General Mob Questions

Discuss all mafia families in the U.S., Canada, Italy, and everywhere else in the world.

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Shellackhead
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Re: General Mob Questions

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Hootie mentioned in one of Vlads videos that crews of captains tend to have only 1 or 2 made guys, is there any truth to this or that doesn’t matter & depending on a crew you can have 1 made guy, and then another have 4-5?
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Re: General Mob Questions

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Shellackhead wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 4:23 am Hootie mentioned in one of Vlads videos that crews of captains tend to have only 1 or 2 made guys, is there any truth to this or that doesn’t matter & depending on a crew you can have 1 made guy, and then another have 4-5?
That's not true of the New York families. I know that in the smaller families outside of New York, such as Pittsburgh and Cleveland, it was pretty standard for a captain to only have four or five soldiers under them, at most. In modern times, families like Philadelphia and the DeCavalcantes also have relatively small crews. I think most Philly crews consist of four or five soldiers.

But the Genovese family, for example, has an estimated 200 made members, sixteen of whom are captains (according to Pogo's chart). So if you subtract the three administrators that leaves you with approximately 181 soldiers, which averages out to about eleven soldiers per captain. Some of them are currently in prison, and not all of them are active, but it's reasonable to assume that each captain probably has at least eight or nine active soldiers in their crew.
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Re: General Mob Questions

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TallGuy19 wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:49 am
Shellackhead wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 4:23 am Hootie mentioned in one of Vlads videos that crews of captains tend to have only 1 or 2 made guys, is there any truth to this or that doesn’t matter & depending on a crew you can have 1 made guy, and then another have 4-5?
That's not true of the New York families. I know that in the smaller families outside of New York, such as Pittsburgh and Cleveland, it was pretty standard for a captain to only have four or five soldiers under them, at most. In modern times, families like Philadelphia and the DeCavalcantes also have relatively small crews. I think most Philly crews consist of four or five soldiers.

But the Genovese family, for example, has an estimated 200 made members, sixteen of whom are captains (according to Pogo's chart). So if you subtract the three administrators that leaves you with approximately 181 soldiers, which averages out to about eleven soldiers per captain. Some of them are currently in prison, and not all of them are active, but it's reasonable to assume that each captain probably has at least eight or nine active soldiers in their crew.
Thanks for this info !
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Re: General Mob Questions

Post by TallGuy19 »

It's kind of strange that he would make that claim, considering that in another video he says that the families are making way more people than they used to, and that being made has lost some of its significance as a result.

But, as other people on the forum have pointed out, Hootie is inconsistent with his stories/claims.
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Re: General Mob Questions

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Does anyone know when Carlo Gambino was made, how long he remained a soldier before being promoted to captain, or how long he was a captain before his promotion to consigliere?
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Re: General Mob Questions

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TallGuy19 wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:50 pm Does anyone know when Carlo Gambino was made, how long he remained a soldier before being promoted to captain, or how long he was a captain before his promotion to consigliere?
You know a member here actually sent me a the book on Gambino and I'm gonna re read it and see if any of that stuff is discussed.

It's the book where it's "historical fiction" tho so I didn't read anything as fact.

Gambino: Rise of a soldier. Something like that.
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Re: General Mob Questions

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JeremyTheJew wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:19 am
TallGuy19 wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:50 pm Does anyone know when Carlo Gambino was made, how long he remained a soldier before being promoted to captain, or how long he was a captain before his promotion to consigliere?
You know a member here actually sent me a the book on Gambino and I'm gonna re read it and see if any of that stuff is discussed.

It's the book where it's "historical fiction" tho so I didn't read anything as fact.

Gambino: Rise of a soldier. Something like that.
One of the posters who has access to DiLeonardo should ask him if he knows. He's the only living person I can think of who might know. If I remember correctly, his grandpa was a captain in the D'Aquila family, and I remember him saying that Carlo Gambino came to his house when he was a kid to meet with his grandpa.
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Re: General Mob Questions

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TallGuy19 wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:50 pm Does anyone know when Carlo Gambino was made, how long he remained a soldier before being promoted to captain, or how long he was a captain before his promotion to consigliere?
Not sure when he was made, but I assume it was sometime pre 1930. I found a reference in a file once on Gambino taking over the crew of Giuseppe Castellano (Paul Catellano´s uncle) which I posted on here in a thread. So Gambino was made captain in 1946. I found another reference on him and his roller coaster as a captain that said that Anastasia demoted him several times. But each time he was demoted, he was bumped up again. In the 1950s (most probably) Joe Biondo was demoted from his consigliere position and Gambino was given the position.

