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[Music]
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Miami the international mecca for
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pleasure seekers on South Beach the
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world's most beautiful people take in
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the Sun and play like Las Vegas South
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Beach was an original idea of a gangster
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a modern Bugsy seagull style Hood from
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Brooklyn his name Chris pacello this is
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the story of Pell's
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conspirators the Miami party boys he's a
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thief in every in every way Chris was
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accused of picking up the Velvet Rope
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stand and smashing it over a bouncer's
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head he had been caught in a wire tap
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organizing my fascination
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[Music]
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when the Sun goes down this is where
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everybody converges
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to Great bars great
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clubs on this this street here on the on
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a regular Saturday night you'll easily
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have 3 400,000 people sometimes actually
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sometimes I shut down the street just to
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let the people walk because it's just
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too crowded Jose lambier is a gossip
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columnist for Star Magazine years of
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chronicling the exploits of Miami
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celebrities have made him an expert on
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South Beach after dark the nightclub is
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something that people go from 10:00 to
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4: in the morning uh sometimes every
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night there's probably a dozen clubs
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here within uh a half mile
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distance pachello was a street smart kid
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who soon developed one goal to be the
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most successful club owner in South
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Beach and and part of his genius was to
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learn very quickly and just pick it up
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like this South Beach you know when he
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got here was starting to pick up but but
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I think Chris came here and made it
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hipper he did a lot for Miami Beach he
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actually educated it all and he brought
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the New York sort of nightlife music
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scene to Miami Beach Jerry Kelly one of
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the hottest club Owners in South Beach
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was Pell's marketing director he was a
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young goodlooking eager hardworking
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nightclub owner Kelly watched as his
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boss quickly maneuvered his way into the
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South Beach power base he befriended
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ingred ceris a popular and very visible
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Miami party girl who was reportedly
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dating Madonna at the time within months
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pacello opened a new club with her
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liquid it was an instant and very trendy
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success this is where liquid used to be
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right here people would line up from the
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door there at
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1437 all the way down to that Chicken
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Kitchen over there there have been
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people who I would see when I got in and
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I would come out an hour later they'd
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still be in line in the same place
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pachella and ceris followed up with
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another club barroom that aimed at a
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more upscale
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clientele at barroom you could see Chris
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hanging around at a table with uh Prince
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with uh Ricky Martin with uh Ricky
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Enrique glasius I
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mean the the biggest names in in Miami
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Beach hung out there those names brought
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in the crowds and crowds brought in
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money well this is a private VIP
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entrance you reserve a table and you buy
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two bottles in the night you're a VIP
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the table including the tip with two
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bottles of liquor of your choice would
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win it about
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$500 a good night club here in Miami
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Beach can growth between 12 and $15
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million the year pachello was just
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getting started in 1998 he and caceras
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opened an elegant restaurant called Joya
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and they had plans to open yet another
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club what what a lot of his staff were
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talking to me about was his purchases I
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would get a call from uh uh a staffer
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over there saying hey he just bought a
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yacht and then uh two weeks later
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somebody would call and say hey he just
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bought a
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house in
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1999 just 5 years after he had arrived
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from Brooklyn Chris pello had become the
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king of South Beach he had provided to
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the AIDS foundations the Make A Wish
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Foundation he had hosted the the
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reelection party for the mayor of Miami
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Beach this was a guy who was beloved by
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our community beloved also by a bevy of
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beautiful women I remember one day being
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at the Delano and I see this couple in
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the pool and
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they're it's like I wanted to yell hey
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take a
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room it was Chris pello and supermodel
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Nikki
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Taylor they're romping around in the
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pool but they didn't want anybody to
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know they were seeing each other there
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had to be 50 people there watching them
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in this
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pool but Bello's Reign at the top would
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be short-lived by the end of 1999 his
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friends and fans would discover that the
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man they worshiped had brutalized
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customers threatened to murder his
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competition consorted with Mobsters
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robbed a bank and left a dead body
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behind in New
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York Chris pello is really like The
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Talented Mr Ripley he was a guy who had
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two distinct personalities he could be
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the night and shining armor the the
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gentleman who always stood up when a
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lady came into the room he was handsome
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and always paid the tag but if you
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crossed him if you got on the wrong side
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of him there was a new person lurking
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beneath the
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surface I met Chris about 8 years
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ago he was a typical
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Stan a Brooklyn Guido type
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guy he's a thug known to
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just beat people
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up and uh violence violence was his was
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his uh
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strength Chris pachello did his best to
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keep his past life hidden from his
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associates in
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[Music]
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Miami he was born in Brooklyn on
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September 7th
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1971 to a German father and an Italian
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mother they lived in a neighborhood
