Ain't That A Kick In The Head

great day. It is taping on Veterans Day right I am taping on Veterans Day right now. And as we said yesterday and I've said throughout the day, thank you all for your service. There are people who were on this show who are patrons who uh served in foreign countries. And you have brothers and sisters and fathers and others grandfathers, I mean all of us to some degree or from

military families. I'm very proud about that. I remember. I don't know why I remember this, but it's you know, my memory is like an elephant's, but this is a foggy one. I remember for some reason me, Kenny, Mike, maybe my good buddy, our good buddy, Ronnie kinnear Whitey. I remember us going to the post office and having to put our name down, not to be submitted for the draft per se, but it was something along those lines.

Even though Vietnam was over. This is like seventy seventy eight, but there was some kind of question maybe that the draft could be reinstated, and guys our age had to put our names in. I remember that, but I don't remember the specific details. But I recall us being a little nervous, laughing a lot as we drove to the post office, and not knowing what was going to happen. But I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I

wouldn't have concocted that whole thing in my head. We definitely went to the post office names down on some piece of paper. Anyhow, I you know, I like a lot of you. I came from a family whose father served, and back in the seventies when Richard Nixon and George McGovern were battling it out, my house was not the loving, wonderful household that I described to you guys. For the

last eight years. My father was a staunch supporter of America and the war, he and his brothers having served in World War Two, enlisting the day after Pearl Harbor. My father was underage and still went. They all served in different factions. And I you know, obviously whose stories are magnificent. They weren't magnificent. Those stories of World War Two. They were chilling, They were fun. They were just filled with camaraderie and just you know, I love talking to

people who saw who saw war. When I was thinking to as I was driving, how lucky I am. A lot of us, I suppose, but I turned it into a career to be near men who went to World War Two. And the topic on the radio was something about the Battle of the Bulge. And I remember saying, oh, my uncle Lui and Uncle Nikki fought in the Battle of Bulch. My mother's brothers fought in the Battle of the Bulch. I remember those stories. They come over and talk about the Battle of the Bulch. And you had

guys who stormed the beach in Normandy. You had all different sorts of relatives who fought in different wars overseas, and of course those guys came back with tremendous stories to tell. Whether it was at the dinner table, or in a car, or on the boat, or on a wedding or a function. You just I couldn't unglue myself from those stories. So you know, you ask somebody, well, what makes you want to tell stories? And what you know?

What about your past? You know? Motivated you want to talk and tell stories because I was raised by men who had wonderful stories. It just they captivated me. You couldn't help but listen. And I wasn't one of those kids who went to bed. I'd never bedtime. My mother tried, aj come on ten o'clock, go to bed. My father lily live my alone, let me alone, hej you want to hear me? Uncle Nicky, Uncle Frankie talk. You want to hearncle Yeah, Dad, Okay, please go away, go go

to the kitchen. It was that kind of world. And I'd sit there, my eyes would sometimes close half masks, but I'd wake up because there was a funny story. Man. It was a different, different era. Those men are gone, so those women. My buddy tough Tony Botch sent me a text this morning. I want to cry. I don't want to cry. Picture of his mom. He says, this is my mom. I think she's in her early seventies. Here reminds me of your sister, Rosalie. Both classy. My

mom had a great complexion. Italian women are aged well. Irish boughs looked like washed out trucks. I didn't prove read that before I read it. But they're making a poster out of this picture for a son's wedding next weekend. But you know, I was just thinking, like it's true. And I wrote back to my says, Tony, those those women are gone, bro, you know those women are all but gone. And he said, quite correct. They were tougher than the beta males of today. God damn right, they

were Jesus Christ, were they tougher anyhow? My sister Rosalie, she's hobbling around with a bum knee, a bum hip, a fucking sciatica. Oh I just didn't heating pig. Could you get me a title and all? Rosalie, you have percocet, your doctor Piscott. Take a pill? No, no, I ignore, she said, I don't want that. I'll fall asleep. I want to watch this movie if it was me and it's been me, gave me the pills. I want the pain pills now no, not her. My mother never took

anything either. Never she took librium to calm down, because who the hell about? She had a lot of things that were bugging her nerves and gots, as we say in Italian gotss little things, little things that a bunch of goats is around me, motherfucker, and gods, gotsa means prick. So it doesn't even make sense to people who don't understand Italian. But when you say, I got some gotss, just things that bug you. But yeah, man, thank you for all those people we know in love who served.

