Author Archives: Cubicle Coma

How adorable

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Wow, I thought Kangaskhan was the only Pokemon to raise it’s young in a pouch, but it looks like the Alolan Exeggutor does as well. Though I think the father may not be another Exeggutor…

Book Recommendation: Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia

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Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia

Not too long ago, I had the urge to watch The Sopranos again as it’s always been one of my favourite shows made. I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with the Mafia and once I finished the series again it only rekindled my intrigue. While powering through the show again, I received some well-timed news. The Sopranos prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark, would be released somewhere around the time I expected I would finish the show again. Though not a particularly great film, it did satisfy my need to watch more Mafia related shows, at least for one more night. Following that, I went down a Mafia rabbit hole for a while. I watched scores of movies and documentaries as well as read dozens of Wikipedia and other articles about famous gangsters. I even played through the first Mafia video game by 2K. I then dove into a book that revolved around the Gambino crime family’s most infamous crew called the DeMeo crew that operated in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Murder Machine: The True Story of Madness and the Mafia by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci is a must read for anyone with a curiosity of “that life” and explores the crew’s rise and fall in grisly detail.

Naturally, the book begins by looking at the upbringing of two key people that were heavily involved with the DeMeo crew but not direct members. The first is Anthony “Nino” Gaggi who eventually rose up to be a capo in the Gambino family and ultimately was responsible for handling the crew. Second is his nephew Dominick Montiglio who gets involved through minor errands for Nino as he grows up and how he eventually becomes an associate of Nino and other mobsters. Lastly the upbringing and rise of Roy DeMeo and some of his crew members is documented in detail as well.

There are three major highlights to what made the DeMeo crew so notorious. The tamest out of all of them was their extremely successful car theft ring. The efficiency and scale of their operations could not be matched in its prime. Numerous stolen cars per night, sophisticated methods of rebranding paperwork and VIN numbers,crew owned chop shops, and even connections to have the cars shipped as far as Kuwait had the crew making money hand over fist. In return Nino and the Gambino boss were kept flush with cash from the crew which resulted in tolerance of their activities outside of car thefts.

The second reason for their notoriety was something known as the Gemini Method. The crew was asked often to make someone disappear and they became good at it. The core of the crew, Roy DeMeo, Chris Rosenberg, Henry Borelli, Joseph Testa and Anthony Senter, mastered the process and were the ones primarily running this task. They would invite the victim to their hangout called the Gemini Lounge where the victim walked into the side door of the bar. Once inside they would be shot in the head with a silenced gun and a towel would be wrapped around their head. Then the crew would immediately stab the victim in the heart multiple times to stop it from pumping blood,then they would hang the body upside down for about an hour waiting for the blood to coagulate to create less of a mess during dismemberment. Lastly they would cut off the head, arms, legs,and individually package them in bags or boxes to be dropped off at a landfill. Almost no victims or body parts turned up after this method was used.

As grotesque as the Gemini Method was, the main reason the crew was famous in the underworld was their sheer ruthlessness and willingness to kill. Dismembering and disposing a body for the mob was a necessity to erase any evidence, but killing for the sheer fun of it was what made them feared. While they killed whenever the Mafia had asked them to, the crew also killed numerous people that simply got in their way. Typically these were people who may have threatened to informed police or someone else on their car theft ring and anyone who attempted to extort them somehow. But there are instances where someone simply insulted DeMeo and he shot them and drove off with the body, never to be seen again. Another time a target they lured showed up with an innocent accomplice, they also ended up disappearing with the intended target. The gang was also known to occasionally select the last person drinking in their bar to kill and dismember, simply to keep the crew’s skills “sharp”. While the actual number will never be known, the amount of victims linked to the crew seem to be estimated at a low of 75 with a possibility of up to 200. The bloodlust and brutalitywere big factors why Gambino boss Paul Castellano and future boss John Gotti kept their distance from the DeMeo crew. They both despised and feared the group of serial kills, but because they were bringing in so much money Castellano let them run things as they saw fit, so long as it didn’t bring too much heat on the family.

The book also follows key FBI agents and NYPD officers, such as Walter Mack, that were tasked with making dents in the Mafia and put together the pieces of evidence to link the bosses to major crimes. Through various investigations,connections began to form between numerous missing people involved with the Mafia and an epidemic of stolen cars in the Canarsie area of Brooklyn. The authorities also caught big breaks when they successfully got a couple of associates to flip, including Nino’s own nephew Dominick who had a clear account of the crew’s activities. A vivid picture began to emerge involving DeMeo, Nino, Castellano, and numerous underlings and the indictments began rolling out. The pressure from the FBI and NYPD became too much and the crew’s downfall was imminent.

I highly recommend this book for those with a curiosity for Mafia stories. It’s a captivating read from start to finish of the true story of arguable the most psychotic crew assembled. It’s also an insightful read into the crew’s activities due to information provided by Dominick given that he worked alongside the crew at times. In fact it’s so captivating I believe that I started and finished it in a week, which would be the fastest I’ve read a book of this length.

France 2019: Around Marseille

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After a few nights in Orléans and Lyon, our next stop for a few days was along the Mediterranean Sea in Marseille. Or to the Gulf of Lion if you want to get technical about it. Marseille is the oldest city in France, second largest in terms of land, and third largest in terms of population. Personally this was one of my favourite stops on our trip and I wish we could’ve spent more time just in Marseille alone. In terms of landscape I loved that it was a mix of hills and cliffs along the seaside.

