(TAPE: EARLY YEARS) Nicola Self-Recorded
(Includes: East Harlem, Marines, Tyrone Power, GHQ, Black Market Beer, Deportation, John McFarland and the Imperial Hotel Diamonds, )
(Nicola did this tape alone at home)
(EAST HAARLEM)
I just bought a tape recorder and I don’t know if it’s going to work
And let’s start out. I was born in New York City, on February 14, 1921, in an area of what we would call East Haarlem. This Haarlem is spelle H-a-a-r-l-e-m. It’s an old Dutch word. Or an old Dutch area. Whatever you want to call it. I don’t mean by Dutch people living in Haarlem, but anyway it’s called Haarlem. It’s not what we call today Spanish Harlem or another different kind of Harlem.
I was born at 115th street, between First Avenue and Pleasant Avenue. And I lived at 115, 116, and as I grew up a little bit more, you know like 8, 9, 10 years old, I wound up living at 119th Street. And then by 1933 or 1934, or in that neighborhood, I was living in 116th street between First and Second avenue. And this, I would say, was the hotbed of all the Mafia Families. It gives me that impression. I may be wrong. But quite a few celebrities lived in that neighborhood. If you want to call them celebrities. But anyway, they had the Cadillacs and they were well-dressed. I guess that’s what they were.
So then from…I went to public school at 119th & Pleasant Avenue. And then I went to, I think that was PS 78. Then I went to PS 85, which was 117th street on First Avenue. And then I graduated from those schools in 1934 and I went to Commerce High School. Commerce High School is a school strictly set aside for those who want to go into the business world, versus other schools if they want to become doctors or lawyers or something else. So I went to Commerce High School and I’d say I was pretty….I don’t know.
I was ten cents a day to go to school. And, of course, many days, we would have to hitch home or get on the back of a truck or anything you can do. Those days they had bumpers on cars, and they had a tire on the back end of the car and you would put your left hand on the tired, your two feet on the bumper and your right hand you hold the fender of the car. And you’d ride along and you couldn’t ride the other side of the car because if you rode the other side of the car the driver’s on the left side so you always stayed on the right side.And I would ride home that way as often as I could, or however I could, because I spent my nickel to buy maybe a piece of cake or something. That was my nickel car fare.
Well, my 1938, it got awfully hard. It was very very hard to spend that ten cents to go to school. And very fortunate for me. Benjamin Franklin High School opened at 116th street on Pleasant Avenue and I went there and I was a very rich boy at that time, because I belong to the National Youth Association, which was they give you a blackboard eraser and erase the board and you get four dollars a month. And four dollars a month was tremendous money. Now my mother didn’t have to spend ten cents a day to go to school. And I was getting $4 dollars a month. And I think that started when I was about 16 years old. So I was pretty, pretty fortunate. I had a good income.
After high school, I graduated actually in 1938. There was nothing to do. There was no jobs. There was nothing. Zero. So, I stayed in high school an extra year. I didn’t do any scholastic achievements and I just didn’t….another place to get four bucks a month and do nothing. See. But 1939…You can’t stay in school forever, I left school and I went to get a job with the WPA, that ‘s the Work Progress Association or something like that agency. And it’s basically, the poorest of all poor people would get a job there. And I got a job there. I remember my first job, I worked some place in I think it was 500 Park Avenue or someplace like that. And it was the Adult Education Building or program or something like that. And I worked there. The first day I worked there I think I was getting $11 dollars a week. And I was a typist. & in those days I could probably type 40, 50, 60 words a minute. And, because in high school, I learned bookkeeping, and office machineries and, you know, things like that. Shorthand. And I still know a little shorthand, but I can’t even write my name in shorthand.
But anyway so I got this job and the first day, you know, I sat in a room and they gave you paper to type and everybody in that room was a girl. And although I didn’t realize it that I really loved girls, I shoulda stayed there, but unfortunately, the boss was a man and he looked at me and he said, “What the hell are you doing here?” I sez, “I don ‘t know, I got a job.” And they sez, “Your name is Nicola? They probably thought you were a girl that’s why they gave you a job here.” And I sez, “yeah, I agree with you. I don’t belong here.”
So I went back down somewhere and they gave me a job in the statistic department, and I learned how to operate IBM machines. Those are the old days where they learned how to operate card punch. And it’s like the government check with all the little rectangular boxes in it. And I learned the.assorting machine, and the different machines and I was trying to learn the board, they had a board that had …you put plugs in it and it would give you different statistics.
But anyway, while I was working there I found all the guys in there, they were all men, they were all Jews. And I was sitting there and they were more politically minded than I was. I didn’t even know where the state of New Jersey was. But anyway, they said to me, “What are you doing here?” I sez “I gotta make a living, you know. I gotta eat.” And they sez “Why don’t you go to work in the Munitions Place.”….”Where they make bombs and bullets.” I sez, “What I wanna work there for. I didn’t go to school to go to a munitions place.” So anyway these guys said, “This is 1939. These guys said to me, “You crazy. There’s gonna be a big war. America’s gonna go to war against Germany. Because Germany’s killing the Jews. & this that and the other thing.”
I sez, “Where’s Germany?” “”What’s Germany?” “What’s Jews gotta do with this?”
You know I didn’t know none of those things. But you know. I went. I stayed in that job for a while and I got promoted to a big $13 a week salary. And it was big money you know. But of course what the Jew said to me–I remember his name was Goldberg–a big, big guy, and he could barely walk because he was so god damn big and heavy. Clumsy. And I sez Gee Whiz cuz I looked at the guys in that room and they were all misfits, something was physically wrong with them or you know, there were no young, healthy athletic types in there. And of course I was a tremendous heavyweight. I must have weighed 100 pounds. About 5’1″ or something like that.
And, anyway, so, a year went by or so….and they kept telling me these things. And I went to a place called Picatini Arsenel in Dover, New Jersey. And the first thing I know is that I was making $125 a week. Jesus. I never seen so much money in my life. And, of course, with money comes bad habits and we learned how to gamble. And this that and the other thing. We started playing poker. Living out of…not going home at night. Drinkin’ a little bit.
But then there was a war in Germany. And England was in it and I decided what the heck, you know. 1940 or something like that. And I says I’m gonna go down and join/jern the service. This $16 a week…I’m in a place where as soon as the war ends I’m out of a job. I’m getting older. So I think I’ll look for a career in the military. So I went down to 90 Whitehall Street, which New York City I think is the Department of Army.
And I wanted to be a pilot. I wanted to fly an airplane. And shoot down the enemy. And, you know, the real rat-tat-tat business.
So I went down and I took this test. And they let you take the test like every month. And every month I failed. And I would always qualify for glider pilot. I guess they were short of glider pilots. And I sez, “no, np, no.” I don’t mind fighting, but I think when it’s time for me to put my tail between my legs and run home, I’d like to be in that position. I’d hate like hell to make a one-way trip anywhere.”
So I kept that up. I kept failing and I kept failing. I call it failing, but anyway, I never qualified to be a pilot. On a test. So anyway, I went down there and I guessed I passed the test and the guy gave me, he looked at me, & figured out, who the hell is this young kid.
So I gave up on that Air Force and I decided to try the Navy. So I went down to the navy recruit place and I took a test. And to everybody’s surprise, I passed. I went and took a test for the Canadian Air Force.& I went & took this test and I passed the test. And they looked at me and they couldn’t figure out how I passed the test, because the test was more of a physical, not a physical…physics. And I didn’t study physics, but, you know, a ball falls down from a high place and if there’s three wheels instead of two wheels, you know, simple things in physics. So I passed the test. And they came around and they called me up…they didn’t call me up, they sent me a letter to come down…they asked me to come down and the guy says, “You passed the test and we’d like to give you another test.” & I sez ok. And they gave me another test. This physics. There’s problems in it. But they stand around and watched me. And I passed then test again. I got like 97-98 or something like that. Finally they said…they watched me…there was no dishonesty…cuz I never went to that kind of school. I went to a Commerce School.
