforcer Anthony Fiato] was and knew me by reputation, and he's also good friends with Michael Esposito. Russ knew that Harvey [Rosenthal] was friendly with me, and he [Russ Hampshire] brought up this deal to Harvey that his partner, Walter [Gernert], was throwing away the business by doing so much cocaine. Harvey came back and told me that Russ had told him he wanted to have his partner [Walter Gernert] killed.

So I send Harvey to Radio Shack for a seventy-eight-dollar pocket recorder and arrange a meeting with Russ. I told Harvey, 'Get him [Hampshire] alone again and get him to repeat what he'd said. Harvey goes to the meeting, follows him into the men's room, and asks him if he was really sure he wanted to go through with this. Harvey gets him to say he wants his motherf---ing partner dead and is willing to pay Anthony fifty-thousand to do the job. Half up front and half when it's done. We take the half up front.

After Harvey met with him, we made another meet, this time at the Tail O' Pop on La Cienega [Blvd]. Harvey, Puggy, John Di Mittia and I were at the meeting. When Russ walked in I could see the fear on his face. He only expected to be meeting me [Fiato] and Harvey [Rosenthal]. Russ was carrying a briefcase and sat down. He appeared to know everybody at the table. I told Harvey to take out the tape and play it for him.

Russ's eyes almost popped out of his head like a frog. I gave him the tape. I said, 'Here, you're lucky this came to my attention because this motherf---er Harvey was going to blackmail you.' He was so happy, he slid the briefcase over in the booth and handed over twenty-five thousand cash, just like that. We're not going to kill anybody for this guy. And we don't have to. He can't go to the cops. He can't do anything. It was sweet.

When he [Hampshire] left, we just laughed. I'd had Harvey make six copies of that f---ing tape. Russ kept paying for two years until finally after the fifth or sixth time he turned his pockets inside out and said, 'All I've got left is lint. Tell Walter, tell the cops. Tell anybody you want. I don't care what you do.' "At that point we'd taken thousands from the guy and we didn't need to hurt anyone.

11/29/05

HollywoodMafia.com writes about Gentlemen's Video owner Mike Esposito:

Mike Esposito now has a company in the Valley that sells unique porn. It is called Gentlemen’s Video and it puts out great titles like Fat Sex in The City, Mr. 18 and squirt videos. Mike is a short jolly guy. I liked Mike. He was a good guy. Mike is the kind of guy you can eat lunch with and he will tell a funny story. Mike grew up in Italian Harlem just blocks from Rao’s.

Mike had his share of problems, he had to do some time (#31242-060) because of a grand jury in New York. Mike also had a run in with LA Family over LA Gangster Walter Stevens. Mike Rizzitello decided that it was time for Walter to pay up. So the Animal who liked Mike Esposito made a trip to his office. Sal Esposito (Mike's late father) stepped in with some choice words. Is this coming from Mike? He asked the Animal (Anthony Fiato). Then he started pulling names out of the past to get the Animal to back off. Sal was a connected guy from New York with the Luchese Family. Sal even dropped Butchie Peraino from AFV to try and slow the Animal down. The Animal finally caught up with Sal one night at Amici’s and Puggy who was with the Animal broke down because he could not hack it. I have told the story of how they obtained the money from Walter.

Mike still liked to associate with the guys after that time. I used to be with Jerry Zimmerman over at Mike’s place Visual Images. Jerry gave Sonny Franzese Mike’s number and Sonny called from prison to say he wanted to come out and play golf with Mike. Jerry Zimmerman would bring Jerry’s Deli over to Mike’s and Big Tony would come over and they would all eat. Mike came down to Culver City to meet us all one day before John Bronco went bad. LA Capo Louie Gelfuso was a frequent visitor and Mike even leased him a car. Mike gets along well with LA Boss Shakes Milano, I have seen them together. Mike even hits a few golf balls with Shakes. So what is Mike’s status with the LA Family? Mike is an earner, he does not cause trouble and he is in no way subversive. Mike is Shakes kind of guy!