By Dee Richard
This is the flip side of the Joe Franco-Caffe on the Green coin. Franco is the owner-operator of the concession for that establishment. Franco was awarded the license by the City Parks Department to operate Caffe on the Green in 1992. That was 15 years ago and it was after Franco had been vetted by the commission. The original contract was for 10 years, which was later extended to 18 years due to the many additional repairs and a fire during the renovations. In addition, Franco pays the Parks Department $500,000 annually, or 10 percent of gross proceeds, making him one of the city's top concessionaires. It appeared the additional thrust of the article was about a businessman holding a 20-year contract to operate the Marine Park Golf Course concession in Brooklyn. That man allegedly has connections to both the Colombo and Russian organizations. City Comptroller Bill Thompson is investigating the allegations and he has stated that there is no connection with Franco or Caffe on the Green. If that is so, why is Franco being included in the article? His lawyer, Sid Davidoff, said, “There are no allegations toward Mr. Franco. He has not even received a parking ticket.” Apparently Franco's Uncle Giuseppi Acuri was connected to the Gambinos in the 1960s. That same uncle, according to Davidoff, is now 93 years old and rather absent-minded. In addition, Franco's brother Sal was ousted as president of the Street Paver's Union due to the testimony supplied to the FBI by none other Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. Now there is a creditable witness if there ever was one. All this happened in 1998, which was nine years ago. Apparently Gravano said that Uncle Joe Accuri and brothers Sal and Joe Franco were all interconnected to the Gotti family. I have considered myself a friend of Joe Franco's for almost as many years as he has been at Caffe on the Green. I have covered many events there and have always found him to be a charming gentleman who always provided excellent food and services to his many and varied patrons. One thing they did get right in the article is that he does dress well. In fact, he always manages to look like he just stepped out of the pages of Gentlemen's Quarterly. Even if Gravano's questionable statements about his uncle, brother and Joe Franco are true (and Franco and his lawyer Davidoff both deny emphatically), we all know you can pick your friends, but not your relatives. Franco's brother Sal is almost 20 years his senior and he and Joe have not spoken to each other in 15 years. Is this a case of guilt by familial relationships rather than the usual guilt by association? The only real results of this much-to-do-about-nothing that we can foresee is that you will have to make a reservation to get a reservation in the already extremely popular restaurant. If all the aficionados of “The Sopranos” get together and flock to Caffe on the Green out of curiosity, it should be great for business as there are many people addicted to the so-called “Mob Mystique.” All these years later, it doesn't seem to make much sense Ð unless of course his concession is so successful that someone else has their eye on it, and is trying to discredit him to step in, grab the concession and thereby acquire all the benefits of Joe's many years of hard work. Nothing is impossible when it comes to money. When it comes to explanations for seemingly unfathomable situations, my favorite rule of thumb has always been: “Follow the money.” Due to my comments on Franco, I have run out of room to cover the Annual Winter Pride Dinner Dance Saturday at the Astoria World Manor. One of their honorees was the fabulous U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) Be sure to read next week's column. That's it for this week. I look forward to receiving your voice mails at 718-767-6484, your faxes at 718-746-0066 and your e-mails at deerrichard@aol.com. Don't forget to check out the “Focus on Queens Page.” Till next week, Dee.
