From: https://web.archive.org/web/20100508190131/https://bitterqueen.typepad.com/friends_of_ours/ed-murphy/

"The involvement of the Mafia in the vice rackets has been widely known ever since Thomas Dewey nailed Lucky Luciano in 1936 for controlling the largest prostitution ring uncovered in American history, and reached its culmination during the 1970s and 1980s when New York City's crime families controlled the sex industry in Times Square which included gay bars catering to chicken hawks, prostitution rings exploiting teenage runaway girls and smut shops where child pornography was ubiquitous. Robert DiBernardo, the Gambino capo who was whacked in 1986, was the biggest pornographer in the United States, and at the time of his death was under federal investigation for kiddie porn."

"During the 1960s and 1970s Genovese associate Ed "the Skull" Murphy and Gambino associate Mike Umbers -- longtime figures in the gay bar industry who now are dead -- were involved in running boy prostitution rings."

"a July 22, 1971 article ("Christopher's emperor: Mike Umbers") by Arthur Bell for The Village Voice states:

"A week ago last Monday, Mike Umbers sat on the deck of his Gay Dogs on Chistopher Street, a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon in one hand, a Lark in the other, and talked about prostitution and pornography and real estate – and himself. Late Thursday, Christopher's End, his heavily patronized all-male after-hours bar, was raided, and cleared for the night for ABC Liquor violations. Sunday morning, 4 a.m., the place was raided again, this time by the feds as well as city cops. Two of Mike's employees were arrested and charged with failure to have the $56 federal tax stamps required for retail liquor dealers. Mike, who was not on the premises, escaped arrest. Mike's three big operations are Christopher's End, when it's open, the Studio Book Store, and Gay Dogs. All right-out exploitative. Mike calls himself a gay catalyst and flesh peddler. He deals in boy-boy sex. He describes Mark Lithko, his publishing house, as a means to produce paper flesh that his Studio Book Store peddles. Gay Dogs is cruising flesh. And Christopher's End, with its backroom and nude boy shows, is climax flesh. Mike is also rumored to have his finger in the controversial Stonewall Inn. It was boarded up June 27, 1969, and won’t be re-opened until a liquor license is issued. Negotiations have been going on for several months. Right now, the second floor of the two-story Stonewall is occupied by a bevy of young men. * * * The July 18 raid on Christopher's End was one of nine that took place on after-hours bars that night. The Daily News labels the raids "a move to cut off one of organized crime's sources of income, estimated at $2 million annually from nine after-hours clubs alone." * * * And the fed at Christopher's End figures this is just small pickings in the overall big syndicate scheme. * * * "I have gay businesses and I employ gay people. I started this whole empire myself, and I'm doing more for the gay community than any organization." I wonder what Mike means by "any organization." Is he talking about gay liberation?

A Dec. 23, 1971 article ("The After-Hours 28: Greetings from the feds") by Arthur Bell for The Village Voice states that "a couple of years ago, Umbers was arrested along with two other men and indicted on charges related to violation of the state obscenity law": "According to an official assigned to the case, the men conspired to conduct a pornography operation soliciting young boys of 16 and under. They'd have them participate in 'deviate sexual acts' which they’d film and distribute. Umbers procured the kids."

"The New York Times has unearthed several photos shot in the days immediately following the 1969 Stonewall Riots which mark the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. The Stonewall Inn was a Genovese-controlled gay bar, and one of the bar's bouncers was Ed "the Skull" Murphy who operated boy prostitution rings and blackmailed closeted patrons. Murphy, a long-time Genovese associate involved in gay bars and strip clubs from the 1940s until his death from AIDS in 1989, was widely rumored to have murdered some of the young boys with whom he cavorted. After the Stonewall riots the Genovese family passed control of the Stonewall Inn to gay bar operator Nicholas DeMartino reputedly tied to the Gambino crime family, and the establishment shortly later went out of business. Although the LGBTQ community has made great political strides since Stonewall, this blog questions how successful it has been in eliminating the role of the mob in gay bars which was a primary goal of the riots. At the time of the riots in 1969 the Stonewall Inn was controlled by Genovese capo Matty Ianniello, and in 1985 Ianniello was convicted for a skimming operation out of several of the gay bars he then controlled including the infamous Gilded Grape and The Haymarket in Times Square."

From the most recent page of the blog linked above -

"Tony Sirico, the actor who played Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri on The Sopranos, once was known as Gennaro Sirrico, and according to a March 19, 1970 article from The New York Times he allegedly was a former manager of the nightclub Salvation at One Sheridan Square which had become a gay hotspot through the influence of Robert Wood who was murdered in February 1970 with five bullets to his head from a .32 automatic. The NYT article alleges Sirico, who had been arrested in connection with the shake down of John Addison who operated the gay club The Together at 308 East 59th Street, "was a former manager of the Salvation . . . whose owner was murdered last month" according to police"