And I went in and I met a guy named Frank Hawkes. Who was supposed to be very famous. Commander Frank Hawkes. And he looked at me and he said “You know we tried very hard to fail you. But you passed.”
And I said, “I mean, I don’t know. A test is a test.” So these are written tests. & then he said, “But we can’t accept you.” And I sez “Why?” He said, “You…..”….This guy thought I…I knew I passed the test….I just answered the questions. Maybe I’m right. Maybe I’m wrong. And then he started telling me that England and Canada is fighting the Italians and the Germans and this and “You’re an Italian and we can’t see how you’re gonna survive. You’re an Italian and if you go to these flight schools they gonna pick on you. You’re a little guy, you know. You don’t weigh much at all and you gonna run into a lot of trouble. Physical trouble. And this that and the other thing. So we think for your own benefit, although we need people that can qualify. Better off you don’t go. They’ll do anything they can to get rid of you. OK. Fair & Square. Questions & answers. So I left.
And I went down to the Navy. And I passed the navy test. Because now I’m beginning to read things. I’m trying to figure out what these questions are.And I went a little deeper into what the hell they’re trying to say in these tests and I got a little bit more smarter and a little bit more smarter. And I passed the navy test and in 1942 I’m supposed to go to Pensacola Florida. I had the card see. That time they also started drafting…register for the draft…I went down to the draft board to register and I sez to the guy, I got this card that I’m gonna be a navy recruit in December. Ne. Like this was January, February or March. And he says You don’t have to register for the draft because your name was already in there and if you don’t show up at that place in Pensacola, they’ll just grab you and throw you in the army. I said OK Fair Enough. So I’m gonna be a Navy Cadet. I never signed for the draft. So ok. So but then the movie came out “The Shores of Tripoli.” & Everybody became “Gung Ho.” Now I know the word. But in those days I didn’t know what the hell it was. So we all went down to the navy. We gonna join the marine corps. And I went down there and I sez to the guy I already got a card for navy cadet. He says, oh, the navy and the marines are the same outfit.
(MARINES)
And so we started taking physical tests, to get into the Marine Corps, and I remember I was too light. Somebody had to put their foot on the scales to reach 124 pounds. Or 125 pounds or whatever the limit was. Anyway, out of 20, 25, 3 of us passed. Me & 2 other guys. So we went in the Marine Corps. I hate to say it, I think the other two got killed, but I’m still alive. But anyway, so I went in the marine corps. Now I went to the miserable place called Parris Island, South Carolina. Baby it’s miserable. But anyway, they toughen you up. They walk you around the island and they show you porpoises jumpin in & out of the water and they say “these are sharks & if you try to escape from here..These sharks will eat you up.” We’re looking at the guy, the drill instructor and they’re mean mother fuckers. But what the hell are you volunteering and then you want to escape? Who ever thought of those things. And this was free room & board & clothing. You got everything there. You know. Where we come from, you’re lucky if you can eat for Christs Sakes. So anyway, we said, ok, so. And I went to Paris Island and I stayed there for 6-7 weeks. From there we went to a place called Cherry Point. And Cherry Point, I wound up in San Diego. I went to a place in San Diego, I don’t know where. And they brought us down to the beach and put us on a ship, but my name is Zappetti and the Z’s are at the end of the alphabet, and I was a private and you can get any worse than a private and a ‘Z.” I mean you gotta be at the end of the line.
And these trucks used to pull in there and they load up these ships and there was never room for Private Zappetti. And I go back. Wait for the next ship. The next ship. This went on for about 2 or 3 times. Like almost every day.
Anyway. So fortunately, I don’t know what the hell happened, but anyway I wound up in Miramar Air Station. Which is in San Diego. And I went there. And they put me in a squadron. VMD-254. Which is a photographic squadron, using B-24’s. So I went in there and I’m last man on the stick. So they gave me a bucket. The guy says to me, “Pick up cigarette butts, you know.” And I looked at him and I figured, “you know, what am I supposed to do.” And I went around and picked up cigarette butts. And I sez there’s no more cigarette butts, this is all a tent area, and he says “go fill the kerosene stoves,” So I went and filled the kerosene stoves. The 2nd morning when I got up I had to report to this miserable sergeant. He said “go pick up cigarette butts,” and that’s when I said, “go fuck yourself.” And he looked at me. And this guy was twice my weight. He was a big mother fucker. But I ain’t gonna pick up cigarette butts. I don’t even smoke. And he looked at me and he said, “you either pick up cigarette butts or I’m gonna deck you,” And I said “you can try, but you may not succeed. You might be bigger than me but that ain’t gonna make you win.” So anyway I got decked, of course. But I fought. I lost. Pick up cigarette butts. The answer was no. He says “I’ll deck you again.” I said, “You might have to deck me again but I’m not gonna pick up cigarette butts.” So he got me in the jeep, took me down to the stockade, and they threw me in the fucking stockade. Disobedient fucking corporal or something like that.
So I got 5 days what we call piss and punk, which is bread and water. I came out. Pick up cigarette butts. I said no. I ain’t gonna pick up cigarette butts. But there was a good 1st sergeant there. He was a nice guy, so the corporal took me to the first sergeant and said this young marine…he didn’t call me a dago bastard, maybe they didn’t know the words in those days…& I says to the guy I don’t wanna pick up cigarette butts. I don’t smoke. What the hell I want to pick up cigarette butts for. And I don’t wanna go fill up kerosene cans. You know these little stoves that they put in the middle of the tent. Quonset huts or whatever they called the tents. “IC”–Inspected and Condemned.” So anyway, he says, “What can you do? Can you drive a jeep” I said “yes sir.” I couldn’t drive. I never even been behind the wheel of a car, for Christs Sakes. So I sez “yes, I can drive. And he says “Ok. You drive. You take the pilots to the airplane. And you wait for the airplane, when it comes back, you bring’em back to the tent area.” I said OK, “& Jeez, those pilots all knew how to drive a car. & I got in this carry all, it’s like a big station wagon, and the guy says to me, “You know how to start it?” I sez “No.” & one of the pilots showed me how to start the car. & they were corporals in those days. Pilots! Corporals! Segeants. PFC’s. Anyway, so I…they showed me how to drive the vehicle and I’d take’m out to the …you know, they drive…I’m sittin’ next to them and the guy says “Do this.” Shift here. You shift there.” And I never heard these words, “shift.” * I went out there & I used to bring the pilots to the airplane. The flight crews. & bring ’em back. That’s all I all day long. Back & forth & I had a schedule. You know they’d call up or something & they’d say “go get the airplane.” And I go back there & get flight crew, that’s all I did.
& that went on for Christ Almighty, I don’t know for how many months, & finally I wound up in Santa Ana. The squadron moved up to Santa Ana. I got transferred to headquarters squadron in Santa Ana, El Toro Marine Base. & now this same sergeant Frank Maloney, he moved up there and he took me with him. Nice guy. & now I worked in the office. He sez “What can you do?” I say “I can do anything in an office.” He sez, “Well, why didn’t you say that before?” I sez “I didn’t join the Marine Corps to work in an office. I joined the Marine Corps to go to war. I want to fight.” He sez, “You to god dam small, the guns’ll wear you down.” I sez, “I’ll get big eventually.”
