When Steve Lenehan stated that ridiculous fictitious depiction of himself under his Picasso moniker, it sounded as ironic as a proctologist denying he specialized in assholes. Lenehan lacks the necessary English and description skills any regular person takes for granted so the implications of his overstated position was lost when told and seemed rather pathetic just as it was when he gave his Scott D interview and Scott described him as Gerry Chilli's driver. No one but Lenehan would care to remember such a small position, the words of the Smoking Gun's editor come to mind when informed of the Lenehan story: I have been researching organized crime for over 20 years and I have never heard of Steve Lenehan. See what I mean? If this was Pete Chiodo or Alphonse D'arco fuckin up I would be interested but Steve Lenehan? So he was under Gerry Chilli. So were 50 other guys.

   To any onlooker, a driver's story doesn't sound as interesting as a soldier, captain or underboss' story (and by no means it isn't) but it may have been if Lenehan described his own interpretation of what being a driver in the mob is. As admitted in the interview, Lenehan read Blood Oath by George Fresolone and in his online attempts to rewrite his story and overstate his nonexistent importance he based a great deal of his lies on the Fresolone-Martirano relationship- "Driving a guy like Patty was not like you were the chauffeur and he was the guy in the backseat; it was more like you were his assistant. Patty always sat in the front seat, and he would talk about what was going on. He told me everything so I would understand and learn. I would run errands for him and take messages to guys and bring messages back."

   Lenehan rewrote his own story with himself as the lieutenant-style driver to Bonanno captain Gerry Chilli and the lies snowballed as they usually do and Lenehan made the assertion that in Chilli's absence his crew answered to him which included Frank Fabio, Brian and John Giannola. While no one ever believed anyone would answer to Steve Lenehan no one ever thought to question Lenehan's driving status for it was assumed he was a gofer-style driver who drove while Chilli sat in the back. We'll never know because Chilli nor any other real street player of any importance would even dream of going on the internet to look up mob sites, but it's a safe bet that if he seen that interview and Lenehan's description of himself, Gerry Chilli would be gagging and thinking to himself "Oogatz!" But then Lenehan's overstatement of himself and false claims to knowing firsthand facts which actually spawned from half-ass rumors and from books is nothing new. Almost a 3/4's of the answers he gave to Scott D during the interview were based heavily on the George Fresolone book. Which isn't to say that he didn't know the same people Fresolone knew for they operated in the same area and Fresolone was part of the circle Lenehan longed to be part of. Yet Fresolone never mentioned Lenehan in his book which is odd when Fresolone provided a look a the major thieves, gamblers, loansharks and drug traffickers in New Jersey at the time and Lenehan claims to have been an important integer in all of those fields and he doesn't even get a mention? But then the Fresolone book only focused on the important people so had Fresolone even remembered someone as insignificant as Steve Lenehan it would most likely been deleted by the publishing editor.

   If anyone ever seen the special on television that Scott D made possible for Lenehan to appear on, it showed Lenehan as an overweight shaded figure describing the internal events in the Bonanno Family when it became known that FBI agent Joe Pistone infiltrated the family and how Lefty Ruggiero and Sonny Black Napolitano were loyal to the crew which was the reason for Napolitano's appearing to a sit-down where he knew he would be murdered. How does Scott D or any other mob-watcher for that matter see Lenehan as a credible source when at the time of these events he was 27 years old running errands for his father's mob friends in New Jersey, his sole connection to the Bonannos didn't come until his release from prison in the late 80's. His opinions only came from rumors, gossip and most likely Pistone's book and they are no better than any other opinion from anyone else.

   Lenehan also tries to portray his childhood in a neo-Philip Leonetti style surrounded by organized crime which lead to his social ills and Steve would have you believe that his father "introduced" him to the life. But the truth be told, Lenehan fresh out of high school in 1973, sought the easy road and aspired to become a gangster despite his father's reluctance and strenuous objections. His father William, unable to correct Steve's hopelessly flawed thinking and lack of morality finally accepted the situation and focused on his other two daughters who were a success in life but still did his best to protect his son as any father would and asked mobster Jimmy Higgins Palmieri that he look after his son. Palmieri put young Steve to work doing petty errands. His early "career" is unrecognized and unknown and all we have to go by is what Lenehan says but based on the rest of the bullshit he spewed in volumes to Scott and on the forums as Picasso, out of every 10 claims of himself, believe half of a single one.