I was reading today about my buddy Bill Maher. I couldn't sleep yesterday. It was a weird day. I was. I told Rockog I take a nap. I picked them from school, and about four o'clock I said, look, I'm gonna lay down for like an hour or so. He goes, well, I'm gonna go to the park and play basketball. I said, I'll you're gonna eat dinner and I'll eat my friend okay, so I don't got to cook. I laid down. I

woke up. It was five twenty and it was kind of dark out, and I go, oh shit, oh my god, I fell a sleep by a couch, I get my charge, I get my phone, go into my bedroom, thinking it's five twenty am. I laid down. It's not am, it's PM. This is dinner time, asshole. So I fucked up my sleep and I kenp't wake it up. Last night one o'clock two thirty three, tag four point fifty, and I'm like, all right, just stay up, look at the phone, listen

to people on Instagram. Just let it go. And I did and read a lot of stories and social videos that really intrigued me and made me laugh and inspired me. It's amazing what you can find late at night if you go down different rabbit holes. We all have different algorithms. Some of us have kind of the same, some of us overlap. A lot of folks send me memes and stories,

and I'm like, I saw this, I saw that. But you know, I'm still very appreciative of people sending me things in the hopes that maybe I didn't see it, But I see everything. There's never a story about go I don't know about that. I didn't hear about that, so I started watching. I started listening to Bill Maher's

podcast with Cheryl Hines. You know, rfk's wife who's a Democrat and has had to go through a lot of shit because of her husband, and people on the left are shutting her literally, not wanting anything to do with her anymore. We heard from the Fucking Dyke comic Tig Natara, who broke a friendship with Cheryl because I can't be friends with someone like you. It just it makes me sick how people just walk away from her friend over politics. And there was a story today where a radio DJ,

Stephanie Miller, who apparently has about five million listeners. Now she's not well, she's out here in La now. But back in my day, in the early nineties, she was a DJ in New York and I knew Stephanie. We even went out a few times. It wasn't romantic. We just went out because she was fun. She was opigionated, And my buddy asked me to say, what was she like? Was she had liberal? I said, no, one knew who anybody was in nineteen ninety two. We didn't ask, We

didn't care. You voted for Bill Clinton was the big story, So it didn't like politics wasn't even a thing you tried to figure out on people. If you got along. You got along. If you thought someone was cute, handsome, hot, sexy, it didn't matter who they voted for. I said, I don't know what the fuck she was. Back then, she was a fun chick. We went out, we had laugh we had drinks, we had dinner. Stephanie was fun. And now she's kissing Jasmine Crockett sneakers at a fucking airport.

Oh my god, how the world has gone upside down. I can't take it, can't take what I'm seeing and anyway I watch you. I'm listening to Bill Maher's podcast with Cheryl Hines. I love Bill's show. I love everything Bill does. I didn't love this episode, though I didn't listen. I'm on record years ago when I first saw Cheryl Hanes on Curb Your Enthusiasm, I'm like, I think she's sexy. This is something I like her. I found her sexy on the kerb and maybe something. You think I'm crazy,

but I did. I still think she's sexy to this day. I find her something about is very attractive. I love her voice, I love her face or figure. I don't know. People turn you on for different reasons. So they're talking and apparently Bill had mentioned that it was a story out there that back in the nineties when he had his show Politically and Correct, which I did about six seven times. It was a fun show Comedy Central. It

was a lot of fun. We did one episode outdoors on the pier on the West side of Manhattan with a bunch of mafia type stories, and Bill introduced me outside to all these people. My next guest is a real made man aj It was so fun. I came

out with a baseball bet. He loved it. I didn't tell him that the Pev's story was on the Big Pussy had a lot of fun, but he said, like, you know, there was a story that sometimes back in the day before the show came on, he would master be in his dressing room and everybody's like, and Cheryl Hines was like, is this you know, is this all true? Yeah? He says, well, yeah I did. I didn't do it often, but I did it. And he said, look, you know, this is the nineties. I mean we taped every single day,

three four days a week. It was an everyday show, and I was a wild man back then. I would be out at night and hung over on the set the next day, and I remember that it was a different world. No one looked down upon you if you went out and had two martinis at lunch and came back and finished her column and then got a few drinks sing you into the TV show. A lot of people were doing the same thing. It was a devil may care attitude back then. It wasn't frowned upon. I'm

not lying, it just wasn't. And I would go out with Bill back then. That's when he and I really struck up a big friendship. Nineteen ninety one and ninety two, and we I mean, I set him up on a double date with me and the Baker sisters. I leen Baker was a knockout. I wanted I lean so badly, but I could tell she wanted someone with money, someone a little more. I don't know. Her sister was more for me. Her sister was a gorgeous Robin was another knockout.

