by Angelo Santino » Tue Mar 31, 2020 5:32 am
I was going through files from the 1960's-1980's which is truly the first window into Philadelphia from inside sources and I believe I answered my own question. I'm going to conclude that crew affiliations are more interpersonal rather than regional. For instance, if I'm a criminal and I grow up in Camden and become affiliated with, let's say Reginelli who's over that city, chances are I'd be part of that crew. While that may seem regional, let's say I moved to Phila. later, my affiliation would remain with Reginelli as opposed to transferring to another crew. So if someone had all the info and color-coded members by crew and plotted their locations on the map, you'd see tremendous overlap. That's really the same thing you see in Chicago, New York and Sicily, people move around.
One traditional trait within the Mafia that can be misleading is their tendency to refer to Families or Crews by their region, "Philadelphia" or the "116th St Crew," which conveys an image of territorial dominance. In his book, Joe Bonanno explained this, "When I say Steve Magaddino controlled Canada, that is not to say that he directed when the bridges rose and fell." Also interesting that recently in NY, it came out that the "Brooklyn Crew" all lived in Staten Island.
I was going through files from the 1960's-1980's which is truly the first window into Philadelphia from inside sources and I believe I answered my own question. I'm going to conclude that crew affiliations are more interpersonal rather than regional. For instance, if I'm a criminal and I grow up in Camden and become affiliated with, let's say Reginelli who's over that city, chances are I'd be part of that crew. While that may seem regional, let's say I moved to Phila. later, my affiliation would remain with Reginelli as opposed to transferring to another crew. So if someone had all the info and color-coded members by crew and plotted their locations on the map, you'd see tremendous overlap. That's really the same thing you see in Chicago, New York and Sicily, people move around.
One traditional trait within the Mafia that can be misleading is their tendency to refer to Families or Crews by their region, "Philadelphia" or the "116th St Crew," which conveys an image of territorial dominance. In his book, Joe Bonanno explained this, "When I say Steve Magaddino controlled Canada, that is not to say that he directed when the bridges rose and fell." Also interesting that recently in NY, it came out that the "Brooklyn Crew" all lived in Staten Island.