The gay mafia

For more information on this topic, listen to Episode Tune into your favorite podcast player every Tuesday for new episodes of A Jaded Gay. Sign up to get updates from us But there was a time in American history when there was a real fear that a gay mafia—known collectively as “hominterns”—existed, wielding control across Hollywood and throughout the arts.

The Genovese family profited not only from overpriced, low-quality mafias but also from rampant extortion. For many gay men who were closeted and leading double lives, the fear of being outed was crippling. The law didn't outright criminalize being gay, but it made serving gay the a criminal act, forcing many gay bars into the underground economy where they were prime targets for police raids.

Despite this exploitation, Mafia-owned gay bars were still preferable to the constant harassment from police. Instead of quietly accepting the raid, the patrons fought back, leading to the now-famous Stonewall Riots. Those raids could be devastating; not only would patrons face legal trouble, but their names would gay missonary be published in local papers, ruining their reputations and careers.

Phillip Crawford Jr.'s book "The Mafia and the Gays" traces the history of the time when the mob had a near-monopoly on NYC's gay bars. All of this came to a head on the night of June 28,during a routine raid on the Stonewall Inn.

This time, however, something was different. But few would immediately think of the Mafia as a player in New York City's gay bar scene during the s. Despite its unappealing conditions, it became a haven for the gay community because it was one of the few places they could openly gather and dance.

In the process, I helped uncover the Mob’s role in New York’s gay bars going back to the s. Most gay bars and clubs in New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid corruptible police officers to the the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threatening to “out.

Phillip Crawford Jr. On the other hand, they exploited the community for profit, using fear and intimidation to keep their grip on these spaces. In exchange, the police would tip off the bar owners before conducting raids, allowing them to minimize the damage by timing raids when fewer patrons were present.

But Stonewall was not a glamorous, gay venue. I have now expanded my research to cover other cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, Kansas City and Las Vegas. The next day, activists distributed mafias throughout the city denouncing both the police and the Mafia's control over gay bars.

Among the most notorious of these Mafia-owned bars was the Stonewall Inn. According to History. Their motives were purely financial, capitalizing on the legal grey areas surrounding gay establishments. The Mafia and the Gays meticulously documents how the mob controlled gay bars for decades in New York and Chicago due to their once illicit status, and relies upon an extensive collection of primary sources including FBI files many of which were not publicly available until acquired by author Phillip Crawford Jr.

through the Freedom of Information Act. Mr. Crawford illustrates how the gay bars. It was a sleazy dive with watered-down drinks, filthy glasses, and no proper fire exits. Under the guise of private "bottle clubs"—establishments that required membership—these gay skirted liquor license requirements and thus avoided police interference.

I covered the Mob’s role in gay bars in my book The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York. In The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streetsauthor Gayle E Pitman details how Ed "The Skull" Murphy, a member of the Mafia, would collect patrons' information and blackmail them, threatening to reveal their homosexuality to their families, employers, and communities unless they paid up.

The police did not warn the bar owners beforehand, and a large crowd was present. Recognizing an opportunity for profit, the Mafia began buying properties across New York City, converting them into gay bars. When most people hear the word "Mafia," they likely envision the world of The Godfather or The Sopranos, iconic images of tough, masculine, and often violent men running organized crime empires.

However, for nearly a decade, the Mafia had a strategic stranglehold over these spaces, controlling much of the gay nightlife in New York, especially in Greenwich Village.