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called burrow
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Park back then was predominantly Italian
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and Irish and you know it was a real
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eclectic melting
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pop the neighborhood where Chris lived
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sort of ran along the elevated uh subway
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line and you know he went to a high
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school probably by walking right up to
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the yell jumping on it and going to FDR
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High went to Franklin Del in a Roosevelt
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High School for a year Chris his two
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brothers and his parents lived in the
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same house his mother margarit had been
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raised in it was a wooden triple deer
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you know apartment on the first floor
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apartment on the second floor and an
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apartment on the top floor um Chris
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lived on the first floor with his dad
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George and his mom margarite and his
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brother Keith his name then was
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Christian ludwigson pachello was his
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mother's maiden name and he idolized his
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father George a neighborhood Legend he
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was the rist wrestling champion of the
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world and he had had this trial for the
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New York Giants he never made it to the
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Giants but still you know got written up
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in the papers and George lewison was a
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hero and he was also a well-known guy in
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Brooklyn anyhow because you know he was
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a bouncer at all these famous night
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clubs like TJ Bentley's and
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Fantasies Chris wanted to be a tough guy
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too he and his friends would ride their
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bikes to nearby Bath Avenue a bonano
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crime family stronghold under the
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control of alleged cppo Anthony
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speo Bath Avenue is a hot bed of
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criminal activity the 1980s and 1990s
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you got gambling you've got lone
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shocking you've got hijackings going on
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you got C thefts you've got all kinds of
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activity going on in this particular
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neighborhood and this is the the same
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time when John Gotti and Samy gravano
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are killing people left and right almost
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every other week it seemed somebody was
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getting killed on bat Avenue in 19th
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Avenue B Avenue in Bay 17 Street what
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have
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you kids gr up in Brooklyn looked up to
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the gangsters the gangsters were the
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guys with the flashy cars uh with the
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rings with the jewelry uh you know the
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guys with big fat wads of cash in their
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pockets for Chris he was like most of
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the young Italian kids he hung around at
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a candy store named Nicks and NX was
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right next to the Italian social club
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for the old Wise Guys and that's pretty
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much how the young kids make their bones
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with the older gangsters is one of the
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social club in 1708 that's the latest
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one they they'd serve drinks and food at
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at card games they'd sweep up at card
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games whatever had to be done um in
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order to try and uh Curry favor with the
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Wise Guys when he was arrested for auto
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theft at 16 pacello proved he was more
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than an errand boy he pled guilty to a
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lesser charge and got off the Wise Guys
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took notice they called him the Binger
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cuz they love to binge on crime you know
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if his friend stole one car he stole
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three
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if they busted into one video store he
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hit two he was somebody who was going to
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be an Earnest somebody who was going to
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find a way to make cash whether it was
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dealing swag selling drugs strong arming
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people uh loone shocking bookmaking
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whatever it was he had the smarts to
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become an earner and be an earner and so
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this is how you know he got his entree
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into the bath Avenue crew they were a
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tough tough group really there was um
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Tommy Reynolds they called him TK
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technical knockout because every time he
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got into a fight he was not going to
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knock someone out and then they had you
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know uh Jimmy colandra another young kid
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and these were the guys that Chris
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wanted to be you know they were tough
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they had street cred they had everything
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that he wanted they had Mafia clout even
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at a young age and and those are the
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guys that Chris wanted to be
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around but in 1987 George and margarit
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moved Chris and his brothers out of
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Brooklyn across the verzano bridge to
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Staten Island
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his mother had this idea that maybe if
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she got Chris out of Brooklyn he
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wouldn't turn out like the kids that he
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was starting to hang around with this
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was the house that Chris patello and his
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family moved to to the patello family
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this was moving to the BBS you know this
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is their own home it was their first
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home that they owned they had good
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schools and backyards and you know strip
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malls and everything that the suburbs
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had was in Staten Island they felt like
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they had arrived but the Suburban ideal
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was shattered soon after they moved in
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his dad was shot sometime in the late '
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80s he became addicted to narcotics
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after the shooting and uh and pretty
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soon he became a smalltime crook and a
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burglar himself and it really was the
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disintegration of his family and Chris
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started telling people that his dad was
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dead he takes pachello as his name and
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with some new Staten Island friends and
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his old Bath Avenue Associates the
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Binger turned to Crime with a Vengeance
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they were doing um break-ins commercial
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burglaries still stealing cars luxury
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cars for order uh car radios you know it
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was kind of a hodg Podge mixed bag kind
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of things in December of '92 just blocks
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from his home pachello launched his
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biggest Heist yet a Chemical Bank in the
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Staten Island Mall every night the
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stores would drop their days cake in
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that night depository box and every
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morning a bank employee would open up
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the bank load a postal cart full of cash
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and leave it there in the pl glass
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window until another employee could come
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in and count it up just before 8:00 a.m.