So I became an office “Pinky”, as we call them. First thing you know I got a PFC stripe….well remind me of a PFC stripe…when I went into the marine corps, you know, wise Nick, I sez I got my navy card training, I’m supposed to get my navy cadet training. & the guy says “yeah, you can go to navy cadet training, you just gotta fill an application, I sez where do I fill the application. He sez go to squadron office. I went there, asked the guy, want to fill in application. He says “yes you eligible to become Pensacola cadet. All that bullshit. Yes, yes, yes. However, you have to be a corporal.” I said “Whatddaya mean a corporal. What’s a corporal?” He sez, “Somebody with 2 stripes.” I didn’t have any stripes. I didn’t know anybody who had stripes. You never see stripes. I sez oh, jesus christ. I went back to sergeant maloney. His name was Frank Lee Maloney. e lived on the West Side of New York City. And I sez “Frank, what’s this, I gotta be a corporal.” He says “if you wanna go to navy cadet school, you gotta be a corporal. & they pick..you gotta take a test in the marine corps., & all through that routine. I sez “make me a corporal”…He sez “probably take you a year or two years to get 1 stripe. And by the time you get 2 stripes, the war will be over.”
So I sez “Jesus Christ” and I gave up on that idea.
So I stayed in the office and I’d say I had an enjoyable Marine Corps days. I went to PFC and I went to Corporal and I went to sergeant and I went to Staff Sergeant. Meantime, you know, I learned how to run an office. I was a correspondent clerk and I used to go on investigations. You know, all kinds of things happened in the Marine Corps. Boy, I tell you. So I got smart in that deal. Then one day, we all looked at ourself at El Toro, that’s where they had the big football teams. I met Wee Willie Wilkins there and Crazyleg Hirsch there. These guys are all headquarter squadron. And they are big mothers. They don’t go out and drill or nothing like that. They were strictly the football team. Anyway, Harry Dooran was on it. And I’m not a football fan.
Then one day we all got together and said, “let’s screw this operation. Let’s all type orders up to war. Let’s get outta here, see.”
So we called people that we knew were in….administrative employees all know other administrative employees…so one day we decided that we’re gonna disappear from the base. & we’re gonna go overseas. & like nobody knew it. One day, Sgt. Frank Maloney went in the office and there was nobody there. We’d all transferred ourself to Miramar Air Station to go overseas.
And we went overseas. Man, we got on a boat. We’re gone. All of us. Everybody got different assignments. And we all disappeared from the El Toro Air Base. And I wound up in a god damn place called Mog Mog. An island in the Pacific. And we make the invasion of Okinawa. April 1, 1945. We Finally got to Okinawa and we landed there in Higgie Boats with the fog, smoke screens and we got rifles, and we’re not allowed to wear our stripes and I don’t know nothing about hitting the beaches, that’s years and years ago. I forgot all that all that crap. And so we landed there and there was no war. The war was gone.
These Japanese already ran up into the hills. They’re not gonna stay on the beach and fight. Because the ships will pound the hell out of the beach. Then you go in. There ain’t much left of that beach. But anyway, so we went there and the first night I slept in a cemetary. Okinawa, they got these concrete pillboxes that they put the dead bodies in them. Little boxes in them. Whaddya call them, plaster boxes. Ornamented tops on them. But luckily, as stupid as I was, I slept there. Didn’t want to sleep outside in the cold or the rain or whatever it was. April. And later on we found out that the Japanese put hand grenades in these boxes and as you lift of the lid, the grenade goes off and blows your brains out. But I stayed there probably two days or 3 days Then they decided they don’t need all this personnel, who can’t shoot a fucking gun. So they took us out, they took all the aviation personnel out, and more grunts came in and we went to a place called Mog Mog in the Ulithe group. And we stayed there until almost the island was secured and they brought us back in again. And then on the island of Okinawa, I got to be the first sergeant of a flight squadron, I think it was called 314, and, of course, I can handle administratively the duties of a first sergeant. So I did that.
Then from there I went into…the war ended and I wound up in the air base command which landed in Omura, Kyushu. And I landed there and I was the highest ranking guy, the one with the most service in the thing because most of my fighting days were spent fighting a typewriter in California, El Toro. So I became the Sergeant-Major of the Headquarters Squadron down in Omura, Kyushu. And this is a big, grass mat. And there was nothing to do. There was no food because of the damn typhoons, stopped the airplanes from coming up. So we’d go to town. And we’d look for places to eat. & there wasn’t any, but the geisha houses were all available. After all, young men like us we can enjoy girls. But it was ten yen a night or five yen a night or something like that. But anyway, we managed. And in these geisha houses, I learned how to eat mikan and sweet potatoes. And drink beer. That’s all we had. We had no food.
But while I was the first sergeant down on the base there, we found out that the Japanese were using Japanese money. You know, we don’t know nothing about money in the Marine Corps, you never see money, who ever heard of money, you know. Anyway, so, I think I getting about $2,000 a year salary, as a sergeant or some crap like that. I don’t think it was that high. Probably I was making $100 bucks a month if I was lucky. But I never saw it, cuz of allocations to the family, allocations to the…they take this, they take that, you get nickels and dimes and you generally shoot crap the day you get paid, you broke. And if you got a few bucks left over, you buy yourself a bottle of whiskey and you walk down the street and you tell every girl, you wanna fuck tonight? And, after a while, you get slapped in the face a lot, but you wind up in bed with a broad. They don’t all say no. But anyway, that was the life I led. Now I’m on Kyushu. Omura Kyushu which is near Sasebo. Down there in the inland watersaway or something. (Inland waterway).
So while I was there,…one day we were sitting there…and we used to use gasoline from the airplanes and put them in the front of the airplane, when you take the propellor off you got a big cone and we used to put water in there and put gasoline underneath the son of a bitch, put your clothing in the water, throw a match and then fucking thing would boil that water and clean your clothes. So that’s what we used to use for washing clothes. A little gasoline here and a little gasoline there. Anyway, so we had a lot of fun.
Then, at that time when we landed there, even though I was the highest ranking NCO there, there was the admiral out there with all his soldiers, navy men, they were give up the base to the conquering American and we were told, leave the guy alone, he’s a general, and you gotta be a general to talk to him, you can not be a sergeant and this that and the other thing. I said “Fuck him, I don’t give a shit about him. I don’t care.” But they were all standing at attention. They stayed there and they stayed there. Finally, they had us in a delegation, to come to the airbase to take over the surrender of the base, see. So that was that. And while I was there, we lived in hangars, they had torpedoes there, they had guns there, you never seen so god damn much armament, but one thing they didn’t have. They didn’t have gasoline. And they had all the airplanes, the kamikaze, you name it. But they couldn’t do nothing. So our job was to get our mechanics and take all our propellors off the airplane, so they can’t play. But they can’t fly anyway. They got no gasoline. But anyway, that’s all we did. We stayed there. We didn’t do nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
(TYRONE POWER)
And one day, I was sitting in mess hall…one time walking out of the mess hall, I saw this captain, I recognized him and I sez “hello, cap.” & he looked at me and he sez “Is that how you address a captain?” and boy he started chewing me out and chewing me out…and I got no stripes on because nobody wants to wear stripes in an area like that, and I said Jesus, you know, it as Tyrone Power. But Tyrone Power? You see him on the screen and you think you know him, you know, you see the face, and but the screen doesn’t look back at you. And you say that’s Tyrone Power, that’s Clark Gable,….I got chewed out by Tyrone Power. I didn’t salute him. Nothing formal, you know. Didn’t pay that much attention. But he chewed me out. I said, “Son of a bitch.” I went to my office. I’m the big man on the island and everybody’s looking. They sez “Wait until that Tyrone goes to the office, and finds out that guy is a Sergeant Major. So, ok. I told then corporal in front, don’t that mother in here, just keep him outside in the waiting room and let him wait, let him wait, let him wait. Anyway, I made him wait there for about 2 days. And I told the major who’s the big CO there, I said, “Major, this Captain Tyrone Power just gave me a bad time and he say “aw fuck it.” I sez, I’m gonna stall him for 2 or 3 days. & he says, “go ahead.” So I stalled him. I let him sit there, sit there, sit there. & finally, when I got to get him to come in, I wore my shirt, my tie, my ribbons, my stripes, very fucking formal. And he came in and he said, “I’m here to see the C.O.” And I said, “Yes I know you’ll have to wait a while.”
