The probable origin story of the well-known phrase.
What would happen if a local small time criminal, drug addict or gang member robbed a business owned by the Mafia or protected by them and even shot and killed or injured people bringing police and mob attention to themselves in the process?
These situations usually fall into one of two categories. The perpetrator doesn’t know the place they are robbing is mobbed up, or they do know and are just exceptionally dumb. Either way, the outcome likely won’t be good.The various crews in the New York Mafia usually operated out of “social clubs.” The two best-known are the Ravenite and the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club. They were the HQ of Gambino capo and later boss John Gotti.
In 1992, Thomas and Rosemarie Uva were broke.
Thomas was an ex-convict, having done time for armed robbery. He and his wife worked for a collection agency but were not making ends meet. They decided a good way to remedy that situation would be to rob mafia social clubs.
Thomas had been a Mafia enthusiast growing up and knew that the people in the social clubs were usually unarmed, often carried large amounts of cash, and were unlikely to call the police. With this knowledge, Thomas devised a simple plan. Rosemarie would wait in the car while Thomas stormed into the club and robbed everybody at gunpoint. He then ran out, jumped into the car, and the couple drove off into the sunset.
The couple was confirmed to have robbed four social clubs, possibly as many as 10, targeting mainly those owned by Gambino and Bonnano crews. In one, Thomas forced the patrons to strip to their underwear when he robbed them.
That was likely the last straw. Both the Bonnano and Gambino families put out an open contract on the Uvas. They were to be killed on sight.
On Christmas Eve, 1992, Thomas and Rosemarie decided to get in some late Christmas shopping. At the intersection of 103rd Avenue and 93rd Street in Ozone Park, two men opened fire on their car. Rosemarie and Thomas were struck by three bullets each and died instantly.
In 2014, their adventures were made into a movie called Rob the Mob starring Michael Pitt, Andy Garcia, Nina Arianda, and Ray Romano.
Morons. That’s the kind of posthumous celebrity we could all do without.
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Johnny Hooker got away with it in The Sting, but only just barely.
Even the entire Oceans 11 crew had to repay Terry Benedict.
Never piss on the third rail.
I lived within walking distance of that Ozone Park location sometimes prior to that incident. I had moved by Dec 92 though.