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one morning Chris patello is in here
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with walkie-talkie and he's right around
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the corner and upon his order go they
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smashed through this plate glass window
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with sledgehammers stepped over the
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broken glass walked up to the cart full
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of money and just simply wheeled it
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right outside to where there was a
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stolen Chevy Blazer waiting to take off
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and um I think they ended up getting
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about $300,000 from it
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uh he supposedly was the brains of that
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operation the guy who had figured out
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how to do it and how it could be done
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and how they could get away with it you
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know and for many years they did pacello
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was well on his way up the ladder of
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organized crime but he was about to make
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a mistake that would haunt him for the
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rest of his
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life Sten Island kind of was the Last
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Frontier retired detective Bob Walsh
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recalls a Staten Island of an earlier
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day I was quiet little onclave that
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nobody would bother with when they want
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to punish a cop they said well we'll
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send them to Staten now and he can walk
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a foot post and be forgotten
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about when the verzano Bridge opened
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connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn the
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quiet community became a kind of minor
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league Proving Ground for brash young
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wannabe Wise Guys like Chris
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pello after the bank robbery Chris
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probably felt Invincible you know he got
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away with this he made a lot of money
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then he starts uh getting these ideas to
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do home
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invasions pachello quickly linked back
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up with his former Brooklyn buddies
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Tommy Reynolds and Jimmy kandra rising
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stars in the bonano crime family led by
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Anthony speo they would tell him or tell
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an associate of uh a substantial amount
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of money in a certain
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location uh they would do a a home
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invasion or a burglary Chris pacello his
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his his really name is Chris
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ludwigson uh his father was not Italian
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there was no way he was ever going to be
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inducted into the mob but it certainly
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wouldn't prevent him from becoming close
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to maid guys working with them and
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becoming uh someone who could uh you
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know bring in the big bucks for himself
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and for the guys he was associated with
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in his case he would befriend uh young
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people uh get to know their families
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well get to find out if they had a safe
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uh find out if they had a substantial
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amount of money money in the house uh
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when they weren't home he'd come back
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and he' burglarized the house with one
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or two others they take the whole safe
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out of the house using this technique
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the gang allegedly pulled off a number
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of successful home invasions in Staten
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Island but one day in February of 93
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pacello masterminded a robbery that
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would change his life forever this house
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across the
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street is uh 95 me Loop the former
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residence of the shov family newlyweds
