Obsession is a curious thing. It provides focus, drive, and clarity of vision. And yet it can create a dangerous narrowness that can make you forget anything outside of that one thing. When I wrote my original Gas Tax essay, I was obsessed with proving two things: the precise origin of the scheme and that Marat Balagula was part of the wider Franzese-led crooked gasoline cooperative, contrary to popular narratives found on Wikipedia, sensationalist books, and lazy v/bloggers uncritically repeating what they read. Filling out the background and discussing the scheme post-Balagula were secondary aspects, done for the sake of completion, and I can admit that the essay got progressively lazier towards the end as I tried to wrap things up. In writing that article, I completely exhausted all forms of secondary sources and every single text or word that has ever been written on the subject was either cited directly or consulted. In search of more, I started to purchase cases on individuals indicted for the crime of gasoline bootlegging in New York, a resource-consuming and painfully slow endeavour. Over the summer, I received the full Federal case of US vs. Sheldon Levine (86-cr-00304), and a small passage there (more on that later) sparked my curiosity again. It made me think back on Anthony Casso’s account and how a seemingly trivial fact can be quite interesting to explore.
In Anthony Casso’s biography of questionable quality, we are told that Genovese Boss, Chin Gigante, appointed Daniel “Danny” Pagano as that Family’s bagman to collect gasoline bootleg proceeds earned by their “Russian” associates.[1] This marked a changing of the guards since Genovese soldier Joseph “Joe Glitz” Galizia had been shepherding the scheme since 1983. I paid no mind to this information as it was not central to proving either of my two obsessions. It was taken for granted and any cursory curiosity would be quickly quenched by their Wikipedia articles, giving now the much unsatisfactory answer of a vague connection between Galizia’s incarceration and Pagano’s promotion to a captain.[2] Another great reminder of why we were told to not cite it as a reliable source during school. Among many of the questions my article couldn’t answer was why Victor Orena Jr. became the Colombo liaison following Franzese’s untimely exit. While that warrants a separate discussion, suffice it to say there was continuity there that has not been discussed in publicly available sources, but I’ll wait for Larry McShane’s new book on Vic before I talk about that. That connection made me think more about Galizia’s and Pagano’s situation. As conspiratorial as it sounds, “randomness” seems to be rarely a thing when it comes to Cosa Nostra. This is an organization that is rooted in tradition, precedent and lineage. So then how were these two people, Joseph and Danny, connected when seemingly the only thing that unified them was burning a saint and swearing an oath to the same man? That small passage in US vs. Levine provided a partial answer. Am I satisfied with it? No, but it’s better than what we have to go by from currently available sources (looking at you Phil Carlo and Wikipedia).
Joseph T. Pata Jr. was born on January 14th, 1938, in New York City, New York to Joseph Pata Sr. and Mildred Longo Pata.[3] His grandfather was Pasquale J. Pata, born in 1884 in Campofelice di Roccella, Palermo, Sicily.[4] While the Genovese Family originated out of a primarily Corleonesi-based network driven by Guiseppe Morello, there is an interesting pattern of some members hailing from the many villages dotting the far eastern side of Palermo province and Joseph Pata’s eventual induction is another addition to this trend.[5] Campofelice di Roccella is also a town out of which a number of Chicago Outfit members trace their ancestry which is also interesting given the special connection between the two Families.
Joseph Jr. was the 2nd oldest child among four siblings with Nancy Pata being one year older and Patrick “Bobby” Pata being two years younger with Frank coming in later into the picture. I couldn’t find any reference to either Pasquale or Pata Sr. being affiliated with organized crime, although the latter was a petty criminal in his youth, being arrested in July 1931 for assault and robbery of Jack Burnstein alongside another accomplice.[6] Curiously, the victim recanted his identification of Pata Sr. as the assailant which might carry certain implications with it. Anyhow, by the time the 1950 census rolled around, Joe Sr. was described as a drill machine operator in the radio-television industry.[7] The long and storied criminal career of Pata Jr., however, carried no doubts as he climbed the ranks of the underworld, going from a stick-up kid to a drug trafficker and everything in between.
