The Mob and Me by John Partington Arlene Violet

Author:John Partington, Arlene Violet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: GALLERY BOOKS
Published: 2010-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

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RUNNING UP STOCKS

Back in the Wild West, when an old-time outlaw was asked why he robbed banks, he replied: “That’s where the money is.” The mob quickly realized, particularly with tutors like Vinnie Teresa, that the money was also in places other than banks; the newest reservoir of money was on Wall Street. The mob began to infiltrate the brokerage houses and made millions. One guy I protected who quarterbacked mob operations in the stock market was Michael Hellerman. He and his mob recipients were the precursors of the Enron crowd.

Michael Hellerman made millions for himself and his associates, and then the government came a calling. Hellerman could either spend the rest of his life in jail or become a protected witness. He chose the latter. By the time he finished testifying, he had helped put away dozens of hoodlums, brokers, swindlers, and businessmen who had been on his gravy train.

Significant organized-crime guys whom he brought down included John Dioguardi, a.k.a. Johnnie Dio, a soldier in the Thomas Luchese family; Carmine Traumunti, acting head of the Luchese crime family; Vincent Aloi, a capo in the Colombo family; Vincent Gugliaro; John Savino; Pasquale Fusco; Phil Bonodono; James Burkeson, son-in-law of Meyer Lansky; and Vincent Lombardo, along with wannabe higher-ups of the mob.

Hellerman’s earlier career was pretty predictable. His father was a big-time banker, and Hellerman was highly educated and soon became a rising star on Wall Street. Had he stayed straight, he would have ended up a millionaire. Instead he became fascinated by the fast life of mobsters he saw from a distance. He wheedled himself into meetings with Crazy Joe Gallo and other hoods. Hellerman decided that instead of fronting his own money in any swindle he could use mob money and make himself a bigger profit. These connections would give him an in to the famous entertainers and sports figures of the day. Hellerman even got himself a mistress to parallel the lives of most wise guys.

One key swindle Hellerman would use was to control virtually all of a company’s stock, but not own it all himself. Using mob money, he paid traders and brokers from various firms double what they would make on a stock commission to follow his lead on the stock manipulation. Hellerman would in effect control the stock of a shell corporation using nominees or phony names. The idea was to move the stock toward a prearranged price very gradually, say over six months. Hellerman knew that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would usually pick up only on a fast dump of shares.

If he bought Company X at a dollar a share, he’d move the price up to $25 a share by buying very small lots of shares at a higher price but his cohort brokers who were in on the deal would report a bogus volume of sales to create excitement for the trade for outsiders. Hellerman would also have them report “sales” at a higher price for shares he already owned at $1.

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