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Judith and Samy shemtov were living in
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the me Loop house together with their
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kids from previous marriages shemtov
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owned a lot of businesses and apparently
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he didn't believe in Banks he kept a lot
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of cash in a safe really built into the
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basement of this Posh Staten Island home
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and Chris had gotten wind to this and
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his mind started
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racing it's a freezing cold night in
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1993 they drive in this Mercury sedan
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to the home of Judy shemtov and her
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husband
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Sammy one of the daughters is blow
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drying her hair on the second floor of
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the house and she's expecting a
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boyfriend to come and pick her
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up let her mother know don't lock don't
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put the alarm on uh when what's his name
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comes uh just let him in I'll be a
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couple
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minutes what happens is Tommy Reynolds
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and Jimmy kandra walk up to the door
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ring the bell and when Judy shamov
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opened the door thinking that it was
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someone who was calling for her
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daughter Reynolds by accident apparently
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without meaning to kill her apparently
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fired the gun and shot her
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dead and then they run to a car a
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waiting car which is across the street
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or in front of the house and the car
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speeds off toward me Street behind the
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wheel is Chris patello and he's like he
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didn't know what happened in there you
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know it was supposed to be a simple
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robbery go in tie up the husband get the
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the the number to the safe and get out
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easy simple and not the simple robbery
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but everything went
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wrong this is the investigation
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conducted by myself and members of the
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New York City Police Department into the
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death of Judy shemtov Mr shemtov
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indicated the two white youths entered
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his home he believed them to be in the
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early 20s one arm with a black large
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handgun he pointed the gun at his wife's
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head and saw a flash from the handgun
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and saw his wife fall to the
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floor we did the best we could at that
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time and that investigation didn't go
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very
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far and that basically was the turning
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point which convinced pachello that he
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was not going to hang around with these
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guys
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he flew to South Beach and he just
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started hanging around as an onlooker A
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vacationer and he loved it he fell in
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love with the whole atmosphere of it and
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he saw all the money and the tourist
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this is right at the beginning when you
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know South Beach was at was just
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starting to get on to the tourist map
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and he saw a gold mine and he was right
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[Music]
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welcome to Miami so pachello shows up to
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to to South Beach you know in the early
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'90s and he actually starts boarding up
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in this place
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here and he was what Hannibal leor would
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have described as a rude you know he had
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that whole Brooklyn Street guy persona