But I leaned Baker, so I set them up with her and the four of us went out dinner, went to a club, and it didn't turn out for Bill. He really he'ash you know these girls in New York? Eh, I like la girls. I'm like you do, I said, No, New York girls are the best. He said, oh, you know, I don't know. I just and I said, we still talk about it to this day. I said, you know what, to me, an LA girl is like putting Uh, It's like putting in a layup in the basketball court, like

the girls in LA that I've met. It's like somebody misses a shot. You're there under the basket, you put back in the you put back in the layup, and you score two points. That's an LA girl, a New York girl. You got to start working at half court. You got to back them up, double behind your back, through the legs, crossover, switch them up. It's a different kind of relationship. So I'm more interested in the ones who play hard to get. And maybe Bill likes the

easy ones. I don't know. I don't mean easy and tramp. I just mean like less work, less effort. But yeah, he jerked off before shows. Who cares? You know, there are a lot of things you do when you're on TV. And I didn't know who I was going to be the kind of man I was going to be once I got my TV show, and you're taping the talk show or you're doing mysteries and scandals, and you know, at the beginning, it was just okay, I have a

TV show, this is weird. I just left New York, and now I want to set and then being filmed, and it's kind of cool. And then you just start to become this person that the town is recognizing and they know your name and they know they catchphrase, and they see you and they call your name out on airplanes and restaurants, in the street in traffic. There goes a bus what you're faced on it advertising the show. Suddenly you start to become this person that you would

never used to be. And then you take some liberties with that theme. You go, you know what, I don't have to fucking read up on this show. I'll wing it when I get there. You show me my mark like Sinatra, show me my mark. I'll hit my mark. Tell me action. You'll get a great show of me. And many times that works. And then you get really ballsy. Now I want to film at three o'clock in the morning, I need some cocaine. Let me get this guy I know who's gonna bring a little bag of coke, a

little footy dollar bag of coke. I'll do a couple of bunks before the show, and every time there's a break, I'll bump it up again. And then suddenly you're doing this every night. Now, you know, Am I jerking off before shows? No? But I'm doing something else. I'm doing some kind of religious thing. I don't mean religion, something you do religiously that you think is working and it's not. Yeah, cocaine may keep you up, but there's a crash involved later.

But at the beginning, I didn't even care about the crash. I just care about the being up, finishing the show strong. Four o'clock in the morning, my whole crew is shot. They're dead. I'm wearing a goat. Let's go to the after hours. They're like after hours. I'm going to bed. I gotta be at work at nine o'clock. Different world. But yeah, I did those things before. I remember, before my talk show, I got to be so cocky. The

money was flying in. I just saw an old contract the other day in the one of the boxes from storage. Jesus Christ. They would pay me a lot of money to do something I found so easy to do, which was basically be me. And I'm getting paid a lot of money to be me, And you know, I remember before the talk show, I would be in the little dress. It was a bathroom, actually my own bathroom, A shot a vodka, a bump at each nostrill, let's start the show.

And it seemed to work for me. But just as football players take steroids and eventually have this this anger that comes out of them for no reason, I became that kind of person too. Not anger as much as just taking chances, being reckless, not caring what society says, being your own guy, you know, breaking a girl's heart. There is all. There's always an effect that you have to suffer from, and people around you suffer from because of your indulgences. And clearly, if you're drinking off before

your TV show, no one's gonna suffer. But it doesn't bother me. The other day he had Michael Rappaport on his show, and I found that a fun show. I told you about rapp Report and stalking Lily Taylor back in the day when he made the movie Ransom. But Rappaport was telling Bill and you got to get out Pacinam on your show. Al will love he talks now, he'll talk about anything. He's older now. It Bills like I tried, he won't come on. Trust me, he won't

come on. And I'm like, and Michael's like, what do you mean, well, why would he come on? And Bill's like, he just won't come on. Trust me. I tried, And then I'm saying I'm yelling at the phone. The answer is obvious. Bill Maher and that chick uh Nora Alfalla who's thirty one, who has two kids without Pacino Roman And uh, well she has one son, right, I think they have one. Oh, she's pregnant again. I forget. There's definitely a son named Roman who's two years old. I

feel like she's pregnant again. Either way, Pacino has always said we're just friends. She's always said we're just friends. Then Bill's out with our Halloween night at some costume party and she's telling people, no, we're not dated, we're just friends. Al's my best friend, Bill's my friend. It's all weird. But wouldn't you think that's the reason why Pacino won't go on Bill Maher's show. I think right, But Rapaport didn't pick up on it, and Bill didn't

want to divulge you. I think that's the real reason. Speaking of relationships, I could talk about this next couple for a long time. But we did an episode of Mysteries and Scandals on Desi Arnez and didn't do it on Lucy, but it was kind of a show about both of them. Really, you can't talk about one without the other. Such mavericks those two. But recently, these never before seen letters between the two of them have gone public and it really gives people a better understanding of

what their love story was all about. These two were married for twenty years back in the forties, for twenty years, and there was a lot of insecurity. It was very emotional, very affectionate. And this new book called Lucy and Desi the Love Letters is out and there's notes that were written between the two of them basically during World War Two, right after they got married, and it showed a lot of the notes that you read the letters well. First of all, I love the letter writing campaign of the

old days. You know, every time I wrote a girlfriend a letter or a girlfriend or girl I want to be my girlfriend, somebody I was chasing. I always would print it up a newsday where I worked. I'd write late at night because the workday was over and I could fuck around on my computer for ninety minutes before I went home, and I'd write these beautiful letters, and i'd print them out and i'd save a copy. I don't know why, but I'm so glad, I think because I read them. To this day, I still read them.

