(TAPE 16) Nicola Interview May 8, 1991)
(Incl: Miscellaneous–Bank Loans, The Crematorium, Son/Daughter/Grandkids/1st Wife
Pig Farming, Yokosuka Fight, Crazy Wong, MacFarland, Business Ventures/Turkeys, Johnny Simonetti, Other Ventures, IOS/Massey/Doniaff/Private Eye Co.)
SIDE A
(Counter 000)
(MISCELLANEOUS: BANK LOANS, THE CREMATORIUM
(mortage discussion. /tanpo is a mortage. “See I got to teach you Japanese.” Etc. etc. blah. Indian Businessman can’t get loan. Owns 10 story bldg. Top 6 are condos. Bottom 4 are his business. J. banks won’t loan him money. Has to go FNCB)
(Confusing diatribe)
A: But can you imagine, you come to Japan, you write books. You make money. You decide you’re gonna buy a piece of property, so you can live in it. And you spend 2 Oku yen on a beautiful home. Something happened, you gotta go to the bank and borrow money against my home and they say no because you’re a foreigner. How do you like that? Who believes that shit? What’s the difference who owns the property. The property has a value, you can borrow against it. This is just another invisible barrier to keep you out. But then again, they’re experts at that.
Q: You told me the story before about the 50 million, I think you did, the 50 million the bank promise to loan you….If you paid back the 9 million you owed them, they said that they would loan you 50 million.
A: I didn’t owe them any money. I spent my 9 million to make the down payment. Not the down payment, but …it was a down payment, but it was also a brokerage fee, and what not, from the Tokyo Sogo Bank. Now they come around, they want to lend me money…we lend you money, you got to know the guy’s mortage and they say now., What the fuck is the difference who owns the property. It’s a title deed that’s made in Japan. The property is in Japan. You can see it. You can touch it. So you got a kenri-sho. With a kenri-sho you put your tampo (mortage). You ever seen a kenri sho?
No. Well, they got like 3 boxes. In the middle box it’s like when they make a tampo (your mortage), and the third box is when you pay it off, something like that. They got many boxes, of course, you know, so you can borrow, pay back and crossed out, and you borrow again. They can see.
Q: So you spent 9 million yen to do what?
A: 9 million yen down payment on the property. The property I think was 60 million yen property and I needed 60 million yen, or whatever it was, and they agreed. And I paid the 9 million. 60 times 3 is 27…6…you pay like 3% right? So 3% would be like one point eight? So, 1.8 I paid the broker, who was a Russian by the way, and the balance was the first payment to the land owner. Then the second payment, they fucked me all up. So I think what it was…no I think what it was…ok. Something like, I think when I got through, it cost me 60 million yen to pay for the property, because I had to dump my shares and what not. The money that I wound up paying for it came out to 60 million yen instead of 30 or 40 million. And something in that category. ..Tokyo Sogo Bank. That’s the one where Mr. Aso is the chairman and the president. They lent me a lot of money.
Q: Then they wouldn’t loan you the 50 million?
A: No, they were mad. Because I used to deal with the president or the chairman. Now he’s gone, I’m gonna deal with the little shitheads. Gotta get revenge. Maybe they just don’t like gaijin. Oh, they treat me very good today, but they don’t talk to me about money.
Q: Who promised to loan you the 50, the chairman?
A: When I was dealing with the Tokyo Sogo Bank, the chairman was my buddy, we played golf and whatnot. So I always got money. Then when he’s gone, these guys promised. The lower people. Yeah, daijobu, daijobu, daijobu (ok, ok, ok). And I went, stuck my neck in the loop, they just–nope. So I said “Fuck you.”
Q: He died right.
A: So. I told you my sponsor was Akaboshi Shiro. He went to the University of Pennsylvania. This was his relative.
Q: They gave you a verbal promise to loan you the money. Then when the time came
They just…
A: They looked at the property. They says “yes, yes, yes, yes.” Cuz I showed them the property. That was back in 1964. No, it was before 1964. It was before the Olympics.
Q: So then you went to get the money and they said no.
A: They said no. After they saw the property, saw all the documents, they saw the title. They gave a verbal ok. So I went and put 9 million yen up. 9 million yen in those days was a tremendous amount of fucking money. But that’s the name of the game baby.
Q: Then you went to the bank and what’d they say? What was their excuse?
A: I don’t know what their excuse was. Can’t do it, period. So I said Fuck you. And thank you very much.
Q: Where’d you get the money?
A: I sold stock. I told you, I used to do, I used to have inside traders. They tell you when the shares are going to go up, when they’re gonna go down. When to sell. All that. Japan is so dishonest that way. If you got money, you can play any game you want.
Q: And you lost money.
A: Sure, I had to dump my shares. But you know something, it’s crazy to say that it must have some fucking meaning. You know that restaurant over there where I got some kind of trouble. You know what it was before I bought it? Before, before, before, before. It was a place where they cremated bodies.
Q: Which restaurant?
A: The one on the highway. Years ago it was a crematorium. Could it be that’s why my bad luck got moved onto that property.
Q: So it was bad luck?
A: Must be. What else could it be.
Q: So the people at the bank never gave a reason. They never said we can’t loan money to foreigner.
A: No, cuz I’m a Japanese company….But of course I was not a Japanese…Now I learned a lot about this country….I would of never had trouble is I knew the laws. You know, you take a chapter eleven. In the States. You can do that in Japan, if you’re a Japanese. But when I got in all kinds of trouble with money-lending and all that shit. And divorce. I didn’t know what a Chapter Eleven was. I didn’t know that you could use Chapter Eleven and nobody could touch you. But Chapter Eleven is only for Japanese. It’s not for anybody else. Japanese companies. Japanese citizens. They probably would have insisted that I leave the country before they helped the company.
(SON, DAUGHTER, GRANDKIDS, 1st WIFE)
Q: We talked about this before, but your son didn’t want you to see his daughter. Your son didn’t want you to see his daughter. So you had to send Mogami to the school with a note.
A: Oh, you mean that way. You mean when his wife left him.
Q: I didn’t know about that.