   Lenehan spoke in depth about his "friendship" with Jimmy Higgins and despite describing himself as Higgins "right hand" it's common knowledge that Lenehan wasn't respected or held in high regard by anyone other than Lenehan's father's friends which was more of a favor to William than anything else. But that string could only run so long and after his father's mob friends died, Steve's mob ties basically died on the vine and Steve was left out in the jungle without Higgin's vine to swing on. If Steve was so well valued and respected as he claims he was in the mob then why didn't Steve's status of being "with" the Higgins crew carry on after Higgins death? Maybe the successors didn't appreciate Lenehan's persistant attitude to gain acceptance or perhaps he made too many mistakes or annoyed too many people. After all, Lenehan wasn't regarded as being the shiniest pair of shoes in the store. While the majority of wiseguys seldom seek higher education after high school and most never achieve any maturity level after age eighteen, it's got to be downright annoying and frustrating for a skipper to deal with an immature idiot with seemingly no intelligence and lack of common sense. Lenehan is a guy who at age 50 is a guy who thinks he can get away with filing liens on unhappy customers without even owning a license to act as a contractor and get away with it. Imagine Steve's level of stupidity at age 25...35? Steve, go collect money from Joe Afanculo and deliver it to Frank Finnochio in Newark. What if he don't have it? Well then you smack him... No, not whack, SMACK!

   Anyway with Steve Lenehan's mob ties dried up, he became a regular gutter scum criminal pulling small time burglaries through the early and mid eighties until he was arrested in a conspiracy to rob a courier en route to a bank. Lenehan, did some time at Annendale and while he was there he buddied up to the Giannola brothers, John and Brian who were loosely tied to a low level associate of the Bonanno family- Frank "Chickie" Fabio. It was the only choice he was left with because for unknown reasons that may have involved the bank courier conspiracy, Lenehan managed to anger Nicky O Olivieri whom Lenehan looked up to for most of his life which ended any connection or involvement to wiseguys in his own state. Lenehan briefly mentioned his falling out with Nicky O in his interview with bitterness and proclaimed Nicky had a God-complex. While the facts will never be known as they are shrouded in Lenehan's lies and deceit, it's a safe assumption that Lenehan screwed up while doing erands under Nicky O which caused Nicky to berate and belittle and ultimately cast Lenehan out which may be what Lenehan was referring to. Jeez like he never made a mistake, who does Nicky O think he is? God? To someone as low on the totem pole as Lenehan, God is good description of Olivieri's higher rank and importance in organized crime that Lenehan in his dreams could only ascend to (and of course under his Picasso moniker), but Olivieri safely informed his inner circle which included Big Lou Fazzini, Dennis the Fireman Christy, Jimmy Fingers Polidori Carmen D'Archi, George Fresolone and ultimately Scoops Licata that Lenehan was no good and that it's safer not to involve him in anything higher than debt collecting, "at least Jimmy [Higgins Palmieri] taught him that right." Lenehan detailed this in his interview and said he was "put on the shelf" which requires an official beef be made, followed by a sitdown and an ultimatum and Steve would have you believe he was important enough for that. The truth of the matter is, Lenehan disappointed Nicky O who just went around and told the New Jersey Bruno Scarfo crew that Lenehan's a fuck-up and Scoops didn't argue which may be why Scoops is a jerk-off "in [Lenehan's] own opinion." But even then Lenehan wasn't important enough for Nicky O to even involve Scoops in the dispute, if Nicky O was a God, Scoops was a larger God and both were in the clouds while Lenehan was left on the ground. In other words he had no connections to Scoops for him to make derogatory remarks about the man in Scott D's interview. But once again this goes back to Blood Oath and what Fresolone said about people and ultimately Scoops which Lenehan read which gave him a window to see through and write about since at his highest peak he wouldn't have been able to shine Scoops' shoes. Whether his disdain of Scoops comes from a brief incident where Scoops insulted Steve or Steve was just going by what he read is an open question. But when all is said and done, it can't be argued that for the remainder of the 80's into the early 90's nobody of importance or even no importance in the New Jersey area would involve Lenehan in anything which is why he began riding on the tail of Brian and John Giannola and their New York connection to the mob- Frank Fabio.

   Frank "Chickie" Fabio is another obscure figure, whether he was ever made or just an associate is an open question. Hopefully after reading this someone will ask Picasso about Chickie so Steve can describe the man (after over-describing Lenehan's non-existent importance of course). Whatever Fabio's de jure position in the underworld was, what is know is that unlike Lenehan, Fabio could be classified as being "with" the Chilli crew. FBI reports and descriptions of Gerry Chilli as a captain detailed that he ran his operations like a "mini-family" based on NBA theory. Gerry Chilli had a lieutenant, the first among equals and under him were ordinary crew members who in turn supervised their own "mini-crews" of associates. Fabio was one of those crew members in the late eighties and early nineties who was "with the Chilli crew," underneath him was Salvatore Arena, John and Brian Giannola and through them Steve Lenehan.