Oh my god. There's one letter that I wrote to a girl who was in town for a while and she was leaving, and the first line we were both heartbroken. And the first line I wrote was I hate all planes today because their planes were taking her away. I just remember, I don't want to forget these lines. So I'm writing all these letters and it reminds me of

what these two were like back in the day. There's something so powerful about the written word, holding a piece of paper that your loved one pressed their hands on and wrote with the ink, and you could smell their perfume or cologne. They licked the envelope, they licked the stamp. It comes in your box, you'll hold it. It's so much better than a fucking email or a goddamn text that no one cares about. So these two went back and fort with these letters. But nineteen sixty it all ended.

They struggled, You know, DESI was banging a lot of showgirls and hookers. Desi wasn't into other actresses as much. She liked his hookers and showgirls. He liked anonymous sex. And Lucy knew about this, and she was very jealous. But she did become a very forgiving woman. And a lot of what you see on that TV show, what we saw on that TV show, and who didn't watch

that when we stayed home from school? How great were those black and white TV shows when you were sick and you stayed on from school and you watched all the father knows best. I love Lucy, Donna Reid my three sons. That you start to realize Fred McMurray is not just famous for My Three sons. He was in a movie, He was in a He had a Hollywood career before that. You don't even realize when you're a

kid that these people had careers. Bewitched Agnes Moorehead. There's so many people went to TV at the end of their careers that you don't know what they did. Thankfully, we get older, we got the Internet, we got Turner classic movies, and you can see what kind of great careers they had. So Lucy writes one letter. I'll read one. He's out there touring with his band and she's begging him don't give into temptation. She's like, you never answer my letters, DESI do you throw them away and forget

what I write about. You know, it's funny nowadays. I've said the same thing in the past to Andrea. Don't you get my text? Why aren't you responding to this text? It's the same shit, It's just different technology. The feelings are the same. And I would say I could never see a text from you, or see a miscall from you and not return it. That's just not a part of my being. How could anybody see a text and don't respond or a call and don't tell me to know I called or you didn't see my text. We

all fucking hold off phones constantly. Give me a break forget. I'm not gonna get into that. But the whole thing is Lucy was very insecure about it. I'm trying to get this wire off to you, and I'll be all sad by myself tonight if I haven't had a wire and answer. Please don't jeopardize the next few months with these awful dames I dislike so much. Please don't prefer them instead of me, Really, Darling, it won't be worth it. And then here she comes to the motherly sa are

you taking care of yourself? Are you getting any rest? I wish I could really have a chance to try to make you happy without counting every hour with you like two condemned criminals. And she asked to be more open. I can't say goodbye, Desi, I have a few more minutes to talk. Tell me, Darling, can't you just be a little more explicit in your letters? Your next one? Tell me really what you think about me while you're

bouncing around New York City? Can't you tell me what was on in your mind everywhere, even one day as I tell you, not just what you do and when you do it, but just as I ask you, Lucy, shut the fuck up, christ little clean gotta go now. Oh my love to you baby. These letters went back and forth until DESI finally sent a letter asking her to marry him again, but not before Lucy said, I'm going to Catechism, you know, and sitting with a pastor to learn about marriage and to make sure our marriage

is perfect. And she went to these classes. I did them too, when I first The first time I got married was called pre Kana. You sit down with an older married couple and they tell these younger couples about to be married what marriage life is like, and they try to guide you. The church kind of motivates you to do it. I didn't like doing it, but I did it. It was the thing to do. And that's what Lucy was doing on her own. DESU was very

proud of her doing that. But you know, she sounds so insecure and desperate, and I, you know, you wonder why these letters were published. I don't know, but she uh, look, she was no angel. I mean, he was a rap scallion. But back in the day, I remember from the show Polly Adler, a woman named Polly Adler was Polly Adler was a very famous madam and it was pretty much common knowledge back then before they made it. Lucie Bull

and Joan Crawford apparently allegedly worked for Polly Adler. Jeanette MacDonald too, who if you have ever seen her in a movie, you hated because for the movies are horrible. But they made quick and easy money going out with men. I'm not sure if they all got laid, but that was something they did you know A On a related topic, my aunt Adam, my mother's sister, Adam, who I just loved, My fucking favorite aunt, older sister. She looked after my

mom for just a wonderful woman. Taught me how to sing an Italian, translated every word of Jim Rizselli, and just sent me to Stephano. She was amazing. We had this letter writing campaign her and I like lovers, I write to my aunt. I'd send the things in the mail. She'd send me things back when she was young, she always told me, Hey, I saw this beautiful yellow silk dress in the window and a shop in Brooklyn. I wanted that dress so much, but it was three dollars.

