– Voice of America, Washington D.C.   Ordinary child to Adolph Hitler’s worst public relations nightmare in less than 9 years There have been hundreds, maybe thousands of books about female accomplishment under adverse conditions. Curiously, one of the greatest woman against-all-the-odds stories, has somehow been lost in time for more than 70 years. Moscow-born Lily Litvyak fell in love with flight at the age of 10 after reading the biography of the generally acknowledged fathers of flight, Orville and Wilbur Wright. She was a good student and graduated with honors from high school in 19 ..read more

Alfonso “Fonso” Gravenese, AKA The Salad Oil King, loved to gamble….on sure things. Growing up, Yo-Yo contests were held daily in Little Italy. The entry fee was 5 cents per play. Fonso knew his opponents were bigger and older, but he had a streak of larceny in his ice water veins. Minutes before the competition, he would apply olive oil to the yo-yo strings to make his yo-yo go faster, higher. Fonse “earned” so many nickels he eventually bought a shiny new Schwinn bike. He was also smart enough to lose once in a while so that nobody could claim foul. The Salad Oil King is the remarkable stor ..read more

During World War II every American contributed to the war effort by receiving and using ration stamps to ensure everyone shared the pain. But, there were those like Alfonso “Fonso” Gravenese and his Mafia cronies who made a handsome profit in the black marketing of goods and services through the use of counterfeit ration stamps. Afonso’s take was an estimated $400 million in distributions, which made him wealthy enough to line his pockets and make major donations to the New York Catholic Charities Boys Club, which gave him an award for his philanthropy. The Salad Oil King is the remarkable st ..read more

When Alfonso “Fonso” Gravenese, AKA The Salad Oil King, was a 9-year old kid, his father asked him to help sell fresh fish from his ice-filled cart after school to their neighbors on Spring Street in Little Italy. “Fonso” quickly learned if he stuffed ice into the fish’s mouth with some of the ice the fish rested on, the fish would be heavier, and they could charge more on every sale. Fonso cut a deal with his father for 50% of the “extra” profits. The fresh fish scam would only be the beginning. The Salad Oil King is the remarkable story—based on a true story—of how a streetwise, unscrupulou ..read more

(Circa 1945: Russian flying aces raise the Ameican Flag on Victory Day in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.) Given the endless anti-Russian tirades in the media about Russian election manipulation and Russian collusion, it’s hard to imagine they sacrificed over 30 million citizens and soldiers while having our back against Hilter’s ground advances. Imagine a top-secret, 18-month period in 1943-1945 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. There a squadron of select U.S. Naval officers trained 300 Russian aces to fly 185 giant warplanes custom-built in Philadelphia for the Soviet airforce. And, imagine ..read more

(Circa 1944. Entire Project Zebra Team (300 Russian pilots and 11 US Naval trainer) stand in front of a state-of-the-art warplane, the Nomad, built in America to Russian specs.) “FASCINATING. CLASSY. HEARTFELT. HISTORY DONE RIGHT.” ___ “UNIQUE MOMENT IN TIME. SKILLFULLY CAPTURED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.” ___ “LIKE SITTING ON A PORCH LISTENING TO YOUR GRANDFATHER VIVIDLY RECITE AN OLD WAR STORY.” ___ “TRUTH WELL TOLD. WE SALUTE MR. CRISCI.” American Russian Cultural Foundation ___ “INSPIRING STORY ABOUT MUTUAL RESPECT AND TRUST.” ___ “AN AMAZING TEAM EFFORT.” ___ I would be honored if you ..read more

(Circa 1944. Russian Zebra Captain pauses after winning a scooter race along the Project Zebra runway in Elizabeth City. Imagine Joseph Stalin and Theodore Roosevelt envision a top-secret mission at a conference in Iran? Imagine America factory workers in Philadelphia build 185 of WWII’s largest and deadliest warplanes? Imagine a select team of US Navy officers worked 24/7 to teach them how to fly the craft in a little town called Elizabeth City, not far from the Atlantic Ocean? Imagine the men overcoming language barriers and cultural misunderstandings to find some spare moments to race Naval ..read more

Alfonso “Fonso” Gravenese obsession with the accumulation of wealth knew few bounds. By the 1950’s he had scammed more than half a billion dollars from government do-good programs. With that war chest, he would create the “Mona Lisa” of white-collar scams. Fonso traveled offering then developing third world countries like Egypt, Argentina, and Pakistan the option to buy massive amounts of vegetable oil at a usurious interest rate. And if he controlled the majority of cottonseed and soybean commodity contracts, he could also control the final price. Profits began to roll in. The large commerci ..read more

It was a simple, despicable, immoral elegant scheme. Alfonso Alfonso” Gravenese, AKA The Salad Oil King, paid off government officials to get awarded contracts to provide underprivileged kids with a balanced free lunch. Then to reimburse himself for the bribes and make a crapload of “bonus” profits, Fonso reduced his operating costs by shortchanging the amount of meat that was supposed to be in each kid’s lunch tray. Every employee in his company that participated in the scheme or kept their mouth shut also received a bonus. In five years, he had more than $200 million in various bank account ..read more

Alfonso “Fonso” Gravenese’s vegetable oil became a business darling on Wall Street. To add credibility, American Express Bank made numerous secured loans against the company’s growing inventory. Unbeknownst to all but a few, Fonso AKA the Salad Oil King, the 128 tanks filled with inventory along the New Jersey Turnpike were 90 percent saltwater, twigs and such. You can imagine the surprise on the faces of the Amex auditors and executives when they discovered they were about to go out of business because of a lack of liquidity. The market panics, the price of the venerable brand dropped to fou ..read more