‘My grandad accidentally told me a secret about the mafia’

Every family harbours its own secrets, from the mundane to the genuinely scandalous. While children are typically protected from less savoury aspects of family matters, as we mature many of us discover revelations which fundamentally alter our perception of those closest to us.

One Reddit user revealed an astonishing secret their grandfather had inadvertently revealed which completely upended everything they believed about him, as well as their father. The user made the disclosure in a discussion thread where people revealed secrets they had discovered by accident. They said: “As a child, my grandfather loved to tell us grandchildren uplifting histories about working hard and effort being rewarded.

“His favourite one was the one where, as a teenager, he would spend all day on the road, going to the big city for supplies that his mom would sell in the village.”

It emerges their grandfather’s accounts weren’t wholly accurate. They added: “With age, he started to mistake me with my dad and start reminiscing about all the crazy s*** ‘we’ did for the mafia.”

When questioned further, they added: “His current favourite is about bribing cops. There is a bunch of old mobilettes [a type of small moped] that are still collecting dust in the garage. They would be rented for a premium to rich folk children during the summer vacations, and if anything happened with those bikes involved, the cops themselves would quietly take care of everything.

“He admits that they weren’t many trouble, everyone knew not to mess with those bikes, at most the dumb teenagers would find the most bizarre places to park them and forgot where they parked them, but it was a great way to maintain friendly ties with both the police and the customers.”

When questioned whether they had ever spoken to their father about what they had learned, the user responded: “I believe in not bringing [up] the topic. Like grandpa he also tells me about effort and he worked in the shop while studying to become a mechanic. I’ve met over the years some of his friends, and at most they describe him as a roguish delinquent, not a mafia member.”

Fellow users shared their own comparable stories, reports the Mirror. One recounted an uncle who had connections to organised crime.

“I saw my first sawed-off shotgun when I was about 11,” they said. “I saw it by accident and man, was my dad p***** that I did.

“When we would go to Vegas or Reno (my uncle preferred Reno for some reason), we always had casino hosts pestering us about buffet passes, show tickets, whatever. One year, we went back home to Hawaii and we were met by a limousine. Little me thought this was the height of cool.

“Later on, I found out that it was an armoured limo and we got to ride in it because someone had fire-bombed my uncle’s car.

“I adored my uncle. To me, he was the nicest man ever. I realised later on in life that there was a whole lot going on that I never knew about.”

Another person shared: “My wife’s grandfather worked for the railroad during prohibition, and made extra money building fruit crates between stops. A lesson in hard work paying off for all his children and grandchildren.

“It wasn’t until she was older that my wife learned he made all that extra money from what was put into the crates.”

A different person said: “My grandfather was head of a union of welders at a power plant, he was absolutely a gang boss. He was also involved in horse racing and fixing races, and illegal hunting until he was pretty much retired and went ‘legit’. Watching Peaky Blinders is like watching an English version of my grandpa.”