Who had three dollars back then for a dress? I'm listening to Jesus Christ. What kind of world was this? So she went and did something. She was a private dancer, now a stripper. You go to a social club and fellas guys who you know came back for the war, probably was before the war, or maybe they were on leave, what have you. They want to go to a social and I want to dance with the girl. They want to hold a woman to dance with them. Not look I'm sure that there was sex involved with I'm not

saying that I added to that. But she get a Nickela dance. She was a private dancer, and she eventually had nobody to buy that dress. And when she bought it, my grandmother was like, oh, she called her every name in the book. Bhutana, you got this dress. Bah bah bah, tell my mother. Don't tell mom. Don't tell Mama, don't tell mama. I'm doing what a crazy world? It was, right, But you know, if you got to get some you can't condemn people to something like that. I don't mind

anything that includes affection and longing. I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful that people can go to someone for that kind of attachment or feeling, even if it's fleeting. I remember when I would be at the Aria and I would go down and get a drink years ago, and the hookers are out. You know, you can see

them a mile away. But they'd congregate at certain bars and wait for a high roll or just anybody to to the bar and want to spend, you know, And I see them talking and I have TOTSI marms that always made them want to talk about the girl the door. Oh you go cute? What's her name? And you start talking? And you know, I was very happy with Andrew. I ever went with a hooker, but I didn't mind talking to them until my drink came. I like to get

in people's heads. It helps me healthy, understand the human dynamic. Healthy, right. I just like to get in people's heads. Why are they doing this? What it means to them? Are they scared? There was that one night with this beautiful young girl about five to eleven knockout and me and Andrew had both spotted her. She was working, and we had this idea, let's let's stop her from working, Let's get her out

of this game so futile. And we took it to this other bar across the hotel casino, to this other place and some VIP bar, and we sat it down and I videoed. I talked to her. I have pictures, she's gorgeous, and we gave her our numbers. If there's ever a problem, caller, were here or always here, I'll help you. Did all we could to try to make her feel safe, but nah, she didn't care. She got beeped twenty five minutes in the call. She had to go.

Somebody wanted attention, a man wanted a companionship. I don't put anybody down for that. I just don't. It's an exchange of lust or love, or well not love, but something. I think there's a place for that anyhow. Desi and Lucy. Lucy was exactly like her character on that show, very crazy, selfish, jealous, always needing attention. As you can see from these letters. She'd throw some tantrums, she'd throw things around the room and things didn't go her way. On the road, she drank,

you know. She was a big two to three pack a day smoker. And there was a point where Desi wanted out really badly, but he wouldn't do it. He couldn't do it because the public demanded Desi and Lucy be together. It was impossible to think of those two not together. And I always remember this story from the episode It Brooks breaks my heart, but this is real love. They finally divorced nineteen sixty. Desi was with some woman

I forget her name, nobody important. Lucy ends up marrying Gary Morton, nice guy, successful, calm, not a bandleader, not a run around rap scallion type. They're in their home. DESI was still going out getting the hammreerd every night, picking up hookers here and there. And he would go to Lucy's house where her and where she and Gary Morton lived, because it was her house, and Desie would go to the door, loaded drunk, knock on the door,

calling to her window, Lucy, Lucy. And this went on constantly. It got to the point where her husband, Gary Morton, would go to the door, let Desie in, give him a cup of coffeet, have Lucy talk to him, and they'd let Desie sleep on the fucking couch till the morning, and then you go out leave again. But this happened a lot. It wasn't a one time thing. Let him sleep off his trunk on the couch. You could talk

to them. I'll be in bed, let me know, And they talk on the couch together as all lovers, old husbands and wives. How sad but also how beautiful. I couldn't be Gary Morton. I would have put a fucking bull in his head. But I understand that, all right, you love my wife. I get it. She's lucyill Ball. She's not some person you see walking down the street. She's an icon. I get it. You guys had twenty

years together, You've built tremendous television. There wouldn't be Star Trek if des and Lucy didn't have their company and produced that show. I mean, maybe somebody else would have, but Desilu Productions began Star Trek. There's a lot of things they did, very powerful couple, a lot of love there, and I just love that story of the husband letting Desi sleep on the couch because of his affection and

love for Lucy. I'm happy to say that I'm pleased by the amount of people who are subscribing to my substack. I've told you it's very easy. Substack dot com, my page Ajbenza dot substack dot com. There are two chapters of my upcoming book on there. The next one will come out tomorrow the next day, and I'm happy that a lot of you have signed up and want to see the written word and are interested in the written word. I like this art form as well. I love to be able to get on the mic and just talk.