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he was walking around the beach and cut
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off denim shorts and gleaming white
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sneakers and he just didn't really fit
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in initially you know he's got bulging
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muscles he's a short little guy with no
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education
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whatsoever and uh you know very few
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manners but pachello did have money
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perhaps it was his share of the bank
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robbery and he had a plan to buy a club
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what he needed was a partner the summer
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of 1994 Chris meets a club promoter a
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guy named Lord Mike Caruso and Lord Mike
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was his Hut shot club promoter in the
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Manhattan Club scene
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[Music]
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Chris didn't have a clue what was going
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on nightclubs or in the fashion
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scene Joey not his real name was close
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to Lord mik Caruso and got to know Bello
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well for his own safety he required that
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we protect his identity we start hanging
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around with the kid going to a few
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clubs one night Mike had a fight at the
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bar at a club
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Chris came in Beat the kid up showed the
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kid Mike you know I got you back you can
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trust me or whatever and this bra was
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out of control like Chris was accused of
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picking up the Velvet Rope stand and
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smashing it over a bouncer's head you
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know they used axe handles they had fire
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extinguish everything that they could
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use in this melee was used and uh over a
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few month's time he convinced the guy
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Mike to open up a club they bought a
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club and and that was it they became a
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Partners the club was called uh risk
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very decadent in a new yorkish
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type him and his boys had an era of
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danger about them so it was okay to look
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at them but you don't you don't dare
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approach them Gilbert Stafford is a
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legendary South Beach doorman he
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remembers being summoned by pachello to
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work at his new club the thing I
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remember most about that meeting is that
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he burned me on the
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salary with Promises of tons of money
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yet to come and in nightclub businesses
00:21:06
that very often happen so I took the
00:21:11
job Pell's promises came true before
00:21:14
long risk was a hit thanks to a Monday
00:21:17
night party called Fat Black Pussycat
00:21:20
that party became so popular that you
00:21:23
couldn't even get in unless you got a
00:21:25
password from this phone Mail system it
00:21:27
was all very very secretive and you had
00:21:30
to go into the back door and and if you
00:21:32
couldn't get into fat black hycat on a
00:21:35
Monday night you would nobody on South
00:21:36
Beach fat flag was not just a party it
00:21:39
was
00:21:40
a it was
00:21:44
a fat black was something you look
00:21:46
forward to all week the music was all
00:21:49
sort of funk and they served 40 oz beers
00:21:52
and a brown paper bag and chicken wings
00:21:54
and people would bring their mothers to
00:21:56
this party
00:21:58
at first it seemed that even with
00:22:00
success pachello couldn't shed his
00:22:03
violent
00:22:04
ways he was always worried about who was
00:22:07
coming into the club Stafford recalls a
00:22:10
night when pachello took care of a Rowdy
00:22:12
customer
00:22:14
himself guy was totally out of
00:22:17
line totally and this was back in the
00:22:20
days when Chris was a little fast with
00:22:21
his hands
00:22:23
and I I I don't remember seeing anything
00:22:26
like this before before or since
00:22:29
I literally batted my eyes I heard a
00:22:33
pop and the guy was on the sidewalk with
00:22:36
his friends carrying him away and thus
00:22:39
ended that
00:22:41
moment some of his employees were pretty
00:22:43
pretty scared of the guy nobody working
00:22:46
for Chris should be uh taking a little
00:22:48
extra cash out of the out of the
00:22:50
register because that wasn't going to
00:22:52
fly and and there have been instances
00:22:55
where he took uh employees in the back
00:22:58
uh and and uh took care of business but
00:23:02
over time Stafford says his boss changed
00:23:05
he remembers One Night in particular
00:23:07
some guy said something to him that was
00:23:10
really
00:23:12
inappropriate and he let it go and then
00:23:14
