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bjinfo
IMDb member since May 2005
Reviews
Blackwell's Island (1939)
Based on a true story
21 May 2005 - 10 out of 12 users found this review helpful.
As incredible as it may seem, much of the details of the main criminal is this film is stolen "straight from the headlines" about Joseph/Joeyrel Rao, a racketeer who was convicted on conspiracy charges related to a seltzer racket in the Bronx.
Once jailed, he literally took it over, with the help of crooked Tammany Hall politicians, and ran more rackets then they could list or even discuss in the film (e.g. drug dealing, prostitution, etc.).
This Rao was related to the same Rao family as the famous restaurant and yummy tomato sauces you can get in your grocery store.
You can research him by going to the NYTimes.com. It is hard to find general data about him on the web.
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