They
say, every family has one. The black sheep, the troublemaker,
the family member nobody likes to talk about. In our family it was
my uncle Jimmy. I used to hear the secret whispers, the rumors of
his ties to the neighborhood Wiseguys. As a kid, I knew he was in
jail once, he certainly was a character, and he sure looked the part,
but it wasn’t until I was in my 20’s that I found out
he in fact was in the Mob.
Jimmy was my dad’s brother, out of 12 kids. Everyone fighting
for attention. I guess Jimmy never
got enough, until now. He got into trouble at an early age, and came
close to death so many times, that his uncle Tony gave him the nickname,
Jimmy “9 Lives”. My grandfather sent Jimmy to the army,
he saw action, came back, got in with local hoods, did various jobs,
and climbed the ranks in a N.Y. crime family. After he moved here
to California from Brooklyn, I got to know him a lot better because
he lived only ten miles from us and a couple of miles from my Aunt
Elsie, so I’d run into him at family get-togethers. When he
actually agreed to let me interview him for a film project I was working
on about my interesting and colorful family, I was like, ‘whoa,
this would make one hell of a fascinating story’. No one ever
had this kind of access into an actual Mobster’s lifestyle before,
let alone be able to film it. After six months of hanging around with
him and his associates, I realized why.
Filmmaker,
Larry Torro and his Uncle Jimmy at Christmas. One year before the documentary
would begin.
Uncle Jimmy casual style, photo snapped at one
of his many restaurants in the
San Fernando Valley.
They
say, every family has one. 
never
got enough, until now. He got into trouble at an early age, and came
close to death so many times, that his uncle Tony gave him the nickname,
Jimmy “9 Lives”. My grandfather sent Jimmy to the army,
he saw action, came back, got in with local hoods, did various jobs,
and climbed the ranks in a N.Y. crime family. After he moved here
to California from Brooklyn, I got to know him a lot better because
he lived only ten miles from us and a couple of miles from my Aunt
Elsie, so I’d run into him at family get-togethers. When he
actually agreed to let me interview him for a film project I was working
on about my interesting and colorful family, I was like, ‘whoa,
this would make one hell of a fascinating story’. No one ever
had this kind of access into an actual Mobster’s lifestyle before,
let alone be able to film it. After six months of hanging around with
him and his associates, I realized why.