By the time we found our hotel the sun had set. Our hotel was a cozy little villa not too far from the coast and just around the corner from the Old Port. I tried to take a picture of the courtyard but the lighting at night in the area wasn’t that great.

Just like we’ve done before when we arrived in a new town, we decided to go wandering out for the evening. We didn’t really stumbled on anything spectacular in the area so these pictures are just of the narrow streets in the area.

Driving to our hotel was not particularly fun. As you can see by the pictures, the streets were very narrow. At one point we missed our hotel and tried to go around a few blocks but the road was a dead end. With no room to turn around, I ended up backup up a few blocks. Fortunately I didn’t bump into anything.

Here’s a much better picture of our courtyard. Even though it was autumn and the morning air was a bit brisk, it was still relaxing to sit outside and have a warm tea and enjoy the morning.

Again, we had no plans or itinerary on what exactly to do while visiting there, so we decided to head down to the Old Port and have a look.

The Old Port is one of the main reasons Marseille was always a bustling place going back as far as 600 BC. It was a massive trade hub throughout history, but nowadays it is used as a marina and tourist area. There are a few reasons for this, but modern cargo ships being far too big to fit in the Old Port I would wager is one of biggest factors.

I could not find any info on this but it seems to have been an old church or monastery. I love when old cities attempt to keep ancient structures intact for artistic appeal.

This piece I did manage to find some info on. It’s a sculpture by Louis Botinelly entitled “Le Dresseurd’oursons” which translates to “The Cub Trainer”. The Wiki on this piece reads that Botunelly hired a bear to ensure his depiction was anatomically accurate. How one hires a bear, I don’t know. I imagine the bear took salmon or picnic baskets as payment though.

On the north side of the inlet leading into the Old Port sits Fort Saint-Jean which was built in 1660 by King Louis XIV. We wandered around the outside of the fort first and eventually went in as nowadays it’s a museum.

This model shows the fort connected by two bridges for visitors to cross. The one of the right side leads to the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, while the bridge on the left connects to the Le Panier neighborhood.

Just a view from atop one of the bridges. When my friend took this shot I’m sure he was clenching his phone with all his might.

While there is a large museum attached directly to the fort across the one footbridge, the fort itself is also home to smaller areas that are used for exhibits. This one building house an Afghan exhibit called Kharmohra. It was dark for the most part so I didn’t take any picture inside, but if I recall correctly it showcased their culture but also the unfortunate state of their country after decades of unrest and war.

Here’s a bird photobombing a picture of Palais du Pharo in the distance.

Here’s a better picture without the bird. It sits opposite of Fort Saint-Jean on the other side of the Old Port inlet. It was built in 1858 by Napoleon III who was a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. Unfortunately we never did make it to the building so this is really the only picture I have of it.

After wandering around the fort and museum for the morning, it was time to grab a little food back near the Old Port.

The French love their food, and in doing so respect their chefs. As you can see by the empty tables all around us, the time we stopped for food was right during the majority of restaurants chef breaks. This is something we weren’t aware of prior to visiting France and definitely made us stand out as tourists. I tried to dig around on the internet if there is an actual term for this downtime but didn’t find one. From what we gathered, during this time other employees cannot cook meals for customers. They may be able to make you a cold snack if you’re lucky though. Also, during this time the other employees will not bother the chef if customers do come and therefore many restaurants are empty. It was close to the end of the chef break time, so we sat down and had some wine until we could order food.

Needless to say, the wait was worth it for the food we got.

After our bellies were full of wine and food, we grabbed tickets for the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour through the city. One of the first places it went by was the Marseille Cathedral, but we did not stop and go for a tour as by the looks of it there was construction work around it, most likely restoration work being done to keep it in good shape. In the pictures above, the building is actually the new cathedral, which was completed in 1896.

Parts of the old cathedral are still sitting next to the new one as you can see in these two pictures. The old cathedral was built sometime in the 12th century.

The tour bus eventually took us to a higher part of the city that gave us great views. However for whatever reason this was the only picture I took from up there.

Notre-Dame de la Garde is seen here from the bus we were on. While it did make a stop up here (the church is built on the highest point in Marseille) we did not end up getting off and exploring it unfortunately. You can also see it in the distance in one of the above pictures from where we were standing in the Old Port.

Just a couple of pictures around town while sitting on the bus. Wonderful examples of how terrible my photography skills are.

On one leg of the bus tour we traveled along the coast, which gave us a view of the Frioul archipelago. In the center of this picture you can see the old fortress and prison know as the Château d’If. If that name rings a bell it’s because it was the setting for The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

Not the best quality since this picture is zoomed in. Had we had more time in Marseille, we would’ve checked out the Château d’If as I believe there are ferries that take tourists out there to explore the site.

You may have noticed that I like to take pictures of public artwork and buildings that have elegant details. As I’m sure I have mentioned it previously, I do love that artistic nature that the towns and cities have due to being so old and exquisite.

Then you’ve got artwork like this. I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that but a statue of a cow on stilts? Sure why not.

Or this character that is placed on a coastal wall.

Or just a giant thumb. I found these are not my taste, but that’s just me. I certainly do not mean to mock the works or their creators.

As the sun was setting, we returned to the Old Port and got dropped off near the city hall. I thought the sunset made the building look even more elegant.

Before we head back to the hotel we decided to have one last drink as the sun was setting. A picture that I think turned out pretty darn well. Marseille was great, and I do hope to make it back there someday and spend a little more time exploring the city.