Nestled quietly off of Shaw Avenue, at the corner of 9th Street, is one of Fresno’s finest Italian restaurants, The Old Spaghetti Factory. What makes this place unique is not the food, although it’s excellent, but rather the trolley that sits in the middle of the restaurant. Converted with tables, folks can enjoy an authentic Italian meal and drinks while sitting inside a real San Francisco trolley… a trolley that is rumored to be where Mafia kingpin Don Cordello was murdered in 1975.
James Randall, the original owner of the restaurant, had addressed these rumors dozens of times before his death in 2003, claiming that these were just “wild tales of gangsters that was more fantasy than reality.” He claimed the trolley was originally from the Northern California Traction Company, car 409, which ran in San Francisco until the mid-1970s. It was decommissioned and sat inside a warehouse until 1983 when it was saved through the efforts of the Bay Area Historical Commission and the Railway Historical Society. The trolley was eventually moved to what would become the Old Spaghetti Factory after Randall read the story about the displaced trolley. He wanted to save it and thought tying his soon-to-be-opened restaurant to the gangster myth of the Mafia Trolley would make for an interesting story and the piece of decor would be a conversation piece, so it was brought down to Fresno.
Shortly after the restaurant opened, stories began to surface that the trolley was, in fact, the real trolley where Colombo Family kingpin Don Cordello was fatally wounded on May 18, 1975 by a small group of gangsters headed by Jimmy “Zhoosh” Russo, a recently axed member of the Colombo Family that had a target on his back for defying Cordello’s direct orders..
Is this true? Here is what we do know.
The murder did happen in a trolley and the authorities today cannot identify the current location of the trolley. Russo was a Colombo Family Caporegime (Capo), one of the city’s most notorious crime families. The Colombo Family, headed by Cordello, dealt in liquor and restaurants as a means of insulation, running “pseudo-legal” operations that kept them safe from the troubles illegal drugs, prostitution rings and corrupt union dealings created. It also kept potential wars with other mob families running those games at a minimum. At the time, the family controlled more than 60% of the city’s restaurants and 85% of the bars.
According to former family members and historical documents, Russo initially ran errands and, occasionally, bartended. In 1967, at the age of 26, Russo had become a high-ranking Capo by showing his unquestionable devotion to the family after serving six years in prison for extortion, taking the fall for shaking down small businesses in lower Haight. Russo did spend six years in prison. That has been verified. According to stories, despite his loyalty, it was said that many other members of the family did not like him. It’s unclear what issue they had with Russo, but other Capos were often overheard saying there was “something different” about Russo and they felt “uncomfortable” around him, although it’s unclear as to what it was about him that made them nervous.
In 1969, Russo opened his first restaurant on Columbus Ave and 16th Street, The Spaghetti Factory, and immediately began catering to the gay population of San Francisco, a niche he thought the Colombo Family should control. This was a real restaurant that was very popular in the early 1970s. Initially, family members didn’t acknowledge that they were running the city’s finest gay establishment and ignored all signs that their new restaurant was a gay hub. Russo’s success prompted more moves in catering to the otherwise shunned gay population. By 1972, the Colombo crime family controlled the majority of gay bars and restaurants in the Castro, North Beach and the Mission districts, quickly becoming the epicenter for the city’s burgeoning gay community. Russo ran everyone of these places with great success controlling everything from the booze, the food, the jukebox and the cigarettes. He bribed San Francisco’s Sixth Police Precinct each month to turn a blind eye to the goings on at the establishments.
According to rumor, the Colombo Family’s Godfather, Don Cordello, could no longer ignore that nearly 100% of the gay restaurants and bars in the city were under his family’s control. He asked Russo to turn the establishments straight. Russo argued that he couldn’t just change the restaurants and bars and that the bars were what they were… nothing was going to change that. He asked Cordello to accept that fact, but Cordello didn’t believe that you couldn’t simply change an establishment straight. Former family member Vinnie “Muttons” Storgoni in his memoir “Growing Up Colombo” claimed that Russo wanted nothing more than for his restaurants to be accepted. Russo refused the Godfather. The biggest crime one can commit in the Mafia
In 1975, under the direct orders of Cordello, Michael “Mickey Bats” Mussini, another Capo in the Colombo Family, opened up The New Spaghetti Factory directly across the street from Russo’s Spaghetti Factory. Storgoni claimed the was Russo’s message that he would be killed. A few days later, Russo changed the restaurant’s name to “The Old Spaghetti Factory,” sending his own death message to Cordello.
On May 18, 1975, according to the San Francisco Examiner, Cordello was riding the trolley after picking up some bread at Geno’s Bakery. Russo’s faction, made up mostly gangsters from San Francisco’s Castro District, was on the trolley and executed Cordello. A single shot to the back of the head during the commotion at a stop where people were getting on and off. According to rumors, Russo, afraid of the evidence on the trolley, paid the police off and hired a moving company to get rid of the trolley. Russo disappeared never to be seen again. Some say he was caught and killed, others say he changed his identity and ran to a tropical island.
Randall always claimed the stories were all non-sense fueled by tall-tales from local patrons. Randall’s life-partner Steve Catalano, who took over the business after Randall’s passing, said no one probably will ever know and that’s what makes this restaurant so appealing to people. If you go to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner, a drink and to sit inside a piece of folkloric history, ask the locals to tell you the story of Cordello and Russo and leave a nice tip for your barkeep.
The Existential Van 