the guy walked away and he turned to me
00:23:16
and
00:23:18
said you Gilbert come
00:23:21
on a year ago I'd have kicked a out of
00:23:25
that guy wouldn't I
00:23:29
RIS under went its makeover and so did
00:23:31
Chris Chris started buying Versace
00:23:33
clothes tight black silk t-shirts you
00:23:36
know the finest Patrick Cox shoes he got
00:23:38
a new haircut he he changed he became a
00:23:42
different looking guy and he was always
00:23:44
good looking but with you know you you
00:23:46
buff him up a little bit and put on some
00:23:47
nice clothes and he became the stud of
00:23:49
South
00:23:51
Beach he rose to the
00:23:53
occasion I never getet one night I had
00:23:56
to introduce wil Chamberlain to
00:23:59
John the visuals alone were worth it
00:24:02
all it was all fat black and you know I
00:24:05
I I walk Elton John I walked in then
00:24:09
Wilt showed up who I got to be good
00:24:11
friends with I walked him
00:24:13
in pretty much forgotten about the whole
00:24:16
thing then I go in like an hour later
00:24:18
there is Chris with Elton John here and
00:24:20
Will Chamberlain
00:24:22
[Music]
00:24:26
there by 199 5 less than 2 years after
00:24:30
pacello was involved in the murder of an
00:24:32
innocent woman in Staten Island he is
00:24:35
running one of the hottest clubs in
00:24:37
South Beach he's making money and he
00:24:40
wants to make
00:24:42
more when Chris patella was running risk
00:24:45
he made a very powerful friend on its
00:24:46
Dance Floor her name was Ing kasaris and
00:24:49
she was the the scene Queen down here
00:24:52
everybody knew ingret she had dated
00:24:53
Madonna she had all these celebrity
00:24:55
friends everybody who who was in town
00:24:57
called ing that was a person to have
00:24:59
lunch with that was a person that was
00:25:01
going to get you into the clubs and and
00:25:03
Chris and ingred hooked up and and he
00:25:05
saw an opportunity attendance at risk
00:25:08
was beginning to fall off and pachello
00:25:10
and his partner Lord Mike split up ceris
00:25:13
would be the perfect replacement she had
00:25:15
the connections he had the knowhow
00:25:17
together they would open a new
00:25:20
club the way it happened is there was a
00:25:23
suspicious fire in Risk in 1995 the
00:25:27
place is complet completely torched and
00:25:30
uh Chris got a settlement for a quar of
00:25:33
a million dollars arson was suspected
00:25:36
but could never be proved when I went
00:25:39
over to the club that afternoon which
00:25:41
was the Friday as I
00:25:44
recall uh if Chris had burned that club
00:25:47
down he was giving a performance worthy
00:25:50
of Lawrence
00:25:52
Olivier that guy was
00:25:56
devastated pachello took the the
00:25:58
settlement and opened a new club with
00:26:00
ceris called liquid and the opening
00:26:03
night is always described as like Studio
00:26:06
54 in it's Heyday there was celebrities
00:26:09
swarming the place the line stretched
00:26:11
down the block it was the biggest party
00:26:12
of the Year and that really just
00:26:14
cemented Chris's reputation as a club
00:26:17
guide liquid was a hell of a party from
00:26:22
beginning to end the celebrities uh Jim
00:26:25
Brown Zach Thomas for Mich Jordan Demi
00:26:30
Moore I knocked her down one day Steven
00:26:33
dorf Joan London rer ever
00:26:38
Madonna
00:26:39
Madonna Robert dairo only time I ever
00:26:42
saw Chris a little like Star Struck the
00:26:46
pachello caceras team seemed to have the
00:26:48
Magic Touch all of their business
00:26:50
ventures hit gold starting with liquid
00:26:53
then Joya the restaurant and their
00:26:56
second Club barroom the two of them had
00:26:58
forged a relationship like no other
00:27:01
Howard srebnik was a friend of Pell's
00:27:04
and eventually became his attorney he
00:27:06
credits pachello with helping to
00:27:08
straighten out ceres's life apparently
00:27:11
ingred had had a drug problem when she
00:27:13
was younger didn't have any direction in
00:27:15
her life and when she met Chris all of
00:27:17
that changed he demanded that she give
00:27:20
up drugs and she
00:27:22
did it wasn't the only time pachello was
00:27:25
said to have saved a life that's what I
00:27:27
looked like when they thought I was
00:27:29
dying I became very ill I lost 50 lbs
00:27:33
and had to go to the
00:27:35
hospital when Gilbert Stafford was
00:27:37
hospitalized with a serious illness and
00:27:39
couldn't afford to pay Chris pacello
00:27:42
held a fundraiser for him when I was
00:27:44
finally able to leave the hospital I
00:27:46
could breathe again I go to meet him and
00:27:49
he's sitting on the back of his car in
00:27:51
his sweats and he's got this typical
00:27:55
shopping bag to get from the supermarket
00:27:58
and I and I said to him how much is in
00:28:01
there he went
00:28:03
$1,000 and I was able I was willing to
00:28:06
take $1,000 and run when I finally
00:28:09
opened it it was
00:28:11
$10,000 that he had stood at that door
00:28:13
and made sure everybody paid that money
00:28:16
to get and that money afforded me to get
00:28:20
well but while some friends of pachello
00:28:23
saw him as a lifesaver there were others
00:28:25
in South Beach who saw him in a
00:28:27
completely different light he had been
00:28:29
caught in a wir tap and I quote
00:28:32
organizing my
00:28:35
[Applause]
00:28:40
assassination in 1999 at the height of
00:28:43
Chris Pell's success power and
00:28:46
popularity rumors about his Dark Side
00:28:49
were starting to spread in South
00:28:51
Beach there was strong indications he
00:28:53
was linked to organized
00:28:55
crime sources of mine had told me about
00:28:57
him trying to enforce contracts out here
00:28:59
on the beach using violence or
00:29:02
Associates of of his using violence one
00:29:06
of the first things I did was to file a
00:29:10
freedom of information
00:29:12
request uh to see how many times his
00:29:16
name came up in the Miami Beach Police
00:29:17
Department's files you know any incident
00:29:20
involving him whether it was a car
00:29:21
accident whether he was being accused of
00:29:23
a crime whether he was accusing somebody
00:29:24
else of a crime and I filed this and I
00:29:27
got my result
00:29:29
and uh and they were
00:29:31
telling there's a
00:29:34
DUI to uh there's a fire investigation
00:29:37
when risk burned down he had been
00:29:40
involved in any number of things from
00:29:43
bar fights uh in which people accused
00:29:45