In 1961, Joseph Pata Jr. and Thomas Burgio were arrested for attempting to steal a $3,500 (~$37,000 in today’s money) payroll belonging to Fielder Waterproofing Co.[8] The duo bungled the heist as the secretary screamed during the robbery, attracting a crowd which forced them to drop the money, only to be arrested by a patrolman a couple of streets away. Apparently, Pata learned from his mistakes and a decade later it was revealed that he became part of one of the largest burglary rings operating on the East Coast. The “Dinner Set” gang targeted wealthy residences in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and over a period of about one and a half years hit a hundred homes yielding over a million dollars in loot consisting of jewelry, paintings and other valuables.[9] Apparently, the thefts would occur at dinner time when families were dining, while the burglars were upstairs doing their thing. The New York Organized Crime Task Force surveilled this gang for 10 months before busting four of its members on October 20th, 1971, after they were caught leaving a crime scene. They were Raymond Seney, his wife Dolores, Milton Marlow(e), and Joseph Pata. Although Pata gave a Manhattan address, police believed he resided in Poloma, NY. Not surprisingly, police said that the ring members were known to have ties to the “Gerardo Catena” crime family in New Jersey (aka the Genovese Family). The case had several legal twists and turns, but I did not see that Pata got any jail time for it.
The latter half of the 1970s proved to be a bit more “fruitful” for the mobster as he relocated (at least partially) to Florida, joining the exodus of Mafia figures seeking warmer weather in the Sunshine State. 1977 marked a special year for him as Joseph became an inducted member of the Genovese Crime Family, possibly sponsored by Joseph Pagano.[10] The good times would temporarily grind to a halt on May 25th, 1979, when a sealed indictment was handed down by the Broward County Grand Jury charging Joseph Pata and four other accomplices for violating the state’s anti-racketeering statutes in connection with a bust-out of a cab company.[11] Other named members of the ring were Charles Peter Fontana, Edward “Wasco” Waskowitz, Morton Fromberg, and Johnny “Red” Russo.
Operating in Hollywood, Florida since the early 1960s Friendly Checker Cab company (comprised of four corporations) was initially founded by Harold G. Kieley before he turned over the business to his once treasurer Harold Gerber in December of 1977.[12] Before entering the taxi business, Gerber was a supermarket owner/operator out of Long Island who got swindled out of money by his then partner before he cashed out to try his luck in Florida. Gerber’s wife said he was too young to retire and with experience of turning around failing businesses, joined Kieley’s cab company after being introduced to him sometime after April 1976. One of their early attempts to boost business was to win a contract to serve Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport through the help of one Meyer Lanksy… Apparently, through a middleman named “Mr. Gordon” and a $10,000 “fee”, they would learn how much they would need to bid in order to win the concession. In the end, the duo did submit the highest bid, but they were not selected to proceed because they lacked the necessary permits to operate each taxi. According to Gerber, Kieley continued to funnel money out of the company and the turn-around expert was in need of restructuring experience himself. Ed Wasco, one of the cab drivers, offered his boss some help and introduced him to Johnny Red, a purported taxi expert excelling in helping troubled businesses. Johny Red himself then got Thomas Lipson, another taxi business expert involved and in December 1977 Gerber bought the business out completely from Kieley for $145,000, a price point that Russo dictated. Needless to say, Kieley didn’t get the money… The Mafia? It had infiltrated the business.