I find this so soothing for me mentally, emotionally. It's therapeutic for all of us. Although right now I must tell you I cannot get on Patreon because I have AIDS. Again, I've got a complication from AIDS, and now it's spread to Patreon, like I like, all these platforms are lymph nodes. Now it's in my Patreon, so I don't know what's going on. I plug in my Gmail, my email. It's not your email. What do you mean it's not my fucking I got one email. I can't stand the kind

of fights I have with robots. Now. I have to call substat the other day. They don't have a person. You gotta go to the chat with a fucking robot. The robots can't answer questions, they need specific questions. It drives me crazy. Anyhow. I say this because the next chapter coming out is about that story I told you about when I dated that Cuban girl, Vivian, and I didn't know that she was She had been very close

with a very famous killer gangster name Joe Watts. And when I found out that she was with him, and he took her to Florida and brought her up you know, thousands of dollars in bracelets. I had to drop her off and go to the club and talk to Joe to say I didn't know she was your girl. It was a very harrowing experience. I've talked about it on the show. So I'm writing. I wrote the chapter the other day. I use her name as Evelyn. I don't

want to say Vivian. I use Evelyn because I don't want Sometimes people might not like the way you portray them, even if it's thirty years later. I've learned a lesson like that. Linda Stacy and my editler always told me, whenever you're writing about somebody, when you're publishing a story tomorrow, give that person a call, leave a message, but reach out to them. Let them know they're in the paper tomorrow. Because when you don't know you're in the paper and

times have changed now. But when you don't know you're in the paper, and you open the paper in the morning and you as a story about you and no one talked to you, and your friends will call you, you're getting messages, it's very alarming. So we always let people know. So I don't want Vivian to see this and think I'm exploiting our situation, so I call her Evelyn. But I wrote the chapter and it got me right back into that era of the nightclub days. Rouge on the

Upper east Side. All the gangsters used to stay there do different factions of gangsters, genev C's and Gambinos. Some of these clubs in New York are like neutral ground. Both both families can go there. Sometimes they both have a piece of the club. You know, it's a it's intricate, but this is business, is how they work these guys. So when I was doing the story, it reminded me of a phenomenal story that I don't think I've told

you guys. But the guy that was the well, a guy named Stratus Mark Fogan was the basically the owner of Ruge. But the other guy, the mobsters are the ones whose names you knew about. You didn't really know Stratus too much because he wasn't as visible as the mobsters, right, But Stratus was very close to the guy I always talk about, Ralphie Coppola, who was the underboss of the jen Avc crime family. He's the guy who took me and Chico under his wing. You're with me now, no

one can bother you loved. My family was great to me and my ex girl from Rebecca dealt with her boyfriend who was stalked and appeared on a fire escape. They fucked his knees up so I could be he was Rebecca a million stories. And of course the guy that he was with who the two of them beat up Chico, Bucky Carbone, Bobby Carbone, he called Bucky him and Ralphie destroyed Chico in the street. I'll tell you that story. But this is the kind of people I

used to be around as a journalist. And I remember this story because they used to call Stratus the Golden Greek because he had a lot of mob contacts, contacts, and he stood up two monsters because he had to. Because when you've got a successful business in New York City and other cities, you're gonna get knock, gonna go from all nized crime. They're gonna want you to contribute money to that cause they're gonna want to take money from you. They're gonna want to supply you with a

better chicken delivery guy. Use my guy. Now you're a guy. It's it's a whole fucking thing. And if you have a restaurant or a club or what have you in New York and you don't have a mobster on your side, let me tell you something that you're dead because all the criminals are gonna come to you and and suck all the money out of your business, just like you see the movies like Good Fellas, you see it. They the gangsters I was with, suck Paul Sorvino's money. They

destroyed his restaurant. Delivery is going in the front, coming out the back on someone else's truck. They destroyed him. Paul Savina would just sing people. He would sing songs during dinner because he had a good deep voice, you know, an opera operatic voice. He was a schmuck. I hated Paul, but you know, I love his movies, but I hated his personality. But they were robbing and shitt of the guy. You have to have someone who who's with you, Like

Rocco when he owned Boom, his partner Chesadey. Chesadey and Roco had a big mobster who no one could fuck with Boom until that mobster died. Then it was open season on Boom. It's a very intricate kind of way to run a company. But it happens in New York and I'm sure other cities as well. But now Stratus is very successful, owns Brooklyn chop House down in Lower Manhattan. He wrote a book called Be a Disruptor, street Wise Lessons for interpret Entrepreneurs, which I'd love to have him

on the show one day. He said he'd do it. He also opened Gotham City Diner. Back in the nineties. He was busy Stratus was making but he's very successful, big house, whole fucking thing. He made it. But there was a guy around town back then called Noel, Noel Ashburn, he's still around. He was a big party promoter, slash producer. I know Noel very well, nice guy. Everybody knows Noel New York, big party promoter and club owner. One day, Noel Ashman comes into the club with a black eye,

and Stratus says, what's going on? And Noel says, some gangster said we got to pay him every month, that they're going to start beating us up, beat me up all the time. And Noel mentioned some names and Stratus recognized a few that they were Gambinos. Stratus and me Chico. We were around Geneviezi guys back then. So Stratus grew up Alona like I did. His family on the restaurant in a tough section of Queen's called Howard Beach where all the mobsters come from. Gott he came from there.