   Robert Rudolph rightfully described Lenehan as a "perpetual outsider" who straddled various mob associaties and picked up the scraps of scores when he could. Of course, Lenehan describes himself as Gerry Chilli's driver and lieutenant and commanded Chilli's crew in his absence. Lenehan may have indeed driven Chilli around once or twice and even delivered money to him in Florida, but before and after Steve's gopher-ing, other people drove Chilli around and delivered money to him. Steve's connection to Chilli was as connected as a drunk has to a prostitute who in turn is like the village bicyle- everyone's had a ride. Of course Chilli isn't no whore but Lenehan sure was a proud alcoholic. Being one he could then compare himself to the likes of Phil Leonetti (who he would later try to imply his Picasso moniker might be) and Thomas Ricciardi who to Lenehan was "in a league of his own."

   Picasso Lenehan can make all the assertions he wants that he was Chilli's lieutenant who commanded Chilli's crew but the true facts can be found by order of the chain delegation. The Chilli crew got a tip that Chase Manhattan Bank had a safe containing $300,000 in jewelry in the name of Donald Mann and the top players of the Chilli Crew entrusted Frank Fabio to be the mastermind of the plot itself. Fabio's first attempt involved tagging one of his outside subordinates- Salvatore Arena- to pose as Donald Mann and gain access to the vault. Whether Salvatore Arena provided fake identification or simply just walked in and said- "I don't have my license on me but I swear I'm Donald Mann, can I get my $300,000 in jewelry?" is an open question. The end result was that the first attempt on March 5, 1992 failed and Arena left with his tail between his legs. Salvatore Arena, showing more intelligence and common sense than the other men in the plot, knowing that his face was fresh on the cameras and in the minds of the cashiers trying to access the safe that was to be robbed, aborted his role and went back to Miami where he went on to become a homeless drug addict stealing cars and shoplifting at Home Depot.

   Following Arena's hasty departure, Fabio had two choices: go back to the Chilli organization and tell his crew and his crew bosses and ultimately Gerry Chilli at the top that he failed or go down to New Jersey and tap Brian Giannola and Steve Lenehan to partake in a full fledged bank robbery. Only after Salvatore Arena bailed out did Lenehan get involved and that was after Frank Fabio recruited Brian Giannola who in turn recruited Steve Lenehan as an extra man, which clearly illustrates Lenehan's standing in the underworld, that a nickel dime thief and drug addict like Salvatore Arena was favored over Steve Lenehan speaks volumes and denounces any chance of Steve's claim to his self-proclaimed "mob pedigree to a certain degree." Between March 6 and March 11, a half brained scheme was hatched out of Fabio's desperation to appease his mob superiors. The plan the trio hatched was that Fabio rent a safe in close proximity to the desired safe, and then on another day, despite his face being detailed on camera and his fake or real credentials noted and documented and easily traceable with the renting of the safe, come back and enter with Brian Giannola who was to impossibly sneak a stungun through metal detectors, shoot a guard, steal his keys and gain access to the safe. And where does Steve Lenehan fit in all this? He was to drive the getaway car despite being in a rather busy section of Manhattan where traffic jams are rampant and surrounding the bank are not one, not two but THREE police stations on three different sides within two blocks of the bank in question.

   The impossible plan never got past first base as Lenehan was late showing up, in lack of intelligence he didn't consider something called traffic as a factor, Fabio and Giannola were left standing in front of the bank waiting for Lenehan to arrive and finally discounted him and carried on with the plan. However Lenehan was arrested at the turnpike, Fabio and Giannola were arrested upon entering the bank. Not taking into account Picasso's previous bank robbery attempt in 1986, Steve Lenehan, charged with an interstate conspiracy to rob a federal bank would be convicted and issued a mandatory 25 year sentence, an imposed 250 thousand fine and a maximum sentence of 85% of time must be served, meaning the earliest Steve would be back on the street would be in 2013 when he would be 58. Caught between a rock and a hard place, not being able to take the time after attempting to do the crime, Lenehan decided that prison time wasn't for him and decided to inform on a world he was never an inside factor of despite a 19 year failed attempt. Although technically Lenehan can be classified as an "informant," Lenehan was never "in" anything and would be better classified as an "outformant" for lack of a better term. Lenehan was a man who devoted 19 years to a life of petty crime trying to get tapped by associates of mobsters to involve him in larger things and bring him closer to "the mob," a man who at his peak was a criminal who failed at his profession, third-picked by his superiors and stupid enough to involve himself in half-thought scheme concocted by half-connected wiseguys.

   "he was close to gerry chilli and drove him around.that doesn't make him 'a driver.' No, he wasn't close to Gerry Chilli but may have drove him around once or twice, and the only thing his role as 'a driver' never had the chance to amount to was driving the getaway car in a plot that failed to even had a chance to fail. Think about that next time Steve "Picasso" Lenehan decrees his high-fluting opinion about John Gotti, Carmine Galante or Frank Tieri.