A: His wife left him. OK. And of course what can I say about that I mean. So the wife took the kids and moved out. Moved in the same neighborhood. So then the report came that they were very close to there and they still going to the same school. So I told my son I’m going to go to school and follow the kids. And he says, “Leave the situation alone. It’s not of your business. It’s my business.” So I went to the school and I spoke to the school principal. And you know what he said, he said “We’ve got this trouble all day long with everybody.” They’ve got a lot of internal family troubles and schools know everything about that. So I took Mogami with me, because he speaks good English. And I said, “Can I pass a message.” They’ll accept a message but they didn’t think it was a good idea to see the kids. So everybody says, “Don’t touch it. It’s not your business.” But isn’t it the grandfather’s business or the father’s business when you can touch and help.
But then again, I’m an Acquarius. We always get in trouble because we try to help.
Q: Wait a minute. I don’t understand. The wife didn’t want the father to see the kid? The daughter.
A: The father’s my son. The wife took the two kids and left. And he’s typical Japanese. He says, “Fuck her.” Then I found out they’re in the school, same school. So I said “I want to go to the school.” He says “No. Leave them alone. Don’t bother with my wife and don’t bother with my kids.” Well, that’s a Japanese attitude, I think you know. They’re very cold mother-fucking blooded people. But I went anyway.
Q: Why didn’t he want you to bother with him?
A: Cuz he doesn’t consider his wife a decent person. She was shacking up with somebody or butterflying, which ever way you want to say it. That’s what he said. Or that’s what my wife said that he said, she said, all that crap. So he figures the hell with her. But she married him because Nicolas is a name. She thought she was gonna fall into a bucket of shit, you know.
Q: Wait…Mogami told me that the parents didn’t want you to see the little girl, because they didn’t want her to know…or to remind her that she had a gaijin grandfather.
A: Yeah, that’s…They don’t like that in school.
Q: Who didn’t want you to see her? The wife didn’t or son, or…
A: My son and wife would both say the same thing. You know we get down to a delicate subject when you get down to that point, see. Like, I like to get revenge. You know, that’s the Italian way of life. But like you said, if you take revenge against the taxi company or anybody and you get in trouble, they kick my kids out of school
So you can’t really do what you want to do. So, it’s the same thing. If I go there and they know that there’s a gaijin involved, it’s a public school. But you must always go by what Mogami…because he’s got a better memory than I have. He’s the guy that does the Japanese speaking. And then by the time it comes to me, it comes in a short abbreviated…but they don’t like gaijins….You gotta get it right. Do whichever one is right.
Q: You wanted to see the little girl.
A: Yeah, I wanted to see how they’re doing. How’s everything, you know. I didn’t care that they were separated. That’s got nothing to do with me that they were separated.
Q: The kid. The parents didn’t want you to.
A: My son and the wife didn’t want me to. He didn’t want me to because he didn’t want to disturb the school’s way of thinking. But you got to remember, he’s a Japanese. But he looks like a gaijin. Matter of fact, he used to be a gaijin.
Q: So, if the kids in school knew that she had a gaijin grandfather they would give her trouble, right.
A: Ah, you know that shit that they got in school. Among boys. Mixed blood. “Ai-no-ko” …Love Baby. And all that shit. You know. And they’d say gaijin to her. Like the little boy that’s gonna come in today, the little fat one I got, his school life was destroyed because he went to Japanese kindergarten, you know like Private Homes, they have a little kindergarten. And they call them gaijin. And then he comes to his mother and he says, “What’s a gaijin?” See. So when he found out that he was a gaijin, that he was not a Japanese, he was not a Japanese. He was different from the other kids, he didn’t want to go to school no more. And now he lives in New Zealand, he’s behind in school. He started out with a hatred for school. But the other one, the big one, he’ll be in tomorrow. He’s the one that’s six feet tall now. He was the school bully. My son Vince says “Don’t worry about him. He’s the bully.He’s the meanest kid in school.” But you look at him, you’d never believe it. Quiet. But those quiet…What do they say, “Still water runs deep.”
Q: Why couldn’t you just go to your son’s house or to his wife’s house to see the kids?
A: I didn’t know where she lived.
Q: She didn’t want you to come.
A: She hid out. The only way I could find out where she lived would be to go to school and watch the kids and follow the kids. You know.
Q: She didn’t want you to come because you’re a gaijin?
A: …..well….they tried to….Well, I’m typical gaijin because I can not speak Japanese good. Ne. So I cannot hide and say I’m Japanese. And you bring an interpreter. They just don’t want this thing of gaijin. But, you know fate is a fickle son of a bitch. Those kids are gonna grow up looking like 100% gaijins.
Q: How old is the little girl now?
A: Well, they’re about, they just had their birthday at the same time, so I imagine they’re 9 and 7.
Q: The little girl is how old.
A: 7. And the bigger sister is 9.
Q: Oh, so 2 daughters.
A: Yeah.
Q: When Vince and his wife are living together did you go there and see the kids?
A: Oh yeah. Of course. All the time. Not as often as I see the boys. The boys lived in the next house. My daughter with her 3 sons. And, of course, I got critcized because I’d come down and see the boys, but I don’t come down and see the girls. You know everybody’s got a knife. Always ready to stick it in your fucking back. Or should I call them needles?
The other day we went to eat…this is the kids birthday, born of 27 or 28 of April.
My son is born on the 27ths. My daughter is born May 13th. They’re all in that same area, so we went to Mikasa to eat, and my son, he’s a typical son of a bitch. He hates the fact that he’s a gaijin. So you know what he ordered? He ordered a 500 gram steak. What the hell is a 500 gram steak. Why the hell do you do something like that? And all the kids, they’re all 200 gram eaters. Fuck, they couldn’t eat 200 grams if they stood on their head. Q: Why does Vince hate the fact that he’s a gaijin.
A: He was brought up in Japan. He sees the tv. He reads the newspaper.
Q: He suffer discrimination in school?
A: Oh, of course. The first day in the American school…by the way Minchi Sahara was here. She sings in Las Vegas…she was his girl friend. She was in the 12th grade and he was in the 8th grade. He just started high school and she’s gonna finish high school. So I told him, they gonna have a lot of trouble. He says “I can take care of myself.” He was in the dining room. You know, I sez, “Don’t fight with anybody till after 3 o’clock. Then if you have to fight, fight. Don’t do it during school hours.” He got about 5 or 6 challenges already. His first day in school. That’s how he started the American school. So, of course, he’s a tough fucking kid, you know. And he’s not small. So I sez pick the big one. Knock the big one on his ass and nobody else is gonna fight. But he had to fight almost everytime he went to the American school. And it got so bad they were using guns and knives. You know across the street from the America school is the Kanto Base. You know the Air Force Air Base, what do you call it over there. The Air Force Air Base. What do you call it. What’s Kanto.
