The Most Backhanded Mob Name Ever

For a guy with ties to such culinary masterwork it seems odd that his nickname was something so pedestrian:

You’d want to believe that the schemers who kept New York City’s school-bus industry under the Mafia’s thumb for more than 30 years would be a pretty tough bunch. Who else could keep mayors, bureaucrats, and prosecutors at bay for decades while feeding like voracious bedbugs off the city’s most vital enterprise?

But consider Salvatore “Hot Dogs” Battaglia, the hapless ex–union official who must face a federal judge later this month for sentencing, having admitted his own role in the extortion schemes that have long plagued the bus business. Prosecutors argue convincingly that Battaglia, a former school-bus driver, was groomed for his position by the powerful Genovese crime family. The mob was so satisfied with his performance, the government says, that it even made him a soldier — a rank supposedly reserved for those with criminal talent.

The government is a lot less convincing when it describes this sad sack as “organizer, leader, and manager” of the school-bus rackets. The life and career of Sal Battaglia, 61, suggest more Ralph Kramden than John Gotti. He was a go-along-to-get-along guy lucky enough to find himself in the right place at the right time, a schnook with a swollen ego that his Mafia pals were happy to massage as long as he kept the money flowing and a sometimes restless rank-and-file union membership under control.

Annotation: Tom Robbins’ “shocking” Rao’s article makes “Hot Dogs” seem a lot worse than Battaglia sounds here; keep this in mind when reading Tom Robbins articles.