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Dumfounded by tactics not taught at the Harvard Business School, A. & P. officials seemingly never connected Catena detergent with strikes and terror. The government did, however, and impaneled a grand jury to investigate the Catena brothers' marketing procedures. Brand X was apparently not worth the bother of federal heat. The Catenas got out of detergents, the unions signed their contracts, and the A. & P. was left at peace.
Generally, the Mob favors businesses in. the service and retail fields, particularly things like coin-operated machines, liquor stores and laundries. These offer, among other advantages, cash turnovers susceptible to skimming. With these, companies the mobsters can rake off funds without anyone, particularly anyone in the Internal Revenue Service, being the wiser. When FBI agents searched the house belonging to the son of Buffalo Boss Stefano Magaddino last December, they found in a suitcase $521,020 in skimmed cash, most of it from Magaddino's 15 companies in the Buffalo area. It may not have been worth all of Magaddino's trouble. Not only has the Government confiscated his money, but the other mobsters are infuriated because Magaddino had told them that he had no funds to help them meet common expenses. This month, in fact, LCN's top hierarchy took the highly unusual step of sending a team to investigate Magaddino's finances. Mrs. Magaddino, who had never looked into the suitcase, was also upset. "Son of a bitch!" she muttered when the FBI carted the money away. "He said we have no money for Florida this year. $500,000!"
Jukeboxes, funeral parlors, small garment firms and other marginal enterprises that have long attracted gangsters have little effect on the general economy. Big-time construction is another matter, and by playing both the union and management sides, LCN begins to exercise major impact. The Crime and Delinquency Council's Milton Rector says air-freight trucking operations have been so deeply penetrated that gangsters could bring New York's Kennedy Airport "to its knees at any time."
As the boodle piles up, repositories bigger than Magaddino's suitcase must be found. Many millions go to foreign banks. Switzerland, with its numbered bank accounts, is the favorite. Funds from these reservoirs often come back in the form of "loans" for investment purposes. Asked to produce collateral for a jukebox import deal, Philadelphia Boss Angelo ("Mr. A.") Bruno quickly came up with a certified check backed by a Swiss account. The amount: $50 million.
What Kind of Man?
Cosa Nostra's business sophistication should not be surprising, since some of the bright young men in the Mob are as astute and innovative as their peers in any other field. What kind of man joins La Cosa Nostra today? To be in the organization itself—as distinct from its many affiliates—he must, first of all, be Italian or of Italian descent. Until 1952, he had to be a certified killer as well. That requirement has been