Harvey Guillén

Jerry shows Gennaro a piece, a Dodge Viper worth $50,000.

He said, I can get these, but I can't cash them.

Gennaro looks at the sticker, looks at the nervous man in the security vest, and he smiles and he says, I know a guy.

This is when it stops being a case of employee theft and becomes part of an organized crime syndicate.

This is when Jerome Jacobson becomes

Uncle Jerry.

And Gennaro Colombo becomes the recruiter.

Why Uncle Jerry?

Now, you have to understand, in his real life, Jerome Jacobson was anything but a fun uncle.

His coworkers at the office described him as cold, prickly, and intensely paranoid.

He was the kind of guy who didn't just watch the clock, he made the clock feel uncomfortable.

But in the criminal underworld, he was turning into a legend, and he had a code name to match.

Uncle Jerry.

It was a brilliant bit of branding.

When Gennaro and eventually other recruiters went out to find new winners, they didn't say, hey, do you want to participate in a high-level corporate racketeering scheme involving a corrupt security director?

That's a one-way ticket to a confession booth.

Instead, they lean in and whisper, hey, my Uncle Jerry has a lucky ticket for you.

It made the whole thing sound like a family favor.

It felt safe.

It felt cozy to them.