Fifteen Minutes: In Vito Veritas: Mafiosi Come to Harvard Yard

When Harvard talks of families, it usually means the Eliots, not the Corleones. According to one group of students, Italian crime families, however, noted for their habit of bumping off enemies, masterminding drug rings and celebrating the works of Joe Pesci, have now apparently set their sights on a more upscale operation: making fake IDs for Harvard students.

Two men gained notoriety on campus in October for claiming mob connections and offering students the chance to buy fake New York State driver's licenses for $80 a pop. Many students refused to speak on the record about their brush with organized crime. Whether it was out of fear of reprisals from the mafia or from the Ad Board, students were keeping mum--in either case it's possible that students could end up in the Annenberg meat cooler.

After setting up shop in Canaday Hall, the two men made a couple of phone calls to students they thought would be interested in purchasing their services. The phone tree grew from there.

In the call, students were told to come quickly to have their mug taken in the Canaday single. Although hordes of students trekked to the room for the photo session, all of them seem to have "forgotten" which room it was. Students also claimed not to remember what the men looked like, although one female first-year described them as "Italian-looking." Another student reported one of them called himself something like "Ricardo."

Two days later, students returned to the scene of the crime to pick up the goods. After that, the two men reportedly took off for another Boston-area college.

At the time it was rumored that the Mafia had stolen their production materials from New York's Department of Motor Vehicles, but that quality certainly didn't show in the final product. The ID obtained by FM was accurate visually, but when bent, showed crease marks. A real New York license bounces back to its original shape unharmed like a real New Yorker.

Unfortunately for the customers, the IDs may be confined to Grille use. Many merchants and bar owners around the area quickly noticed the increase in the use of fake licenses from the Big Apple, and some went so far as to ban the use of New York IDs. The number of busts mounted, prompting some students to toss their hard-won prize away. "I knew people were getting caught with it, and I didn't want to get caught," said one first-year, who requested anonymity.

The episode left many of the involved students slightly traumatized. "I'm trying hard to put the whole thing behind me," one card-holder lamented.

No word yet on whether the mob plans any further expeditions in Harvard Yard. Maybe a prostitution ring run out of the Widener stacks....

--G.M. Graff