But big time gangster is when he his family's restaurant. You know, he was around the mob like I was as a kid. And he got a lot of visits from Ralphi Cappola and Bucky Carbone. I mean, Ralphie loved Stratus so much he called him his nephew. And it was great to sit at the table and have those guys tell you stories late at night over some grappa. It was a wonderful time. And Bucky one night told Stratus about the story of the first man he ever killed, and it was at a bar over a debt collection

that went sideways. But the geneez he's dealt things, dealt with things differently to the game being the game beingers came across a little tough ference and louder because of John Gotti and his son, John Gotti Junior. They both both families acted differently. But there's a great story where Stratus is basically a new guy in the block. And you know, John Gotti Junior back then were shaking down every restaurant from the Upper East Side down to Midtown.

Him and his boys were just walk in and demand money, demand payouts, protect your money, whatever the fuck it was. And one time one of those guys came to Stratus and says, you know you got to pay up. And he says, what do you what do you want want? Five thousand a month and we're gonna break your windows every fucking week. That's the way they get. And Stratus, tough kid, says, let me give you a quick answer.

Go fuck yourself. I'm not afraid of you. That's ballsy to say they're coming back the next day when you talk like that. But Stratus knew he had Ralphie in his corner, and uh, of course when he told Ralphie what happened, Ralphie would sit down with some game, meet those guys and tell Usten this guy's Stratus is with me. You can't send your guys to take money from him. That's my kids, that's my nephew. And then the beef goes away. But there was this one story they'll dealing with,

this Gambino story. A couple of nights later that Stratus gets a call from one of Ralphie's guys saying, come to the restaurant. There's a place called Ferrier Ferrier with Hero. All the gangsters used to have wine and drinks and a little dinner, but beautiful hostesses. My ex girlfriend, Sunday worked there. She was a Paul fucking knockout, and every mobstroll love Sunday. Our real name was Domenica Galliano. Forget about.

They loved her. Her father was a gangst They got stuffed at Oral Drum in Chicago, got killed the way back in the sixties. So she's from that world too. All of us had a hand in that world. So Stratus gets there and will he gets there, he sees Ralphie's with Bucky and all these Gambino captains are in the back sitting down. So he sits down with Ralphie and Bobby and the five heads of the Gambino family there, and Ralphie tells him, listen, this kid's with me. He's

with us. So tell John Junior to back off. If he doesn't back off, this is gonna escalate. And uh, we like this kid. He's a good kid. The gouty guys don't worry about I Look, we'll squash it now, it's gonna be it's over. Don't worry about it. So right away you see the power of another mobster. If your guy's bigger than the other guy, you win to sit down. You got to bring a big name to a sit down. So Ralphie's name was big. There was

only one guy ahead of him, Barnie Blomo. But it was what Bucky was a wid Bucky be called a cowboy. Bucky would do things, spur in a moment, in the middle of a sentence, He'd punch in the fucking mouth. He was an animal fueled by cocaine. Every single night. I remembered to White buff a dose sometimes Thanks Kid, Thanks Pal. It was. It was a mess. Bucky put an ice pick in somebody's thigh who he thought stole thirty thousand dollars from Stratus's dina. Nothing happens, the cops

don't get called. Just that's what goes on. So Stratus opens rouge. Ralphi Cappolo is a silent backer. Things were going great. We're all making money. Meet Chico, Jimmy Christmas, Johnny Hansom, throwing parties, making two to three grand every Wednesday night in cash, all of us a piece, not spread out, each of us making two to three grand from door money. I would split up with the mob We kept the door, they kept the bar, and we

had a ball one night. Some West Coast guy. And when you're in New York, you don't really think about mobsters from California, Like that's not on the radar. Some tough guy or wanna be tough guy from California figures I'm gonna go to New York and get a piece of his kid's Stratus and get a piece of the restaurant and everything else he's working with. Jewish guy from La sits down inside the club and he makes Stratus an offer. He takes out a pen, he writes on

a napcal I'll give you ten thousand dollars. And then the guy pulls out a nine millimeters gun, pops out a bullet, puts it on the table and tells Stratus it's this or that. What do you want to do? No one. He's got Ralphie behind him, didn't give a shit. He says, you know, he's telling us that I know the most powerful people in the city. You don't. So this guy is sunk, but he's you know, he's not

gonna say this out loud. One thing you can't do is say who you're with you gotta keep your mouth shut. Then tell the guy you're with this is what happened, and then they take care of it behind the scenes. But of course it gets back to Ralphie and Bucky. So a few days later, one o'clock in the morning,

