Quote:
Originally Posted by dirty dog
Actually Wheeler was Mayor, Berkly became Mayor in 1979 but by then the war was over, Joe and Willie had been indicted for extorting Fred Bonadona, and then Joe died in 1980, I attended the funeral. Cleaver at that time was in his first year on the city councel. The license issue was pushed by Freddy who wanted to maintain a monopoly in the quey and he wanted to maintain control of the leased city property which was used for parking. Willie Cammisano wanted in on the leases and Joe wanted to located a second bar to the area. Bonadona went to city councelman Herandez who put pressure on the liquor control board to turn down license requests, in the end they got the licenses but the damage was done so Bonadona flipped to the feds. I am not denying your story only adding a little more insight.
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I am trying to remember the names. I think you are talking about the Father. The Cammisano that I have talked with several times in the area was a son; I don't know if he was active with the old timers or not. I began to acquire property in the area in the early 80's before the push to develop the market area. It was the son who was running Cotton Eye Joe. As far as I was concerned he kept a close control on what went on outside the bar. Once, He sent a guy to borrow an extension cord. He invited everyone to have chicken he fixed on his grill in the parking lot.
A lot of the Italian community had families working and living in the area. I was very quiet in the area, but I talked to people. If you are around people just want to know who you are.
The North Side (South of the River) and in the River Market there was a phone chain if there was a problem. If you saw guys going out to the street, you knew someone had spotted something. In the living area, most of these people are related, and go to the same church. In the market, a lot of them were related. Things have changed a lot now.
JR