Q: Fuchu?
A: It’s Fuchu but not Fuchu. What’s the military housing area.
Q: I don’t know.
A: It’s across the street from the American school. You know very close to the American school. So I guess it’s Fuchu. Must be Fuchu over there.
Q: Did Vince ever tell you that he hates the fact that he’s a gaijin?
A: He don’t like gaijins. He don’t like his father.
Q: He ever tell you that?
A: Of course.
Q: What did he say?
A: He says “You’re an old fashioned gaijin. You don’t know nothing about Japan.” You know that Dai-Nippon shit. But you can’t help them. They’re brought up under the influence of the Japanese magazines and newspapers and tv. Well, you see a lot of it yourself. You don’t pay attention to it because you’re too old to pay attention to it, but you get a ten-year old kid, or a 9 year old kid and he listens to that shit…shit.
Q: Vince says you don’t understand Japan?
A: You know what he says? He says, “Who the fuck is Nicolas?” That’s my son. “Who the hell is Nicolas? Who knows you?” Imagine that? We serve 20,000 people a month and he says “Who the fuck are you? Nobody knows you?”
Q: He’s not aware that you were the “King of Roppongi” at one time?
A: None of that shit. None of that. He don’t buy none of that crap….Well, of course, he don’t like me because I took him away from his mother. I brought him into Nishi-Machi school. He had to live with me and then every week he’d go back to his mother? And, of course, his mother would probably say “That fucking gaijin in Tokyo. He’s got another girl. And another wife.” And, you know. You know how women when they want to talk, ne. She still hates me. That woman hates me so much that anytime we go out she will not put her hand in her pocketbook to pay the bill. She’s a fucking multi-multi-millionaire. Can you imagine that?
Q: You still go out with her?
A: Oh, yeah. We have dinners together. You know. Family. Not me and her. Like the last time, this Mikasa, there was 7 of us. The bill was 70,000 yen. She wouldn’t budge a fucking penny. This irks me because it’s my company that’s paying for it. Or me that’s paying for it. Can you imagine that? You would think that me and my wife should pay our share, she should pay her share. I guess the way to get rich is don’t touch the bill. Leave the bill alone.
Q: Think I could interview her? Would she talk?
A: Oh, she would give you all the bad things about me. She would write. You would have to take a fucking ten tape recorders. You know he did this. The son of a bitch did that. Etc….But I made her a millionaire. But they hate that too. But what’s the difference. But she’s 3 days younger than me.
Q: What school do your granddaughters go to?
A: Japanese Fujisawa school. Kugenuma some place. Name of the school, I don’t know.
Q: And the principal told you, we have problems like this mixed blood kids?
A: No, no, no. All of them. They didn’t say nothing about mixed bloods. They don’t have that many mixed bloods over there. Maybe just my two kids. But, they have family troubles. Husband and wives. So he said, it’s normal.
Q: I said the wife took the two kids and went away.
A: He said, “What’s new about that? They do that all the time.”
Q: So ok. The one who didn’t want you to see the kids then was the wife.
A: Because she didn’t want me to get involved in the family troubles. As a gaijin.I’m a son of a bitch. I don ‘t think like…You see Japanese would automatically wash their hands. They won’t touch her, the Japanese. But we come from a different world. We try to patch up the family troubles. That’s why you see Japanese movies, right? Television, you see it. They got the husband and wife and the husband’s got a mistress. You see that all the time. You think that anybody in the family says, “Hey, stop that shit?” They don’t say that. They don’t touch. Italian family. My god, if the father is cheating on the wife. That would be the mother.You never know what those kids are gonna do.
You confused?
Q: Yeah. I thought the reason that they didn’t want you to go to school and see the little girl was because the kids in school would find out that she was mixed blood.
A: Yeah, that’s true. Yeah.
Q: That’s why the wife didn’t want you to go.
A: That’s why nobody wanted me to go. That’s why my son didn’t want me to go. Nobody wanted me to go. My son never goes to the PTA meetings. They keep away.
Q: Why, because he looks like a foreigner.
A: Of course. He’s 5’1″ and weighs about 200 pounds. He certainly don’t look Japanese….
Q: OK
A: Bob you have to tilt the book the best way it makes it sell. And this is basically an anti-Japanese book.
Q:So when the wife left, she just wanted to wash her hands completely of the gaijin connection
A: Of course.
(PIG FARMING)
Q: How are pigs slaughtered?
A: How are pigs slaughtered?
Q: Yeah, in, when you took them to the slaughterhouse. How’d they do that?
A: Well, you take a pig to the slaughterhouse. First they have to measure 105 centimeters around the grith.
Q: NO,how to they kill them?
A: Then they bring them into the slaughterhouse. They bring them into a room. All the pigs in a room. Then they get them…Of course, pigs are not stupid, they know. They must be yelling at each other. And they just get them and they tie a chain like to the back feet and they string’em up. A very rude way. But then they put a white plastic see through curtain around it and then they slit the throat. And that’s it, baby. But they can stick the knife, from the throat and cut the heart. I don’t know how they can do it, but they do it. So now the pig is up there bleeding to death. And that’s how they kill pigs. It’s very hard to look at. I don’t mind the pig. But I seen them try to kill a horse with a sledgehammer. Now that is fucking cruel. You know the pig at least he’s got his throat cut, it takes only a few minutes to die.
Q: Slit the throat and they cut all the way down to the heart?
A: I seen it done. They cut the throat and they go inside and they cut the heart. You know they must cut the arteries to the heart. They can do that. I don’t see how the fuck they can…but they can do it. But anyway, it’s in a clear plastic round cylinder. The pig is hanging. And the pig is not small. They could stretch 5 feet or 6 feet or something like that. But they just flopping all over the place. Blood all over the place. That’s why the white plastic curtain is there, to stop the blood from going. Then the blood runs out. And when he’s finished bouncing around, then they send him over to the table and the first thing they send them to is…they take the skin off first, so the cowhide, whatdya call it, pig hide….