And he looked and he said, “Didn’t I see you someplace before?”
Son of a bitch. It was interesting.
I said, “yeah, you saw me before. I was the private that you gave a bad time to.”
He says, “You’re a sergeant.”
You know.
I sez, “Yes. And I happen to be a Sergeant Major.”
And he said, “I’m sorry.” Apologize you know.
I sez, “It doesn’t matter. Routine.Routine.Routine. Forget about it.”
Anyway, so I got him to see the major.He tried to be polite to the major. The major told him, “Your flight instructions come from the Sergeant Major.”
See.
Cuz the major’s not an administrative man. He’s strictly a pilot. And
..so Tyrone had to come back out to me and he sez “I’m here for duty.” & I said, “yes. We’re going to assign you to the mail run.” And that’s the worst fucking run there is. Rain or storm, you fly. You fly in and you fly out. You fly in and you fly out. You gotta do it regardless of what happens. And August 15 when the war ended, there were typhoons, typhoons, and he had to fly through those mothers.
And he come to me and he said “Can you take me off the flight line? I don’t want to fly the mail. Can you do something else?”
And he sez “Why don ‘t you come to Okinawa with me. I know a lot of nurses.”
I thought the guy was straight. Then I found out that he was bent. But anyway in those days I didn’t know nothing like that. We were not conscious of queers. There was no such thing as queers in the marine corps. Then they…today I guess it’s like that guy sez “You know how many men there are in the French Army?” And he sez, “About half. The other half are queers.”
Anyway, so, Tyrone, I put him on the mail run. And I left him on the mail run. And I left him on the mail run.
Then finally, about November. I got tired of being in fucking Kyushu and we got transferred up to Opama. Outside Yokosuka. And again I became the Sergeant Major of the base. And there’s five thousand enlisted men there and I’m in charge. But there was a nice Polack guy. He had 4 stripes. I had 4 stripes. But he was younger in grade. And so automatically I got the top job. And I asked this guy, “You wanna be the Sgt. Major.” And he said, “I’m not allowed to be the Sgt. Major. The oldest man gets the job.”
I said, “You be the Sergeant Major. I’ll have a desk here. I do nothing. You do all the work.” See/.
He sez, “Can I?”
“Sure. You be the Sgt. Major.”
He says, “What are you going to do?”
I sez “I’m gonna get discharged….You don’t think I’m going to stay in this fucking army anymore. I’m gonna get out.” I didn’t come to Japan to get riffed home, you know.”
Because in those days you had a point system and if you had enough points you go home. But I don’t wanna go home.
(GHQ)
So I went to Tokyo & I got me a job in GHQ as a civilian. With the civilian personnel section with a big fat job of CAF2, which is Clerk Admnistrative & Fisicalor Financial….and Gs-2. GS-2 is nothing. But in the Marine Corp 1 is the highest rank. And so they said “what grade you want?” I said, “I’ll take a 2.” And they looked at me, and they said, “Well, the guy wants a 2 , give him a 2.”
OK. So I go to work in GHQ personnel and what you gonna do and I can be a payroll clerk & things like that. So they are very happy and they put me in the payroll section of civilian personnel. And this was in the Teikoku Building across from the Nikkatsu Hotel in Tokyo. Across from Hibya Park. So I went to work there and I’m processing all these papers that come in. There’s a lieutenant, he’s 21 years old. He barely got out of school, but he a lt. And he gets a GS-7.
Then I saw another one. And another 7. Young kid is a GS-7 because he’s a lt. & firstly I trying to find what the qualifications they got to be a GS-7.
And I’m a 2. & it dawned on me, hey there’s something wrong here. And I went to Colonel Galloway. She was a lesbian. And my officer in charge was a Captain Saxton. Lesbian. And these 2 girls they really loved each other. But I don’t care, so I went to Sax and I said I want to see Col. Galloway. I don’t want this job. This job is ridiculous. Look at this kid. He’s a 21 yr old kid. I’m already 25. I’m a big man. I sez. I got 4 yrs experience in marine corps. I went to commerce high school. I got all these qualifications, but this guy, didn’t even graduate college and he came in and he’s a GS-7. Some did graduate. They had degrees. And I didn’t know what the hell a degree was in those days. So I said, “This is not fair.”
Galloway said “they get GS_7, cuz they loots in the service.& this, that the other thing.
I said, “What about me? I was a first sergeant in marine corps.
That’s a hell of a lot higher
She says go to file pick a job.
I see field invesigator. I’m qualified for this.
So I got the job & became a field investigator. GS-7. And I went to work in Nihonbashi in the Kokubo Bldg.(sp/) in the CPC Civil Property Custodian. CPC took care of property of other countries which were confiscated. Like the J. went all over the South Pacific & they took a lot of stuff. & this stuff wound up in J. warehouses and our job was to return the property to its rightful owners.
It was a nice job, I started to learn how to play golf, to go to golf courses, and I lived in Fujisawa with my Japanese wife at that time. First woman I married. Got to know the right people. Got to be a pretty good golfer. I think I became a lousy investigator. But who cares. Nobody knows who you are or what you’re doing. Even the CO in the Investigation section don’t know what you’re doing.Everything is secret. These guys are still in the CIA and I didn’t even know it. You know like me….fooling around in gov’t occupation job, because government employees don’t work anyway.
So that’s how I spent in 1950. Then a friend of mine, I don’t know if I should call him a friend (i.e. this is Joe Dibello) got caught selling beer. I went to investigate it. He went to PX. Bought these coupons for 25 cases of beer, which we were allowed, because nobody drank water in those days, and he took these beer cases and he sold them.And I studied the thing and I investigated and I thought, hey I can do that too. \
So I went to a Colonel in the Wako Bldg., which was PX then. & I went to this Col (i.e. the one who handled ration tickets) and I send “col. Let’s make some money. Give me these tickets that you buy beer with. Give me a whole pack of them’
He says, “You gotta pay for them.”
Then, I gave the Colonel a little extra money.
SIDE B
(COUNTER 000)
(BLACK MARKET BEER)
I gave the colonel the little extra money and I got these tickets and then I went around to the other investigators in my section and I said “Listen. I got a chance to buy all these tickets. So if you guys want to make it, we can make some money. Everybody can make some money. So I became the organizer of a black market operation. And the Colonel was giving me the tickets. These other guys were giving me the money. I was paying off the Colonel, giving him a commission. And I started working. I got a nisei friend of mine who was involved. Him and I were doing these things. And he got himself a Japanese. And we go down, we are investigating, we stop by the beer hall, or the beer factory, yo, and over there, there were a lot of CID agents. And they were getting free beer. And, of course, their job was to catch people who came there with tickets and followed them and find out where they took–each ticket was about 10 cases or 25 cases of beer or something like that. I forgot what the hell it was. But there were a couple of different tickets. And they would follow them and find out if they sold the beer. And they’d arrest him, see. But, of course, we went down there. This guy was in partnership with a guy named Joe Sasaki. Anyway, Joe and I, we’d go down there and of course he’s a nisei and he speaks Japanese. I can’t speak Japanese. We don’t need no interpreter. So we used to go down there and talk to these guys. We say yeah, yeah, we checkin’ out all these guys here who come around trying to buy beer and black market. I sez, shit, “We only come here to drink beer. We get free beer here.” You know. Cuz, in investigating, you learn all those dirty fucking tricks. But anyways. We used to go there. And Joe in the meantime would pass the tickets to the manager. And trucks would come out. They load our beer up on these big trucks. And the trucks would take off. And Joe had an agent who was selling the things and I think we getting like 160 yen a bottle–which was big money in those days. And we wound up with a lot of money. I never saw the kid. And Joe was the only one who had contact with him. I sez, you know, we separate everything we do. And I…we used to get a big pile of money. And we’d split it up between all the guys that invested and we’d give them their money. And, of course, we made a lot of money, but those days, money, I don’t know what the hell it was. You know. You couldn’t buy land with it. You couldn’t do this. You couldn’t do that. But anyway, so.
