 Welcome to the original gangsters podcast. I'm Scott Bernstein. This is part one of OJ Simpson and the mafia. We're gonna do three kind of mini episodes quick hitter ish on Reflecting on OJ's many ties to the underworld that I don't think anybody really knew or maybe they still don't know everybody associates him obviously with the alleged Murder of his wife and Ron Goldman, but I don't think people realize that way before that He has been or had been it's a very least dovetailing with very dangerous criminals members of organized crime mafia figures from multiple crime families both allegedly Italian Russian Armenian and And This was really no secret to law enforcement a lot of this started to come out when when His trial happened in 1995, but today we're gonna talk about two narcotics investigations that OJ was at the center of in the 1970s None neither were federal they were both One was Buffalo police department one was New York State police And this is when OJ Simpson was the best running back in football Running behind the electric company offensive line with the Buffalo bills going over 2,000 yards Wilding crowds everywhere becoming a corporate pitch man Everybody loved OJ Simpson and in Buffalo. He was a mover and shaker and a lot of guys he was moving and shaking with were at least suspected to be mob affiliates And guys that had connections to the to Darrell crime family mega or sorry the to Doros and the Magadino crime family So a lot of it starts When he gets to Buffalo and he starts kind of ingratiating himself you won the Heisman trophy at USC and he goes to Buffalo and it's you know, it's I don't think he liked it because he was coming from the West Coast. It was dark and dreary, but He found a nightlife and he found a fast crowd to hang out with he quickly became best friends with a guy that was a good-looking ex-military Brilliant businessman savvy Well-spoken his name was Mike Militello became OJ's best friend In Buffalo that wasn't on the Buffalo bills and Militello was a guy that owned clubs and real estate and restaurants and the federal government and Local state authorities thought Militello was dealing a lot of cocaine That was never proven has never been proven he's always denied it but his Place of business was Mulligans. It was a Super trendy hot nightclub. It's where all the rich and famous and Buffalo hung out all the you know, most affluent members of society Celebrities that were coming through town Any actors or musicians or athletes that all end up at Mulligan's it was a big hangout for OJ Simpson And it was a big place where there was a lot of drug activity and The authorities always try to tie Militello as the proprietor of Mulligan's to that narcotics activity profiting from it or facilitating deals at his His place of business. They were never successful. He's always denied having anything to do with illegal drug activity I know he's admitted to in interviews that him and OJ Partook in cocaine use but denied any, you know distribution activities It was a place that a lot of gangsters hang out at hung out at it was a place that Attracted an underworld crowd as well as that celebrity crowd and in 1974 There was a famous Buffalo mob murder that took place there Frankie D'Angelo was a member of the Magadino crime family low-level Burglar racketeer wasn't paying tribute to the guys He was supposed to and got gunned down coming out of Mulligan. So this was a you know a place that had a It was a lot of it was very buzzy It was a place that everybody knew it was a place that you know Where you were going to be and be seen in Buffalo and that was a OJ's kind of the center of his social universe was at Mulligan's He also spent a lot of time at a place called the executive in which was out by the airport it was also Right next to a part of the playboy club that had a Reputation for being connected to the Magadino crime family The Tadarles were nowhere to hang out there both Joe pizza Tadaro the reputed are never proven to be a fact But the reputed mafia Don of Buffalo right now and his father the his his predecessor Led pipe Joe his dad used to hold court at the executive in all the time I was at the playboy club a lot and OJ was there a lot and again a lot of drugs were Going through there and the belief from authorities is that OJ was facilitating brokering drug deals with the this crowd that was You know very affluent and very High-end crowd celebrity crowd, but most importantly for OJ. It was an athlete crowd they thought he was not just pumping the drugs to the celebrities coming in town, but was Providing cocaine and other drugs to members of all the professional sports teams in Buffalo the Sabres the Bills and at that time The Buffalo Braves of the of the NBA at that time, which eventually became the Clippers. I believe But this is what was investigated again nothing ever happened He was also at that time OJ another a third place that he was spending a lot of time at that had a ledge drug activity And a lot of gangsters hanging around Buffalo was a place called Butch KC's Nickelodeon another it was a very popular night spot butch KC Was a moniker his real name was Kazmyr Tsucharski. He was from Eastern Europe came over kind of became a club owner reputed drug dealer gangster and Bush KC was a frequent social companion of OJ Simpson again investigated in a lot of those Probes that didn't end up going anywhere. I'll end this little part of the story with Something that you could either take away saying that He was guilty as all hell or that he was very lucky And what is known is that there was a raid on Mike Militello's apartment Which was a kind of a penthouse apartment and a high rise In downtown Buffalo. It was placed known for a lot of after-parties after Mulligan's brick bar shut down and his His place was raided. I believe butch KC was caught up in that raid OJ left the premises about 20 seconds Before the authorities hit the door there were informants telling these authorities that Militello had gotten a tip off from one of his Connections in law enforcement and that he had left and told OJ to leave We'll never know Militello Has been free of any of those allegations for quite a while This all came out in the Buffalo media in the 1990s when when OJ Was going on trial for murder the Militello did a number of interviews about this He's since become like up a very successful restaurant tour. He brought was known for bringing California cuisine to Western New York. I believe is one of his places was a Bijan cafe. Excuse me Bijan cafe. I apologize if I'm messing it up, but Pretty legendary. He's a pretty legendary figure. He's 76. He's still alive I'm guessing he will be or was at OJ's funeral and wake But that's part one of OJ Simpson and the mafia check back for part two where we're going to dive into alleged racketeering activity being conducted by OJ Simpson and none other than Robert Kardashian the patriarch of the Kardashian plan Scott Bernstein og pod we're up