Anyway, so they put the pig on some kind of a roller and what they do is they take the pigskin off. Then the pig goes back to a counter. And now they slice it in half. And the veteranarian looks at all the inside gizzards and whatnot, to see if he’s sick or anything. And if he passes that test, he goes into the, you know they cut the head off, the feet off, and then they hang him on a hook. And then they tell you what the price is.
Q: They cut the head off?
A: When it’s on a hook. That means the skin is gone, the head is gone, the guts are gone. The feet are gone. You’ve seen an animal on a hook, haven’t you? Then they tell you what the price is. And I’d like to hear you say, “I don’t want that price. I’ll just take the pig home.” Where you gonna take it?
Q: You saw a horse killed with a sledgehammer? Where?
A: Same slaughterhouse. They just stand him up and he doesn’t know what’s gonna happen. Then a guy gets in front of him with a sledgehammer and tries to hit him between the eyes. And if the horse turns his head, he’ll go down from the blow, but he ain’t nowhere near dead. I mean, you don’t wanna see it. Can you imagine hitting a horse with a sledgehammer, he’s standing on his four feet? I mean that’s cruel.
Q: So if the horse goes down, he’s still alive.
A: He’s still alive. They hit him again. They try to hit him between the eyes. Very fucking crude.
Q: What do they use the horsemeat for?
A: Oh, well, did you have bacon this morning?
Q: Really?
A: They use it for everything.
Q: Like what?
A: Like hamburger.
Q: You’re kidding me.
A: Like anything. It’s meat. You go anyplace and buy horsemeat?
Q: That’s right. There’s horse sashimi you can get in Japan.
A: You get anything.
…This cheesecake tastes terrible…
Q: I’m gonna stop eating meat.
A: Horsemeat is sweeter than beef, you Japan imports a hell of a lot of horsemeat.
I know because I was involved in the company that was importing it.
(YOKOSUKA FIGHT)
Q:The Yokosuka fight when the guy called your wife a pansuke (whore). Was that daytime or nighttime?
A: Nighttime. Walking down the street in Yokosuka, 1945.
Q: Where. The bar section?
A: No. Just walking down the street.
Q: What did the street look like?
A: Oh, you know…I think at that time we were trying to get to the train station. Cuz she was a doctor as Tawara….(gives wrong directions to Tawara)…I think Tawara is past Zushi. So we were walking down the street These stupid bastards called her a pansuke.
Q: What’d they look like?
A: Just young kids. 20 years old. 21.
Q: How were they dressed? What were they wearing?
A: In those days they wore nondescript clothes. They were all filthy pigs. They had no clothes. I mean, today the kids are dressed. Today the women got lipstick and makeup. And they own soap and they take baths (pron. “bats”) Those days, you know, life was tough. If you had an income of 100 yen a day, you had big money, yo. I think the first time was what, 15-1? 15 yen to a dollar. Then it went to 50. Then it went to 270, then 360 (1949-1972), like that. I told you what a ni-go-yon (2-5-4) is….That’s how much they got in one day. 254 yen. They used to stand on the corner, try to get a job, the guy would come with a truck, he’s gonna take 20 laborers. And 20 guys get picked. They get in the truck, go someplace and pick up rubble or something. So they were called ni-go-yon.
Cuz that was their salary for 8 hours labor.
Q: And so these guys called you pansukeand you just…
A: They walked right by me. They said “pansuke” see. So I turned around and went after them. They never thought that this, of course, I was a Marine. No, I wasn’t a Marine, I was a civilian. But I was wearing Marine clothes cuz it’s all the clothes you have.
Q: So what’d you do?
A: I just hit them. Knocked them all out. Didn’t take long.
Q: You picked one and hit him in the face?
A: I hit them two at a time. Lefthand, righthand, lefthand, righthand. That was the end. Then the MP’s came and said, “You crazy?” You know. Fuck that shit. But you gotta remember I was 26 years old. I weighed a good 200 pounds. Maybe 190. 180.
Q: So you were crazy then. I mean you were in a very excited state of mind then.
A: We hated the Japanese. Any fucking excuse to hit them. Any excuse. Still today you know. Of course, today’s GI is not the same as when I went through. Different world.
Q: How’s it different. Oh, you told me that,
A: We were brought up different. We were brought up without food, without money, without clothes. And, you know, take you away from your momma. And they attacked Pearl Harbor. All that propaganda.
(CRAZY WONG)
Q: What’s Crazy Wong’s background?
A: He’s a Taiwanese….I gotta give you those papers. I’m going through trying to get it properly done. Fucking lawyer cost me hyaku-ni-ju-mon-yen. (1,200,000 yen). To start.
Q: He’s a Taiwanese.
A: He’s Taiwanese. Now he’s a Japanese citizen.
Q: When did he come to Japan?
A: Oh, probably, well, you can’t say because he’s 60-65. About my age. 67. I was born in 21. He was born in maybe 25. And if he was born in 1925 and he was born in Taiwan. It as already Japanese owned. So it’s easy for him to go back and forth. Whichever way the same country.
Q: When did you first meet him?
A: I met him about 30 years ago in a bowling center.
Q: How’d you meet him. Who introduced you.
A: We all know each other because everybody is team bowling. What do you call it, jackpot bowling? All those kind of things.
Q: What’d you think of him when you first met him?
A: Of course, you’re more preferable to him than a Japanese. Cuz he’s not a Japanese. But at the same time, you know…but he doesn ‘t speak much English. But we call him Crazy Wong because he’s crazy. The guy will drink beer with whiskey chasers. And you know that kind of crap. You ever see those kind of people? They’ll put anything in their stomach. Crazy Wong is that way.
Q: Any other strange habits? What other examples?
A: Whatever he does. Bowling. He bowls a sidearm motion. Could you believe it? Like you’re throwing, what do you call it, a softball. Side arm motion. Bowling is straight down the middle, but he throws it at an angle. So that’s another reason they call him Crazy Wong. They think he’s crazy the way he bowls. He doesn’t bowl the right way. Everything he does is crazy. His drinking habits, his eating habits, his playing habits.
Q: Like what eating habits.
A: I told ya, he’ll eat any shit on the table. Drinking, he’ll drink whisky with beer.
Q: Like what kind of weird things would he eat, can you remember?
A: Oh, how would you say it? He’ll, of course, he’ll eat Chinese food and Japanese food and all that kind of shit. He doesn ‘t eat it in the way the Japanese would eat it. He’s different. He’s just plain different. That’s why they call him Crazy Wong. Whaddya do that for? You crazy?