Sure enough, my wife decided that she…we’re gonna have a baby…and I sez ok. And let’s buy some land. And she sez, if we don’t have money, we buy land. I used to give her my salary. It’s all yen. And, of course, most of my money I sending home anyway, cuz I had to support my mother and father, and all that crap. But anyway, so. So I sez, OK, what do you need. She sez, “we can buy land at 300 yen a tsubo.” At 300 yen a tsubo, we can buy 80 cents. A tsubo land, 80 cents. Is that a lot of money. You know? And I sez Ok, I figured out the money. And I sez shit, I can buy land. And so I sez, “Where do you want to buy the land?” And she took me there and she said “I want to buy this piece of land here.” And I said “Who’s the broker, you know.” Who, who, who. How do you buy land?” And she says “This contractor. He knows people and this that and the other thing.” OK, I met the contractor. And he came around and yeah we can build a house here and this, that and the other thing. And I sez to the guy, I sez, “How much land is here?” And he sez, “Your wife wants only 250 tsubo. 300 tsubo.” I think she’s got about 300 tsubo. And 300 tsubo came to like 90,000 yen. You know, that’s nothing. And I sez, “Ok, why don’t we buy the whole block?” And my wife sez, “You crazy? You can not buy the whole block. Other people have a right to live. All we need is a small place to live.” And I’m countin’ the money I got. The black market operation, I’m doing. I could buy the whole block. I could buy ten blocks over there, you know. And all I gotta do is don’t send the money home. You know. And so he sez, “Oh, no, no.” And so I sez, “OK. Fuck it. Buy 300 tsubo.” And I think that street I was on was 1400 tsubo. And today, it’s like 5 million yen a tsubo. Anyway, I paid 3300 yen for the son of a bitch. So I bought the thing. Then she wanted a house. And the contract to build the house by the way it’s still standing. By the way, it’s 42 years old. That house. It’s built like a brick shithouse. It’s what they call a 4 x 4. Not a 2 x 4. Cost me a 1,000 yen a tsubo to build the house. And we’re only allowed to build 15 tsubo, so we paid 15,000 yen for a house. 15,000 is like $40 or some shit like that. I think 36,000 yen is like $40 or some shit like that. I think 36,000 is like $40 or some shit like that. 36,000 yen…360 yen to a dollar…36,000 yen is a hundred dollars. Or something. So any I paid 15,000 yen for the house. And I bought the house. And they built the house and my son was born. Just about that time in 1948. So I bought the house and I bought the land, of course, foreigners can not put land, so it became my wife’s land and her home…she’s still got it. So that then, well, one day, I don’t know how.
But Joe Sazaki screwed up. And he got caught. And they found the kid that’s handling the beer for us. And now he mentioned that there’s a guy by the name of Zappetti involved. See. And Joe Sazaki in the meantime decided that he should quit and go home. And he went home. He left that job real quick like. And now I’m standing there holding the fucking bag, you know. But anyway, so they came around and they notified me that, you know I was called into the Colonel’s office and I went into the Colonel’s office and he says, “Yeah. You been doing beer business?” And things like that. And I looked at him. And I thought he knew it, because everybody knews it. Knows it. We’re all partners in the god damn thing and I guess he was a square. Maybe he wasn’t involved. I don’t know. I didn’t care. So anyway, so he says, so he told me they gonna come down and investigate me for black market activities.
So anyways, the kid come down, and all the investigators they got pictures of all the investigators and what not, so the colonel said the the kid–the CID man was with him–point out Mr. Zappetti here. So he points out General Eisenhower’s second grade cousin, or second-generation cousin, and he looks just like Ike you know. No hair on the top and lightly reddish or grayish or bald, or whatever you want to call it, you know like Eisenhower, and the colonel looked and he says to the guy, “that guy don’t know what he’s talking about. That’s not Zappetti. See.You got the name, but you got the wrong person. That’s not Zappetti, see.”
(DEPORTATION)
So OK, that was the end of that. And he went back and that was the end of that. And he went back And now the CID guys had to teach him, who I was and where I was and what not. And I’d get called down to the CID office. So one day I got called down to the CID office, they show the guy to me…they showed me to him…But I seen him too, and I said, OK, that’s the son of a bitchn informer. He was getting 75 cents a day to inform. Anyway, I waited for him. I left the place. I waited for him and he came out. I followed him around for a while, I lost him. Then I went back to the CID building, which was the Teikoku building…I used to have the Civilian Personnel Office there. So one day I caught him in that building and I beat the shit out of him. And, of course, he went to the hospital. And when he came out of the hospital, again I caught him, because he had like 6 or 7 interpreters working for him. We’d stand guard looking for the guy, because everybody was involved in the beer. You know. But anyway, so, I put him in the hospital twice.
But I couldn’t get away with it. They finally transferred me over to headquarters squadron in the Finance Building, and I met a fucking lieutenant, Frank Campbell, who was a prosecutor and he says, “Now Mr. Zappetti, we have two ways of handling this thing. You plead guilty and we give you a fine. And you get deported. Or you plead not guilty and we’ll find you guilty and we’ll put you in jail and you can go to jail for a few years. Now what do you want to do?”
I said, “Fuck it. I’ll plead guilty. I ain’t gonna argue with such a silly thing. In the military, nobody gets a fair trial, you know.” So I pleaded guilty. I got a $2,000 fine. I took the hat and I went around the office. I got $2,000. Paid the fine. Was notified that I had to be on the boat on a certain, certain day. And I went down to the Meiji-ya (grocery store). In those days you have to get food tickets to eat. So I got food tickets and gave’em to my wife. And I left. And not in a voluntary manner, but I did leave. And I went to the States and I went to New York City. Left my wife and kid in Tokyo. Cuz she’s a doctor. She didn’t want to go to the States. No way, see. She says, “No, I’m a doctor, I gotta take care of Japanese people.” She’s a dentist. She’s a fucking millionaire today. But anyways, like I said everybody is…So I went there, I went to New York City where I live and I went to the boys on 116th street between First & Second Avenue, the little mafiosos, you know, some big names in that neighborhood. But anyway. So they says, “We can take care of the situation. We can get you to go back.”
So in the meantime, I had a coverup plan, I knew a Jewish kid that was in the 71st Signal Corps, and in those days, investigator, you don’t have to sit around by a desk all day, long. You play games here, you go there. You go all over. And this little Jewish guy, he’s a good friend of mine. He says “Nick, the way it’s happening now, you send a list in with all the names of the so-called traitors or commercial entrants, and if the list is approved, then the list is approved. But sometimes they’ll pick a name out of the list, and they’ll say that this one is not approved to come to Japan. So I sez, “Well, shit, my name…I’ll never get approved.” And he sez, “Oh, when it comes in, we’ll just type a different name. We’ll just mix it up some way. And it becomes a typographical error or something like that.” And I sez OK. His name was Lou. From Brooklyn. And I said “OK. Lou, I hope you can do it.” So I went back to New York. And put in my application to become a Commercial Entrant. And all that, with the Gibroni’s in New York City, get to the major’s office, and I don’t know what the hell they did, but anyway, so I got notified that I have been approved to go to Japan.
