NEW YORK CITY — The Mafia can be vicious — as in Sid Vicious.
Secret mob tapes obtained by "On The Inside” that are part of the case against Carmine "Papa Smurf" Franco contain a handful of hoods extolling the virtues of the Sex Pistols, the legendary punk rock band from the 1970s.
“One of the best rock albums ever f---in’ made,” a Genovese Crime Family associate is heard to say about “Never Mind the Bollocks.”
“You got that right, man,” another hood replies in a conversation recorded by a sanitation businessman wearing a wire for the FB I. “You absolutely got that right.”
“Man, oh man, ‘God Save the Queen,’” another chimes in, referring to one of the band's classic songs. “F---in' great album.”
The revelation that a younger generation of New York hoods has apparently abandoned the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin for a drug-addled English band could prompt Carlo Gambino to roll over in his grave.
The recorded conversation started when a mobster suggested that one of their cronies looked like Keith Richards, the grizzled lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones.
“Actually he looks like the kid from the Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten,” one of them observes.
“The Sex Pistols? Oh my God,” another says incredulously, prompting his cronies to jump all over him with praise for the punk band.
“On The Inside” obtained the secret tapes that are being used as evidence against 30 mobsters and their associates, including Carmine “Papa Smurf” Franco, who have been indicted on racketeering charges related to rigging a waste hauling operation in New York and New Jersey worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The suspects are expected back in court in September.
