Current Colombo rackets

[newera_212]

It still surprises me that the family wouldn't back up an associate who was getting pushed around by an independent operator; I thought the whole point of being an associate was that the family would protect your rackets.

I kinda figured that was due to this Scorcia guy's inaptitude. I mean, it's not like the rest of the family is gonna do your work for you. So they might've let him dangle for a while. Especially in a cut throat environment where you have to proof yourself constantly. Even more so as an associate.

-Canardo-

That really takes a lot of balls though to simply poach customers like that. Figure out who is paying what (HOW did he do this? Someone working with or maybe someone in debt to Scorcia provided the info?) and just start collecting from them directly? It's free money. Jesus. If anything in the mob world would be worth killing over, it would be that. It's funny the kid was named in the same indictment and is the codefendants of the crew he was blatantly robbing and disrespecting

[queensnyer]

It still surprises me that the family wouldn't back up an associate who was getting pushed around by an independent operator; I thought the whole point of being an associate was that the family would protect your rackets.

I kinda figured that was due to this Scorcia guy's inaptitude. I mean, it's not like the rest of the family is gonna do your work for you. So they might've let him dangle for a while. Especially in a cut throat environment where you have to proof yourself constantly. Even more so as an associate.

-Canardo-

That really takes a lot of balls though to simply poach customers like that. Figure out who is paying what (HOW did he do this? Someone working with or maybe someone in debt to Scorcia provided the info?) and just start collecting from them directly? It's free money. Jesus. If anything in the mob world would be worth killing over, it would be that. It's funny the kid was named in the same indictment and is the codefendants of the crew he was blatantly robbing and disrespecting

my understanding he was robbing nobody..he just started giving loans as well. to some of the same customers as the colombos and it obviously was a problem. the colombos handled it and thats that.

[gohnjotti]

It still surprises me that the family wouldn't back up an associate who was getting pushed around by an independent operator; I thought the whole point of being an associate was that the family would protect your rackets.

I kinda figured that was due to this Scorcia guy's inaptitude. I mean, it's not like the rest of the family is gonna do your work for you. So they might've let him dangle for a while. Especially in a cut throat environment where you have to proof yourself constantly. Even more so as an associate.

-Canardo-

That really takes a lot of balls though to simply poach customers like that. Figure out who is paying what (HOW did he do this? Someone working with or maybe someone in debt to Scorcia provided the info?) and just start collecting from them directly? It's free money. Jesus. If anything in the mob world would be worth killing over, it would be that. It's funny the kid was named in the same indictment and is the codefendants of the crew he was blatantly robbing and disrespecting

my understanding he was robbing nobody..he just started giving loans as well. to some of the same customers as the colombos and it obviously was a problem. the colombos handled it and thats that.

That’s the way I understand it too, it was a case of Scorcia and Ricigliano both collecting juice from the same people, with Ricigliano viewing those customers as “his,” and that patch of Brooklyn as “his turf,” while Scorcia obviously thought the opposite.

[newera_212]

Oh damn, for some reason i misunderstood it to be The Lion collecting Scorcia's money basically.

[gohnjotti]

Oh damn, for some reason i misunderstood it to be The Lion collecting Scorcia's money basically.

He was collecting Scorcia’s vig on the loans but not necessarily the loans themselves.

[stubbs]

Did we ever find out which college basketball games the Amato crew was allegedly fixing? If it was Rutgers or Seton Hall that would be a big deal.

Those kids were so dumb, bragging and talking on their cell phones about their plans. They were just begging to get pinched.

Have none of them ever seen Goodfellas? Don’t talk about your crimes over the phone!

[Jbravo]

no murder conspiracy....Bonanno soldier Gino Galestro wanted little Nicky off staten island.they threw Nicky a beating in front of his home and when Nicky still refused to leave John Tuffarelli who was in Galestros crew threw the fire bombs at Nickys house.

[Pmac2]

The guy who writes the colombo family blog is great. His articles paint the modern day mob. If it's still a force in certain areas like that guy on staten island I forgot his name

[Jbravo]

Joey Amato ?

