Submitted by Mario Rotondo
Guest Post by Charles Brandt
This is a biography of Frank ‘The Irishman’ Sheeran. It’s the basis for Martin Scorsese’s new picture “The Irishman” starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino due to be released next month. If you are unaware of the history of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa and would rather not have the movie compromised, I suggest you skip this article, although I will focus on those parts of the book that I suspect Scorsese will not be permitted to tell, namely government complicity.
‘I heard you paint houses’ are the first words ever spoken by Jimmy Hoffa to Frank Sheeran. It’s gangster talk meaning I heard you kill people. Painting a house refers to the blood splatter that covers the walls when someone is shot. “Yes”, Sheeran replied, “I do my own carpentry work too”; which means he disposes of the corpses as well. It’s part of the vernacular and nicknaming so prevalent among my wayward tribe members; Italians who regard the law as do those who make and enforce the laws; to be used as is convenient.
If asked about some guy who was whacked the response was ‘He’s in Australia’ (down under). ‘If you aren’t sure-be sure’ meant if you suspect someone of treachery, kill him and you no longer have to wonder about it. ‘Tell him what it is’ was the phrase used by the bosses that was the rattle before the strike. If you didn’t get his drift you got killed, often by the hand of The Irishman. Crazy Joe Gallo was one such hit.
Sheeran talks about his upbringing in Darby, Pennsylvania, a town just west of Philadelphia. He was born to an Irish father and a Swedish mother (Who knew a Swede could be a hitman? The Irish side makes perfect sense). It was a tough and gritty life lived during the depression. At six four and in great shape working as a logger he was a physical specimen who got brutal boxing lessons from his old man at an early age. As a teen he could, and often did, take on two or three guys at a time in a fist fight. He was a natural born ass-kicker.
By the time World War Two started he was exactly what the army wanted in a soldier and he worked for the prototypical government crime boss; George S Patton. He talks about the speeches Patton made to his assembled army which included Sheeran. If you saw the movie PATTON you know the message. As a soldier in his army your most vicious and lethal instincts were not only encouraged but championed. There were no rules but one: kill whoever stood between you and your objective: Germans, Italians, civilians, prisoners of war, whomever.
Sheeran learned well. He fought with Patton in Sicily, then up the Italian boot including the slaughterhouse at Monte Cassino. He was stranded on the beaches of Anzio. He was eventually reunited with Patton fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. All in all he saw over 400 days of combat. The average GI in World WarTwo saw under one hundred. When German soldiers surrendered on the front lines he was the one chosen by officers to ‘take them for a walk’, never to return. In his words “I did what I had to do”. It was the perfect resume for a budding mafia hit man-a government trained killer.
After the war he tells an interesting story on how he entered the mafia culture in Philly sponsored by his mentor; northern Pennsylvania crime boss Russell (Rosario) Bufalino. I heard of Bufalino from the mafia reading I did over the years but I never realised how powerful and far reaching his crime family was. Bufalino, like his close friend and associate, Philadelphia boss Angelo Bruno, were quintessential Sicilian born crime bosses. Like the fictional Vito Corleone, they were men of great stature. Men who were uncompromising, soft spoken who eschewed publicity and would ‘do what you had to do’ with savage resolve. It was Bufalino who took a shine to Sheeran and escorted him through the various mafia escapades, saving his life on many occasions.
His first hit came from a misunderstanding that nearly cost him his life. He was by then, in the early 1950’s a ‘muscle’ collecting shylock payments from delinquent borrowers who usually quickly found the money once Sheeran showed up. He had established himself as a stand up guy who you just didn’t fuck with. His first big score was to burn down the competitor of a mafia run laundry service. He was told by ‘Whispers’ DiTullio that ‘these Jews’ in Delaware were undercutting his bids and taking away easy profits. He was paid a $2,000 down payment with another eight grand to follow once the deed was done. Fate intervened.
He was summoned by ‘Skinny Razor’ DiTullio (no relation) to an urgent meeting in his Philly bar, The Friendly Lounge. Skinny Razor was Bruno’s second in command. Once in the bar he was escorted to a backroom. There waiting for him was Bruno and Bufalino. The looks on their faces told Sheeran ‘what it is’: He was in deep shit. Bruno charged into him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing” barked Bruno. Bufalino sat silently glaring at him. “You think you are dealing with fools” Bruno continued. That company in Delaware, Cadillac Cleaners, was owned by Jews alright; the Jewish mafia.
