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Little Sammy: Charles Street Wowboy!

Samuel Aaronson was born on June 05, 1912, in Maryland to parents Nathan Aaronson (1886-1953) and Rebecca Horwitz Spector (1890–1961) Samuel may have been a boxer and later a boxing promoter.

Little Sammy-Isaac Sapperstein Connection

Sammy was known to be a frontman for Isaac Sapperstein’s gambling operations. In the 1950s, Sammy and other colorful figures were summoned to court to testify on the Baltimore gambling operation and crime investigation.

“Little Sammy Aaronson, who squirmed in the witness chair as he replied to questions put to, him about bookmaking at the Senate hearing about bookmaking and the numbers with a stock “I refuse to answer on grounds I might tend to incriminate myself. He is the owner of the Blue Mirror a North Charles street cocktail lounge. Aaronson admitted he borrowed the money to purchase the place from Ike Sapperstein.

In another instance, the front mani, Samuel Aaronson, admitted that he had borrowed the entire sum to start the business from Ike Sapperstein, a racketeer with a criminal record who was using the Blue Mirror in conjunction with his gambling operations. Laying off of Bets The size of such operations by gamblers requires, for their own protection, the laying off of parts of their bets with gamblers in other states.

Little Sammy (1951)
Isaac Sapperstein (1951)

The Blue Mirror

The Blue Mirror was a very successful cocktail lounge in Baltimore. Little Sammy was able to borrow the money to purchase the place from Ike Sapperstein. The place became a success. According to a 1950 newspaper article it stated that:

“The Blue Mirror opening was so tremendous . . . so many friendly people wished Little Sammy good luck, . . that he is the proudest cocktail lounge owner in town. Ever since Wednesday night . . . when the Blue Mirror reopened . . . there even Standing Room Only, – The compliments on the beautiful room . . the high praise for the Continuous Entertainment … the tremendous reception given Little Sammy’s Blue Mirror has made him the happiest man in Baltimore. . The wonderful Angie Bond Trio received a tremendous ovation. Kayne & O’Brien was generously applauded for their clever and original spicy songs. Elaine ffeiffer never heard of her excellent torch singing.”

Little Sammy The Blue Mirror ad (1950)
Little Sammy The Blue Mirror ad (1950)

Save-A-Heart Foundation

Little Sammy was a member of the Save-A-Heart Foundation

The Save a Heart Foundation of Baltimore was created more by Bernard Sapperstein. The foundation’s mission is to raise funds through fundraising and donations to finance the purchase of equipment that would help to save the lives of people with heart disease.

Save a Heart is a nonprofit organization; since its inception, it has collected more than 8 million dollars; the donations have made possible the installation of care units in hospitals and the purchase of cardiac equipment for schools and police departments, among others.

Bernard Sapperstein Obit (1993)

Death Of Little Sammy

Little Sammy died on May 03, 1980, at the age of 67. He was laid to rest at the Beth El Memorial Park which is located in Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland.

Samuel Aaronson headstone
Little Sammy Obit

Source:

Organized Crime In Baltimore City

Stephen Paskind was the president of Bingo World Inc. which was located in Brooklyn Park, Baltimore MD. It’s also alleged that the bingo parlor was a front for organized crime (aka the mafia). In 1990 Stephen Paskind along with several others who were members of The Chicago Outfit & Lucchese crime family in New York, were arrested for gambling conspiracy charges.

Click the link below & view the video to learn more. 🙏

Miami Club Manager; John S. Rosellini

John Rosellini was born on 29 Jun 1930 in Baltimore City to parents Alessandro Rosellini and
Giuseppina Rosellini. Not much is known about his upbringing. According to newspaper articles and his family members John was known to be a salesman and the manager of the Miami Club which was located on E. Baltimore Street aka “The Block”.

In 1961John was a witness to the shooting death of Baltimore hoodlum Louis Pittore. He was also a witness in the shooting of Baltimore crew capo Frank Corbi.

N. Charles Street Bank Held Up:

In 1968 John was involved in a bank robbery at the Provident Savings Bank in the 1900 block of North Charles Street. the four robbers took $6,942 which in 1968 would be worth $100,000 in today’s money.

