Godfather of gay lib?

This has been a week of marches and open confrontations between Uncle Toms (or Auntie Gays) who have been siding with the syndicate, and the liberationists and revolutionaries who are seeking alternatives to the back room clip joints. Cleverly, Michael Umbers in his public appearances has placed his emphasis of the after-hours raids on police harassment of his good friends, “the poor homosexuals,” thereby diluting the impact of syndicate control and manipulating, via media, the current thrust of the issue. Umbers is shifting the heat from his own hot seat to the police. * * * If syndicate operations are greeted with mixed feelings by the homosexual, the liberation groups certainly are a thorn in the side of the syndicate. * * * On the other hand, GAA with its political power is a useful tool to them, . . . and demand a moratorium on bar raids during prime patronage hours. * * * The smart syndicate boys know this. So they play palsy-walsy. They advertise their “legit” properties in the liberation newsletters. They distribute discount tickets to their orgy bars. They offer to print the radical journals and offer to pay the rent on the defunct Gay Liberation Front headquarters, and employ the faithful kids for whom syndicate is daddy, except when it comes to nitty gritty. * * * The Stonewall riot may have well have been the greatest event to happen to the homosexual. Paradoxically, it may also have been the greatest event to happen to the syndicate.

A June 28, 1973 article (“Hostility comes out of the closet”) by Arthur Bell writes about the Mafia participation in the fourth gay pride parade in New York City:

To the liberationists, the set-up was a mockery-show time, promo time, with gay liberation as a by-product. * * * Mike Umbers, the straight owner of Gay Media Inc. and “described by police and as a soldier in the Gambino mob and one of the city’s biggest porno entrepreneurs” (Daily News, August 22, 1972) with a Police Department yellow sheet of eight major arrests ranging from promoting prostitution and obscenity to grand larceny, stationed himself in the press section with a video crew to film the events and to distribute a few hundred balloons to publicize “Where It’s At,” his “gay” publication. * * * Craig Rodwell, founder of the Oscar Wilde Book Shops, and original founder of the committee, puts it this way: * * * “After the first march, a lot of parasites and leeches who literally kicked me out of their bars for passing out leaflets and who were constantly putting us down saw that we represented the yearnings of their customers and that we were affecting their earnings. They had to get in there to save their own necks. So they did. * * * So we’re back to supporting our local syndicate bars and we’re back in the ghetto again. We’ve gone the full circle.”

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WlQQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_YsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=gay%20baths&pg=6376%2C6672477

A July 22, 1971 article (“Christopher’s emperor: Mike Umbers”) by Arthur Bell from the Village Voice:

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?

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