[Pete]

Wiseguy hits the nail on the head.

Some big captains you missed are the guys out in LI like Dennis DeLucia, Michael Uvino, and the Franzese crew. Heavily involved in gambling rackets, from poker clubs across LI and elsewhere in the Northeast, sports betting rackets (both traditional and online), Joker Poker (Tommy Gioeli and Sonny Franzese have been labelled as heads in the video gambling industry alongside associates like John Azzarelli, John Dunn, and Angelo Spata), etc.
Those gambling rackets are huge and the figures around them indicate to me that these are the family’s most valuable rackets. From Brooklyn to Long Island, it seems a lot of cases revolve around gambling and lower-level associates will often make their bread-and-butter as gambling enforcers.

Drug-dealing is also a big one as Wiseguy said, although not at the captain level, as Carmine Persico apparently enforced the drug ban until his death, according to testimony from Reynold Maragni. Obviously, this is hugely controversial because even Carmine’s own family were involved in the drug trade (look no further than presumed street boss Teddy Persico Jr.), but Reynold Maragni testified that he had to ask Angelo Spata to pass a message to Carmine Persico for approval over a cross-country marijuana deal with Ralph DeLeo, due to Carmine’s “ban.”

Loansharking is also a big one. Some crews revolves around loansharking from top-to-bottom, almost like a pyramid scheme. Joey Amato’s crew was like this, according to Silvio Salome, and so was William Cutolo’s, which was probably among the largest crews in the family during the ‘90s. Cutolo would loan hundreds of thousands of dollars to crew members at 1 Point a week, and those associates would then loan it out further, and so on. I believe the Russo crew was also like this, I can’t remember if I read that from Greg Scarpa files or elsewhere. I recall that the reason most of the Russo crew defected during the war was to get out of their loansharking debts.

Perisco son Allie boy was busted for dealing H so it couldn’t have been enforced that hard. He became acting boss. Has anyone said who became boss after Persico death?

[Etna]

Wiseguy hits the nail on the head.

Some big captains you missed are the guys out in LI like Dennis DeLucia, Michael Uvino, and the Franzese crew. Heavily involved in gambling rackets, from poker clubs across LI and elsewhere in the Northeast, sports betting rackets (both traditional and online), Joker Poker (Tommy Gioeli and Sonny Franzese have been labelled as heads in the video gambling industry alongside associates like John Azzarelli, John Dunn, and Angelo Spata), etc.
Those gambling rackets are huge and the figures around them indicate to me that these are the family’s most valuable rackets. From Brooklyn to Long Island, it seems a lot of cases revolve around gambling and lower-level associates will often make their bread-and-butter as gambling enforcers.

Drug-dealing is also a big one as Wiseguy said, although not at the captain level, as Carmine Persico apparently enforced the drug ban until his death, according to testimony from Reynold Maragni. Obviously, this is hugely controversial because even Carmine’s own family were involved in the drug trade (look no further than presumed street boss Teddy Persico Jr.), but Reynold Maragni testified that he had to ask Angelo Spata to pass a message to Carmine Persico for approval over a cross-country marijuana deal with Ralph DeLeo, due to Carmine’s “ban.”

Loansharking is also a big one. Some crews revolves around loansharking from top-to-bottom, almost like a pyramid scheme. Joey Amato’s crew was like this, according to Silvio Salome, and so was William Cutolo’s, which was probably among the largest crews in the family during the ‘90s. Cutolo would loan hundreds of thousands of dollars to crew members at 1 Point a week, and those associates would then loan it out further, and so on. I believe the Russo crew was also like this, I can’t remember if I read that from Greg Scarpa files or elsewhere. I recall that the reason most of the Russo crew defected during the war was to get out of their loansharking debts.

Perisco son Allie boy was busted for dealing H so it couldn’t have been enforced that hard. He became acting boss. Has anyone said who became boss after Persico death?

I believe Jerry Capeci reported that Andy Russo still maintains the role as Acting Boss.