N. Charles St. bank robbery

Louis Pittore

Death of John Rosellini:

On 27 Sep 1975 according to newspaper articles, State Police said yesterday that the man and a woman who was shot to death on the Harrisburg expressway Saturday night were the victims of a murder-suicide. They said that the suicide took place while a state trooper was at the scene. The trooper, Daniel Kazmaier, reported that he was calling for help to the scene of the murder when the apparent murderer committed suicide.

The murder victim apparently was shot before the trooper arrived The woman was identified as Dandrega E. Collier, 32, of the 700 block Fullbrook Avenue, Dundalk. The man was identified as John S. Rosellini, 48, of the 7800 block of Old Harford Road. Another source thinks that the local Jewish mob placed a hit on John.

John Rosellini was laid to rest at the Moreland Memorial Park which is located in Parkville, Baltimore County, Maryland.  

John Rosellini death article
John Rosellini
John Rosellini obit
John Rosellini headstone

Source:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/222619940/john-salvatore-rosellini?_gl=1e48iwm_gcl_auMTcwNTExNTgwNi4xNzAyOTE3Mzc5_gaMTI0MjcyMDYxNC4xNjQ1NjYwMjI3_ga_LMK6K2LSJHNmJjYmI2ZjAtYWMwNS00MTEyLWE2ZTItYWM5NjBjYTE0YmM3LjIuMS4xNzAyOTE4MzY3LjAuMC4w_ga_4QT8FMEX30*NmJjYmI2ZjAtYWMwNS00MTEyLWE2ZTItYWM5NjBjYTE0YmM3LjQ4LjEuMTcwMjkxODM2Ni4yMi4wLjA.

https://www.newspapers.com/

1980 Baltimore Regime Meeting (Gambino) LCN Bios

Top Row (L to R): J. Gotti; J. Riccobono
Bottom Row (L to R): F. Corbi; J. Corbi

Here’s a very interesting article that was written by LCN Bios that talks about an “alleged” meeting that took place in 1980 within the Baltimore regime of the Gambino crime family.

Please click on the link below to read more.

https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/2023/02/1980-baltimore-regime-meeting-gambino.html?m=1

West Baltimore Gambling Kingpin: Donald B. Harrington

Early Life

Donald Bernard Harrington was born on December 14, 1930, in Baltimore City to parents Mary E. Johnson and Sylvester Augustus Harrington (1906-1967). Donald’s father was a bishop at the New Union Baptist Church for many years and was an outstanding member of the community He was pastor at churches in Kennett Square, Pa., Christiana, Del., Dover, Del, and Accomac, Va., before moving to Baltimore. He directed several programs to improve the old New Union Baptist Church at Schroeder and Pierce streets. He later directed the project to move the church to its new location at Monroe and Franklin streets. Donald’s mother was known to be the head of the Female Baptist church. It’s believed that Donald served in the Cold War. Donald and his family lived at 2415 Callow Ave.

2415 Callow Ave Baltimore, Maryland 21217
New Union Baptist Church
510 N. Monroe Street Baltimore, MD 21223
Sylvester Augustus Harrington Obituary
Sylvester Augustus Harrington Obituary
Sylvester Augustus Harrington Newspaper Clip
Mary E, Harrington On The Left

Club Astoria

According to newspaper articles, it stated that Donald was a manager at the Club Astoria which was located at 1309 Edmondson Ave. In the1960s-1970s a man named Rudolph Lancaster was shot to death as he ran from Club Astoria. Donald Harrington was charged with the murder. The whereabouts of this murder are unknown. The Club Astoria is where Donald would run his gambling operation.

Club Astoria
Newspaper Clip talks about the shooting
(1970s)
Club Astoria

Rise To Power

According to newspaper articles that state that Donald became the biggest gambling kingpin in West Baltimore making $1 million dollars a year. Harrington is said by Vice Squad police to have “inherited” the black numbers kingdom from Julius (The Lord) Salsbury. Julius “The Lord” Salsbury (Solberg) (1915-1994?) was a numbers runner, money launderer, and colorful Block nightclub owner of the Oasis Nite Club in Baltimore, MD. Julius was convicted on gambling charges and sentenced to 15 years. Instead, he walked out the door in 1970 and hasn’t been seen since! Donald was known to ride around the city in a pink vinyl Cadillac.

