A bit of history of the Mob's involvement in the '70's.

[RalphieJ]

I found this while researching a specific type of after-ban salute, those plastic balls from China:

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/04/archives/fireworks-bootleggers-thriving-bootleg-market-in-illegal-fireworks.html

[jknepp1954]

Article was really blurry from my cell phone. I wander how you would get a better view.
HENRY has always talked of how much mafia involved.

[Icooclast]

only could read a bit, but was interesting. do you think it is still like that? here the main fireworks retail place is owned and ren by the county sheriff's son, and the family's rumored to have mob ties since long before i was born. makes ya wonder.

[displayfireworks1]

If you can't read the article, more interesting are the paragraphs below. I posted a great massive page report from the State of Illinois investigating bootleg fireworks back in the early 70s if you enjoy reading that sort of history. The name Millers Fireworks in Ohio is always popping up in these reports.
Many people currently in the legitimate fireworks business today started out as bootleggers. One told me back in the day, he would get to Millers Fireworks very early in the morning and fall asleep in the vehicle as mid-morning approached someone would knock on the vehicle to awaken him. They would then load his vehicle full of M-80's . He said the smell of the glue used on the firecrackers was so strong he had to open all of windows in the vehicle so he could breathe as he transported the M-80 back home for resale.
The story I keep wanting to hear is , somewhere in the mid-70's here where I live in Pennsylvania. M-80's disappeared and something more deadly appeared. That was the quarter sticks. I remember the first time I saw one. It had such a clean professional look to it. Hot glue on the ends done so perfectly that sort of thing. I am really not sure where those started from, I remember they had a professional look to them. I never bought one , I do remember someone in my neighborhood always seemed to have them. I suspect those originated out of a professional fireworks operation. You have to remember at the time in the mid 70's most professional fireworks were made in United States.
.
.
Here is the other pyrotalk link if your enjoy reading that sort of history.
http://www.pyrotalk.com/bulletin/showthread.php?4278-Plant-Explosions-and-Bootleg-Traffic-in-Illinois-1974-report&highlight=illinois

[Birdman]

Reminds me of when I was a young kid in the late 70's. Our neighbor, whose family was rumored to have ties to the mob, would sell fireworks out of his basement in NJ. Every year my brother and I would patiently await the stash of fireworks to arrive. It was like Christmas in July when we would see him pull up in a rental van and start unloading boxes. He mostly sold small stuff like rockets, firecrackers and roman candles. As for "the big stuff", he sold small artillery shells, M-80's and the Creme de la Creme....quarter sticks! We always assumed cherry bombs and M-80's were the same thing because he didn't sell cherry bombs. I was surprised to find out, not that long ago I should add, that a cherry bomb was not the same thing as a M-80.

My brother would babysit his kids for a 1/2 brick of firecrackers and spend all of his paper route money on other goodies. My father would buy me a brick of lady finger firecrackers that he would ration out to me, unraveled, every day leading up to the 4th. On the 4th we had a block party. I would get whatever lady fingers remained on the 4th. Depending on how many beers my father had and how closely my mother was watching, I would get something bigger to light. Then when it started to get dark everyone would help light off what remained of his stash. It went on for what seemed like hours or at least until the local police finally put an end to it. But the best part was going out with my brother the next morning looking for duds in the mess. We would even make our own small confetti cannons with salvaged mortars, powder and newspaper.

One of my favorite stories was the time they were remolding their bathroom and had the old toilet sitting in their yard under a tree. My father asked him what he was going to do with it and the neighbor said his wife wanted to plant flowers in it. He assured my father he was going to make sure it doesn't become a lawn ornament. Then he walked over and dropped a M-80 in it!

Unfortunately his basement store got raided by the police 2 years in a row and that was the end of that.

[Birdman]

The story I keep wanting to hear is , somewhere in the mid-70's here where I live in Pennsylvania. M-80's disappeared and something more deadly appeared. That was the quarter sticks. I remember the first time I saw one. It had such a clean professional look to it. Hot glue on the ends done so perfectly that sort of thing. I am really not sure where those started from, I remember they had a professional look to them. I never bought one , I do remember someone in my neighborhood always seemed to have them. I suspect those originated out of a professional fireworks operation. You have to remember at the time in the mid 70's most professional fireworks were made in United States.

That's funny....I didn't even read this before I posted about quarter sticks. My neighbor would sell them to my brother with my father's permission. But there were a few times my brother would pocket a couple when babysitting. We would take them to a local quarry and light them. We assume they were called quarter sticks because they were about a quarter of the size of a stick of dynamite. They looked just like a very big M-80 but the fuse came out of the top (if I recall correctly), like a stick of TNT in cartoons. They were loud! Light them on a lawn and they would leave a decent size crater. Last I saw one was in the mid-late 80's. Somehow my brother got a hold of some and gave me one.

