Mafia gay bars
GAB | The Global Anticorruption Blog
A small after midnight on June 28, 1969, New York Urban area police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a seedy lock in Greenwich Village known for catering to a mostly LGBTQ crowd. Such raids were not uncommon—in fact, the Stonewall Inn had already been raided just four days prior to that now historic evening. But for some reason, that particular raid on that particular night had touched off stormy clashes between police and Stonewall’s patrons, becoming a watershed moment for the LGBTQ civil rights movement in the United States. Indeed, the Stonewall Inn is now a national monument, and the anniversary of Stonewall is commemorated every year with Pride parades around the world.
In the days following the riots, however, the Stonewall Inn was in utter disarray: graffiti sprawled on its boarded-up windows read: “GAY PROHIBITION CORRUPT$ COP$ / FEED$ MAFIA.” That brief and blunt-edged statement captures an important truth about Stonewall, one that is important for understanding both the historical context of the Stonewall uprising, as well as the intersection between anti-LGBTQ discrimination and corruption that persists today: The riots weren’t only
Dec. 26, 2024
A Whole Novel Meaning to Depart the Gun, Get the Cannoli
When most people hear the word "Mafia," they likely envision the world of The Godfather or The Sopranos, iconic images of tough, masculine, and often vicious men running organized crime empires. But few would immediately think of the Mafia as a player in Recent York City's same-sex attracted bar scene during the 1960s. However, for nearly a decade, the Mafia had a strategic stranglehold over these spaces, controlling much of the same-sex attracted nightlife in Recent York, especially in Greenwich Village.
It wasn’t because the Mafia was an ally of the Diverse community. Their motives were purely financial, capitalizing on the legal grey areas surrounding gay establishments. Today, this part of history has largely been forgotten or even erased, but it's a critical chapter that reveals a complex relationship between organized crime, police corruption, and LGBTQ+ oppression.
The Rise of Queer Bars as Protected Spaces
Before delving into the Mafia’s involvement, it’s important to understand the significance of gay bars in American history. These establishments began to pop up as early as the 1930s, functioning as
The gay rights movement and the Mob
Nearly 50 years ago, on June 28, 1969, LGBT people – led by drag queens – rebelled against a raid by the New York Police Department on the Stonewall Inn gay nightclub. For two nights, gay men and women fought back against the police until they withdrew. “Stonewall” later became seen as perhaps the most important symbolic event in the modern LGBT rights movement.
Less adequately known is that the turbulent nights of June 28-29, 1969, were very much a rebellion against the Mafia, as skillfully. The Stonewall was secretly owned by Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianiello, a high-level caporegime (captain) in the Genovese crime family who held hidden interests in a series of gay bars and porn stores in the Greenwich Village and Times Square neighborhoods. Mob-run gay bars were notorious for charging high-prices for lousy, watered-down drinks from bootlegged liquor (“Mafia house beer,” one patron dubbed it.) The Stonewall Inn itself was an unlicensed “bottle club,” often dirty, with no running water behind the bar. Mobbed-up bar owners would periodically let the police move “show raids” to appease the neighbors, and, in the process, sacrifice some of their