"Last Days of the New York Mob"

[Ivan]

No one's saying the NY LCN is going to fade anytime soon, there will be cases in the future. But notice the decline in notoriety: mob assassinations, Luftansa heists, casino interests are all a thing of the past. Massino and Lombardo were taken down for shit that happened 25 years ago. Today it's mostly the tried and true rackets: extortion of individuals, gambling and small time marijuana deals.

1) Law enforcement has a limitless arsenal that improves everyday. If Google maps can accidentally have some mob member on the street view (this happened a few years ago before it was removed) the FBI can do ten times that.

2) Italian demographics, the article laid out NY's changing demographics perfectly. You're seeing a realignment occur in Staten Island and the Bronx while Manhattan has faded and Brooklyn is going the same route. Anyone who thinks this isn't a factor in the Mafia has not paid attention to how other cities have declined. Where are all these Eye-talians going? Nowhere, they just don't identify as being Italian first and foremost anymore, after 4 generations that's what happens. Guys with Mafia lineage like Frank Cali are in the minority and being that it's based on Italian heritage, this next gen's recruits are going to be American mutts with Italian surnames. That won't kill the mafia, but it's a step further from the tape that binded this criminal fraternity together.

They are a part of NYC underworld fabric, but they're going away like the cowboys.

I think the decline in notoriety is due large part to the decline in murders, but that's been largely by design on the part of the mob itself as it's become more careful about who they hit. The drama might not be there for the average reader who doesn't follow the mob beyond the latest headline but that's not necessarily the best way to measure it's current state. The mob at its peak is long gone but that hardly means it's in it's "last days." And Lufthansa? It might not be as sexy but the money the mob made from their pump and dump stock scams, or their telecommunications scams, dwarfed the Luftansa take. Yes, we see cases dealing with charges from years ago but they often also include charges involving recent crimes.

Sure, the mob gets involved in small time marijuana deals but it also is involved in big time trafficking. For example, look at the bust involving the Trucchio crew. Among the charges was trafficking in tens of millions of dollars worth of cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, and prescription drugs into New York over the years. Bookmaking and loansharking remain the financial bedrock of the mob but the NY families continue to be involved in labor union racketeering and extortion in legitimate industries. In just the last 5 years we've seen cases involving the ILA on the New Jersey waterfront, several unions involved in the construction industry (Laborers, Carpenters, etc), other assorted union locals (Food & Commercial workers, the Newspaper union, etc), the garbage industry, and so on. If one spends the majority of their time studying the mob a century ago, they'll probably miss a lot of this. Or soon forget it.

As for law enforcement, if time has shown anything it's that the feds alone can't wipe out the NY families. From that standpoint, the NY mob is virtually indestructible. What law enforcement does is contain it and slowly chip away while attrition takes its toll. But it's proven to be a very slow process, particularly in NY, and that's why the predictions and declarations made about the mob's demise 20 years ago never panned out and aren't repeated by the more careful and discerning government officials and mob journalists in the media.

Italian demographics obviously go hand in hand with attrition in the mob - in terms of both quality and quantity - but it's also proven to be a much slower process than many predicted. You can go back to at least the 1970's and see claims about the Italians moving or being forced out of organized crime. If you look at the numbers, the NY families aren't getting any smaller. They've all maintained their respective totals for at least the last 20 years now. Nobody is saying the demise of the Italian neighborhood, and the assimilation of Italians in general, isn't a factor, but lazy journalists (like the one in this latest article) get ahead of themselves. Let's not forget the same predictions were made when the Italians moved from the inner city neighborhoods to the suburbs years ago. The key for the mob is that it moved beyond "the neighborhood" and really doesn't need Italian enclaves for it to exist, operate, or replenish itself.

Awesome post Wiseguy. You say this stuff so I don't have to, LOL. Thanks for that!

[Wiseguy]

The Wall Street Journal had a better written and more informative article on the NY mob last year...

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240 ... 3092833756