They worked hand in hand with the Philly gang and this was not only unauthorized but a potential declaration of war. It had to be avenged. Sheeran apologized profusely and asked if he should return the two grand. “No” said Bruno adding “He wasn’t going to need it.” Whispers had crossed the red line and it was up to Sheeran to save his ass by rectifying the situation. So he met Whispers on a dark Philly street and ‘did what he had to do’.
I hope this whets the reader’s appetite to read this book and/or see the movie. This story needs to be told. I think Scorsese assembled his all star cast in what is likely his last mafia story for a reason. I think he means to educate us on just what kind of country we live in, although I suspect he can’t tell the whole story. Beneath the mafia and Teamster wars of the 50’s and 60’s with Hoffa, the mafia, the Kennedy’s and the federal government was a dark history THEY don’t want told.
For example running five hundred grand in cash skimmed from casinos to Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell’s home to buy Hoffa’s pardon. Sheeran talks about Sam ‘Momo’ Giancana and Johnny Roselli working with the CIA to overthrow Castro while Bobby Kennedy’s Department of Justice worked to throttle the mafia, ignoring the efforts of Giancana to serve up the election for Jack by buying votes in Illinois and West Virginia. They thought they could trust Joe Kennedy. Not so. “If you aren’t sure, be sure.”
Sheeran talks about Momo stooge Jack Ruby running down to Havana to give Castro five hundred grand in $100 bills to bail out Tampa boss and Cuba overseer Santo Trafficanti. Sheehan explains how he likely handled the rifles that were used to kill Jack Kennedy. They were in a duffle bag that Sheeran took to a private airport and gave to New Orleans crime boss Carlos Marcello’s private pilot, David Ferrie (played by Joe Pesci in the film JFK)
Jimmy Hoffa, recently paroled from prison by Nixon was angling to replace his nemesis, Frank Fitzsimmons who had replaced Hoffa as Teamster head. Sheeran had climbed up the Teamster hierarchy from his base at Philadelphia local 107 to become an officer and Hoffa confident. They became fast friends. Hoffa was strong willed and uncompromising. He could not be swayed from his quest to replace Fitzsimmons, defying top mob bosses.
They were supportive of Fitzsimmons who dutifully supplied loans from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund minus the payback provisions demanded by Hoffa when he wrote the loans. Hoffa went public spouting that Fitz was mob controlled and once he got back in power he would rid the union of mob influence. It sent tremors through the mob underworld.
Days before Hoffa’s disappearance he met with Sheeran and Bufalino. In a final attempt to get Hoffa to back off Bufilano pleaded with Hoffa to appreciate what the mafia did for him. “You owe people, Jimmy” Bufilano said in a soft voice that got softer as the situation grew more dire. Then he added in a whisper “for Dallas”. Killing Jack Kennedy had stopped Attorney General Bobby Kennedy’s pursuit of Hoffa and mob control of the Teamsters cold. Hoffa wouldn’t budge. He claimed that he had the goods on the Kennedy assassination and would make public his information should he die unnaturally. He thought of it as an insurance policy against getting hit.
The hit on Kennedy was a Chicago/CIA operation directed on the ground by Marcello. Chicago had planted their own cops in Dallas that fateful day under the watchful eye of Jack Ruby. Ruby had established links to Dallas cops who frequented his Carousel Club. Two cops, J D Tippit and Rosco White were supposed to kill Lee Oswald. Apparently Oswald got the drop on them and escaped, killing Tippit in the process. Ruby had blown his assignment setting him up like Sheeran was in the Whispers arson case. Ruby now had to clean up the mess he made. He had open access to the Dallas police station and was the perfect choice to kill Oswald. As it turns out Ruby had no choice, lest he wind up like William Jackson
In 1961 Jackson was a 350 pound enforcer for the Chicago outfit. He was suspected of being an informant for the FBI, a certain death sentence. Giancana would use his murder to send an unmistakable message to all other potential rats. Jackson was taken to a mob run slaughter house where he was impaled on a meat hook through his rectum and tortured for three days until he died. They took pictures of his corpse to pass around the Outfit. There is no doubt Ruby got the message. His choice was to kill Oswald or die hanging on a meathook.