So I got on a plane and what not. And I was on the airplane coming back to Japan when John Foster Dulles was flying the same airplane. And I never met an intelligent man in my life until I met John Foster Dulles. And this guy would say one sentence, and it would take pages to figure out what the hell he was talking about. I mean, he was an intelligent son of a bitch. But anyway. He was there with his wife and the plane lands and that day they had to go over Alasaka, took like 44 hours from New York City. And every time the fucking plane land, they’d have the military troops out there. And then me I’m saying “Jesus Christ, how do they know I’m on this fucking airplane?” They’re gonna catch me and send me back. And I got through the first airport. The 2nd airport. You know. Going all the way up to Alasaka. You know Northwest Airlines was the flier that time. And finally, I’m trying to figure out who told me, it’s the guy in the white suit there, cuz this was June. One week before the Korean War. So OK. I figured what the hell. Being an investigator you get to know a lot of people, walk around here & this and that. So I went over to him and I started talking to him. And then he says, I asked, “What’s your name?” And he said, “I’m John Foster Dulles.” And I sez, Oh that’s the Secretary of State or whatever he was. So I had a little conversation with him. But he was far out of my class. I mean he was talking to a country pumpkin when he was talking to me. But anyway, so we got to Haneda. He got off the airplane. All the troops went with him. And when it was clear. I got off the airplane. I was still shittin’ in my pants.
But I got off the airplane. And right away I went down to Fujisawa, where I lived. And everything was fine. And now I’m a commercial entrant. And I go to Toky and started fooling around in the same business I was in before: “Black Marketing.” Because what else can you do?
(JOHN MCFARLAND AND THE IMPERIAL HOTEL DIAMONDS)
Actually, I tried to be a Commercial Entrant, do import, export. But I couldn’t get nowhere. I didn’t know nothing from nothing. I did a little work in that but at the end I figured “Ah. I’ll use my connections. And I’ll get all these goodies from the PX.” And I started doing that. Making a dishonest buck.
So from 1950 to 1956. I played all kinds of games….Korean War was there and I was thinking of joining the military. You know, I’d go back in the Marine Corps and I’d get 4 stripes, but there’s always the adventure in me and I sez, ah, fuck it. I’ll fool around here. At that time R&R was coming into Japan and I know a lot of people and I wound up in the Hotel New York in Mukojima, a friend of mine, a Korean that I knew, he was running the place, and he got all these whores and what not. And I sez, Jesus Christ here’s a chance for me to make money. But how do I make money? And then I figured out I’ll get me a couple of slot machines. So I got some slot machines, I put it in the hotel and I rented them from, I don’t want to mention his name, uh, you’re not gonna put his name in, Tom Duncan, use(d to be the officer in charge of the Kaijo Bldg, which was a military air force billet. And I used to give Tom a $100 bucks a month, he put the machine on repair, I get the machine, I put it in the hotel and I fixed it up, I put bugs on it so you can’t get a jackpot and I move it around, the bug I mean, so sometimes you miss cherries and anyway what it is a nut and a bolt. And the nut is round and the old slot machines with the spring, you have to hit the spoke and if the spoke is not there, it slides off the nut, or the washer and it would go into a different slot. So I can always stop the guy from winning.So I kept these in the hotel and I wound up with 7 machines, and I used to bring’em back to Tom’s and he’d give me different ones and I wound up, Christ, I was doing good business. I was making money, doing nothing.
And, of course, most of my days were spent with broads. I enjoyed life. I don’t think I did an honest day’s work in 1950 -1956. But then one day, this hotel business and all that, I met this guy John McFarland. And he was a lieutenant in the Marine Corps. The first day, he went from private to lieutenant. But he was about 6’4″ and he was a wild mean mother fucker. But he was also queer. You know the type that goes with girls. And then type that goes with boys. Anyway, so I met John. And he got me in all kinds of trouble. So he decides that he’s gonna make money dishonestly. I sez, OK, let’s make money dishonestly. I sez OK let’s make money dishonestly. I doing it anyway. He sez “Let’s steal the Imperial Hotel Diamonds.” And I said “John, you gotta be kidding me. How the fuck we do such a thing? He sez, “Oh, my father. These people think my father is Senator MacFarland. He was just in town. (?Congressman?) So, ok, we went to the Imperial Hotel, he checks in as Senator McFarland’s son. (i.e.press accounts different) They give him room 301. And this is 1956, January. So he goes in the hotel, we ain’t got no money. So he goes downstairs and he’s got the key. And he buys a lot of junk, you know. Bolts of material he’s gonna send back to the States. And they’re very glad to get him. And I take the material and I dump it at half price. That gave us cash. And we kept this up for about two weeks. And he says, “Now’s the time we gonna rob the diamonds.”
And I sez OK. And we planned it beautiful plan. The guys come up with the diamonds. He looks…they never see me. He looks at the diamonds. He rejects all the diamonds. And he sez there’s not enough. They’re not big enough and this and that and the other thing. And the object was, “What do they drink?” OK. So they were orange juice drinkers. So then the plan was that the next time, he come up, we fill the glasses with knockout drops. And then they put the orange juice on it, they drink it, they pass out. And when they pass out, John is still awake, I come back in the room, I clean up all the diamonds, all the phony money…we had money but most of it was paper, you know. Newspaper clippings. And they think that we had a suitcase full of money. So we take all the jewelry, we take all the money, and now John takes his medicine and he goes out. And the name of the game was the first guy wakes up. I think I told you this story, but the first guy wakes up. The other guys out.What the hell is he gonna do? If he calls the police, or the manager or anything, they’ll come up there and say these guys are out. So what did you do? So the first guy is stuck. He doesn’t know what to do. The 2nd guy wakes up and he tells the first guy, what the hell did you do. MacFarland is still out. So what did you do?You cleaned up everything? And he says No I was knocked out. And he says Oooohhh, how do I know you were knocked out. So now these two guys, who knows what they say among themselves. Maybe one says, if I ever had a chance to steal all the diamonds, I’d do it. Who knows, you know. Anyway, they can’t do nothing. They’re gonna argue with each other. We figured that out. And we sez, now John McFarland wakes up. Well, he don’t fuck around. He says You guys stole my money. They say, No, somebody came here and stole the money. I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I was OK, but now you guys did something to me and knocked me out and now my money’s gone. You stole my money. I’m calling the police. See? And his job would be to call the manager of the jewelry store or anything. Anyway, that was the plan I made.
Sure enough, they bring up the jewelry. MacFarland gets nervous. Oh before that. He comes to me and says in order to do this, I gotta have some assurances….What do you mean I say. He says “I want a gun.” I say Mac “You’re 6’4”, you weigh about 260. These fucking Nip weigh 120-130 pounds. Are you joking? You just bash them together. They’re no problem. Whaddya need a gun for….we gonna knock’em out anyway. You don’t need no violence. Nothing at all. Anyway, so I had to get him a gun. So I said OK Mac I’ll get you a gun. But if anything happens, I do ‘t know anything about it. I don’t wanna have no part of the diamond jewelry. I don’t wanna have nothing. I’m gonna completely wash my hands. So. We agreed to those terms and conditions. My way out is I get him a gun. So I called a few friends of mine. I gotta gun. With bullets. With a holster and everything. And I took the bullets out. & like a dope I threw the holster away. And I threw the fucking bullets away. And the gun I put in the paper bag. And I made another mistake. I gave it to a Korean, who I thought were anti-Japanese and keep their mouth shut. His name is Yamamoto. And his father was the managing editor of the Nikkan Sports. Or some shit like that. ….Anyway, I gave the kid the gun. I sez bring it to McFarland. He’s gonna be in the Fukuoka Bldg. At a certain time. Anyway the kid brought him the gun. MacFarland goes back to the room. They bring up the jewelry. He hits both of them. Takes the jewelry, puts it in his pocket. And walks out. Can you imagine that?
