The Men Who "Stole The French Connection"

Vincent Papa

This page has some issuesVincent C. PapaBorn1917New York CityDied1977 (aged 56–57)OccupationFormer drug lordCriminal chargeDrug DealingVincent C. Papa (1917 New York City – July 1977 Atlanta, Georgia) was anItalian-American mobster associated with the Lucchese crime family. He became notorious for masterminding the theft of the French Connection heroin from the New York Police Department (NYPD) property office.


Early years

Born in New York City, Papa grew up in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. A longtime partner of Long Island drug kingpin Anthony Loria Sr. Papa became a respected underworld figure.

French Connection Theft

A major narcotics distributor for many years, Papa along with Virgil Alessi plotted the famous French Connection drug thefts. Between 1969 and 1972, New York Police Department detectives stole an estimated 70 million dollars (street value) in confiscated narcotics from the New York City Police Property Clerk's office in Lower Manhattan.[citation needed] Over 400 pounds of heroin andcocaine disappeared back into the streets. Although some of the drugs were eventually recovered, the majority was lost forever. The French Connection theft became the biggest corruption scandal in NYPD history and one of the most spectacular crimes in city history. This theft was never solved.Papa's crew, whose members included Loria, and a large group of detectives who would go to the property clerks office and steal the heroin, distributed close to $1 million in heroin along the East Coast of the United States during the early seventies.[citation needed] It was widely suspected that Papa sold the stolen drugs.

Prison and death

In 1975, Papa was convicted and sent to the Atlanta Federal Prison in Atlanta, Georgia.[1] In 1977, Papa was stabbed to death in prison by the Aryan Brotherhood, allegedly hired by rival mobster named Herbie Sperling. The motive for Papa's murder remains unclear. However, when prosecutors were still investigating the French Connection thefts, then-United States AttorneyRudy Giuliani allegedly leaked a deal that Papa had made with the government.[2] Papa had promised to release the names of agents working for the United States Organized Crime Strike Force who were giving information secretly to Papa's organization. Under the terms of the deal, he would not be prosecuted for heroin trafficking. Giuliani, desiring the publicity he would gain from prosecuting Papa for heroin trafficking, ignored the deal and spread the word that Papa had become an informant. This information prompted the Lucchese family to order Papa's murder. Soon afterwards, he was stabbed to death in prison.

Papa is buried in Queens, New York, in St. John's Cemetery, the so-called "Mafia's Boot Hill". This cemetery holds infamous underworld figures such asCharles "Lucky" Luciano, Joe Profaci, Vito Genovese, Joe Colombo, and Carlo Gambino.



Anthony Loria - East Harlem Gangsternthony Loria, Sr. aka Tony Aboudamita (1921-1989) was a New York mobster who played a major role in the famous French Connection heroin scandal. He was cited as a major heroin dealer during the late 1960s and 1970s.Anthony Loria - East Harlem Born - "French Connection Gangster"Born in the East Harlem section of New York, Loria later moved to the Bronx. Loria soon became associated with the Colombo family and soon acquired a reputation within the family was as a loyal and reliable man. In 1961, Loria was the defendant in New York v. Loria, a landmark case involving Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution rights regarding illegal "search and seizure" procedures.In the early 1970's, Loria moved to North Babylon, New York. During this period, Loria went to prison for his role as head of Long Island's heroin traffic operations. Loria was also implicated in the New York Police Department scandal which over $70 million narcotics seized during the French Connection operation were stolen from the police property room. These drugs eventually ended back on the streets, with Loria allegedly one of the sellers. Loria's partner, Vincent Papa was also arrested in the same Drug Enforcement Administration case and was sent to prison.In later years, Loria moved to the Stuyvesant Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. In 1989, after years of failing health, Anthony Loria Sr. died at Stony Brook University Hospital hospital in Stony Brook, New York.Loria was survived by his wife Mildred and seven children. Loria was the father of entertainer Art Loria and grandfather of entertainer, athlete, and movie actor Daniel Loria.

n 1976, a former police detective David Durk and famed TV investigative reporter Ira Silverman teamed up to publish a fascinating mafia expose, 'The Pleasant Avenue Connection'.   More than 30 years later, the book is practically out of existence. In turn, 'The Pleasant Avenue Connection' has become the most expensive and sought after crime books of all-time.  While bestsellers like 'Wiseguy' and 'Casino' remain the standard in mafia reads -- both were adapted in iconic films by director Martin Scorsese -- the Durk and Silverman book centers on East Harlem in 1960s and 1970s, as it was the capital of the heroin trade world.  Detective Durk infiltrated the six-block neighborhood, bringing down a heroin supermarket headed by the East Harlem Purple Gang, local hit man Ernie Boy and 85 others that were affiliated with the Lucchese family and later the Bonanno and Genovese crime families.  The book recounts wide-spread police corruption. Many officers tried to deter Detective Durk's involvement as they wanted the drug action to continue on Pleasant Avenue.  It delves in to how Detective Durk went to the city government, and he eventually started  'Operation Undercover' that went become the largest and probably most significant organized crime investigation ever in the country.  The book went out of distribution without even a sniff of a film adaptation -- though the movie 'American Gangster' touches on some of the drug trade back then.   And now if you scour the Amazon. com book store you'll find the book for $400 brand new or nearly $200 used. There's no existence of a paperback, just hard covers.  You could still purchase the book 'Crusader: The Hell-Raising Police Career of Detective David Durk'. That book details Durk's attempts to force the city narcotics teams to shut down the East Harlem drug cartels. Also, if you are aching for more, you could still purchase 'Blue Domino', which also sheds light on the heroin and mafia world of East Harlem.  Currently, the six block neighborhood of  East Harlem, a primarily Italian neighborhood in the '60s and '70s, has gentrified recently. The older heroin stomping grounds now houses a shopping center that includes a Target.  The early accounts of East Harlem are filled with mafia lore. 'The Godfather' was filmed there. The East Harlem Purple Gang was also mentioned in 'Carlito's Way'. The neighborhood was so protected by the mafia back then that residents didn't have to lock their doors. Many recall characters like Eddie the Butcher, who's meat shop didn't have a single piece of meat in it for more than 40 years; or Charlie Ding-Dong, who's candy shop was a turned into a casino at night.  Resident gangsters like Vincent Papa and Anthony Loria Sr became glorified as they masterminded a scheme the involved law officials and NYPD officials uplifting nearly $70 million  in narcotics over several years from the late '60s to early '70s.

REAL LIFE INSPIRATIONS FOR THE GODFATHER MOVIE

Though Lucchese wasn’t purely a “pimp,” as Vito described Tattaglia, his family was relatively small, and he needed to come to other families for influence and muscle.In an effort to grow in strength and power, Lucchese broke with mafia tradition and allowed an associates Vincent Papa and Anthony Loria to smuggle and distribute heroin. Papa turned out to be a criminal visionary, and the profits, predictably, rolled in.Papa was later sentenced to prison for his part in the French Connection drug thefts, and there he was stabbed to death in 1977. Unlike nasty little Philip Tattaglia, who was gunned down in a hotel room with one of the prostitutes in his family’s employ, Lucchese used Papa’s organization and network to make a fortune in narcotics. He rose in stature within the mob, and died at the age of 67 of a brain tumor, one of the few members of La Cosa Nostra to have never spent a day in jail.Sometimes, karma takes a day off.