Julius (The Lord) Salsbury
Oasis Nite Club

The Downfall – Payoff Case – Police Corruption

In 1973 Donald along with 7 other people was arrested for running a $1 million dollar illegal gambling operation out of the Club Astoria. The indictment also charged 8 current and former police officers with conspiracy to obstruct the enforcement and accepting payoffs to protect the $1 million a year gambling ring in the Western Police District. These arrests were made by Special Agents of the FBI and officers of the Baltimore City Police Department. They are the results of indictments returned by the Federal Organized Crime Grand Jury. Later in 1974, Donald was charged with failure to file income tax returns for three years. Harrington was on parole from a five-year sentence on a 1971 conviction on lottery charges.

Police Arrested (1973)
Newspaper Clip

CLIPPED FROM
The Evening Sun
Baltimore, Maryland08 Mar 1974, Fri  •  Page 31

Phony Job – Clarence M. Mitchell 3d

In 1974 State Senator Clarence M. Mitchell 3d arranged a work-release job to get Donald B. Harrington, out of prison, according to authoritative prison sources and documents obtained by The Sun. Senator Mitchell, a Fourth District Democrat, and scion of Baltimore’s most politically prominent black family were named in federal court testimony as splitting a bribe to get Harrington out of prison. ‘. Mr. Mitchell has insisted he took only a passing interest in Harrington’s case. Mr. Mitchell said he referred Harrington’s wife to a city employment office and no more. However, prison officials received a letter apparently siped by Mr. Mitchell, offering Harrington a job in Mitchell Associates, Inc., the senator’s real estate business. Prison sources said Mr. Mitchell also made at least two phone calls on the prisoner’s behalf. A partial text of the letter was read to Mr. Mitchell in a telephone interview yesterday, but he denied he wrote the letter and insisted he made no phone calls in the Harrington case; Mr, Mitchell was linked to Harrington on Monday in federal court, during the trial of retired Capt. Dennis P. Mello and four Western district police officers. Robert M. Gordon, a tamer business associate of Mr. Mitchell and the president of the public relations firm that eventually hired Harrington to make possible his work release, testified that he and Mr. Mitchell split $3,000 of a $5,000 payment from Harrington to get Harrington out on work release.
State Senator Clarence M. Mitchell 3d (D Fourth) admitted yesterday he wrote a letter and made telephone calls to help a gambler get out of prison but denied he helped to arrange a phony job for him or took a $1,500 fee. Senator Mitchell made the statements when called to the witness stand at the police corruption trial of retired Capt. Dennis P. Mello, formerly of the Western police district, and six other persons.


The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore, Maryland14 Jun 1974, Fri  •  Page 31
The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore, Maryland20 Jun 1974, Thu  •  Page 33
Newspaper Clip
The Evening Sun
Baltimore, Maryland11 Jun 1974, Tue  •  Page 26

The End

Not much is known about Donald’s personal life. He was married to a woman named Yoma, it’s not sure if Donald had any children. Donald died on Jan 06, 2014, at the age of 83. He is laid to rest at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery-Crownsville which is located in Crownsville, Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Donald B. Harrington

Source:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/133328536/donald-b.-harrington?_gl=1fk2cmz_gaMTI0MjcyMDYxNC4xNjQ1NjYwMjI3_ga_4QT8FMEX30*MTY3MTEwNjU5My4yMi4xLjE2NzExMDc1NzEuMzguMC4w

https://www.newspapers.com/

https://newspaperarchive.com/


Baltimore-Queens, NY Drug Connection (Part 1)

The Plug


Ronald “Ronnie Bump” Bassett was a Queens, New York drug kingpin who supplied drug dealers like Supreme McGriff and Lorenzo ‘Fat Cat’ Nichols. Ronnie Bump was a stone-cold hustler who didn’t care for fame, he just wanted the money. Even though he didn’t care for fame, fame came his way by nature. Younger hustlers from Queens looked at him like he was Michael Jackson. It was him, then others came after him, like Preme, Fat Cat. Ronnie Bump came up under Pop Freeman who came up under Al Capone and the Mob. He started out doing the numbers racket at first but then got into drugs.