Q: Examples? Details?
A: How do you say it? How would you say it. How would you say it. Let’s say that a normal person eats in a certain formula way. Which you know. You go in a Chinese restaurant and eat a certain thing. He will not eat the formal way. He’ll go this way. All different ways, like we’re foreigners, we eat soup, salad, steak and whatnot. He would be the type to start with the steak and end with the soup or end with the salad or something. He’s that type.Then, of course, his business is jewelry. So like I told you, he comes around with these fucking watches, and he says this is 500,000,000 yen for this watch but I could sell it to you for 50 million. And you look at him and you say, “You crazy?” He runs around with a little briefcase about this big. This big. That high. And it’s full of fucking jewelry. And money. And you name it. And he’s a little guy. He’s about 5 feet tall and he must weigh about a hundred and five pounds. And he’s running around with about three or four hundred thousand dollars in cash in his fucking suitcase. Can you imagine that? You got to be crazy to do that. He ain’t even strong enough to defend himself.
…5 feet one or two if he’s that high. And he might weigh about a hundred pounds. But I can’t criticize him because he’s still bowling.
Q: He carries a briefcase…
A: Full of fucking jewelry and money. And he shows it to everybody. He doesn’t hide it. Now who the fuck would go in a bowling center with three or four hundred thousand dollars worth of merchandise and cash in it. Would you? That’s why they call him crazy. Whaddya doing with that, you crazy? So C. Wang is Crazy Wang…..But he’s not really crazy when you look at what he did to me.
Do you know the word “tart”? T-o-r-t. I should have looked it up in the dictionary.
Q: He takes it to the bowling center and he leaves it there while he bowls?
A: Yeah. He leaves it on the seat and bowls. Can you imagine? And, of course, everybody plays games with him. They steal his bag. Jesus Christ. When he sees the bag is gone, oh my god, of course, everybody would be noivous and what not, especially if he’s got watches in there worth 50 million yen. But nobody cheats him. They only tease him. In the States they’d steal that fucking bag so fast they’d cut his arm off to get it.
Q: What’s the first deal you did with Crazy Wong? First business deal.
A: Oh, we always bought jewelry from him. He always runs around with different stones and opels, you name it, jewelries, semi-precious metals, whatya call it, semi-precious stones, like jades and star sapphires, and all that kind of shit. My wife bought a lot from him. We bought some big opels from him that were about 2 inches long. Jesus Christ, they must be worth a tremendous amount of money today, but I don’t know where the fuck they are. I know my daughter got one and my wife got one. My shows up we ask her…my daughter will be here…we’ll ask her…
Then, of course, he fixed my vaucheron watch. I gotta look and see if he stole the inside of it.
Q: Do you socialize with him a lot?
A: Only at the bowling center. You know in those days, we used to go bowling. Go drinking. And eating and things like that. Today they don’t do that no more. Today, the bowling center when they get through bowling, they all disappear. Before, they used to come to the restaurant or we’d go different places, drinking. And that’s when you see the character of Crazy Wong.
Q: How was his English?
A: His English is 20%….When I get my documents put together on that case I’ll give it to you. (SHOWS INTENT)..I’m still thinking how to beat the court case.
(MACFARLAND)
Q: I look forward to it….What about these business ventures I asked you about before in the 1980’s.
A: I can’t think…You know I was going to romanticize the Imperial Hotel Robbery, which make an interesting story for you cuz it’s basically not 100% true, but it doesn’t matter. I think when we get to that point, I will say like this: 1950 to 1955 or so. I was what you would call a consultant. Wanna dramatize that I was selling money and doing different things and people would come to me for consulting services. And one day MacFarland came in and said “How do I steal the Imperial Hotel Diamonds.” And I sez, “Well, it will cost you 50,000 yen to know that.” And then he brought me 50,000 yen.
And, I mean, it’s not true. But it’s romanticized. Because McFarland was not basically a thief. It was the thrill of stealing the diamonds not the value of the diamonds. (Note: various other accounts cite McFarland’s heavy debts as his prime motive)
Of course, the Japanese will go crazy when they read that the guy just stole the diamonds for the thrill of it. They can’t think that way. But MacFarland was half crazy. I told you he was in Iwo Jima. In Iwo Jima he went from private to lieutenant in one day. But he was 6’4″ and he weighed about 260. He was 100% mean.
Q: How did he do that, in Iwo Jima?
A: Combat. In combat.
Q: Just killed a bunch of people?
A: Probably. But that’s military records. That’s not hard to find. But he was a psycho. He got hit in the head. Either he got shot in the head or somebody hit him. Whaddaya call it, a skizziofrizziac?…. …
Q: He got shot in the head?
A: He got shot in the head or hit in the head? Or something went wrong with his head.
He entered the military…I think it was in the marines….but I know he went from private to lieutenant. (Note: Mac had mental problems before he went to Iwo Jima)…I guess he was in the army.
Q: What would he…little psycho…get mad? Fly off the handle?
A: Oh, shit yes. The first time he did that with me we were riding in Takaishi’s car and he went crazy in that fucking car. Oh, he’s much bigger than me….you know you’re driving the car and the guy next to you flips his lid and starts yelling and raising his voice. Pounding. Hey. And you never seen that happen before. Boy. It’s frightening….Sitting next to me as I was driving. He went crazy. Something snapped in his fucking head.
Q: What did he do? He kicked the dash?
A: Everything. Yelling. Punching. Not me. Thank god. As soon as I got a chance, I pulled over and stopped. But that’s the first time he did that. But boy it scared the shit out of me. After a while, he used to get, he’d blow up. But, he was always that way.
And, of course, they say he was AC& DC. I don’t know.
But he was…cuz I’ll picture him as not a thief. But he did steal the diamonds. There’s not question about that. They still haven’t found the diamonds, you know. (Note; Police found 75% of them. Dan Sawyer in Las Vegas says Al Shattuck took the rest as repayment of $2000 Mac owned him and sold them in Manila, not realizing they were stolen).
Q: You’re a business consultant? You tell people how to break the law?
A: Anything?
Q: Black market deals?
A: Anything. Anything they want to know. Just put money on the table and give me one day to think about it and I’ll come up with all solutions.
Q: Like what other examples.
