What's eBay good for if not finding a place to buy and sell things like...John Gotti's cufflinks?
The Dapper Don's 14 karat gold cufflinks were given to the eBay seller's father, Jim Smith. Get ready for a 20 second history lessson: Jim Smith was the right hand man to Mickey Cohen, who was the right hand man to Ben "Bugsy" Siegel. When Bugsy was whacked, Cohen took over the West Coast "operations", and eventually wrote a book called In My Own Words before dying of cancer in 1976.
The cufflinks were given to Smith from Gotti during one of their trips to the East Coast. If Jim Smith sounds like a made-up name to you, it is. He was put in the witness protection program when he was preparing to testify for the government in the trial of John A. Gotti, the son of John Gotti. His real name is reportedly Vinnie Macaluso. While that article says he was placed as a right fielder for the Kansas City Royals because they "couldn't think of a place where a person is more likely to go unnoticed than with the Kansas City Royals," we say Forgetaboutit...that can't be true!
Get more Gotti & Co history lessons in Mob Star, co-written by the man behind Gang Land News, or check out Mob Candy (aka "Maxim for wiseguys").
The question is would you rather have the real mobster gold...or Tony Sopranos kitchenware?