He walks down the street. Now this guy’s got red hair. He’s 6’4″ he weighs about 260 & if there’s a million people on the Ginza 4-chome, you can find him among them. All you gotta do is look at the top of the heads and see them. So anyway, MacFarland walked around and he had a hardon for a guy named Al Shattuck, who was running the Latin Quarter, because MacFarland gave him a bum check for 2,000 dollars. And Al Shattuck says I’m gonna get your for it. So McFarland decides that he’s gonna get Shattuck instead of Shattuck get him. So anyway, so he steals the jewelry. He goes to the Latin Quarter, and at 8 o’clock, or 9 o’clock that night, the police catch him in the Latin Quarter. How you gonna hide? 6’4″ They say “Where’s the jewelry?” He says, “I gave it to Al Shattuck.” The lyin bastard, but anyway. Poor Al Shattuck. He went to Manila that same afternoon. So there’s the story. McFarland steals the jewelry. He walks around town. I don’t know what he did with the diamonds. I never seen any of them myself. And this is not a lie. This is a true story. I’ve never seen any fucking diamonds. Anyway, he gets picked up at the Latin Quarter at about 8 or 9 o’;clock at night. He aint’ got no diamonds on him. He claims he put them in a cigarette box. These wooden match boxes in the old days. And he gave it to Al Shattuck. And Shattuck went to Manila but he couldn’t prove that he didn’t have the jewelry or nothing. OK. So they going to investigate him. And they caught him.
And this fucking Korean says his partner is this guy named Nick and after a while, they found me, I got arrested, I had 100 yen in my pocket when they caught me. Just, I don’t know why. I even had 100 yen. I don’t need money. I mean, food I had. All those things. I didn’t need money in my pocket. It was just one of those bad days. I had a 100 yen. I never forget that. Anyway, they get me. They put me in the police station. Bread and water. Interrogate me. And I don’t know what they’re talking about. “Don’t Know. Don’t Know. Shirimasen. And I weighed 220. They weren’t about to fuck around with me. Because if they tried to get violent, they would need a hell of a lot of people to get violent with me, you know. Anyway, I went through that. I stayed there 28 days on bread and water or some shit like that. Leon Greenberg was my lawyer and he came around and he says “Listen. They want to nail you on the Imperial Hotel Robbery. They sez they can’t nail me on that, I was never there.”
He said, “Well everybody claims that you made the plan. You know. I said, “That’s all bullshit. I was there. I have nothing to do with it.” And he sez, “Well they got the gun.” And I said, “Well, they got the gun, so what?” And I sez, “You gave him the gun.” I sez, “he’s a liar.”
He sez “You can’t get away from everything. You gotta take a rap on something. Then they’ll let you go. If not they’re gonna hang you on the fucking robbery charge.”
So I sez, “OK, I give up. I’ll take the gun rap. That’s a lot easier.”
Anyway, so I took the gun rap. I had to plead guilty to giving the guy the gun. The gun that was used in the robbery. The Japanese law is that if you touch a gun, and you hold it in your possession for ten or 15 minutes, you’re just as guilty as the son of a bitch that had it for ten years. And even though there’s a chain of people that touched the gun, they’re all guilty of the same crime. You had it for 15 minutes and this guy had it for 15 days. Everybody’s guilty. Whether it’s loaded or unloaded. Don’t mean nothing. Anyway, so I got that education. I said OK, I’ll take the rap on the gun. I’m not gonna get out of here. So I took the rap on the gun. I got out.
I asked the guy, “Where my mistress?”
He says she’s up in,…what the hell is that fucking place, I forgot the name of the place, but, anyway, she was skiing. This is February, see. Anyway, she was skiing with this new boyfriend and her brother. And her brother’s wife. And I went up there. Kosatsu? Something like that. Anyway, I went up there and she’s in this big room with the other people. And here I am, I weighed about 145 pounds. I went in there 220. I came out like nobody. And, but uh, when I was in jail I sent a telegram to my father to send me $500 bucks. And I told the police, I don’t have to steal, if I want money,…they said we caught you with 100 yen….I said, don’t mean nothing. I sez I got plenty of money in America. And when I need money I get money. I sez no problem, I don’t have to steal. And they said, “well, prove it.”
OK. Get a telegram. And I sent a telegram to New York to my father. Send $500 bucks. I’m in the police station. I’m arrested in a police station. So the $500 bucks came and they walked me down from the police station to American Express in the middle of the fucking day. With these handcuffs on me. And I had to walk all the way down that fucking thing there …along the Imperial Palace over there. So I went in there and I got 500 dollars and people looked at me. And they said ‘We don’t want you to leave your money here. You take your money and get out of here. We don’t need your kind of customers.”
I said “Domo Arigato.” I took the money. I put it in my pocket. And I went back to the police station, get down in my cell, of course they take the money. And the interrogator’s fucking name Nagata. I’ll never forget that son of a bitch.
Again they said, “What’s 500 dollars?”
I said, “500 dollars is 2 years salary to you people. Maybe 3 years. Are you crazy. I don’t need it. You know. I got money. I do it again.” They said do it again. So I sent another telegram. Need another 500 dollars. And I had to go through the same routine. I had to walk down to that American Express. Which is where the Tokyo Kaikan is. That street there. and I got another 500 and I brought it back. You know. Under Guard. With a rope around me.
So I did it 3 times. I did it 3 times they realize they’re wasting their time, I’m not a criminal. It’s true. I didn’t steal then diamonds. I didn’t plan to steal the diamonds. It’s so easy to call up and get 500 dollars. Send a telegram. Get 500 dollars. Who’s gonna be a thief?
Anyway, so I did that 3 times. I got 1500 dollars. And now the police have got my 1500 bucks. And they said OK, we’ll put you on the gun rap. And you go to court. And now I’m free. I had to give 500 to the lawyer, the son of a bitch. Cuz I couldn’t use Leon Greenberg. You know Greenberg says “I’ll be a material witness for you. You’ll have to get a Japanese lawyer.” And I sez ok. I had to give the lawyer 500 bucks. In those days, 500 dollars was a tremendous fucking amount of money. You know. But anyway. I got no choice. I got to try to get out of the deal.
So I went back to Tokyo, to Fujisawa where I live & I went to see my friend Shira Akaboshi, who was the father of golf in Japan and I played golf with him all the time. And I says Shira I gotta get out of this mess. He says, “I’ll get you out….don’t worry. When I get through. You’ll pay a small fee. You’ll pay a fine of 50,000 yen. $300 or some shit like that. & don’t worry.”
So I went to court, I pleaded guilty, yes I had a gun. “Did you have anythiing to do with the Imeprial Robbery?” I said no. I know the people. Guilt by association. But I was not involved in the Imperial Hotel Robbery. Anyway, everything is going along. You go to court. You go to court. You go to court. And I don’t speak Japanese, in those days. I know a little Japanese , but not enough. So one day I had to go to court. Frank Scolinas was in the court room with another case and the judge saw me and he stopped the case, he said just a moment and he asked me to get on the witness stand, 1 or 2 questions, I don’t know what the hell they were. Everything was fixed already. I answered the questions.I got off the stand. And he made Frank Scolinas continue his court trial what he was doing. And of course I know Frank and he says Nick how the hell did you do that? I never seen a court stop a court case to ask a criminal, a man guilty of a criminal charge in a civil court like we are, asking questions.