A: Like how to move money from one place to another. What do buy. What not to buy? The consultant. In those days, you know, the American knew everything. I tell you I used to have C.F. Sharpe shipping. I used to pay their fucking harbor charges. The guy wrote me a 2 million dollar check one day. Can you imagine that? I shoulda stole the fucking check. But, you know. Stupidity. We lived good though. We had a lot of fun.
Screwed all the girls. Why fuck it up.
(BUSINESS VENTURES: TURKEYS)
Q: How about business deal in the 1980’s. The last ten years.
A: Well, the only thing I did is the pig. I went into the fur business. I went in the pig business. I raised beef. I got whipped. I raised rabbits, I got whipped. Now I’m trying to raise turkeys and I’m whipped again. Do you want to know something? Nobody sells eggs or chicks to here. You gotta buy the chicks in Japan and they want 1700 to 1900 yen a chick. The fucking thing when it’s grown only sells for 3,000 yen. Can you imagine the way they, the chick in the States must be worth a buck.
Q: Tell me that again. I’m really tired.
A: Then you shouldn’t write what you’re doing.
Q: I got a ranch in Hokkaido, right. Now they took 35,000 tsubo away from me. So I can’t help it, but they can’t take my houses. So anyway, all I got now is 2,000 tsubo and I got about 500 tsubo buildings on it. So the only thing I can do is raise a domestic animal that doesn’t really…like pigs are difficult, because pigs’ll shit…you gotta get the water out. They use a lot of water on a pig farm. And then where do I throw the water? I can’t cross another man’s property, see. So I sez, ok, this guy Johnny up there wants to make turkeys. OK, so he went out and he’s going to these different turkey sellers, wholesalers, so they want 1700 to 1900 yen for a chick. A little thing. And you can’t make money. They’re only gonna sell it for 32, 33, 3400 when they grow up. 6 months later, they’re big turkeys, you know. Or whatever. I don’t know what the hell. There’s 3 different sizes. And they also got bronze turkeys, which I don’t know what the hell they are. But anyway. So I decided to call the American Embassy up. I called the American Embassy. And I sez to my friend George Erdoff (sp?), I want to buy turkey chicks. We can get an incubator, so I’ll buy eggs. How do they keep the eggs from California to Japan, you know. All the shit that goes in between. So anyway, so, he gave me the name of a poultry company. …he sent me by fax….they can enlarge a fax, you know that. Cuz he sent me the fax. Of course, I can’t read it. It’s all blurry. So he says I will enlarge it for you. So ok, he enlarged it. And I’m looking down and there’s no such thing as a turkey chick for sale or a turkey egg for sale. Imagine that? Course, they got in chickens. You can buy whatever you call’em, fucking Ber…Bermuda Hens or whatever you want to call those fucking things. Anyway, so, I spoke to George and he says the best guy to talk to is the poultry guy. I call and talk to poultry people and they say “yes, we have turkeys. We can get all the turkey you want…they’re by the weight.” I say, “What do you mean.” I sez I want chicks. Or eggs. Oh, no, we sell frozen turkey.” I sez “I don wanna buy frozen turkey. I got a farm. What the hell I wanna buy frozen turkey for?”
There is no import of chicks or eggs into Japan. Imagine that? The American government cries about rice. Fuck rice. You crazy. You can sell a lot of fucking turkeys here.
Q: It’s against the law?
A: I donno yet. The man in charge is a guy named Hirai san. I’m supposed to call him. He was out today. He was out yesterday. You know what that means. He’s sick. The American Embassy. He’s sick my ass. He’s on a fucking extended Golden Week holiday.
But he took sick leave. And I get annoyed because the American government pays this other guy George Erdoss (sp>)…
…Don’t talk to Moriyama, or Murayama or whatever his name is because he’s just plain lazy and stupid. And they work for the American Embassy. And how do these people can do anything in Japan is beyond me. They’re lazy. They’re stupid. And the American government pays them. They get good salaries.
So anyway, I’m gonna give up on the turkeys.
But I guess I’m a loser. I meet all the bad people.
So I call up this guy in Hokkaido and I say “Johnny, you can’t get turkeys, because you can’t by the eggs, you can’t buy the chicks.”
Q: What’da they cost in the States again?
A: Oh, I imagine, they got to be a dollar or two. A dollar and a half. What the hell does a turkey sell for in the United States? 7 dollars. Frozen? Right? What the hell can they be when they’re born? Or when they’re in the egg. What the hell can the egg be worth? And this country is good for turkey. Because you don’t need a lot of space to raise turkeys.
But… But when you get involved in the Japanese sales system, you get murdered. So you got to make your own….there’s ways of doing it, but it’s a pain in the ass.
SIDE B
(JOHNNY SIMONETTI)
(inre. Johnny Simonetti)
He turned me down. Would you believe it? He says, “Oh, I’d rather stay here. You don’t have to be a dishwasher in Sapporo.” There’s a man I give $20,000 a year to sit on his ass in Hokkaido and do nothing.
I guess, I don’t know. I’m a loser. How anybody would turn down living in Hawaii with no cost.
Q: What would he do in Hawaii?
A: Just sit on his ass and rest. He’s got a bypass already. He has to take all those fucking nitro pills to stay alive.
Q: How old is he?
A: 64.65. 66. I sez come with me to Hawaii. Then we can go to Singapore. To New Zealand. We travel around. He sez, “Oh, I can’t leave here.” Jesus. How do you tell your boss that. All I gotta do is say “I’m sorry John but I can’t send you any more money. So fend for yourself.” Go be a fucking k.p. in a …whose gonna give him a job as a kp?
Q: What would he do in Hawaii?
A: Nothing. My driver. He can drive. I can’t drive.
Q: How long you known him?
A: Jesus Christ. You’re talking about that. 19…I know him from before I went in the restaurant business. I know him since 1953. 38 years. No. Wait a minute. I opened in 1956. That’s right I knew him before I opened. I knew him when I…Whatddya talking about. I knew him before the…The Imperial Hotel was 1956. That’s right. I knew him from probably 1952-53. Because he was one of the people in Kobe basically. In black marketing. Just like everybody else. Everybody in the black market knows everybody in the black market. But I took him under my wing about ten years ago. I gave him $20,000 a year. Ni-ju-mon yen (200,000) a month. And a few other expenses. Can you imagine that?
