You have 0 items in your cart
As usual, I awoke thinking. I think constantly and often think of myself as The Thinker by Rodin, actually I had a statue of it on my desk for many years until my arrest and I do not know what happened to it after that. I guess everyone loses almost everything when they are arrested and do time.
I actually think about everything I do. I think every job or scam out completely, and I always put myself in the other person’s place to think what they are thinking. Some people have called me a physic at times, as I am also quite intuitive and can see what is happening in different situations. My children just think I am paranoid, and I don’t have patience, but it’s really the opposite. I do have patience. I just do not allow others to know what I am thinking.
This morning I’ve been thinking about my life in Hollywood. I remember as a young boy growing up in a small town in upstate New York, our first TV was an Admiral. I recall watching Kate Smith, Ed Sullivan and other famous entertainers. I never thought that someday I would meet and get to know many of them, but it did happen. Some of you may not know these people, as they were famous back in the day, but the celebrities I met included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles, Red Skelton, Keely Smith and many many more even President Ronald Regan.
On Sunday evenings Mateo,s Italian Restaurant on Westwood blvd was the place to go for dinner, I used to laugh here you would have President Regan and his wife Nancy come in with a slew of secret service agents, he always would shake my hand and say hi, he was very cordial, normally if Frank Sinatra and his wife Barbara was there they had dinner together, I would go to the bar and smoke and then Frank would always come and smoke with me as he was not allowed to smoke at the table, actually he told me at home Barbara made him go out on the patio to smoke. One night as we were smoking he said kid which ones are the secret service and which ones are the FBI watching you, We just laughed.
Then, as times changed, I even got to know a lot of the Rappers and Hip Hop artists like Wyclef John and Jerry Wonda, DJ Quick and others. Haitian Jack even woke me up one night to meet 50 Cents, and several others that I cannot remember. Whoever would have thought that I became one of the guys in Hollywood that they call a Fixer?
As all of this is happening and I was doing my scams I was always being watch by the famous Los Angeles Gangster squad that Chief Parker assembled to rid Los Angeles of Italian Gangsters. And then the FBI organized crime task force in Los Angeles and other cities started surveilling me. There were so many cops and agents parked on my street that if I could have charged them for parking, I could have earned good money.
I always frequented the best restaurants and Hotels in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I’ll never forget one night as I was waiting for my car from the valet at the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills where I had dinner, one of the agents tailing me came up to me and said. “Spado, we love following you because we get to eat at the best places in town, and all on the expense account.” Believe it or not, it really happened.
Even with them constantly watching me, I still continued doing what I did. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. Losing their tail became second nature. Every valet in Hollywood knew me. I would pull up, give them my car take care them really good, walk in the restaurant and right out the back where someone would be waiting to pick me up so I could take care of my business.
What a life, huh? But it was my life and I lived it my way.
Buy “The Accidental Gangster” on Amazon Now! Click Here
