Family Business VII

FAMILY BUSINESS VII-THE LONG THAW

The Renaissance

The Bronx borough, part of the five boroughs consisting of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island that make up New York City was going through a renaissance transformation in the early 1970s after many years of aging infrastructure and decline.

With growing New York population demands and affordable real estate opportunities, the Bronx, in particular, took on somewhat of a trendy, hipster appeal that encouraged new interest in business development previously unknown to the area.

Exciting times were ahead as new bars, restaurants, service stations, liquor stores, pizzerias, florist shops, roadside motels, and similar small businesses were popping up at what seemed record pace.

The Bronx's affordability and the proximity to the more established areas of New York City like Manhattan were an economic uplift for this once dilapidated county.

Crime Will Surely Follow

Possibilities seemed endless for small businesses, and as a result, it provided many opportunities for the Zizzo organized crime family to expand their business enterprise along with it.

An influx of small, family-owned, independent shops that were ripe for extortion were easy targets for these power-wielding thugs willing to take at any cost, through any means required.

Their criminal process was simple. First, let the new businesses open up and get somewhat established in their first six months to one year.

Once up and running, Zizzo operatives would study their business activity to determine what they sold and when. If they were attracting a steady flow of customers, did they appear to be producing income?

Once satisfied the new business was viable, they would then have other questions to answer. Who are the owners? Do they have family such as a husband and wife, children, parents? Finding the answers to these questions would enable them to get later what they wanted from them.

The Pattern of Extortion

One such business targeted was The Sunrise Café, a mom-and-pop diner in the north Bronx, just east of Manhattan. The owners were Joe and Natalie Burghoff, a mid-thirties couple with two sons living their American dream with the purchase of the Sunrise. Joe, a former Vietnam veteran, was a cook in the US Army during the war. It had always been his fantasy to one day cook his German family recipes for others. Natalie was a waitress in her previous job, so the two starting a diner seemed the perfect fit.

Another new business was Carol and Jeffrey Panos, both Greek immigrant children who pooled their life savings to open the A-1 Liquor Mart in the southern end of the borough. Like most small business entrepreneurs, they worked hard to achieve what they envisioned as their dream, having grown up in a somewhat poor, working-class household. Nevertheless, life for them was good as the business gained local popularity for its extensive array of import beers, wine, and liquors.

Not the Expected Entrepreneurial Risk

While there were hundreds of more businesses the Zizzo's went after, the extreme outcomes for these two were a prime example of the devastating effect of how organized crime would shatter their dreams.

At the Sunrise Café, Joe was doing his early morning lunch prep the day Zizzo Soldiers Carlo Salata and Mario Jennaro visited him. The two informed Joe that they had come there to kill him. Paid to do so by other diner operators concerned the competition from his place was taking customers from theirs.

The two also explained that there was an alternative solution. If Joe were to include them as "partners" in the Café, at the cost of 15% of their gross sales, his elimination would then never be necessary. His business would forever be protected from anything like this ever happening again.

Joe was devastated to hear this. How could such extortion be happening in America, he wondered. It seemed so surreal. Joe told the two he needed time to think about it. He explained that 15% was more than he currently profited from the Café.

Salata then questioned how his sons Jack and little Joey would fare growing up without their father. How would Natalie maintain the Café without him? Once he was gone, would Natalie face a similar fate down the road? Finally, they convinced Joe he had only one option, that being to agree to their demands.

A Much Different Outcome

A very similar exchange took place with Carol and Jeffrey at A-1 Liquor. The men approached them in the store and told the couple how they had been sent there to kill one or both of them from competing Liquor store operators not happy with the added competition.

Again, they offered a solution by entering into a protective agreement that would cost them 15% of their gross sales in exchange for letting them live and continue in business. This time, Salata mentioned Jeffrey's parents Gustave and Octavia, indicating that it would be a shame if anything wrong should happen to them.

Jeffrey was a proud, hard-working man who was not easily intimidated. So why did these criminals think they could steal from him? Indeed, there must be something he could do, someone, the police, anyone who could fight these thugs.

After discussing the matter with his wife Carol, Jeffrey decided it best to pay them what they asked in the short term. He hated the thought of doing it, but until he could find a better way, he felt it was the safest plan of action for now.

In addition, winter was approaching, and they could not afford to challenge these demands with the holiday season upon them.

Jeffrey Panos was an avid hunter and gun enthusiast. He had been trained in self-defense and was confident that if perhaps he displayed similar intimidating behavior, these thugs might consider leaving his business be and look elsewhere for their method of extortion.

After making one initial payment to the Zizzo family, he had a different plan in mind the next time the men came to collect.

It was Mario Jennaro doing the expected collections. When confronted by Jennaro, Panos told him to get the fuck out and never return. He would not be intimidated and would not be paying.

It was then that Jennaro reached for his pistol in his jacket pocket, but before he could, Jeffrey had a sawed-off shotgun at the ready under the counter and fired both barrels into Jennaros chest, instantly killing him.

Panos then called police, informing them that a robbery took place, and he shot in self-defense. Panos was taken into custody for investigation and released a short time later after police deemed the action justifiable.

But the Zizzo family saw no justification in killing their Soldier. They also were concerned about how other business owners might react if this act of defiance were allowed. A clear message for all to see must be delivered, showing these small businesses that their cooperation is their only answer.

It was only a matter of days before Jeffrey Panos did not show up for work one morning. His sudden disappearance was highly unusual as he was a very disciplined man with a strict daily routine.

Every morning he would leave the house by 6 a.m., his first stop being Central Park, where he liked to jog around the entire Duck Pond, an area totaling approximately three miles. His next would stop at the Athens Bakery for his morning coffee and pastry, then arrive at the Liquor store by 9 a.m. for its 10 a.m. opening.

His disappearance was a police mystery. They were aware of his earlier problem with the Zizzo crime family, but they had little to go on until he or his body could be found. Moreover, it was now December, and frigid temperatures set in, making the search even more difficult. After about two weeks, they suspended search efforts and decided to wait for any answer.

Christmas had come and gone. The winter months of January, February, and March passed too, all with no resolution regarding the whereabouts of Panos.

In early April, however, the frozen pond in Central Park had begun to thaw. The same Duck Pond Jeffrey Panos would jog around as part of his daily routine. Coincidentally, it was a jogger who first spotted a body submerged in the partially thawing pond.

When police arrived, the identity of the body was discovered. It was Jeffrey Panos, shot twice execution-style in the back of the skull, then dumped in the pond where it would readily be known who the victim was.

Despite police suspecting the Rizzo mob for Panos murder, there once again was no hard evidence to prove such.

Look for more in the ongoing Family business series describing stories and reports of this unique crime family and the Don Zizzo justice system.

About the Author

Thomas Doyle is a professional career chef, entrepreneur, restaurant consultant, writer for the food industry, storyteller, and humorist. A Green Bay, Wisconsin resident, avid Green Bay Packers fan, and lifelong Packer season-ticket holder, Doyle now can be found as a feature writer for Packerstalk.com.