Does the Italian Mafia still exist in Los Angeles? Is the Los Angeles crime family still active today?

[Angelo Santino]

From my conversations with Mr. DiLeonardo, Tommy Gambino carries the flag similar to Joe Loose in Cleveland and D'elia of Scranton previously did. He was said to have been Pete Milano's underboss and is now regarded (within the mafia sphere) as LA's Representative. This is not to imply that there is an under-the-radar family or that he's "rebuilding" anything. But when NY or anyone else goes out to LA, he's the Rep that they see.

[PolackTony]

Mexican cartels are paramilitary, if a hypothetical war broke out between Italian crime family and Mexican cartel in NYC the feds would come down hard Rounding up cartel members, you can’t walk the streets of NYC with an assault rifle… especially given recent events police are very much on guard and on the look out for anything suspicious in Large metropolitan areas.

Cartels don't operate like that inside of the United States, they set up 3-10 man cells in an area with the goal being to fly under the radar.

Cartels operating in any form of conflict with LCN is ridiculous at best.

1. Cartels currently feud with each other over plazas along the border - routes to smuggle their drugs INTO the United States. The Mexican and Central American authorities are so damn corrupt, they can get away with it. Remember, these guys FEAR extradition into the United States. Look at how an all powerful Cartel God like El Chapo is in side of a maximum security prison.

2. Can any of the cartel sicarios speak english? If so, what are they going to do? Shake down a bunch of degenerate gamblers they don't even know in the middle of Brooklyn? Their paths would never cross with LCN. The mafia is going to fight over a tortilla stand fronting for a drug operation? Doubt it. If ANYTHING, members of LCN are customers - not rivals. Plus, whenever a conflict takes place, the guys fighting each other always know one another.

3. Any group that operates in the United States that is not native there tends to fly under the radar. Whether this is cartels, chinese, italian, russian or albanian groups. LCN has become americanized and in many ways - is now native to the U.S. Everyone else is cleaning their money.

I couldn't agree more. Cartels are good for drugs, human trafficking, and murder. The low life crimes. But cartel members in USA don't blend into society and straight successful people don't want to mingle with them so Italians have more power and potential because although they are feared, politicians and business people are not too scared to work with them. People run at the thought of being mixed up with Cartels.

I don't know about Cartel guys in the US not blending in. At least among Mexican friends in Chicago, the belief is that the flashy guys starting trouble at the clubs and rolling around in souped-up pick-up trucks, etc, are lower-level and wannabe guys, while the higher level Cartel operatives are directed to give the appearance of family men -- regular clothes, a typical house, unremarkable car/truck, etc. A good friend of mine there lives by the rule of never disrespecting even regular working-class looking guys as you never know who is actually "plugged".

[JoeCamel]

From my conversations with Mr. DiLeonardo, Tommy Gambino carries the flag similar to Joe Loose in Cleveland and D'elia of Scranton previously did. He was said to have been Pete Milano's underboss and is now regarded (within the mafia sphere) as LA's Representative. This is not to imply that there is an under-the-radar family or that he's "rebuilding" anything. But when NY or anyone else goes out to LA, he's the Rep that they see.

So how recent is this information?

[JoeCamel]

As far as potentially active members he’s pretty high profile. If you check out his wife’s twitter pics of him with sly Stallone and Paul Herman as well as Jon lovitz. Not quite John Gotti or Joey Merlino but you could definitely call him a celebrity boss

[Nick Prango]

Mexican cartels are paramilitary, if a hypothetical war broke out between Italian crime family and Mexican cartel in NYC the feds would come down hard Rounding up cartel members, you can’t walk the streets of NYC with an assault rifle… especially given recent events police are very much on guard and on the look out for anything suspicious in Large metropolitan areas.

Cartels don't operate like that inside of the United States, they set up 3-10 man cells in an area with the goal being to fly under the radar.

Cartels operating in any form of conflict with LCN is ridiculous at best.

1. Cartels currently feud with each other over plazas along the border - routes to smuggle their drugs INTO the United States. The Mexican and Central American authorities are so damn corrupt, they can get away with it. Remember, these guys FEAR extradition into the United States. Look at how an all powerful Cartel God like El Chapo is in side of a maximum security prison.