Robert Cohen, in testifying against Russo at trial, claimed that Johny Red said to him that he belonged to a family that operated out of New York and New Jersey that was interested in controlling “the turkey”. Apparently, turkey meant tourists and this “family” intended to control every type of business that tourists interacted with on trips, including cab companies. That’s a very interesting piece of testimony and I’ve never before read that the Genovese Family had any conscious strategy to dominate and profit from a certain consumer profile. In all likelihood, Russo was simply talking about his own (or Pata’s) personal ambition and aggrandizing it. Cohen also explained that Geber was afraid of Russo because the latter threatened him with mutilation should he try to challenge him. Anyways, throughout 1977 and early 1978, the company was driven into incurring half a million dollars worth of debt as office equipment and taxi permits were sold off. The bust-out was further augmented by sprawling a complimentary loan shark operation whereby the money to buy permits and the cabs themselves were loaned to drivers at usurious rates. One employee of the loan shark operation, Herb Prignano offered the following bizarre story about his time in the organization. Prignano initially shylocked for Russo and Joseph Pata before he became a keeper of “the book”, the ledger used to keep track of all the debts made out by the ring. Prignano testified that Pata, whom he hugged and kissed on each cheek like a scene out of The Godfather, was “the boss” of the New York family and, after successfully completing his duties one day, was offered a position on the family’s tree. Pata asked Prignano if he was ever associated with a similar family in Chicago, reminding the hood that he could only be part of one group. After reassuring Pata, the latter shook his hand and said, “Now you’re with us”. Now one can almost mistake this event for an induction ceremony, but it is more likely that Prignano just became an on-the-record associate with Pata. It is interesting, though, that Pata asked about a possible affiliation with Chicago, not concerned if Prignano was on-record with any of the other Five Families in New York.
By mid-1978, the company was teetering on financial ruin and Gerber was forced to sell the company to get away from the racketeers. The crime ring was indicted in May of 1979, but the trial didn’t begin until August 6th, 1980, as Pata was fighting extradition to Florida. The racketeering trial ended on August 30th, with Joseph and three others being acquitted of all charges (Johnny Russo was convicted on one count). Amused at all The Godfather references brought up during trial, Pata apparently said, “I told Vinikoor [the prosecutor on the case] that if we won this case, I’d kiss him, because he brought out all that kissing”. Joseph Pata started the 1980s with a big victory.
Wanting a change of pace, Joseph Pata and business associate Herman Bart DeHarth opened up “Fun and Games For All” arcade in December 1992.[13] I guess the two thought it would be the perfect cover, but while kids packed the establishment after school, Pata was caught red-handed selling bricks in an FBI undercover sting. And this was after they were facing trial on drug-related money laundering charges… On October 27th, 1993, Joseph Pata was driving to the Metropolis Café in Manhattan alongside Herman, Jorge Rivero, Paul Badamo, and New Jersey police officer Keith Sisco to discuss laundering “Colombian” narcotics profits with an undercover FBI agent.[14] Pata and his associates agreed to buy $250,000 of narcotics proceeds for $220,000 spread over four cheques issued by DeHarth’s paper corporations, in addition to charging the traffickers an extra $3,500 for this service.[15] All four were arrested on the spot, although the judge later dismissed the money laundering charges against the cop. Not dismayed by this setback, Joseph and Rivero continued to dabble in drug trafficking, this time trying to use home court advantage. On February 25th, 1994, the duo sold a kilogram of cocaine to an FBI informant for $23,000 (with a street value of $100,000) at their arcade and were arrested three days later.[16] Pata agreed to a plea deal where he faced 10 years in prison and up to two million dollars in fines.[17] Newspaper reporting on this debacle continued to emphasize Joseph Pata’s relations with Joseph and Daniel Pagano of the Genovese Crime Family.
Joseph Pata passed away on March 15th, 2002.
The Gasoline Connection
In November of 1985, a bug in Sheldon Levine’s office picked up an interesting conversation between Joseph Galizia, Lawrence Centore Jr. (son of Genovese captain Lawrence Centore Sr.), Patrick “Bobby” Pata, Joseph Pata, and someone named “Sam” (identity unknown to me at this time).[18] While Joseph Galizia was the main Genovese watchdog overseeing the bootleg gasoline racket, Centore Jr. seems to have had a sizable role in the scheme by mid-1985, and helped distribute gasoline in Westchester County, New York.[19] How or when Lawrence actually got involved remains a mystery to me, although I do know that he operated a pair of gas stations since at least February of 1984.[20] Why his involvement seemingly dropped off post-1986 is also a great question and one I don’t have an answer to.