I’m retired and I get 125,000 yen a month. And this guy is working for me and doing nothing and he gets 200,000 yen a month. Maybe 205,000 or 210,000 a month. Jesus.
(OTHER VENTURES)
Q: How about any other businesses here in Tokyo that you got into?
A: Well, of course, with Geck, I used to help finance their automobiles. They brought in Pontiac Trans-Ams.
Q: You told me that story. Geck.
A: Richard Geck. I told you he’s a member of the, I told you, the Phoenix Group in…what do you call that place, Vietnam. He’s a friend of Colby, but Colby’s dead. Now the Colby story is coming out with this Richard, what do you call it, Reagan and the bullshit about Iran. That was Colby. But Colby’s dead.
Q: That was bringing in the Trans-Am’s at half price?
A: He was bringing them in and selling them at 2.4 million versus their 4.2 million. What were you doing with him. I just finance him. You know lend him 2 million yen, 3 million yen, 4 million yen. And he’d pay it back of course. But I made no money on it. Just being a good guy….(bs,etc.)…but he got in a lot of trouble because people would order a blue one, a white one, a red one, and they come in and they not blue, they not white, not red. And they don’t want to take the liberty.
Then he got involved with gangsters. Cuz he’s down in Osaka. Yamaguchi-gumi. And that was the end of the business.
Q: How’d that start.
A: Well, because the customer paid. And the customer wouldn’t get the car. So he’s gonna go over to the gangsters and say “That guy cheated me and this that and the other thing.” So the gangsters moved in on him and said, you know, you took the guy’s money and he ain’t got the car. He said he got a different car. And they sez no that ain’t the car. He said it got so complicated he just tipped his hat and walked away.
He was bringing in…I told you…he was bringing in horsemeat. And roast beefs and…for Daiei and all the big companies. Mitsubishi. They were bringing in container loads of meat. And they make 2 cents a pound or 3 cents a pound commission. Big money, yo. 40,000 pounds. 3 cents is a lot of money.
Q: Geck was bringing it in? Geck and another guy named Harry Hayashi who is now in Wisconsin somewhere.
Q: Bringing in what?
A: Container loads of meat. Japanese were buying it. Until the Japanese found that they could do it without anybody else. But you know he’s been…that’s 12 years ago. 15 years ago. So now, the Japanese, they own the ranch. They probably own the slaughterhouse. They own everything now.
Q: This was in Hokkaido?
A: Right here. Tokyo. Osaka.
Q: Wait a minute. Bringing in a load of cut meat that would sell for how much cheaper than the cut price?
A: Oh, of course. Much, much cheaper….No, he only made 2 or 3 cents commission, per pound. On a container load. So a container load is about 40,000 pounds. So they make 2,000 dollars. 3,000 bucks, like that. Small peanut money, but they were bringing them in. Matter of fact, 3 cents would be about 100 bucks, right? But they bring’em in, you know. Everyday another container. Another container. We want this. We want that. We want horsemeat. We want porkmeat. They used to do that. They bring containers. But the buyers were Mitsubishi. Sumitomo. The big companies were the buyers. And then they resell it. And they probably make 20 cents a pound. Until finally the Japanese went to the States and started setting their own organization up. And he got wiped out of that business.
He got wiped out of the car business because the fucking orders were not proper. He got wiped out of the….Then he went to Manila. Now he’s in Tom’s River New Jersey. I just lent him $35,000.
Q: For what?
A: Well, he always pays back. So I could trust him. So now near Tom’s River, he’s gonna make a souvenir store. Shit like that.
Q: I thought he got run out of business in the car industry because the agent complained to the automaker in the States.
A: They did. They complained to Pontiac and you couldn’t get no more Pontiacs. That’s why he got into all kinds of trouble with different colors.
Q: Pontiac wouldn ‘t give him the color that he ordered?
A: The people in the States had to sabotage him. So he had to go around getting what ever car he can. And he couldn’t get the right color cars. But he got cars.
Q: So Pontiac stopped selling to him.
A: Pontiac stopped selling…Pontiac put the clamps on him. So he had to buy under different names. Gimmicks. You know. You buy and you export yourself. He was buying out of LA, though. And eventually, it got so bad, you just give up. Japanese can do that. They knocked them out of business. And, of course, that was my enemy too. Pontiac was Nihon Kotsu. So I enjoyed helping him. They used to have Nichibei motors. I think they still do…on the first floor of the Nihon Kotsu building. I think still on the first floor they got Pontiacs.
Q: This was 12-15 years ago. That would be 1977. 1975-1980.
A: Wait, he was in Manila for ten years. So it would be just before 1980. 77, 78, 79.
You better take a rest. You getting me tired doing all that work.
(bs about writing books)
A:….Ian is New Jersey. Tom’s River. But it’s not Tom’s River. It’s next to Tom’s River. Sea something. Do you know a city there or an area there by the name of Sea…Sea something. Seacrest or Seawall. I got the address in my office. Okay, so I gave him the money and he says Nick. Why don’t you invest in Tom’s River where I am. I sez, “What ‘s there to invest? He says, Summer Homes. He says you buy the home for 20% down. And then you rent it out during the summer season. And you can get enough rent during the summer season, which is 3 months, to pay for the other 80% that you owe. Would you be interested in something like that?
Q: Maybe.
A: Because this is what I got. I got Geck there, who’s not stupid. My brother-in-law lives there. My brother’s daughters are married to two guys living in there. And one of them is a contractor. He builds houses. So because you come from New Jersey, you should know Tom’s River, right?
Q: I left when I was two years old.
A: Oh, well.
Q: Where do you maintain your home other than Japan.
A: California. Carmel. Salinas. It’s where the Sheriff of Monterey. I’ll say hello to him. Maybe he can arrest me for something. I can write a story about the Monterey jail.
Q: NO, I was thinking if you’re interested, I gotta go there anyway,…say, you put up 200,000 I’ll buy a million dollars worth of property. So we have a management. We have a construction, to fix it up. And it’s an organization. It’s just something to think about. But I’ll tell you what, when I was making tremendous money, nobody talked to me like that. I didn’t know what to do with the money. I used to have a fucking drawerful of money. I didn’t know what to do with it.