- Correction, Giuseppe Castellano was Paul´s father
There you have it, never printed before.
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Re: General Mob Questions

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HairyKnuckles wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:09 am
TallGuy19 wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:50 pm Does anyone know when Carlo Gambino was made, how long he remained a soldier before being promoted to captain, or how long he was a captain before his promotion to consigliere?
Not sure when he was made, but I assume it was sometime pre 1930. I found a reference in a file once on Gambino taking over the crew of Giuseppe Castellano (Paul Catellano´s uncle) which I posted on here in a thread. So Gambino was made captain in 1946. I found another reference on him and his roller coaster as a captain that said that Anastasia demoted him several times. But each time he was demoted, he was bumped up again. In the 1950s (most probably) Joe Biondo was demoted from his consigliere position and Gambino was given the position.
Thanks
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Re: General Mob Questions

Post by HairyKnuckles »

TallGuy19 wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:33 am
HairyKnuckles wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:09 am
TallGuy19 wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:50 pm Does anyone know when Carlo Gambino was made, how long he remained a soldier before being promoted to captain, or how long he was a captain before his promotion to consigliere?
Not sure when he was made, but I assume it was sometime pre 1930. I found a reference in a file once on Gambino taking over the crew of Giuseppe Castellano (Paul Catellano´s uncle) which I posted on here in a thread. So Gambino was made captain in 1946. I found another reference on him and his roller coaster as a captain that said that Anastasia demoted him several times. But each time he was demoted, he was bumped up again. In the 1950s (most probably) Joe Biondo was demoted from his consigliere position and Gambino was given the position.
Thanks
I found the thread.

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=676&p=9164#p9164
There you have it, never printed before.
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Re: General Mob Questions

Post by Pogo The Clown »

He was already a made member and an important player by the time of the Castellammarese War. This was told to Valachi after the attempted hit on Paul Gambino (who they mistook for Carlo).


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Re: General Mob Questions

Post by Amershire_Ed »

What would you say is the median age for getting your button? 30? 35? I know it might vary by decade as the books were closed for big chunks of time in the mid to late 20th century. Everyone has kinda acknowledged the smaller recruiting pool these days so my guess is guys are getting made at a much younger age than they typically would’ve in 1975.
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Re: General Mob Questions

Post by eboli »

Amershire_Ed wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:48 pm What would you say is the median age for getting your button? 30? 35? I know it might vary by decade as the books were closed for big chunks of time in the mid to late 20th century. Everyone has kinda acknowledged the smaller recruiting pool these days so my guess is guys are getting made at a much younger age than they typically would’ve in 1975.
If I remember correctly, we discussed this topic previously, and based on the lists from recent years, the modern LCN inductee is in his 40s. The organization was at its youngest in the 1920s and 1930s, then the average age went up because the books were closed for a significant period of time. Since this happened twice, there were a ton of guys in their 50s and 60s who otherwise would've been made decades earlier. I believe the modern LCN might be younger than it was in the 70s when the books were reopened.
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Re: General Mob Questions

Post by Amershire_Ed »

It’s always funny to compare LCN indictments to other criminal organizations in the US. On an LCN indictment, 95% of the guys are near or at retirement age. All these other groups are mostly teenagers and 20-30 year olds.
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Re: General Mob Questions

Post by B. »

Pogo The Clown wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 12:11 pm He was already a made member and an important player by the time of the Castellammarese War. This was told to Valachi after the attempted hit on Paul Gambino (who they mistook for Carlo).


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What I found interesting is in the Real Thing manuscript, Joe Valachi says Paul Gambino wasn't made yet when he was shot. Maranzano told them Paul wasn't a member but was upset about the shooting because Gambino was one of Maranzano's secret allies in that family.

Makes you wonder when he got made. Valachi said Patty Delchop got made around 1930. Delchop was a Jersey guy originally from the Bronx who looks to have started under Frank Scalise. Paul Gambino was also a Bronx guy who was probably under Scalise. Maybe after Mineo was killed and Scalise was in power he made some of these Bronx guys before the books closed.
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