I won’t go into details on the Hoffa hit. I can say that the planning of the operation was stunningly professional and choreographed to the minute. I’m tempted to say it was pulled off with military precision but I doubt the military is capable of such competence. After all, the U.S. military has been killing people for only a few hundred years whereas mafia hits go back thousands.
There is no way to prove absolutely how Hoffa was killed. We can only say Frank Sheeran was a viable contender. There were plenty of cold blooded killers at the time who could have accomplished the task. This hit was performed with such precision it left no bungling to provide a trail, unlike the JFK hit with the zig zagging pristine bullets, missing brain and collapsed chain of custody (close enough for government work, you know.)
Frank Sheeran died in 2003. Before dying he found religion and confessed his sins like the good Catholic he was raised to be. This book was transcribed after that reversion. I came away liking him, even feeling sorry for him. Despite his obvious faults he was a stand up guy and, believe it or not, a compassionate one as well. In the logic of Bugsy Siegal he only killed his own kind. His fate was sealed by the time and circumstances he lived through; a sewer of warfare, assassinations, corruption and political intrigue. The real lesson of this wayward life was the political sewer that spawned his ilk. The one we inherited. The one we still have. Although I detest the author, his message is unassailable: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
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Great inside info!
if the kennedy hit were simply a mob hit,i believe that some enterprising politician would have made a career out of publicizing & crusading against the mob–
See a DeNiro movie??? Fuck you. I’d rather cut my cock off with a rusty butter knife.
Old faggot libtard fucker.
Once again, “fuck you!!” for recommending the movie.
Then you could just read the book, which was my suggestion-assuming you have the mental horsepower to pull it off.
If you limit your viewing options to only those entertainers who you agree with, you must be a lonely man which may explain your contemplating cutting off your pecker.
mr,
i had this discussion this am w/a 19 yo–
we were talking about an entertainer who has gone full on libtard & i told the 19 yo that this is where the rubber meets the road–if this person is actively promoting ideas/actions that conflict w/your values,if you support them w/your $ aren’t you supporting their values?
stay the course,stucky–
The crucial point is the societal sewer that existed back then still does. We know this to be so from this absurd Epstein story. Yes, De Niro is an asshole but he’s not the reason we have a dysfunctional and corrupt government our children and grandchildren might very well suffer under.
You are correct …. the books are almost always better than the movie. If our library gets the book, I’ll definitely check it out.
As far as limiting myself to certain entertainers — I don’t. Ms Freud and I saw ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ last weekend … even though I think DiCaprio and Pitt are also libtard fucken asshole. But, it was a terrific movie and I recommend it! lol
DiNiro is in a class all by himself when it comes to my visceral deep seated disgust for that man. I can’t explain it fully … it’s just there. If I could get away with no jail time — just 80 thousand hours of community service — I would punch that motherfucker in his face. That’s why I said “fuck you” — it wasn’t personal. Just business. lol
See if your library can borrow it from another library. I recently got my local library to borrow a couple of books on the passage of the 17th amendment and it only cost me $2 for each one to cover shipping.
Funny lines.
Ok stucky you are no longer dead to me after that climate change nonsense. I too hate DiNutoo. He sux as an actor and i refuse to pay to watch anything he is in. Welcome back to the living my friend. ?
That was interesting.
Where’s Jimmy?
Last seen at the Machus Red Fox, on Telegraph Rd.
Fuhgeddaboutit.
According to Sheeran he was taken to either a local funeral parlor or industrial furnace and cremated. Interestingly he scoffed at the rumors about him being buried under Giant Stadium or various corn fields in Indiana or Ohio. You don’t take a joy ride with the body of a public figure who could rival Elvis in your trunk. That observation added credibility to me and it speaks to just how good these assassins were.
No body, no evidence.
Gruesome efficiency, and silence, or redirects sowing doubts make for a tough M.O. to prove and convict.
Skeletons, in closets, or anywhere else are sloppy clues left behind that might one day be discovered.
Luca said so.
Bufalino’s line was- while grinding his thumb on the table-“Dust to dust”.
Absolutely. You do not get cute with Elvis in your trunk. You don’t leave a body period. He was cremated surely.
… or delivered as pulverized bulk aggregate to a front company doing construction or paving work. A lot of people like this theory. Hard bones and teeth don’t burn completely so they are pulverized in a Cremulator. The cremains wouldn’t be hard to dispose of.