Stratus goes to rouge and this Bucky is Bobby. I mean this Bucky is Ralphie and the gangster, the Jewish gangster from La They're all sitting down at the table at one o'clock in the morning in the VIP room having a great time drinking champagne, and Stratus is looking at him. This doesn't make any fucking sense. This guy just tried to tell them he's gonna kill me. Now it's four thirty in the morning and they're still drinking this. This is what Chico. They did this to Chico. They

told me to leave, go do your thing. We're gonna have some drinks, have some fun. We'll talk to you. But they get you very complacent and very like soft because you're with these guys. Nothing's gonna happen, right, Strata says, you guys having a good time. Ralphie's like, yeah, of course, we're having a great time, and he tells him kind of motions like take a walk, like we're gonna do something here. So Stratus walks away. As he's walking away, he hears Ralphie saying to the Jewish guy and say,

let's get down to business. I heard you offer. I heard your offer, and here's my counteroffer. And Ralphie takes a candelabra have to weigh fifty pounds, knocks the guy over the head with it. Bucky comes running to get Stratus out of the club, puts him in a taxi and says, get the fuck home, will handle this. The day later, Stratus comes back to the club. There was no blood on the floor, no blood on the walls,

but the area carpet was gone. That's the kind of shit that went on there because he knew Ralphie would always have his back. And it's said, because when these guys get whacked, you don't know what's going to happen. You don't see it coming. You find out the next day. I remember we all found that when Ralphie. Ralphie was the capital of a football team, Flag Football in Central Park. I mean we were with them all Fortninth's week. I was at Ralphie arayos at rouge playing football. It was

a that was a great fucking time man. So one day you just at the club and Bucky approached it and Ralfie's gone, Like, Bucky's not even said, Ralphie's gone. What do you mean Ralphie's gone. Don't ask any more questions. Ralphie went to a meeting up in Harlem, never came out of the house. The story is that he was not kicking enough money upstairs to Barney, who was in prison at this point, but still you got to kick upstairs. He was getting a little too greedy, that's the word.

And the guy who took out Ralphie was a gun name. We called him Hippie Mike, I forget his last name. Tough Italian kid from the Bronx Yonkers. Tough fucking kid. He's the kid who could stand by a bar at ruge, which is what like chest high? I don't know, like right belis your chest. He would just jump with two feet and land on top of the wall, then do a bath football fit. He was like an athlete, but crazy, angry at any second. One time I said to his girlfriend, Hi, baby,

how you doing? Would you call my girl? No? Hippie, no nothing, I just say it again, Hippie. Please, these guys snap, so don't ask any questions. He's gone. But when Ralphie was caught taking too much money, Bonnie in prison. Let the right guys know, Ralphie's gotta go, just like that, cut and dry best friends. Who's at my wedding, who's my son's godfather? It doesn't matter who's he said to kill Ralphie. Hippie, who was like Ralphie's little right hand guy. Whatever,

Ralphie needed, Hippi with dude for him. Hippie puts the ball on Ralphie's head, two in the back of the head. They find him in an oil drum a year later. Unbelievable. And once Ralphie was gone, the word got out that Stratus's protection, the protection Stratus had around his clubs in New York City, that's over now. If it's Ralphie's dead and Bucky wasn't big enough to pull in to be a protector, Now what do you do? People started coming to Stratus's joints again. We want this amount of money.

You use this, you have to use this, this garbage company, you got to use this distributor. All this nonsense, and Stratus told these guys, tell you, boss, go fuck yourselves. I've been here before. I'm not going anywhere. Fuck you. This is the whey he talked to the gangsters, and they never came back. And here we are, all these years later, and Stratus has gone on to do great things in the restaurant world nightclub world. But what a

fucking time that was. But it made me think when I'm writing this story, that I could go off on so many tangents. While I'm writing a simple story about having to go to the club to make sure Joe Wats wasn't gonna kill me because I was fucking his girl, I didn't know what to do. Because now you see how quickly these guys get angry, how fast things escalate. This is what's in my mind. This is what's so scary.

That's why I drove to the club. And you'll read the story when it's on substack in a day or so. So enjoy that story. Keep on reading, keep on subscribing. Ajbenzon dot substack dot com. Like I always say, don't just read subscribe. There's a lot of good stuff coming. Got at least twenty more chapters to go man. And by doing this, I have to tell you I've been putting off this book for so long. I've had so many chapters half written, one third written, you name it.

And I needed a kick in the ass to make me sit down every day and fucking do it. And finally, with me sending some chapters out of you guys subscribing, it's motivating me to do nothing but finish this book. And when I finish this book, We're all going to be better for it. Don't ask me why, but we will. And that's what I'm looking for. I want this book out. I want all you people in my army to still support the show and do what we've been doing for eight years. In the blink of an eye, it's going

to be a decade. Gang, In the blink of an eye, it's going to be a decade, and whoever imagine we'll all be here together doing something like this. It's crazy, crazy world, But that's why we look forward to waking up every day right because we just don't know what's in store. So thank you all for subscribing, Thank you all for listening. I love you guys. I can't go on Patreon right now. I have aids. Like I said, so, I'll try to fix up the AIDS. I'll contact a

good doctor. But in the meantime, if you have something something to say to me, positive, negative, just go to my email Polk Benz at gmail dot com and let me have it. Lift me up, knock me down, whatever you want to do, I'm a here for it. I love you guys, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.