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Jane Ann Morrison
Women married to mobsters make up interesting excuses
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Unable to get mob wife Nancy Spilotro to tell all about Tony, I did the next best thing and went to a panel Tuesday featuring four women with mob ties.
Like many others, I have a fascination with mob history and particularly wonder about women who know their husbands are murderers -- yet stay with them.
Two of the four panelists were clearly delusional: Deirdre Capone and Wendy Mazaros.
The frankest was Amy Hanley, Wendy Mazaros' daughter by hitman Tom Hanley and half sister to crazed killer Gramby Hanley. And she was reared by another murderer her mom married.
The fourth, Dani Porter Lansky, married Meyer Lansky II. She is working on a book based on family letters about the mob's accountant.
Capone's book, "Uncle Al Capone," is a defensive presentation; so were her panel comments. Her view: Al Capone was a businessman "set up to fail because he's Italian."
She bragged that Al and his brother Ralph (her grandfather) were "the first Italian-American millionaires. I think Americans should be proud of that."
In her opinion, they provided Americans what they wanted during Prohibition: illegal gambling, illegal liquor and willing prostitutes.
Then there was Wendy Mazaros, who claimed husband/hitman Tom Hanley was training her to be a hitwoman, which seemed preposterous. Yet when it came to hearing from someone who lived the life, she is the real deal, which is why her book "Vegas Rag Doll" is selling well.
Oddly enough, she didn't voluntarily bring up the late drug-addicted Ted Binion until an audience member asked what she remembered about him.
"I remember he was nice," Mazaros said.
"He was sick," her daughter interrupted, pointing out he was snorting cocaine with her mom when her mom was just 15. "What man takes a 15-year-old girl and sends her to a brothel?"
Mazaros denied Binion sent her to a brothel, blaming it on another man. But it's clear in her book that Binion made it happen, leading me to wonder whether she fears retaliation from the Binion family.
The mother-daughter exchange was among the most interesting of the program, which nearly filled the 399-seat theater at the Clark County Library at 1401 E. Flamingo Road.
Amy Hanley, who was 3 when Tom Hanley died, was reared by another murderer, the late Robert Peoples.
When she was 16 and was given a new car, shopping sprees and vacation trips to San Diego, she asked Peoples where the money came from because he wasn't working much. And he told her about his mob ties in San Diego and Arizona.
Another memorable moment came when an audience member asked Capone: Do you truly believe Al Capone never committed a heinous crime, like murder?
Capone answered that the people who did business with mobsters knew "if they didn't perform, there had to be repercussions."
Amy Hanley jumped in quickly, saying just because people did business with the mob doesn't give mobsters the right to kill them.
Mazaros claimed Tom Hanley was involved in the disappearance of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa and President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Her co-author, Joe Schoenmann, cautioned that couldn't be proved.
Why does a woman stay with a stone-cold killer like Tom Hanley?
"I didn't have any other choice," Mazaros said.
He had forced her to write a suicide note, just as he did for his first wife, and she feared he would kill her if she left him.
Even if I didn't believe everything I heard (or read in Mazaros' book), it was time well-spent.
Mob Month at the Clark County Library offers four more mob programs on the next four Tuesdays, all starting at 7 p.m.
Coming next: "How the FBI, Nevada Gaming Control and the IRS Took Down the Mob."
May not believe everything I hear there either. Doesn't mean I won't enjoy it.
Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison
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Hanley died in January 1975. That means Wendy was living at the house on Ogden when she died. Maybe Wendy gave Aunt Mary Lou the whiskey. You see, Aunt Mary Lou, an alcoholic had just dried up. She died of alcohol poisoning, not a drug overdose. So many untruths and exaggerations in this story. Not to mention the fact that Wendy should not be benefiting monetarily from a crime she was an accomplice to.
Sad Wendy Mazeros is making a profit off a book about crimes she was an accomplice to. That is a dang crime in itself.
You were 1 when your dad was arrested Amy, how did you live through all of this? Did your Father Tom Hanley raise you up not to trust the police?
Having been here and working here since the 60s in the Hotels of the GOOD OL DAYS all I can say about these folks is PHONIES trying to make a buck
Apparently some of the commentator have not left their mother's basement in awhile. Attend one of these events at the library and you will see the truth. Most panel members will tell you how unglamorous the life was/is. The pain, the destruction of families and business. How the mob, disguised as Unions, ruin lives and help get bad men elected to office. The only ones that glorify it are people like Oscar Goodman who was nothing but a great paper pusher with a law degree.
So this is Amy Hanley.. A couple of things... My mom is Wendy Mazaros and Tom Hanley was her husband not her father. One thing I can say about my mom is she wouldn't make comments about something if she didn't know anything about it. She isn't like that. I want to touch on something here. Growing up in this lifestyle IS NOT glamorous or glorified! Anyone trying to do that and say it is has lost their mind... I know how I grew up, what I saw, how I was treated, what I was subjected to and I would never wish that upon someone. To give one example I was raised to fear and not trust the police and any other authorities for that matter. That is just one little piece of it. My mother was subjected to a lot and has endured a severe amount of abuse through out her life. I know I was there. Anyone to say Mob men appreciate and love their families is so full of BS it makes me sick to my stomach. They use us, control us, play mental games with us, destroy our innocence... To say these men do no wrong and just gave the public what they wanted is insulting to me... If it is illegal and you are making a profit from it how can anyone say it is right? I will say it like it is... They are murderers looking to cheat the system, make a buck and take the easy way out at everyone else's expense! BTW yes my mom and I are a riot. We had each other through this time. So we are close... To watch us day to day would be an eye opener for sure and entertaining! We always laugh at ourselves and what we do!
Will the Fertittas be attending the next panel? It would be interesting to hear their opinion on the strange car accident that eliminated Carl Thomas, and his testimony, that may have exposed Frank Fertitta Jr's role on casino skimming.
My suggestion to anyone who holds a romantic notion of the mob is to read "On the Run, A Mafia Childhood" by the two children of NY mobster Hill, who has been featured twice by John L. Smith, the last time for writing a "Mafia Cookbook." Any glitz tied to the mob fades when one realizes mobsters do little except kill, steal, beat their wives and girlfriends, and use their children as human shields.
I understand how people can have a morbid curiosity in the mob but fail to understand a continued interest in their lives. The mob or any organized crime is responsible for the destruction of so many innocent lives and businesses. Actually governments and societies like Italy in the 80’s or Mexico now. The mob should be thought of in the same content as Hitler, Stalin, or Obama, evil or so high on the evil scale there isn’t a place on Michael Stone’s scale of evil. Certainly studying the mob in order to end it, isn’t a bad idea, but any glorification or adding to the wealth of those once involved with or in the mob is an insult to a sane society and the victims of this evil. Mob month, what BS, how about organized crime victim month, with pictures of the victims? They didn’t just kill members or associates but innocent people not involved in any manner with organized crime. Looks like many people choice delusion concerning the mob, not just mob wives.
That was probably the reason for the panel,kinda' like an audition.