On the move with The Great Santini Brothers

When you’ve been in the moving business for as long as East Rockaway resident George Taliercio has, you meet a lot of people, find yourself in some tight spots, and have more than a few stories to share.

Now Taliercio and his company, Santini Brothers Moving and Storage, are being showcased on the History Channel. “The Great Santini Brothers” debuted last Sunday at 10 p.m. with two half-hour episodes. The show focuses on Taliercio’s family — nine out of 10 people who staff the company’s office are relatives, and the 10th is a longtime friend — and the chaos that sometimes ensues when they move large, fragile or antique items around New York City and Long Island.

George and his brother Joe have owned and operated the company, based in Islip, since 1969. George, 67, and Joe, 63, are the youngest of 13 children. They grew up in Brooklyn, and got into the moving business in 1964. When they bought a moving company five years later, they decided to keep the name it had been given in 1904.

The two brothers have a great relationship, George said, which is one reason why the business has been successful for more than four decades. George spends most of his time in the field, meeting with customers, doing estimates and moving their possessions, while Joe oversees the operations in the office.

“We love each other,” George said of his brother. “We laugh, we talk, sometimes we argue with each other about certain things. He does certain things his way, and some guys will go to him [with a problem] and some guys will go to me, but it works out in the end, and that’s the main thing.”

George’s son Nick and Joe’s son Joe Jr. are also featured on the show. George doesn’t do as much of the physical work of moving as he used to — “The stuff’s getting heavier,” he joked — so Nick and Joe Jr. are getting more involved, with the expectation of someday taking over the family business.

Moving tales