Steve Lenehan was born in Bloomfield, NJ on March 30th, 1995 to William Lenehan, a candid paint factory worker and Constance Spath Lenehan, a hospital intern. William Lenehan was a Bloomfield guy with friends from every circle, some of them happened to be mobsters. Among them were Genovese Crime Boss Gerry Catena and Gambino Captain Jimmy Higgins Palmieri. It was these guys who Steve Lenehan would gravitate towards and attempt to emulate.    Steve Lenehan graduated Bellville High in 1973 and it was all in front of him. He had the option of entering college; his father knew people who could get him a decent waged job. But Lenehan, exhibiting a lack of common sense that would plague him for the rest of his life, decided he wanted to be a gangster. Of course no one ever dreams of being a street criminal committing petty robbery here and there to get from Monday to Tuesday, and that certainly wasn't what he had in mind. What he saw, what he heard, what ultimately influenced his decision was the entourage of well dressed gangsters with shiny Lincolns and Cadillacs, huddling together in not-too-secret secrecy. Obvious they were a part of something hidden and obscure, something which seemed to dominate over everything else in the neighborhood streets. Tough looking mugs who walked with a swagger and carried a don't-fucka-wit-me face. They exhibited power, respect and fear… something Lenehan wanted to have for himself.    Lenehan credits his father for introducing him to "the life," but by his own admission his father was a "9-to-5 guy" and had friends from all walks of life. It was Lenehan's decision to look up to his father's mob friends. Lenehan came from a middle-wage family and was awarded every opportunity to better himself, in the end, he fucked it all up.    William Lenehan, unhappy with the decision but not wanting to see his only son get hurt asked Nicky Higgins to protect him. ''I started at the lowest part of the operation, basically picking things up – bets." Unfortunately, no information exists on Lenehan's early years. All we have to go by is his word which, all due respect, carries a tarnished reputation. Lenehan claims he was involved in gambling, loansharking, racketeering, narcotics, extortion and conspiracy but the only ones who can collaborate his story are all dead. The fact is that every documented crime that Lenehan has partaken in, from bank robberies to extortion to filing unlicensed liens never hinted of any underlying level of sophistication, in fact quite opposite. Lenehan's record paints the mural that Lenehan was a smash and grab thief, a two bit hustler. He would try and tell Scott Deitche otherwise, but his arrest record paints a different portrait of Steve Lenehan. Take away all the talk, all the boasts, all the braggadocio and that is what is left: Steve Lenehan: failed bank robber.    "Nick Palmieri and my father were close. Nicky raised me in the mob more than anyone. Once it was apparent that I was destined for a life in "the life" my father asked Nicky to school me. I was like a son to him and he like a second father to me. He was my godfather. I called him coach. He taught me from his mistakes. Even though I could never be straightened out I was schooled as though I could have. I understood Cosa Nostra as well as anyone and better than most and I owe it to Nick. I learned all the bread and butter moves from nick; bookmaking, loansharking, shakedowns etc."    The mob is not the Godfather, Lenehan was not groomed for "the life" like he wants everyone to believe. Lenehan didn't have a future in life for several reasons. The first most distinguishing is that he isn't Italian, but more importantly he came from a legitimate family and lived as one the first 18 years of his life. He had no background or family lineage which would make him someone to be recognized. Lenehan was a wannabe mobster and his father asked the Palmieris to help him out. The Palmieri's consented, not because Lenehan was fond in their hearts, but because he was another kid they could use to deliver money, get pastries and never having to worry about shelling out any major money to him. Having Steve Lenehan around meant not pouring your own drinks, having food delivered to your table and never having to show gratitude for it.    Lenehan would later claim that he was a major New Jersey player involved with members from 7 different crime families, and at one time or another served as Jimmy Higgins, Joe the Indian and Gerry Chilli's right hand man. All of which seem to have little basis in fact. If Lenehan was such a respected figure, why did his mob ties end with the death of Jimmy Palmieri in 1985? Why didn't their successor Joe Paterno and Robert "Cabert" Bisaccia keep Lenehan close if he was such a terrific earner and handled himself well? Why would Gerry Chilli have his "right hand man" act as a getaway driver in a plot coordinated by an underling? The answers are quite clear but after his father's friends were all deceased, Lenehan was out on the streets with the doors closed.    Lenehan claims he and Nick Olivieri were once very close, "almost like brothers" but by 1987 they were on the outs. Lenehan would be convicted in 1986 of trying to rob a bank courier and serve less than two years. Nicky O would step up to the Bruno-Scarfo Jersey crew and earn himself a place. Perhaps jealousy played a part. It must not have been easy to sit in Annandale while your family starved, while Nicky O went on to became a player.    While Lenehan was in prison he met two other street guys with mob connections- Brian and John Giannolla. When he was released in 1986 he tagged up with them and would eventually get connected with several low level associates of the Bonanno crew headed by Gerry Chilli.    Brian Giannolla and his brother John, like Lenehan, were part of the entourage that composed of thousands of street criminals who were destined to never rise above the position they placed themselves in when they decided to be criminals. However, unlike Lenehan, the Giannollas had connections and besides knowing guys, they were in good standing with those guys. One of the names included Frank "Chickie" Fabio, a connected guy under the Chilli wing of the Bonanno family.    Frank "Chickie" Fabio was a true mob associate, he was directly with and worked with several made guys and could be both trusted and entrusted to do some work when needed.    Under Fabio, Lenehan was able to call himself connected and strutted himself like a big shot. Being connected again had gone to his head and he would boast to anyone who would listen of his high level mafia connections. He loved the image of himself as a gangster, a man of respect and a man to be respected.    