[cherrybomb1]

Joyce just google fireworks bootleggers thriving and the article should pop up...at least it did for me...pretty interesting I love reading about the history of fireworks!

[Icooclast]

this brings up a question: how much involvement does the mob have in fireworks today, do you think? roughly.

[RalphieJ]

this brings up a question: how much involvement does the mob have in fireworks today, do you think? roughly.

None. No profit in 1.4 fireworks, they're legal everywhere, or just a short drive over a border (NY to Pa for example). And manufacture/possession/sale of M-80's, quarters, etc carry hefty fines and penalties for the profit made. The feds now classify them as "explosive devices". I don't know how true this is, but someone told me that one can be fined up to $200 per cracker. Ouch.

[RalphieJ]

Back in the mid '70's through the '80's there was a dealer in upstate NY that would MAIL (USPS!!) M-80's and larger to your home address. You had to be referred by name beforehand by someone that he dealt with and trusted. A phone call was placed to order, followed by a money order, and once the MO was received the well-wrapped package (always with a bogus return address) arrived 4-5 days later. You would order "dimes" (M-80's"), "quarters" and "half's" so it sounded like a numismatic transaction, never mentioning or describing the items over the phone. Every year was a different shade: red, ruby, maroon, blood, etc, pink, orange, emerald green, yellow, different shades of blue, Kraft....you get the picture. Minimum order for M-80's was a gross, 72 for the quarters, and 36 for the halves. Very well-made, hot melt plugs, end fusing, but with varying amounts and quality of powder from year-to-year. Some were ferocious, most were pretty damn good, but one year the batch was horrible with about 1/3 of them duds. But, as can be expected considering the product and the character of the folks you're dealing with "No Returns". And no complaints either, if you expected to place an order the following year.

[displayfireworks1]

In 2003 when the ATF took all of this over those large ground based firecrackers became explosive devices. Years back someone told me they were caught making a transfer of multiple cases of these from one vehicle to another in a restaurant parking lot one night for final sale in one of the southern states. One of the female workers at the restaurant was trying to leave for the night at the end of her shift and thought one of the vehicles was her crazy ex-boyfriend in the parking lot. So she called the police. One thing lead to the other and the police figured out what was in the boxes. He almost has one of the police officers convinced they were "Shell Inserts" . However , the other police officer said , "I don't know, maybe we should call the ATF to be sure". The ATF told them to confiscate them. Game over, he was fined 10k. This was right after 2003 if I remember correctly.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

My father had many Hell's Angels "associates" and my wife's grandfather (girlfriend at the time) had many Mob connections. Somehow when no one else could get fireworks, we always had them on the 4th. I used to love the M-80's. I always had a pocket full of them around the 4th. As to where we got them... All I remember is there was a car with 2 guys that would show up a few times before the 4th and their trunk was loaded with illegal fireworks. And when I say trunk, I mean a real trunk! Like a 1969 Chevy Malibu truck. Not the glove boxes they give you today. It was like having a fireworks store come to our house! Very fond memories....

[displayfireworks1]

If you enjoy reading about illegal fireworks activity in the early 70's. Here is a document from the state of Illinois 1974 I found most fascinating.
.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/15128NCJRS.pdf

[Birdman]

You would order "dimes" (M-80's"), "quarters" and "half's" so it sounded like a numismatic transaction, never mentioning or describing the items over the phone.

Sounds a lot like how I use to order my weed.

[jknepp1954]

not mafia related - but there are alot of companies out there who started out as selling illegal fireworks.
My hubby could tell you lots of stories - lets just leave it at that! LMAO!

[Fox One]

The one thing I've learned in life is that anytime you try to take something that is popular in this country and attempt to tightly regulate and control it, you're just begging for the criminal underground to rise up and supply whatever it is. Be it alcohol, drugs, gambling, prostitution, firearms or in this case fireworks, if there is a demand, someone is willing to provide the supply. I can only imagine how many backyard chemists there are around this country who make and sell (illegally) powerful explosive devices every year. Some of the devices probably make M80s and cherry bombs look like child's play in comparison. Heck, just look at all the videos out there on the tube of you's where enterprising teenagers take the most innocent of all fireworks (sparklers) and use them to create explosive devices to blow a toilet to smithereens in someone's corn field. I'll never cease to be amazed at human ingenuity, resourcefulness and the lengths some folks will go to get what they want. All the laws, regulations and rules in the world aren't going to stop the truly determined. Welcome to earth, third rock from the sun. This is the land of the free, home of the brave. And if people wanna blow their hand off on the Fourth of July, then dagnabbit, they will find a way. It is what it is.