2. Can any of the cartel sicarios speak english? If so, what are they going to do? Shake down a bunch of degenerate gamblers they don't even know in the middle of Brooklyn? Their paths would never cross with LCN. The mafia is going to fight over a tortilla stand fronting for a drug operation? Doubt it. If ANYTHING, members of LCN are customers - not rivals. Plus, whenever a conflict takes place, the guys fighting each other always know one another.

3. Any group that operates in the United States that is not native there tends to fly under the radar. Whether this is cartels, chinese, italian, russian or albanian groups. LCN has become americanized and in many ways - is now native to the U.S. Everyone else is cleaning their money.

I couldn't agree more. Cartels are good for drugs, human trafficking, and murder. The low life crimes. But cartel members in USA don't blend into society and straight successful people don't want to mingle with them so Italians have more power and potential because although they are feared, politicians and business people are not too scared to work with them. People run at the thought of being mixed up with Cartels.

I don't know about Cartel guys in the US not blending in. At least among Mexican friends in Chicago, the belief is that the flashy guys starting trouble at the clubs and rolling around in souped-up pick-up trucks, etc, are lower-level and wannabe guys, while the higher level Cartel operatives are directed to give the appearance of family men -- regular clothes, a typical house, unremarkable car/truck, etc. A good friend of mine there lives by the rule of never disrespecting even regular working-class looking guys as you never know who is actually "plugged".

Probably Cartel operatives blend in in Mexican American communities, but Caucasian american legitimate businessmen more likely would "work" Italian American mobsters. John Pennisi in his interviews explained the "rent a wiseguy" racket. Polack isn't the present day Outfit involved in some legitimate businesses?

[Angelo Santino]

From my conversations with Mr. DiLeonardo, Tommy Gambino carries the flag similar to Joe Loose in Cleveland and D'elia of Scranton previously did. He was said to have been Pete Milano's underboss and is now regarded (within the mafia sphere) as LA's Representative. This is not to imply that there is an under-the-radar family or that he's "rebuilding" anything. But when NY or anyone else goes out to LA, he's the Rep that they see.

So how recent is this information?

Maybe 2/3 months ago we spoke about this. The thing is, what motive do these guys have to hang it up and say it's over? If this were purely a criminal The Wire/Sopranos organization that would make sense. But these guys have bloodlines and traditions which go beyond any hierarchy that we outsiders consider mafia. Tommy Gambino is well placed from a bloodlines perspective. He's not leaving bodies in the street or putting together a crew to rob and mob. But he can get into business arrangements and broker things, and not to be too immodest, "play the part"- maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Point is, NY or Sicily goes to LA he's the guy they meet with. That's a Boss, regardless if he lacks an underboss or even a single soldier, at least from a mafia perspective. There's so much more to this, which explains its 200+ year existence. Plenty of "organized" groups have come and gone, but the Sicilian Mafia has persisted. It continues to exist in CL and New Orleans and Buffalo despite what we outsiders regard as viable and non.

[JoeCamel]

From my conversations with Mr. DiLeonardo, Tommy Gambino carries the flag similar to Joe Loose in Cleveland and D'elia of Scranton previously did. He was said to have been Pete Milano's underboss and is now regarded (within the mafia sphere) as LA's Representative. This is not to imply that there is an under-the-radar family or that he's "rebuilding" anything. But when NY or anyone else goes out to LA, he's the Rep that they see.

So how recent is this information?

Maybe 2/3 months ago we spoke about this. The thing is, what motive do these guys have to hang it up and say it's over? If this were purely a criminal The Wire/Sopranos organization that would make sense. But these guys have bloodlines and traditions which go beyond any hierarchy that we outsiders consider mafia. Tommy Gambino is well placed from a bloodlines perspective. He's not leaving bodies in the street or putting together a crew to rob and mob. But he can get into business arrangements and broker things, and not to be too immodest, "play the part"- maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Point is, NY or Sicily goes to LA he's the guy they meet with. That's a Boss, regardless if he lacks an underboss or even a single soldier, at least from a mafia perspective. There's so much more to this, which explains its 200+ year existence. Plenty of "organized" groups have come and gone, but the Sicilian Mafia has persisted. It continues to exist in CL and New Orleans and Buffalo despite what we outsiders regard as viable and non.