Anyway, thing was I got 50,000 yen fine, 8 months in jail, 3 yrs. Probation. & it was already fixed. If you get 1 yr. In jail, you automatically get deported in this country. So I got 8 months, I was allowed to stay here.
And when I got out I went to Shiro and said I can’t afford to play games nomore cuz now they know who I am. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has seen my face. So I can’t do anything dishonest anymore. I sez I have to be honest. He sez what the hell can you do. I sez I can cook.
He sez, you get yourself a location, you open the place on your own. & if you can put a place together on your own, I’ll help you. After you open it.
I said OK Shira, that’s a fair enough bargain. I used to be a member of the American Legion which is where Dr. Aksenoff now is. Same building. Across the street was the Chinese tailor Tailor Wu. And I used to go to the American Legion, I used to look out and I said, “Gee, that’s a good fucking location.” Cuz the street’s came up. Now they got then highway there. But it would come to a T in the road there. So I went to Tailor Wu one day and I says “Hey, Tailor, I’m an American. I know a lot of Americans. And you ain’t got no American trade. I can help you get a lot of trade. A lot of trade.” Oh, he was very interesting, you know. A fucking bullshit artist. So I told him that. And I said “But, I need the downstairs. He sez “What are you going to do with the downstairs?” I said, “I want to make a restaurant. And the restaurant I can bring in a lot of people and I can introduce them to you and they’ll go upstairs.”
He says, “What upstairs? We have no second floor.”
I said, “I’ll build a second floor. I’ll make a first floor restaurant. I’ll build a staircase to go up to the second floor and you can have your tailor shop on the second floor.” Anyway, he agreed. But, I want to buy the place. Mind you, Bob, I didn’t have a nickel or a dime. I still had the thousand bucks I got from…cuz you don’t spend much money in those days. So I went I there and I got the Chinese to agree to move upstairs, I called the contractor to fix this place up, it was all plywood, everything was painted black. You couldn’t see anything. And to get more money I went around to a lot of people, knocked on their office door and asked them to help me lend them money, and 99% of the fucking Americans that I knocked on their business doors says to me, “Why don’t you get out of the country. You’re making a bad reputation for Americans. You know we don’t deal with criminals and Imperial Hotel Diamond Robbers. You know like that. And it went on like that, but anyway, I did pick up 700,000 yen. And I promised everybody 15% a year interest. But one son of a bitch, a dago bastard that I helped get out of the Marine Corps, helped get him a job, his name is Warren Del Vecchio, he’s dead now, the bastard. I went to Warren and he was working for , I forget, he was working for a chemical company, he was a chemical engineer. He graduated …some school in New Jersey. Rowe? But anyway, he was there, he had a big job, and I said, “Del, how about putting 100,000 yen in the pot? I’m gonna make an Italian restaurant and I’ll give you 15% a year interest.”
He says, “You? A hundred thousand? I can buy you a hundred times over with a hundred thousand yen.” I sez, “But you’re gonna get your money back. You’re gonna make an interest, a good interest on it.”
Del, the guy I helped, will not do anything to help me. So I sez OK, forgettaboutit.
So I did open the restaurant. Everything was fine. In the meantime with the Chinese, I’m gonna buy the property from the Chinese at 40,000 yen a tsubo.
I figured if I could stay in business one year, I’m gonna get help from Mr. Akaboshi and be able to buy the property. There was only 40 tsubo, so a million six. Not big money. Anyway, I think the first month I made 75,000 yen income. In those days, that was a lot of money. But anyway, so I opened the restaurant. And Akaboshi, true to form, came around…of course, I lived with him and we went back and forth on the same train. And I says, “Hey Shira, I’m ready to buy the place. I put the Chinese on the 2nd floor…” And it was so bad in those days that I used to pay the rent by the day in advance and then the Chinese would give me the key to open the front door, so I could do business. Most of my stuff came from black market GI’s. I bought pepperoni from them and I bought tomatos from them and I bought Chianti. You name it. Everything I used in the restaurant. Because in those days I was only selling sphaghetti and pizza. And Gouda cheese I was getting from a supplier. There was no way to get it from the PX. I was using gouda cheese today, cuz that was the only cheese available in those days. But anyway, so…business was not bad, because I sleep in the place and go take a 13 yen bath. I had no place to live in the fucking 6 tables that I had.
Anyway, so business was good. I started making money. I rented a place. I stayed in Joe Dibello’s property one day. It had no electricity, no gas. It was a walkup. It was Turkish Bath building or something like that. Or some crazy building that there was no business. There was a lot of electric power in there but there was no…there was nothing. So I used to sleep there. And mean time I’m working my ass off, I’m working my ass off, and Joe gave me a car, cuz Joe brought carnivals to Japan. So he gave me a Ford, a pickup truck Ford. It was a private car that somebody cut out and put a well deck in back of it like a pickup. And I remember they were using this thing and the cylinder broke and so instead of having an 8 cylinder Ford (V-8?), I had a 7 cylinder Ford. Cuz I took the fucking cylinder out and put the head back on and forgot about it. It run on 7. It misses every once in a while, but who cares. Anyway, I had that car. And I was working everyday at the restaurant and it was good. I was making money, making money, making money. And I went to Shiron and said, I can buy the place.
So I went to the Chinese and I said I got a one-year agreement, I want to buy the place. And he says to me, oh, yeah, and we got a piece of paper and it was signed 40,000 yen a tsubo. He says “Oh you’re business is very good. But I receive now customers from you.”
I said, “Well, I can’t help if people can’t afford to buy clothing. I can’t tell American to go to a Chinese tailor when they go to the PX and things like that, see.”
So he says, “I want 80,000 yen a tsubo instead of 40,000.”
And I looked at him and I said, “Fuck. What’s the difference. Ok. I’ll give you 80,000.” So now I needed 2 million yen. So I went to Mr. Akaboshi and said I need two million yen. He says go down the the Mitsubishi Bank at Atago-cho and they’ll lend you 2 million yen/. And, of course, me, naïve Nick. I went to the bank. I went there. I want to borrow 2 million yen. And the guy looked at me, and, of course, they’re professional bankers, and he says this son of a bitch must be crazy. And he sez, Why do you come to us? And I said, “Well, I was told to come here. And you’re gonna lend me 2 million yen” and questions and questions and answers and finally, I said, “Mr. Akaboshi told me to come here. Mr. Shiro Akaboshi. He’s a very famous man.” He’s the father of golf in Japan and he’s a socialite golfer, he’s not a pro–that type of crap. But anyway, so they said “Make Mr. Akaboshi come over here and tell us.” And I said, “Oh, he ain’t gonna come here. He’s too big a man to come over here and talk to you about two million yen.” So they sez “Ok, we’ll let you know.”
So I went to Shira and sez, “They say they’ll let me know.”
He sez, “Ok. When do you want the money?”
I said, “As soon as I get it.”
So I went to the bank again and they gave me two million yen. Sign a promissory note for two million yen. I sign a promissory note. Ok. For 90 days. I couldn’t make 2 million yen in 90 days. It’s so fucking impossible. You know. But anyway, it’s ok. We’ll worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes. \
So I got the money. I went to the Chinese. I made a deal. I bought the property. I gave him 3 million two. Cash. All the papers were signed. He could have cheated me because I couldn’t tell the right paper from the wrong paper, (all in Japanese.) So now I owned the property and…90 days later I was playing…
(Tape Ends)
Tokyo Junkie 
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