Mob Stories

Episode 2: Born to the Mob On a warm spring day in 1997, a 73 year old man lay facedown, motionless in the middle of the Hamilton neighbourhood where he was born and raised. John Papalia, the last bloody remnant of a once powerful Mafia empire has just been hit. Papalia, who gained international notoriety with his involvement in the 'French Connection' drug ring, was known as "Johnny Pops", a nickname bestowed on him in honour of his bootlegging father, Antonio "Popa" Papalia. Over the span of his career he would pummel the underworld and become known as 'The Enforcer'. Later, out of spite, he was known as the 'The Old Bastard'. Papalia led a colourful life, yet it was restricted and controlled. Johnny's turf was Hamilton and the base of operations, indeed the place of his birth, was Railway Street. Johnny was a sickly child, his lungs ravaged by life-threatening TB. He grew up a brash young man who ran head-long into trouble with the law. Johnny's obsession was with becoming an upper-echelon Mafioso. It's what drove him to seek control of the gambling racket in the 1950's and what pushed him into the most famous drug smuggling operation ever, The French Connection. His rewards were plenty -- shiny new Cadillac's, a criminal franchise under Buffalo's Stephano 'The Undertaker' Magaddino and extraordinary wealth. But, loyalty to La Cosa Nostra came at a price as well. Long prison sentences aggravated his TB. Constant police surveillance created a suspicious and paranoid mob boss. Johnny remained unfailingly loyal to the Mafia, but a younger more sophisticated Mafiosi resented his control over their operations. They saw Johnny as an obstacle in their way. In the underworld, everyone's time, even Johnny 'Pops', 'The Old Bastard' comes to an untimely end.