by B. » Wed Jun 11, 2025 4:51 pm
The relationship between the mafia and criminality is not black and white or always continuous. While the "organized crime" tag is certainly deserved and any active mafia organization is inevitably going to be "open" to organized crime activity even if they're not heavily involved in it at a given time (i.e. some of the smaller US Families by the 1960s), that can change in the blink of an eye for an individual member and therefore the organization as whole.
There are examples like George Adragna who transferred from Pittsburgh to the barely-active San Jose Family and was seemingly "retired" but as MotorFab found he looks to have been helping facilitate a large-scale drug network with his in-laws and the Sicilian mafia in his later years; the opportunity apparently came up and he took it. Colombo member Tom DiBella was said by sources like Scarpa to have been completely uninvolved in "organized crime" activity for a decade or more and the FBI actually closed his file in the 1970s because of his ongoing "uninvolvement" in OC but a year later he was elected boss and overseeing the entire Family, therefore suddenly very "criminally active" by default.
With members, unless they are shelved or truly trying to remove themselves from the mafia network, they will maintain contact and relationships with other mafiosi until they die. It's what they do and even though there are exceptions, members will continue to maintain their place in the network for the entirety of their lives even if they no longer participate in organized crime or involve themselves in organizational politics. It's not so much a choice, it's what they are.
Associates are a little different because they didn't take an oath that cements them to the org for life but most of them too operate similarly. Their social existence, familial relationships, and legitimate businesses are often ingrained in the mafia network and it's simply the water they swim in. Some "associates" are around the org because of familial connections and not truly embedded in the mafia infrastructure so if their mafioso relative dies they may become very distanced from the organization but even years later a situation might come up where they need the mafia or they are preyed upon by the mafia, so they're never truly removed from it. (Think of the taped New England induction where JR Russo says your relatives will be part of this for 'seven generations'.)
It isn't black and white and even if we can't say positively whether an associate was involved in organized crime or mafia activity after 1991, like the example you gave, probability suggests that guy was still "with" the mafia and socially involved if nothing else and there is a high probability he was open to criminal opportunities if not participating in crime if he had a long history of OC activity.
The relationship between the mafia and criminality is not black and white or always continuous. While the "organized crime" tag is certainly deserved and any active mafia organization is inevitably going to be "open" to organized crime activity even if they're not heavily involved in it at a given time (i.e. some of the smaller US Families by the 1960s), that can change in the blink of an eye for an individual member and therefore the organization as whole.
There are examples like George Adragna who transferred from Pittsburgh to the barely-active San Jose Family and was seemingly "retired" but as MotorFab found he looks to have been helping facilitate a large-scale drug network with his in-laws and the Sicilian mafia in his later years; the opportunity apparently came up and he took it. Colombo member Tom DiBella was said by sources like Scarpa to have been completely uninvolved in "organized crime" activity for a decade or more and the FBI actually closed his file in the 1970s because of his ongoing "uninvolvement" in OC but a year later he was elected boss and overseeing the entire Family, therefore suddenly very "criminally active" by default.
With members, unless they are shelved or truly trying to remove themselves from the mafia network, they will maintain contact and relationships with other mafiosi until they die. It's what they do and even though there are exceptions, members will continue to maintain their place in the network for the entirety of their lives even if they no longer participate in organized crime or involve themselves in organizational politics. It's not so much a choice, it's what they are.
Associates are a little different because they didn't take an oath that cements them to the org for life but most of them too operate similarly. Their social existence, familial relationships, and legitimate businesses are often ingrained in the mafia network and it's simply the water they swim in. Some "associates" are around the org because of familial connections and not truly embedded in the mafia infrastructure so if their mafioso relative dies they may become very distanced from the organization but even years later a situation might come up where they need the mafia or they are preyed upon by the mafia, so they're never truly removed from it. (Think of the taped New England induction where JR Russo says your relatives will be part of this for 'seven generations'.)
It isn't black and white and even if we can't say positively whether an associate was involved in organized crime or mafia activity after 1991, like the example you gave, probability suggests that guy was still "with" the mafia and socially involved if nothing else and there is a high probability he was open to criminal opportunities if not participating in crime if he had a long history of OC activity.