Barney Bellomo

[Ovation32]

In reading about the recent indictment and seeing Barney's name for the first time in a long time in coverage, I began thinking about him and his reign once again. Whether this ends for him like Chin or Don Carlo, I really think we have to begin considering him one of the most formidable and successful Dons in the history of LCN, especially given the fact that he is doing it in today's day and age which is nearly impossible.

The only hesitation I have is my uncertainty over where the Genovese Family really stands in the hierarchy of American criminal organizations in 2022. Put aside the other four families because none of them come close to the Westside. Is the Genovese family far and away the most powerful criminal organization currently based in the United States? I have seen no evidence to the contrary and, if this is correct, Barney is already a legend in my opinion.

I would love to hear anyone's thoughts.

[Pogo The Clown]

Depends what you mean by based in and powerful. In terms of size, money generated and influence the Genovese have been surpassed long ago by other groups operating the US.


Also seems like many people on the forums have an inflated view of the family. While they have managed to best adapt and retain compared to the other families but they to are significantly weaker compared to previous decades.


Pogo

[JohnnyS]

I would say they are still the number one family in terms of power and numbers but I honestly don't think the Gambinos are that far off of them now thanks to their Sicilian faction and good leadership post the Gotti's.

Over the last 20 or so years I think what's seperated them from the other families has been their strong leadership. No matter who got pinched it always seemed like they had guys capable of stepping up. Even after Gigante and Barney were imprisoned in the 90s, they had the likes of Dom Cirillo, Larry Dentico, Daniel Leo, Ernie Muscarella etc that can fill the void.

[Little_Al1991]

Depends what you mean by based in and powerful. In terms of size, money generated and influence the Genovese have been surpassed long ago by other groups operating the US.


Also seems like many people on the forums have an inflated view of the family. While they have managed to best adapt and retain compared to the other families but they to are significantly weaker compared to previous decades.


Pogo

Which other groups in the US? i am not to educated on the other groups but I would be interested in knowing which are more powerful than the Genovese Family

[Little_Al1991]

Barney is on the level of guys such as Gigante and Carlo Gambino
These guys are under a lot of heat and here is Barney in this current day having a great run at the top.
Recently, we have seen Matty Madonna get pinched along with others such as Andy Russo and Joe Cammarano
But here is Barney as a free man.

[Dave65827]

I’m pretty sure Pogo is referring to the cartel groups that operate in America now dominating all its Hispanic proxies.

I guess if you can count the collective capital of Russian and Albanian groups that have little to do with groups within themselves they are stronger

Also a difference between Barney and others is the insulation between himself and others. Look at Madonna giving murder contracts himself, Mancuso openly violating his parole, Russo openly extorting the union and Frank Cali getting popped by a Qanon supporter

[TommyNoto]

Their street power/ rackets has obviously taken a big hit like the other families.

However IMO, wealth power at the strong soldier, captain / admin level might be near all time highs with all the legit biz / real estate they own and the huge appreciation of those assets in today’s economy.

Sports gambling is so much bigger today with internet/ suburbanization vs old days so I don’t see the $ train slowing down anytime soon for them.

IMO Gambinos are up there too and their possible LA push IMo is about tapping into its huge gambling biz ( sports and machines)

[eboli]

The Genovese benefitted from capable leadership for decades. Artie Nigro is probably the only dud they had after Vito as far as bosses/acting bosses go. In that regard, the Gambinos are more impressive because it looks like they managed to recover after the Gotti years. As TommyNoto pointed out, there's nothing to suggest there are too far off right now. These two families are obviously in much better shape than any other LCN crime family.

[Little_Al1991]

I’m pretty sure Pogo is referring to the cartel groups that operate in America now dominating all its Hispanic proxies.

I guess if you can count the collective capital of Russian and Albanian groups that have little to do with groups within themselves they are stronger

Also a difference between Barney and others is the insulation between himself and others. Look at Madonna giving murder contracts himself, Mancuso openly violating his parole, Russo openly extorting the union and Frank Cali getting popped by a Qanon supporter

The Sinola Cartel is responsible for a lot of the drugs that come in and it’s distributed by street gangs but officially, the Sinola cartel doesn’t have a crew of its guys who are actually from the cartel active in America from what I’ve read.Well at least not the Sinola.

[StandUpGuy]

Which are these so called imaginary organized groups that only det exist on the internet that are more powerful than the Genovese? Albanians or russians? This is pure fiction, no credible evidence.

[Pogo The Clown]

I’m pretty sure Pogo is referring to the cartel groups that operate in America now dominating all its Hispanic proxies.

Correct. These groups are active in all 50 states and their influence is felt, directly or indirectly, in practically every city of any size. Not to mention they pull in multiple billion dollars a year. The Genovese and LCN as a whole is not even a pimple on their ass at this point. You also have drugs gangs that dwarf the Genovese in size, money and control of the streets.


Pogo

[SonnyBlackstein]

Cartels more powerful.
Crips Bloods Latin Kings.
Bikie gangs. Hells Angel's have thousands of full patches in the US alone, hundreds more in canada.

Those organizations are national. Some international. GENOVESE exists purely in a few boroughs in NYC.

[TommyNoto]

Cartels more powerful.
Crips Bloods Latin Kings.
Bikie gangs. Hells Angel's have thousands of full patches in the US alone, hundreds more in canada.

Those organizations are national. Some international. GENOVESE exists purely in a few boroughs in NYC.

For drug activities I agree but Westside can (and have ) shut down port Newark/ Trucking if they chose which would disrupt entire US supply chain/ economy. Westside strength today is their combined economic/ industry power, kind of comparing apples to oranges IMO as DTOs haven’t evolved yet into having industry power but they have real street power.

[OcSleeper]

Not disagreeing there's groups that are more powerful than the Genovese Family but these comparisons don't really check out. You can't compare several groups that operate under an umbrella organization to a specific group. It's apple's and oranges here.

[Pogo The Clown]

Yeah but even if you lump in all the remaining families in the country LCN is still small potatoes compared to many other groups.


Pogo