Chris Christie wrote: ↑Fri Dec 04, 2020 5:29 pm
One thing I noticed/picked up from reading this thread is just how interrelated they are. The Scarfos-Piccolos-Grandes-Mazzone seems to be a large chunk. Ligambi-Borgesi. DeVito-Arabia. I'd like to one day chart these bloodlines but that's for another time. I'll shut up to avoid derailing this fine thread.
If we were talking about the same group of people in 1910, we'd be calling them a Sicilian mafia clan and think it was all by design. The reality is a lot of it is proximity and happenstance, and just like the dysfunction we see in this modern Philly "clan", there was dysfunction in the old mafia clans.
For a fully Americanized family in 2020 that's almost been destroyed several times, it's crazy how much Philly has managed to organically mirror a traditional mafia family from 100 years ago:
- Interrelated multi-generational members
- Majority of members have proven themselves capable of murder (unheard of in NYC for decades)
- Completely insular mafia-friendly community
- Not afraid to openly associate in public
- No massive centralized rackets
- Willing to make money in any legitimate or illegitimate way they can
- Highly fraternal, lifelong relationships between members
- Gun+knife induction ceremonies
Given everything that's happened, you'd expect Philly if anyone to be more like a gang who disregards tradition. You have to notice that regardless of the ups and downs of their operations, Philly is dedicated to the organization.