When a loanshark victim was being threatened by a Genovese associate Ronald Castellano, Lenehan was all too happy to play the part of Don Corleone and "suggest" that Ronnie back off. When Castellano refused, Lenehan claims he, overweight tubby Lenehan grabbed the hulking muscular Castellano and threw him against the wall and told him what was gonna be what. He also claims to have pulled out a 32. Caliber revolver which supposedly sent Castellano running back to his car.    After he became an informant, Lenehan was all too happy to tell longtime journalist Robert Rudolph and amateur author/ pro bono journalist Scott Deitche stories like that of Castellano, and he would also boast about being sent to Brewster NY to bite off the ear of a carting company owner in a busy restaurant at the behest of Gerry Chilli through Chick Fabio. Lenehan once read a copy of George Fresolone's book and would try and connect Lenehan and Chilli in a relationship similar to that of George Fresolone and Patty Specs Martirano.    The fact is Lenehan was never "with" the Chilli crew, he was with an associate of the Chilli crew and received work no one else wanted to do. That connection came around 1989 and Lenehan was arrested in 1992, marking the end of a small and disappointing place under the Chilli crew but still maintains that he was closer to Gerry Chilli than any other man and that when Chilli went to Florida, his entire crew answered to him.    Despite common sense leading to the fact that if a man is respected by members of leadership of a crime family and is regarded as a stand up guy, good moneymaker who handles himself well, they will want him around and "on the record" as belonging to them. Lenehan was never "on the record," he was a drifter who would drift from mob associate to mob associate, constantly boasting of his "affiliation" until the act wore thin and Lenehan would move on. Lenehan would argue that changes of allegiances are not unusual, ''It's common practice. It's like Warner Brothers loaning out an actor to another studio.''    Pondering that analogy, movie studios usually charge a great deal of money for use of the actor. In the mob, the same applies; leadership of both the Lucchese and Gambino Family sat down to determine who would use Jimmy "The Gent" Burke on certain things. Jimmy the Gent, who Robert De Niro played in Goodfellas was a successful mob associate who planned the one of the largest bank heists in history. Lenehan, on the other hand, was a failure of a mob associate who never caught the attention of anyone above the soldier level. No one ever loaned his services out, they were all too happy to get rid of his services. This was a guy who brought no money to the table, the only capacity he was usable in was driving getaway cars and being to sent to assault somebody, other than that fuggeddaboutit. There are plenty of low level thugs of that caliber who gravitate towards the mob and are used and admired for their skills. But Lenehan was too bragging in his approach, his ego far outweighed his status and eventually tipped it on its ear. Lenehan's "mob pedigree" as he coined it on the forums under Picasso, consisted of being sent to do menial enforcing work and driving around mobsters while they sat in the back. But to himself, in his own fantasy filled mind, he was somebody, a man on his way to the top. He was a legend in his own mind.    That legend came to an end when he was arrested and reality set in. Faced with the prospect of spending twenty years behind bars for being a co-conspirator in yet-another failed bank robbery attempt, Lenehan immediately decided to cooperate and convinced the FBI of his credibility by naming off a list of crimes he had partaken in and who they were at the behest of. The FBI was impressed with the amount of names he knew and had nothing to lose and set him back on the street with a new Lincoln and a $500 dollar a week payment plan. This is the undramatic turn of events, not the story of Gravano slowly realizing that the cosa nostra he believed in was a myth, or Leonetti finally seeing his chance to achieve a better status for himself and children. This is the story of a nickel dime street hustler willing to the crime, but far from willing to serve the time… which amounted to 21 years in maximum security prison. So the option became clear, flip.    Lenehan as an undercover informant was slightly more successful than he was as an associate. The reason being the cash FBI provided him with. As an associate Lenehan was constantly broke and never brought anything to the table. Despite his claim of being a boss player as an associate, the only roles Lenehan was ever able to ascend to was that of a gopher or enforcer- drive a guy there, pick up a bag here, go bite a guy's ear off there. But now with FBI backed cash and operations, Lenehan now had money and drugs to provide which captured the interest of several low ranking associates.    Over the course of two years Lenehan managed to record some conversations with some low level associates; and with his FBI handlers, managed to sell drugs to several wiseguy associates while wearing a wire. It came to an end in August of 1994 when his role was considered exhausted by the FBI. Directly, Lenehan would be responsible for implicating Ronald Castellano, Louis Fazzini, Nicholas Olivieri in several violent crimes; sold narcotics to Nicholas Stefanelli and caught it on tape; and provided information about his co-conspirators in the Chase Manhattan bank robbery- Frank "Chickie" Fabio and Salvatore Arena.    Lenehan's undercover work was included in several major indictments and for that he was absolved of his life of crime, given a new identity and relocated to Rio Rancho, New Mexico with his wife and kids.    Lenehan was 37 years old and when his undercover work was concluded, and with that closed a 19 year-long attempt to be the wiseguy Lenehan would never be. 19 years wasted on a way of life that was dwindling down. The last two decades become null and void with nothing to show for it.    Lenehan never matured above the age of 18 as far as intelligence, skills and wit were concerned. He was now pushing 40 and forced to start all over all again all because he took the easy way out. Had he been smart and chose the right way of life, he may of actually had something to show for his previous 20 years like his sisters Lynda and Judy who both married well and had successful middle class lives surrounded with decent members of society.    But because of his 19 year run as a criminal which sputtered and stumbled along until it ultimately stopped in its tracks, Lenehan was forced to relocate and uproot his wife and kids, all of whom- Steve Jr, Will and Megan- detested to moving as they were set in their routine. They were the ones who paid the most for the sins of their father. Not that Lenehan was concerned about anyone other than himself and his own self-mage. Other people including family, friends and acquaintances were secondary. NEXT