And this guy Jack Howard, I think I told you, he just bought 40 acres in San Diego. $800,000. I sez, I can’t do that. I can get $800,000. But not in one bunch. Then he came back to me one day, and, you know, he made a mobile homes out of it. He leased it out to a management company, they pay him $25,000 every month on the top. Whatever’s left over, they take for management and profit. He gets the first $25,000 income. Well, then he says “I finally paid for that property. That $800,000 property.” I said, “You mother fucker. You made me think it was cash.” He sez, “Nobody buys property in America for cash.” But me in Hawaii, I did. And when Geck said, He’s says 20% down. He;s buying a house for $160,000. 20% down is $30,000. I sent him $35,000. 17 & 18.
So then he’s gonna fix up a store. And he’s gonna sell knick-kancks, you know…I sez, OK, I’ll help you. Because they are not perishables. Perishables, I’m very afraid. But it’s something to think about.
(tape off. BS inre loan. IOS investment)
(IOS, BILL MASSEY, MIKE DONAIFF, PRIVATE EYE FIRM)
Q: How did you get your money back?
A: Yeah, I got my money back by squeezing.
Q: You send your mafia friends around.
A; That’s how I got it back.
Q: To request that they please return your investment?
A: They paid me back twice as much and the people that did the squeezing they got twice….I was dealing with a guy called…what’s his name now…Al Shattuck, no….Come on Nick, what’s his name? He ran IOS in Japan….I gotta think of the name.But anyway, he was the boss of IOS . Oh, wait a minute. It wasn’t Bernie Cornfeld. Bernie Cornfeld started IOS.
Q: He was never in Japan.
A: Oh, he was in Japan. I used to drink with him. Before he started…He was a bum….But then the office was down by Sukiyabashi. You know the Kabuki-za? You go a little more down towards Showa Dori,,& they got a street, it’s got a police box on it, you go around it, over there was IOS…..Gee, I know the name so well. It’s not Al Shattuck. I can’t think of the name.
But I started out with IOS. And I put money because of this German guy.Joe Metzner. He was another Crazy Joe. Ne. He was another wild get drunk crazy, god only knows how many fights he can get in in 5 minutes. But anyway, Joe Metzner was a German. Probably a German Jew. And Bernie Cornfeld’s IOS, he started that as a scam. He had no desire, he didn’t even know what he was into. But an anyway, they had 3000 Germans on their payroll. Salesmen. And something about the Jew element came in. And the fucking thing blew up. And when it blew up, everything blew up. But I already bought the property in Spain. I put down payments on it. I already put down payments on the Miami place. I was getting 4 apartments in Miami. And then the whole deal blew up. And Vasco grabbed it. And before Vasco grabbed it, I don’t know who got it. Anyway, I had $35,000 involved. So I got $75,000 back. I asked certain people in the States, I can’t mention their names. And they put the elbow, or the squeeze, and they got $70,000. And I made 100% and they made $70,000. I made $35,000. And I got out. And then, of course, IOS went to hell. I know the guy. What’s his fucking name? He’s deadly afraid of me. Deadly afraid of me. Because I brought in a Mafia man to Japan, by the way.
Q: Oh, really?
A: Oh, yeah. I wasn’t about to take a $35,000 loss.
Q: You made the original investment here.
A: Yeah….He had an office there over in that fucking building. Who? Couldn’t be Al Shattuck. It wasn’t Al Shattuck. Anyway, I can’t remember the name.
Q: When was this? What year?
A: This would be 1970? About maybe 67. 64 I bought the property. 72 I got knocked out of it. So it was between 64 & 72. So I’d say 1970.
Q: Any details about the Mafia guy when he went to see him?
A: No, all I know is that the guy told me one day that “I never was so fucking scared in my life.” But I gotta remember who it is. He’s a very famous man. Who was the IOS boss in Japan. William Massey. That’s the guy. Bill Massey. Bill Massey is a very interesting story. You know I tell you about Bill Massey. I went into the I guess you’d call it the Gessekai. We…the one next to the Latin Quarter. They had the big staircase that went up to the second floor. And I went in there one day and I saw this beautiful girl, I mean she was beautiful. And she was a Japanese movie star or something from Kyushu. But she was, I mean, beautiful. No fucking if’s, and’s or but’s. And, of course, I looked at her, and she’s on the phone talking to somebody, and she’s saying that “Nicolas is looking at me,” you know.
And I’m looking at her, cuz, boy I coulda ate that girl up from the toes to the top of her head,..cuz I don’t eat (unintelligible), but anyway. And I’m lookin’ and she’s saying Nicolas, Nicolas and Nicolas. And finally, I walked over and I sez “Who you talking to?” She sez, “I’m talking to my boy friend. I tell him that you’re watching me.” Tell him I watch you. I don’t give a fuck, you know. So who gets on the phone but Mike Doniaoff. He’s a Russian. Born in Kobe. His brother’s still here. Selling textiles.
Q: What’s his name”
A: Mike Dunaff….D-U-N-A-F-F or something like that.
(grandkids come in)
This is my family. Come on here Patrick.
Anyway, she was his girl. Than she became Bill Massey’s girl.
Hello, Patrick. I’m you “Jiji”. Not him.
This is my little grandson. This is my daughter Patricia.
Q: Who hit you in then nose?
A; …So anyway, so. That’s how I met the girl. Because her boy friend was a good friend of mine. Then she became….he couldn’t afford her…
`He’s writing my history.
Q: I’m writing a book about Tokyo. He’s the main character. I gotta interview you too.
A: (Patti) Oh, no.
Q: My name’s Bob Whiting, by the way.
A: Hi.
A: (Nick) I got a book at home that he…I got 2, I guess….Patrick, somebody really hit you in the nose?….Anyway, eventually, Donaiaff couldn’t talk care of the girl. She was too expensive. So she became the girl friend of Bill Massey. Now this girl in plain language was a nymphomaniac. And Massey used to go crazy cuz she’d walk down the street and pick up anybody. And she had a car. And this guy set up a tape recorder in the car. And any conversation that was in the car was in the tape recorder. And, of course, eventually, Mike Donaiaff, of course, he was mad and what not, and Mike died through questionable circumstances. I don’t know what the hell it was. He fell off the balcony. Or he was pushed off the balcony. Spying on her and all that.
In those days…by the way I was involved in an investigation company. And my company had the contract to tape all the conversation in the car.
Here my…here’s the ball of fat…the rugby player…the bully…look how big this kid is.
(END OF INTERVIEW)
Tokyo Junkie 