Smaller families earning potential

[Eddie mush]

Boston based guy here asking a question outside of New York in the smaller families like New England , Philly, jersey etc what's the earning potential ?? When u was a kid growing up in east Boston the mobsters made money hand over fist . and the risk made the financial reward seen with it . Now a days not so sure

I read articles of guys going to jail for years over 20-30 K not really life changing money. Not to mention the perks of the life are gone . No-1 seems to really know these guys anymore . In the old days of a wise guy walked into a restraunt on a busy night he wud have his table immediately . I saw it first hand in my fathers restraunt ?? Does that happen anymore ?? I mean other than old time life long residents in a few select place like Eastie and the north end know1 really know these guys anymore .

So I guess my question is what's the perks of being a wise guy these days in a smaller family ??is there really that much money to be made to outweigh the negatives like jail time and alwYs having to look over your shoulder

[SonnyBlackstein]

Every Wiseguy earns differently. Some do well, some don't. There is no rule of thumb.

[Chucky]

Every Wiseguy earns differently. Some do well, some don't. There is no rule of thumb.

Bingo, it's like anything else in life...you have winners, losers, and guys who bounce in between.

[Eddie mush]

Yes I realize there is no set number for these guys and I realize some guys earn better than others just like any other business

My question is more can these guys in smaller families really make life changing money ( for convo sake let's say 300K a year or more ) ?
If I am risking my freedom I wanna be making serious cash. Not going to the can for 100K a year wen I make more than that now working for a living

[Chucky]

My question is more can these guys in smaller families really make life changing money ( for convo sake let's say 300K a year or more ) ?
If I am risking my freedom I wanna be making serious cash. Not going to the can for 100K a year wen I make more than that now working for a living

But these guys don't work for a living, that's what you're missing. If a guy is making a $100k a year with barely a high school education then why would he "work for a living" when he doesn't have the ability to? I can think of plenty of guys in Philly who make or made serious money, and plenty of guys who live day to day...it's been that way forever.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Sure if you want to move drugs.

[Ivan]

But these guys don't work for a living, that's what you're missing.

Yeah, that's kind of the point of being a mobster. It's more about getting by comfortably without having to do the 9 to 5 thing than it is about getting rich. I remember Capeci in his Mafia Guide defined a mobster as someone who was willing to kill to avoid having to go to work.

[cavita]

I have read the files on Joe Zito, the consigliere of Rockford, which was a small family in the Midwest. When he died in 1981 he left his wife Mary an estate valued at $252,189 of which $169,000 was in cash. This of course was in 1981 money and I'm sure did not include what he may have had on the street or that was intangible.

[Wiseguy]

There are millionaires in small families too. But, as I've said many times, big or small family most guys seem to be middle class, while you have a minority on either end of the spectrum - rich guys and brokesters.

[jimmyb]

Not sure if you're strictly talking about earnings in the illegitimate economy (drugs, gambling, loan-sharking, larceny), but it seems that in Detroit, the big earners infiltrate the legit economy (trucking, sanitation, bars and restaurants, meat and produce etc.) .

An example would be a guy like Joey Giacalone. He bought land from Chrysler for $300,000, then sold it to the City of Detroit for $42.2 million. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20 ... d-ideas-at

White Collar racketeering seem pretty lucrative for these guys.

[Pete]

There are millionaires in small families too. But, as I've said many times, big or small family most guys seem to be middle class, while you have a minority on either end of the spectrum - rich guys and brokesters.

I believe in the current economic climate for small families that the amount of brokesters far exceeds millionaires which are few and far between in small families. I'm sure there are many guys doing very well but actual millionaires? Not too many of them out there. As stated by someone else most of the guys at millionaire status did so through their legitimate dealings. Very few guys are making millions from traditional lcn endeavors like gambling and loan sharking. Hundreds of thousands yes but not millions

[B.]

The other side of this would be... how many guys in the old days were that rich? Hard to know how much money they were earning and where it all was going but I'm always surprised to find that a lot of these guys weren't as rich as they seem. I agree that the money the guys today are making is below what they made in their peak but it's easy to look at black and white pictures of guys in their old suits and figure they're all making tons of money.

In Philly the family has never been that sophisticated. Most of the members over the years have been small business owners who make their living from gambling and loansharking, sometimes drugs, basic labor racketeering, or some other short scam. At one point at least there was a street tax. They had control of Local 54 and influence in other unions at times, but no evidence they ever got the kind of money or power through it that other families got through unions. A few members many decades ago ran beer distributors but they don't seem to have been crazy rich, probably just exercised limited influence together to get beer sold.

Angelo Bruno was a successful businessman before he was a made member and continued to make investments which is where a good part of his wealth came from. In that Zerilli transcript I posted he is talking about how he's going broke because traveling for the Commission is taking him away from his business. He's gotta be exaggerating about going broke but still here's a guy who is boss for decades who wants to get back to running his source of legit income. Castellano was accused of being more businessman than boss, ran a large company. Tom Gagliano was said to have focused only on legitimate income. Maranzano was wealthy before he got into bootlegging. Most of these guys use the mob's influence to help their businesses when possible but they were still mainly businessmen.

It's a terrible time to be a street corner gangster. We live in a time of facial recognition software, tiny powerful microphones, digital recording, we can be tracked and hacked on our phones, etc. I was just talking to someone on here yesterday about how weed is getting legalized in some states and sportsbetting is right on the cusp also, so there are two potential sources of income that could be getting thinner in the near future. I've got no doubt that guys are having a harder time making money on the street these days. People have been saying for over 35 years that the mob is going to need to focus more on legitimate ventures if it wants to survive and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the biggest focus for a lot of guys now. It doesn't matter if you're the president of Lean Cuisine... if you're a mob boss, you're a mob boss. In the past though you'll see that a lot of the wealthiest guys have their legit income to thank as much if not more than their alleged street income.

[Eddie mush]

My question is more can these guys in smaller families really make life changing money ( for convo sake let's say 300K a year or more ) ?
If I am risking my freedom I wanna be making serious cash. Not going to the can for 100K a year wen I make more than that now working for a living

But these guys don't work for a living, that's what you're missing. If a guy is making a $100k a year with barely a high school education then why would he "work for a living" when he doesn't have the ability to? I can think of plenty of guys in Philly who make or made serious money, and plenty of guys who live day to day...it's been that way forever.

Great points Chucky . I guess wen your a uneducated unskilled guy 100k with out working is much better than $40k breaking your back working construction .

[Pogo The Clown]

I believe in the current economic climate

I don't wanna hear about the fucking economy! I don't wanna hear it. Break it down for them. What two businesses have traditionally been recession proof since time immemorial?


Pogo

[Hailbritain]

Certain aspects of show business and our thing ??