him of of savaging them a former Mr
00:29:48
Universe was at the club one night and
00:29:51
uh said a derogatory statement and uh
00:29:53
next thing he knows he says he's been
00:29:56
hit on the head with a beer bottle he's
00:29:57
lying on on the ground he's being kicked
00:29:59
repeatedly and it was Chris
00:30:01
pello uh Quinn Su lost the lawsuit
00:30:06
another guy claimed that Chris hit him
00:30:07
so hard he was bleeding from his ears uh
00:30:12
Chris getting into a fight with Nikki
00:30:13
Taylor's former husband Matt
00:30:16
Martinez there was a BMW that was stolen
00:30:19
that Chris was linked to the theft
00:30:23
here's a here's a Chris is a victim of
00:30:24
an attempted murder he got stabbed in
00:30:26
the side during a bar brawl
00:30:28
Corton says he was about to publish his
00:30:30
expose when he learned that he had been
00:30:33
scooped by the Miami Beach Police
00:30:35
Department who had been running a top
00:30:37
secret undercover investigation on
00:30:39
pachello for nearly 2 years the
00:30:42
lieutenant in the Strategic
00:30:44
investigations unit came up with an idea
00:30:47
to contact the FBI and ask them who
00:30:51
their highest profile organized crime
00:30:53
figure would be on the beach and we
00:30:56
would initiate an undercover
00:30:58
investigation uh into this person and
00:31:01
they came up with Chris's name major
00:31:03
Charles press heads the Miami Beach
00:31:06
criminal investigations unit I I would
00:31:08
say for an undercover officer this was
00:31:10
probably the most dangerous
00:31:11
investigation you could do the Miami
00:31:14
Beach police will divulge little about
00:31:16
their investigation but they will say
00:31:19
that an undercover policeman wearing a
00:31:21
wire spent a lot of time with pachello
00:31:24
posing as a dirty cop Chris really took
00:31:27
to this guy who was also from New York
00:31:29
and confided in
00:31:31
him about the troubles running his clubs
00:31:34
in the increasing competition the most
00:31:37
shocking revelations concerned Pell's
00:31:39
former business associate Jerry Kelly
00:31:42
who had left pachello to start his own
00:31:44
very successful nightclub level he had
00:31:47
been caught in a wir tap organizing my
00:31:51
assassination above his desk Kelly still
00:31:54
keeps a transcript of the wir tap in
00:31:56
which pacello tells tell the undercover
00:31:58
cop exactly what he wants to do to
00:32:01
Kelly I'm telling you we got to get his
00:32:04
head broken in we got to get him beat up
00:32:06
I got to get him
00:32:07
whacked tapes don't lie and these
00:32:10
transcripts are correct he wanted me out
00:32:14
of the way he's basically not changed
00:32:16
his stripes you know on the one hand
00:32:18
he's dealing with the beautiful people
00:32:19
and Madonna on one arm and sopia varara
00:32:22
on the other and on the other he's
00:32:25
talking to this cop who he thinks is
00:32:27
corrupt talking about coming out of
00:32:28
retirement and beating people up you
00:32:30
know he said something like uh ain't
00:32:32
going to be no no more obviously
00:32:34
he had a darker side to him that he
00:32:38
loved you while he was with you but it
00:32:40
was like the the the the mafia you stay
00:32:43
married you leave you're gone and there
00:32:46
was mounting evidence that pachello
00:32:48
still had ties to organized crime and at
00:32:51
one point Chris took this cop in his
00:32:54
50ft yacht up the inter Coastal to to a
00:32:58
Waterside restaurant and they met alfons
00:33:03
perso the alleged head of the uh Columbo
00:33:07
crime family but unfortunately for the
00:33:10
Miami Beach cops they never had a chance
00:33:12
to get their man they were scooped too
00:33:15
by the New York Police Department it
00:33:17
turned out that we were both doing
00:33:19
parallel investigations neither Police
00:33:21
Department New York had received
00:33:23
information from um a crack suspect who
00:33:27
who had mob ties and this guy had gotten
00:33:31
arrested for being part of a crack
00:33:32
cocaine ring that flooded South Brooklyn
00:33:34
with drugs and he was facing a lot of
00:33:37
time and he has information about a
00:33:40
homicide that takes place in 193
00:33:42
involving a woman getting shot in the
00:33:45
face Judy shamov it's the only case that
00:33:48
we had like
00:33:50
that he gives up the names of the people
00:33:53
that were involved in it bja was a
00:33:56
prominent name
00:33:58
Chris
00:33:59
lewick is
00:34:01
Binger Chris lewison changed his name to
00:34:04
Chris pachello and moved to South
00:34:07
[Music]
00:34:09
be on the morning of Wednesday December
00:34:12
1st
00:34:13
1999 federal agents arrived at one of
00:34:16
Pell's clubs to bring him in sensing the
00:34:19
bust pachello slipped out the back door
00:34:22
and took off in his Range
00:34:25
Rover and uh one of the agents
00:34:28
said to one of his managers listen give
00:34:31
me this guy's cell phone number and they
00:34:33
called him up and Chris answered the
00:34:34
phone and he said hey I'm driving to my
00:34:36
lawyer's office you'll have to talk to
00:34:38
me from there and that was the end and
00:34:40
Chris pachello turned himself in at 5:00
00:34:43
that Wednesday afternoon at the at the
00:34:45
Miami Federal court Building my reaction
00:34:48
was was shock uh these matters had
00:34:51
allegedly occurred back in 1992 93 it
00:34:54
was uh such uh so dated in terms of the
00:34:59
the the length of time that had passed
00:35:00
by and so startling in terms of the the
00:35:04
nature of the allegations and to think
00:35:07
that Chris was now facing effectively
00:35:09
life in prison was a frightening
00:35:11
proposition the hearings in Miami
00:35:14
Federal Court attracted throngs of
00:35:16
friends family and fans of the nightclub
00:35:19
King and it was like a VIP room down at
00:35:22
the
00:35:22
courthouse cuz everybody wanted to say
00:35:25
their two cents were about Chris he's
00:35:29
innocent and I think everyone here to
00:35:31
know is here today knows that he is two
00:35:34
pictures were being portray of Chris in
00:35:36
this courtroom in December of 1999 there
00:35:38
was the picture of the Brooklyn kid who
00:35:41
had participated in some violent
00:35:43
criminal activity that resulted in the
00:35:45
the horrible death of a woman and then
00:35:47
there was the Chris that we knew the
00:35:49
Chris that had been Charming hardworking
00:35:52
diligent resourceful the Chris that had