Anyhow, Shoreline (also known as Shore Line Oil Company) was a fuel oil distributor founded in 1948, and by the 1980s, it was operated by Louis Capossela.[21] Prior to the mid-80s, the firm primarily sold heating oil (#2 fuel) to homes and residences, before entering the gasoline wholesale distribution business and coming to possess a fuel terminal in Mount Vernon, New York. Shoreline (and sister company Westchester Hudson Petroleum Corporation) employed a certain salesman by the name of John Barberio.[22] This man would be later indicted twice alongside Marat Balagula in the A. Tarricone and Macchia daisy chain conspiracies. Capossela himself would be granted immunity in return for testifying in Balagula’s first trial, declaring that he did purchase gasoline from bootleggers (of course without knowing that they were bootleggers) and that his company was more or less pushed out of the gasoline business by those criminals.[23] Given Shoreline’s geographic proximity, it is reasonable to assume that this was one of the companies that was either controlled by or worked with Pata’s group. How big, or what other companies were involved with Pata’s group is another unknown at this point (or even when he got involved in gasoline in the first place). Baisley Park Neighborhood Center was a licensed burn-out company used to accumulate tax liability and was closely associated with gasoline distributors affiliated with Sheldon Levine, including Ridge Rich, R.B. Labs, and the ‘Green Star Conspiracy’.[24] It was also used in a daisy chain involving Hamilton Oil Brokers, controlled by Marat Balagula, and one of the 18 licensed companies used by New York Fuel Terminal Corporation (NYFT) to obscure the flow of product via series of fictitious book transfers.[25] Dino Oil was another gasoline wholesaler that did business with Sheldon Levine’s group, but I’m not sure the extent of their control over it (I have seen it as part of book transfer chains in NYFT’s books as well). Hamilton was used in daisy chains between April and July 1985 and purchased 93% of its products from R.B. Labs (a Levine company) and Baisley Park. Since the conversation took place sometime in November 1985, Baisley Park was “burned-out” at that point (by Balagula according to Galizia), hence Levine’s group telling Pata to not use it anymore. This communication timeline is interesting as it sheds light on the difficulty of coordinating such a large and diverse conspiracy involving so many players within the bootleg cartel, showing how mistakes can arise which can lead to stronger law enforcement scrutiny and the cartel’s detection. It might also imply Pata’s stature within the scheme as that of lesser importance given the delay in which he found out this information. Finally, while Joseph Pata has been identified as a Genovese member, his brother Patrick has largely avoided the limelight. Given his inclusion in discussing this business with two other made members, perhaps he was inducted at some point as well and his possible membership status warrants a further look.
Well, that’s about as much information as I could extract from this passage and to date this remains the only reference to the Patas’ involvement in the gasoline bootleg scheme. If Joseph Pata was sponsored by Joseph Pagano and was part of his crew, it explains how the Paganos were connected to this scheme and gives a reason as to why Daniel was chosen to represent their Family in the Association. After all, he would have already been familiar with how the scheme worked, knew the players involved, and would be in a good position to pick up the pieces after the Levine/Galizia indictment. In my mind, this provides a better explanation than mere chance. But right now, this is only my best guess and there are still quite a few gaps to fill in. I hope further files can shed light on when Pata’s group got involved, who they were involved with, and if they continued to participate post-1986 when Pagano and Anthony Palumbo arrived on the scene from the Genovese side.
That is it from me and as always thank you for reading if you have managed to get this far down the page. Please visit The Family discord, the Black Hand Forum, and JoePuzzles’s Western LCN-focused site.
[1] Phillip Carlo, “Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss”. 2008. Page 120.
[2] Wikipedia contributors. (2024, October 1). Daniel Pagano. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pagano
[3] Joseph Pata, Legacy.com, https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/joseph-pata-obituary?pid=149050885.
[4] Pasquale J Pata, Ancestry.ca, https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/pasquale-j-pata-24-7wp7v5.
[5] Limited, “The Genovese & Eastern Palermo Province”. The Black Hand Forum, posted by B.. January 17th, 2024.
[6] “Victim of Holdup Recants, But Judge Holds Suspect”. Daily News. July 7th, 1931. Bklyn. Sec. Page 5.
[7] U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) “1950 U.S. Federal Population Census”. Retrieved from Archives.com
[8] “Her Yells Foil 3.5G Heist”. Daily News. September 21st, 1961. Page 5.