I totally agree man. Great points

[TommyGambino]

From my conversations with Mr. DiLeonardo, Tommy Gambino carries the flag similar to Joe Loose in Cleveland and D'elia of Scranton previously did. He was said to have been Pete Milano's underboss and is now regarded (within the mafia sphere) as LA's Representative. This is not to imply that there is an under-the-radar family or that he's "rebuilding" anything. But when NY or anyone else goes out to LA, he's the Rep that they see.

So how recent is this information?

Nearly 20 years

[Philly d]

I’ve been trying to find information on La Cosa nostra activity in California for ages now and there isn’t much information about them post 2003. Today, they are very much under the radar with the police shifting their attention towards Russian and Chinese syndicates in the city. Because of this, almost nothing is known about the organisation. The focus from the feds on crime families outside of the northeast and Midwest has seemed to have died off post 1990’s. I have read online that the LA Mafia has thought to have been taken over as a puppet family of the Gambino Crime Family. Is it possible?

Los Angeles had an Italian neighborhood at one time. Mostly the area around Lincoln Heights, Elysian Valley. This was Jack Dragna's neighborhood. This was the birthplace of the Italian mob in LA. Like the San Francisco family, they probably saw their peak in power during prohibition. Since the families out west were very traditional Sicilian without a lot of non-Italian partnerships in high society, they didn't adapt well to the post-prohibition era of the mob when big industrialized rackets took hold. In fact these industrial rackets never really did take hold in LA since LA was never much of a union town. LA's downtown brass, the LA Times, etc, were very anti-union. The only real active unions were in show business and Chicago had an inside track on those. After Bioff, Roselli, etc got busted that was the end of the outfit's labor racket infiltration in Hollywood.

And there are 2 remnants - one each in neighbrhood. An italian deli in elysian valley and a old catering hall in Lincoln Heights.

[Rat]

The 2001 California OC report had LA with 15-20 members, most were basically ancient by that time. When did they stop being functional?

[Wiseguy]

The 2001 California OC report had LA with 15-20 members, most were basically ancient by that time. When did they stop being functional?

I count about a dozen by that point. Their last hurrah was the Operation Thin Crust bust in the late 1990s. That finished off what was left of the family.

[Pogo The Clown]

I have at least 15 or 16 members still alive in 2001.


Vincent "Jimmy" Caci
Louis "Little Man" Caruso
Stephen "The Whale" Cino
Philip “Fat Philly” Dioguardi
Michael "Porno Mike" Esposito
Tommaso "Tommy" Gambino
Luigi Gelfuso (Died in 2001)
Russell "Rusty" Massetta
Carmen "Flipper" Milano
Peter Milano
Robert "Charles Caci/Bobby" Milano
Robert “Bobby’ Paduano
Michael “Rizzi” Rizzitello
John “Johnny V” Vaccaro
Rocco "Rocky Bigfoot" Zangari

Was Raymond “Rocky” DeRosa still alive in 2001?


Pogo

[Teddy Persico]

The 2001 California OC report had LA with 15-20 members, most were basically ancient by that time. When did they stop being functional?

California stopped listing the LA family on there OC reports around 2003. That's pretty telling.

[JerryB]

I have at least 15 or 16 members still alive in 2001.


Vincent "Jimmy" Caci
Louis "Little Man" Caruso
Stephen "The Whale" Cino
Philip “Fat Philly” Dioguardi
Michael "Porno Mike" Esposito
Tommaso "Tommy" Gambino
Luigi Gelfuso (Died in 2001)
Russell "Rusty" Massetta
Carmen "Flipper" Milano
Peter Milano
Robert "Charles Caci/Bobby" Milano
Robert “Bobby’ Paduano
Michael “Rizzi” Rizzitello
John “Johnny V” Vaccaro
Rocco "Rocky Bigfoot" Zangari

Was Raymond “Rocky” DeRosa still alive in 2001?


Pogo

What about Lenny Montana, Jr.? He is still alive and runs Enzo's Pizzeria in Westwood (L.A.) by UCLA.

Not to rehash discussions we've all had over the years here and on RD, but it is alleged that Montana was made by Pete Milano in the 90's. Those of you who still communicate with Kenji can get his take on that, if you really care.

[Pogo The Clown]

I don't know. Did Kenji list him as a member in his book?


Pogo