00:35:56
given of himself to our community
00:35:58
the Chris that was a celebrity the Chris
00:36:00
that was high-profile the Chris that you
00:36:03
could always turn to if you needed
00:36:04
something done the Chris that everybody
00:36:07
loved the New York courts had little
00:36:10
sympathy and pachello was ordered back
00:36:16
home in January of 2000 Chris pacello
00:36:20
who once lived in palacial splendor in
00:36:22
Miami Beach was now residing here in
00:36:25
Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center
00:36:28
awaiting trial with his co-defendants
00:36:30
Tommy Reynolds and Jimmy kandra on
00:36:33
charges of murder robbery and
00:36:36
racketeering when I met the guy I was uh
00:36:39
disappointed he was very
00:36:42
Meek he was actually too polite Staten
00:36:45
Island detective Bob Walsh who had
00:36:47
investigated the shemtov murder 6 years
00:36:50
earlier was the arresting
00:36:52
officer and we couldn't imagine this guy
00:36:54
being any kind of a tough guy and so I
00:36:57
said to him geez what did your friends
00:36:59
think when they saw you uh come into the
00:37:01
cell and what friends I said all those
00:37:03
guys that you got arrested with he just
00:37:05
got AR rign with in the federal court I
00:37:07
don't even know those guys was his
00:37:08
answer I don't even know those guys I
00:37:11
have no idea why I'm here people didn't
00:37:14
believe that Chris pacello could be the
00:37:16
person that the feds had described him
00:37:18
as someone who was involved in a robbery
00:37:20
murder of a housewife um he had the
00:37:23
support of all his friends from the
00:37:25
Miami area pleaded in innocent said he
00:37:28
was going to be Vindicated at trial and
00:37:31
um you know continued in that vein for
00:37:33
several months several people uh offered
00:37:37
to put up uh money in his behalf for
00:37:40
baale with the help of his Miami friends
00:37:43
pacello managed to make his $15 million
00:37:46
bail it was the highest bail commanded
00:37:49
almost in in the federal Court's history
00:37:51
practically John Gotti got out for less
00:37:53
than 15 million he moved into his
00:37:56
mother's house on Staten Island Chris
00:37:58
was restricted to his home under house
00:38:00
arrest 24 hours a day two security
00:38:04
guards had to live in the house with him
00:38:07
little town home every window and door
00:38:09
had a surveillance camera he couldn't
00:38:12
use a beeper couldn't use a cell phone
00:38:14
couldn't use a fax machine unless it was
00:38:16
all monitored by these two security
00:38:18
guards the case dragged on for nearly a
00:38:20
year in the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse
00:38:23
even after his codefendants Reynolds and
00:38:25
kandra pled guilty pello adamantly
00:38:28
maintained his innocence until October
00:38:31
of 2000 and on the eve of the trial two
00:38:34
days before jury selection Chris pachell
00:38:37
makes his surprise guilty plea he
00:38:40
marches into the court on Friday the
00:38:41
13th 2000 and he pleads guilty to every
00:38:45
crime yeah I was a getaway driver and
00:38:47
the Judy shav homicide Yeah I broke into
00:38:50
the bank yeah that was me in Florida his
00:38:53
fans and supporters were
00:38:55
devastated they flew from him like
00:39:00
cockroaches I would imagine you had a
00:39:03
difficult
00:39:04
time finding people who would talk about
00:39:06
Chris on camera because Chris they had
00:39:09
turned Chris into this
00:39:12
mythical Chris was this mythical
00:39:14
character to
00:39:16
them mythical but the pachello myth
00:39:20
hadn't ended yet probably two days
00:39:22
before he was about to go back to jail
00:39:24
Chris vanishes disappears he's in he's
00:39:27
he doesn't show up to start a sentence
00:39:29
no one can find him he doesn't return
00:39:31
calls he doesn't return beeps where is
00:39:34
he well he's a rat he doesn't want to go
00:39:37
to jail and he feels gee what did I
00:39:40
really do wrong I broke into a couple of
00:39:42
houses I stole a few things but I didn't
00:39:44
kill anybody was that guy Reynolds that
00:39:46
did
00:39:46
that I went there with him I set it up
00:39:49
but that dope he killed that woman I
00:39:52
don't want to take responsibility for
00:39:54
that so I'll roll over and I'll tell you
00:39:57
yeah I'm I'm not going to go to jail for
00:39:58
33
00:39:59
years I'll give up everything I know
00:40:01
he's decided to use the information that
00:40:04
he has on the mob and his old Pals to
00:40:07
get himself a light of sentence Chris
00:40:09
Pell's Life as a rat is a far cry from
00:40:12
his high society days in Miami instead
00:40:16
of VIP rooms pacello is ushered in and
00:40:18
out of courtrooms where he must earn his
00:40:21
freedom testifying against the likes of
00:40:23
Anthony speo the alleged Bath Avenue mob
00:40:26
boss and alfons perso of the Columbo
00:40:29
crime family and if he's lucky he may
00:40:33
find himself living anonymously in a
00:40:35
quiet suburb somewhere in America
00:40:38
forever looking over his
00:40:40
shoulder if he ends up in the witness
00:40:42
protection program and they Place him in
00:40:44
some Suburban
00:40:46
Midwestern City where he's selling life
00:40:48
insurance under an assumed name it seems
00:40:51
to me like it would be a a hell designed
00:40:53
by Satan himself for this guy who was so
00:40:57
intent on becoming part of the glamour
00:40:59
Elite back in South Beach nothing
00:41:02
remains of Pell's Glory Days except a
00:41:04
few friends trying to make sense of it
00:41:07
all you tell me a guy that I loved it
00:41:10
like involved in murder I don't see it I
00:41:15
don't see it all I
00:41:18
know is the man that I
00:41:24
knew and a man that I I and a man that
00:41:27
Miss Chris pello being
00:41:30
arrested really put the breaks on the
00:41:32
nightlife in South Beach I mean I had
00:41:35
the most boring year in my gossip
00:41:38
columnist career the year after he got
00:41:40
picked up no I do see it as a tragedy I
00:41:43
see it as a tragedy
00:41:46
because it took him until the age of 27
00:41:50
to to find himself find his Niche but he
00:41:55
he had made so many mistakes along the
00:41:57
way way as as a kid in Brooklyn the kid
00:41:59
that we didn't know that it ruined the
00:42:02
rest of his life as your pass always
00:42:05
catches up to you pachello is the first
00:42:07
guy to tell you now that he has no place
00:42:09
to go