[9] Tom Renner, “Four Arrested In Jewel Thefts”. Newsday (Nassau Edition). October 22nd, 1971. Page 15; Linda Greenhouse, “4 Held as Members of a Burglary Ring”. The New York Times. October 22nd, 1971. Page 41; “Jewel ‘Gang’ Broken”. The Herald Statesman. October 21st, 1971. Page 12; Myra Dembrow, “Arrest of 4 was illegal, judge says”. The Journal News. April 8th, 1975. Page 15.
[10] “Genovese Family Ceremonies (1970s)”. LCNBios. August 7th, 2022.
[11] George McEvoy, “Racketeers Bled Cab Firm Owner Dry – State”. Fort Lauderdale News. May 25th, 1979. Pages 1B and 7B.
[12] For the following story please see the following articles: George McEvoy, “Racketeers Bled Cab Firm Owner Dry – State”. Fort Lauderdale News. May 25th, 1979. Pages 1B and 7B.; Heather Langan, “Taxi ‘bustout’ trial opens”. Fort Lauderdale News. August 7th, 1980. Pages 1B and 9B.; Heather Langan, “Alleged taxi firm racketeers like ‘Godfather’, witness says”. Fort Lauderdale News. August 12th, 1980. Page 5B.; Heather Langan, “Ex-owner: Mafia helped firm”. Fort Lauderdale News. August 8th, 1980. Page 6B.; Heather Langan, “Loanshark victim tells grim story”. Fort Lauderdale News. August 26th, 1980. Page 2B. Heather Langan, “4 cleared in alleged bid to take over taxi company”. Fort Lauderdale News. August 30th, 1980. Page 2B.
[13] Henry Frederick & Steve Lieberman, “Arcade owner, associate to answer drug charges”. The Journal News. March 10th, 1994. Page A8.; Jamie Kempton, “Suspended Haverstraw cop hit with violations”. The Journal News. December 7th, 1993. Page B3.
[14] Ironically, officer Sisco was in charge of teaching Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) to Haverstraw Middle School students. He pled guilty to providing his 9mm gun to Pata and his associates. See Jamie Kempton, “Controversial cop returns to duty”. The Journal News. December 21st, 1993. Page B6.
[15] Steve Lieberman, “Pre-trial to begin in conspiracy case”. The Journal News. January 17th, 1994. Page B1.
[16] Henry Frederick & Steve Lieberman, “Arcade owner, associate to answer drug charges”. The Journal News. March 10th, 1994. Page A1.
[17] Henry Frederick & Steve Lieberman, “Two plead guilty to drug-sale conspiracy at Haverstraw arcade”. The Journal News. October 4th, 1994. Page B2.
[18] County Court of the State of New York, County of Suffolk, In the matter of…, Affidavit in Support of Application for Order of Extension of Eavesdropping Warrant. December 15th, 1985. Page 18.
[19] County Court of the State of New York, County of Suffolk, The Application of Detective Investigator Peter M. Calabrese for warrants authorizing the search of…, Application and Affidavit for Search Warrants. February 11th, 1986. Page 62.
[20] Donna Greene, “O’Rourke and Albanese give mobster’s son parkway license”. Tarrytown Daily News. February 27th, 1984. Page 5.
[21] In the Matter of the Petition of SHORE LINE OIL COMPANY, INC. DETERMINATION, State of New York, Division of Tax Appeals, November 30th, 1995. Link.
[22] U.S. v. Macchia, 845 F. Supp. 953 (E.D.N.Y. 1994).
[23] In the Matter of the Petition of SHORE LINE OIL COMPANY, INC. DETERMINATION, State of New York, Division of Tax Appeals, November 30th, 1995. Link. Pages 3-4.
[24] Ewe Distributors Inc. v. Chu, 629 F. Supp. 1527 (E.D.N.Y. 1986); U.S. v. Uzdavines et al., Cr-91-0641. Indictment, Page 3.
[25] Ibid.; U.S. v. Macchia, 845 F. Supp. 953 (E.D.N.Y. 1994).