Mafia Column by Mike Zevon

Credit "The Don" Mike Dimitri for writing most of this column.

In Newark, NJ on Oct. 28, somewhere in the 1970's the hired assassin was born. Mafia sports a family history rich in wrestling, as his father was an Indy promoter in the early 80's, and as a result Mafia was around the ring from an early age.

He started taking bumps in the ring at the age of 5 at the Greenville Athletic Club in Jersey City, NJ, where he would patiently wait for workers like Professor Toro Tanaka, Jim Powers and Jonny Rodz to finish working out so he could slip into the ring to take neck bumps off the top rope.

In 1998, Mafia started going to Jersey All Pro Wrestling shows. He would show up at the shows at 3:30-4:00 o'clock to hold up signs outside the building for the wrestlers as they arrived and to get autographs. At the time his favorite wrestler was Glenn "The Maniac" Strange, who he admired for the reckless abandon "The Maniac" showed in the ring.

From there, Mafia started to attend the JAP Wrestling Academy, where he was first trained by Magic. Shortly after he began training he was noticed by "The Notorious 187" Homicide, who liked Mafia's aggressiveness in the ring, and as a result, Homicide took Mafia under his wing and took over the training of the future star. Three months later in mid-1999 Mafia had his first pro match for Jersey All Pro Wrestling, tagging as Monsta Mack, debuting as Mafia Mack and Da Hit Squad was born. They fought Flash Wheeler and Nick Berk and were victorious.

At times the ultimate heel, he credits Bubba Ray Dudley's ECW days as his biggest heel influence (even though he never had the pleasure of attending a live ECW show.) He also credits the heel mic work of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Don Murroco as big influences on him.

Shortly there after Mafia dropped the "Mack" name, more in search of his own identity and a Hired Assassin was truly born. In the last year Da Hit Squad broke up and went their separate ways. Danny Maff hit the singles scene with unlimited potential. He dominated his way to the top of the ladder in Jersey All Pro even defeating his teacher Homicide to win the JAP Heavyweight Championship and he handled his opponents in other Feds with relative ease. Mafia had just lost the JAP Heavyweight title to Al Snow and had formed a new super group called La Familia with the Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz. They looked like they were about to take over JAP and dominate NJ.

Mafia had toured Japan not too long ago and had plans to go back sometime soon. He was working his way up the singles ladder in Ring of Honor when he suffered an unfortunate injury in a match against a member of his wrestling family – Low-Ki’. The injury and how it happened are no longer an issue and never should have been for anyone other then those involved, there is no need to discuss them here.

There is now talk about this injury being more then just a concussion and that one of the hardest hitting wrestlers to ever grace the squared circle may be retiring. Retiring in the prime of his career! He had lost a lot of weight and was in phenomenal physical shape. I remember him coming out recently at the Elks Lodge in a match against 3 other opponents and he was PUMPED! I didn’t even recognize him at first. I was thinking who is this monster coming out to the ring?

When one hears that if he continues he can seriously injure himself, you have a choice to make. A very difficult choice. The choice Mafia chooses to make will be supported by all of us. He has meant so much to the Indy scene on the East Coast. Mafia and Monsta Mack set the standards for which Tag Team Wrestling was measured for a very long time. He represented to the fullest and not just for Da Hit Squad but for all of NYC and all of the Independent wrestling fans out there. We owe him that much.

Lastly, if anyone can overcome such a difficult task its Mafia. I thoroughly believe he has the strength, the wisdom and the fortitude to make it back one day. But in the meantime, we thank Mafia for what he has done for us and we wish him nothing but the best of luck and the healthiest recoveries!

BACK TO EXTRAS INDEX