General Mob Questions

[chin_gigante]

Capeci described the 2013 Gambino committee working under Cefalu and Cali as a 'rotating panel of street bosses' if I remember correctly

[Lefty_Ruggiero]

Maybe this has been asked before and apologies if it has. Possbly even a sort of stupid question. The mafia historically accepts members from Sicily/Italy and non-Italians could never be made traditionally.

My question is say you have two associates of the same mob family, both are good earners and know same group of people. One associate is Irish, other associate is full Italian. They get into a dispute about something. Would the full Italian associate's word carry more weight in a dispute compared to someone else's who is Irish? Would the family be biased because the man is full Italian even though he is not a member compared to someone that could never be one?

Thanks

[Lupara]

Maybe this has been asked before and apologies if it has. Possbly even a sort of stupid question. The mafia historically accepts members from Sicily/Italy and non-Italians could never be made traditionally.

My question is say you have two associates of the same mob family, both are good earners and know same group of people. One associate is Irish, other associate is full Italian. They get into a dispute about something. Would the full Italian associate's word carry more weight in a dispute compared to someone else's who is Irish? Would the family be biased because the man is full Italian even though he is not a member compared to someone that could never be one?

Thanks

I think as long as they are the same rank they are equals, but ultimately money is the most important thing so the Irish associate would be in the advantage here. In Chicago there were non-Italian associates who had more clout than many of the made members.

[eboli]

Maybe this has been asked before and apologies if it has. Possbly even a sort of stupid question. The mafia historically accepts members from Sicily/Italy and non-Italians could never be made traditionally.

My question is say you have two associates of the same mob family, both are good earners and know same group of people. One associate is Irish, other associate is full Italian. They get into a dispute about something. Would the full Italian associate's word carry more weight in a dispute compared to someone else's who is Irish? Would the family be biased because the man is full Italian even though he is not a member compared to someone that could never be one?

Thanks

There are a lot of variables in such situation. It depends on the family, on the associates' connections, on the time period. For example The Chicago Outfit had non-italian associates with immense power, who were bossing around high-ranking made members. In a more traditional family like the Bonannos such behavior is impossible and it's not far fetched to assume if everything is equal the non-italian associate might get punished instead of the italian one, because the latter might become a made member one day and can be an organizational asset outside of a business partner.

[bert]

Maybe this has been asked before and apologies if it has. Possbly even a sort of stupid question. The mafia historically accepts members from Sicily/Italy and non-Italians could never be made traditionally.

My question is say you have two associates of the same mob family, both are good earners and know same group of people. One associate is Irish, other associate is full Italian. They get into a dispute about something. Would the full Italian associate's word carry more weight in a dispute compared to someone else's who is Irish? Would the family be biased because the man is full Italian even though he is not a member compared to someone that could never be one?

Thanks

If they are with the same crew, it would come down to who the captain or soldier they are with deciding who is right or wrong, not ethnicity, if he is closer to one than the other that might change things. Who represents them is big, if one has a soldier fighting hard for him, and the other has one not doing so, or not as store as the other side, that might decide it. I think associates who are non-Italian have a tendency to be liked a lot or else they don't get that close with the crew.

[gohnjotti]

Interesting tidbit from The Week article recently about “the Mafia today;” https://theweek.com/articles/835970/mafia-today

“Today, the mob remains heavily involved in cargo theft, extortion of port workers, and drug smuggling in New York Harbor. "The one thing that they are," said Walter Arsenault, executive director of the city's Waterfront Commission, "is adaptable."

Does anyone know of recent cargo theft cases? I thought that era was over.

[bert]

Interesting tidbit from The Week article recently about “the Mafia today;” https://theweek.com/articles/835970/mafia-today

“Today, the mob remains heavily involved in cargo theft, extortion of port workers, and drug smuggling in New York Harbor. "The one thing that they are," said Walter Arsenault, executive director of the city's Waterfront Commission, "is adaptable."

Does anyone know of recent cargo theft cases? I thought that era was over.

The main goal of the waterfront commission is trying to show they are needed that badly. There will always be some theft and smuggling, but it hasn't been serious enough to warrant a commission in years. It's not because they chased out the mafia either.

[gohnjotti]

Interesting tidbit from The Week article recently about “the Mafia today;” https://theweek.com/articles/835970/mafia-today

“Today, the mob remains heavily involved in cargo theft, extortion of port workers, and drug smuggling in New York Harbor. "The one thing that they are," said Walter Arsenault, executive director of the city's Waterfront Commission, "is adaptable."

Does anyone know of recent cargo theft cases? I thought that era was over.

The main goal of the waterfront commission is trying to show they are needed that badly. There will always be some theft and smuggling, but it hasn't been serious enough to warrant a commission in years. It's not because they chased out the mafia either.

Solid point.

[NickyEyes1]

I know it's the wrong forum but here is "The Irishman" trailer. Figured it would get more views here rather than the TV forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Expe7h ... e=youtu.be

Looks amazing cannot wait. Looks like the Joe Colombo shooting is included!

[Confederate]

Maybe this has been asked before and apologies if it has. Possbly even a sort of stupid question. The mafia historically accepts members from Sicily/Italy and non-Italians could never be made traditionally.

My question is say you have two associates of the same mob family, both are good earners and know same group of people. One associate is Irish, other associate is full Italian. They get into a dispute about something. Would the full Italian associate's word carry more weight in a dispute compared to someone else's who is Irish? Would the family be biased because the man is full Italian even though he is not a member compared to someone that could never be one?

Thanks

I think as long as they are the same rank they are equals, but ultimately money is the most important thing so the Irish associate would be in the advantage here. In Chicago there were non-Italian associates who had more clout than many of the made members.

In addition, from Villain & my research, we also determined that those higher ranking Non-Italians were actual members of the Outfit just like any other Italian, EXCEPT that they were NOT members of the National LCN.

[thekiduknow]

What exactly was the "Combination"? I've seen it used in mostly older descriptions of the Mafia/national organized crime, but was there ever a group that that term described? Or was it more of a catch all for the seemingly rotating, and multi-ethnic, racketeers of the 1920s/1930s?

[maxiestern11]

What exactly was the "Combination"? I've seen it used in mostly older descriptions of the Mafia/national organized crime, but was there ever a group that that term described? Or was it more of a catch all for the seemingly rotating, and multi-ethnic, racketeers of the 1920s/1930s?

Correct!.... it more or less referred to the overall “combination”.... of the mix, of multi-ethnic, multi-faceted, overall structure!

[eboli]

What exactly was the "Combination"? I've seen it used in mostly older descriptions of the Mafia/national organized crime, but was there ever a group that that term described? Or was it more of a catch all for the seemingly rotating, and multi-ethnic, racketeers of the 1920s/1930s?

I've seen it as the "buzzword" of the day to describe different crime groups. One of Detroit CF's nicknames was The Combination. In some papers they referred to Murder Inc. as The Combination too.

[aleksandrored]

combination is also used in the book "the hoods" (the one that originated the movie once upon a time in America), the term is used to indicate the crime syndicate that the Noodles and their gang work on and follow orders.

[ChicagoOutfit]

When the two NYPD detectives were shot while following Genovese members (was it Gigante?), how was that issue resolved? It seems like that incident would have brought on extreme heat and would have pissed off Chin.

I know one of the officers died and Giovanelli beat the murder wrap twice...was curious if anyone has any insight to how this was handled internally.