Ronnie Bump a major interstate drug supplier has been selling massive quantities of heroin in Baltimore since 1979, according to an affidavit filed by federal agents in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The affidavit links Bassett to both the alleged West Baltimore drug organization of William “Little Will” Franklin and the alleged East Baltimore drug organization of Maurice D. “Peanut” King, Thomas C. “Joe Dancer” Ricks and Clarence “Yo” Meredith. 

In 1980, Bassett allegedly met George “Singlo” Gough in Baltimore, who introduced him to a man named “Phil,” who introduced him to King. At that selling “New York quarters,” street-quality bags of heroin, to King and “Phil,” and got money through Gough, the informant alleged. The informant identified “Phil” from photographs as Phillip A. Murray. Federal agents alleged in the affidavit that’. Murray is “an associate and partner” of Franklin. 

Arrest & Sentenced

In 1987 Clarence “Yo” Meredith, who operated a massive drug ring in East Baltimore for six years, was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison without parole for operating a continuing criminal enterprise with Maurice D. “Peanut” King and Thomas C. “Joe Dancer” Ricks. Meredith, 31, received the sentence from Chief Judge Alexander Harvey 2nd in U.S. District Court. An hour later, Judge Frederic N. Smalkin sentenced Meredith to 40 years without parole for operating a related continuing criminal enterprise with Ronald “Ronnie Bump” Bassett. Smalkin also sentenced Meredith to five years imprisonment, consecutive to the 40-year term, for income tax evasion, but those terms will run concurrently with the 45 years Harvey imposed. Bassett, 37, of Queens, N.Y., supplied major quantities of heroin to dealers in East and West Baltimore from 1979 to late 1985. He pleaded guilty to a criminal-enterprise charge in federal court in Baltimore.

Ronnie Bassett aka Ronnie Bump (left) and Harlem, NY Drug Kingpin Freddie Myers, (1992)
Supreme McGriff & his nephew
Lorenzo ‘Fat Cat’ Nichols
The Evening Sun
Baltimore, Maryland · Wednesday, April 13, 1988
https://www.newspapers.com/image/372083031/?terms=William%20%22Little%20Will%22%20Franklin&match=1
The Evening Sun
Baltimore, Maryland · Wednesday, February 11, 1987
https://www.newspapers.com/image/371064235/?clipping_id=114152318&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjM3MTA2NDIzNSwiaWF0IjoxNjcwMjcyNzg3LCJleHAiOjE2NzAzNTkxODd9.t11VJF55FvKQx8ciLvvavfNqKm7jE7nnOXU_BaVpUyE
The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore, Maryland · Monday, November 30, 1987
Pop Freeman
Peanut King
https://rumble.com/v1z25ay-peanut-king-east-baltimore-drug-bust-1980s.html

https://rumble.com/v1z25ay-peanut-king-east-baltimore-drug-bust-1980s.html

Oliver Joseph Johnson aka “Proposition Joe” (The Wire)

Oliver Joseph Johnson aka “Proposition Joe” (1936-1984) was a gangster from the Avenue in West Baltimore.

Oliver was born in Baltimore in 1936 to poor parents. Oliver real name was Oliver Burley but his stepfather (Joseph Alexander Johnson) change his name to Oliver J. Johnson.

“Proposition Joe” Johnson made his name as a gambler on the Avenue. He was the one who taught Melvin “Little Melvin” Williams him how to move loaded dice in and out of backroom crap shoots, or how to anticipate a series of shots In a game of one-pocket.

In 1969 “Proposition Joe” was arrested and indicted on charges of illegal trafficking in the drug methadone. Mr. Johnson, who was arrested by federal narcotics agents at a motel near Laurel on June 20, was accused of purchasing about 10.76 grames of the drug, an amount estimated by local sources to be worth between $1,100 and $3,300, depending on how it is packaged and whether it is cut with other sub stances’. The indictment did not identify the person from whom the alleged purchase was made, but an affidavit that accompanied Mr. Johnson’s original arrest warrant alleged that it was the wife of a Mississippi physician who manufactured the drug in his laboratory.

In 1984 “Proposition Joe” was shot to death by Marando Warthen.

Robert F. Chew was an American acting coach and actor. He was best known for portraying drug kingpin Proposition Joe on the HBO drama series The Wire.

Oliver Joseph Johnson
“Proposition Joe”
Robert F. Chew