There is nothing good about murder or any who commit it.
Frank Sheeran told Brandt author Paint Houses: 1,).He claims to have transported guns (weapons) for the ill fated invasion of cuba (bay of pigs).2.)He claims to have met Kennedy conspiracy character David Ferrie.3,)He claimed to have transported rifle for the 1963 (11-22)Kennedy assassination.4.)He claims he gave David Ferrie 3 guns.5.)He claims sat down with Jack Ruby (killer of LHO)6.)He claims to have met with Key watergate figure E.Howard Hunt.7.)He claims to have transported( Russell) Bufalino to the famous Apalachin gathering.8.)He claims to kill man in chicago.9.)claims to have kill gangster Joey Gallo.10.)He claims have killed gangster Salvatore Briguglio.11.)He claims that assassination JFK was a mafia hit. 12.)He claims he was not directly (but indirectly) involved in the JFK assassination but He did transport 3 rifles to the alleged assassins via David Ferrie.13.)He claims july30,1975 He went to Machus Red fox Restaurant (6676 telegraph Rd )with chuckie Obrien drove Jimmy Hoffa Frank Sheeran mobster Sal Briguglio to a house in Detroit (17841 Beaverland Rd/Curtis St Troy Mich)He and Hoffa walk in and he shot Jimmy Hoffa and He claims there were 2 men clean up crew tom/steve Andretta.That he left house was told Hoffa was cremated.(andy discounts these things). But If you look at Jack Ruby addresses polk city directories and his brothers /Sisters they all lived near the Mafia people of that time – Sam Giancana / Chuck Nicoletti. Don’t forget who Jack Ruby called Barney Barker, Dusty Miller, Lenny Patrick, Dave Yaras, Lewis McWillie, Irwin S. Weiner and Mike Shore. (footnote:Irwin Weiner told the HSCA that he received only one phone call from Ruby, and it was about a labor dispute involving strippers. He said that he knew nothing about 5 phone calls that his “close friend” Mike Shore received from Ruby in October 1963 Shore work Sinatra Reprise Records(Frank Sinatra /SamGiancana/SkinnyPaul A’mato CalNevaLodge).and Irwin Weiner /Allan Dorfman)Allan Dorfman associate of longtime President Jimmy Hoffa and associated with organized crime via the Chicago Outfit.”IRWIN WEINER; WITNESSED DORFMAN `HIT’ – Chicago Tribune”· Irwin Weiner was a Chicago bail bondsman and close associate of Hoffa and Giancana and was described by investigative journalist Jack Anderson as “the underworld’s major financial figure in the Midwest.” Nofio Pecora was an associate of an associate of Carlos Marcello.. 1974 Irwin S Weiner, Allen Dorfman, Tony Spilotro and Joey Lombardo stand trial in Chicago for fraud.(Spilotro/Roselli/Frank Rosenthal;/Marshall Caifano/ Frank Cullotta/HoleWallGang)!!
Great story. I remember The Friendly, not fondly.
charles brandt-book – only has hearsay from frank Sheeran. Nobody uncovered body, no blood at big beaver rd detroit . Sheeran names Steve – Tommy Andretta. Now Tommy Andretta Las Vegas 72 yr old why hasn’t someone interview him ?Sheeran claim bag Hoffa then put in funeral parlor cremation oven – did the funeral parlor (name?) allow this to be done or did hit men break down door used the place without permission?
Whether they reside in penthouse or a rowhouse , all criminals are scum and any movie that celebrates the criminal should be totally ignored.
Too bad they used that little punk ass liberal POS Deniro instead of a real actor more to the real person. I’ll pass on the flick & get the book….
Good article, but who is Mario Rotondo and how does he know Charles Brandt?
The Round Guy is most likely a pseudonym and knows someone who knows somebody.
Like I told one of my boys when dealing with relatives of certain girlfriends … if they ever take you aside and ask if you ever need a good paying job in waste management, politely decline, excuse yourself, then RUN like hell.
Off-topic, but widdat question, I knows you ain’t from Joizey.
The mob and intel organizations have certain things in common. One is need to know, another is called compartmentalization, and another is delegation of responsibility. The job is done by a few reliable people who divide the operation between themselves, but don’t talk to each other. This reduces the number of people knowing the full details of the operation because they only do specific things. If caught, all of them can deny knowing what the other were up to.