Street Tax

[Etna]

Can anyone shed light on the Mob's street tax? How wide spread was this? I remember reading Philly used it. Is it still in place and what about NYC?

[Pogo The Clown]

It depends on the family and the era. Philly had one in its earlier days until it stopped in the 40s. It restarted again when Nicky Scaro took over in 1981 and continued pretty much into the present (at least in terms of gaambling) though not as wide spread as it used to be. I believe Chicago got into it starting in the 50s and it continued up till the 90s/2000s. The NY 5 had it to extent but I don't think it was ever as pervasive as it was Chicago and Philly.


Pogo

[Etna]

Do the five families/philadelphia for instance impose a pizzo form of extortion on local businesses? Specifically in modern times. I remember reading the Colombos were shaking down some places in an old americanmafia.com article.

With those 5 in nyc it seems difficult to divvy up whay would be territory for one another when many were in a lot of the same areas, no?

[Pogo The Clown]

They do on occassion but on a much smaller scale and usually confined to a few types of businesses or industries.


Pogo

[Pogo The Clown]

Detroit tried to impose one in the early 90s. Same with LA in the 70s (at least on porn shops and some bookmakers). Both ended badly (indictments). Really in most cases the street tax is not worth the hassle. All it leads to is lots of murders and indictments for relatively little money once it gets divided.


Pogo

[Etna]

Thats the way it would sound. I dont know if any groups woild he strong enough to shakedown other criminal groups

[Wiseguy]

Can anyone shed light on the Mob's street tax? How wide spread was this? I remember reading Philly used it. Is it still in place and what about NYC?

Obviously, just for clarity's sake, my understanding of the term "street tax" typically implies extortion of unaffiliated criminal operations. I don't know of extortion of legitimate businesses necessarily falls under that as its understood.

Anyway, some NYC examples include the Luccheses (James Galione) extorting drug dealers in Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge back in the 1990s. Alite talks in his book about how Junior Gotti's crew also shook down unaffiliated drug dealers in parts of Queens. Greek gambling operators in Queens paid the Luccheses for years. I recall in one fairly recent Bonanno case one of the charges was murder of some guy for not sharing profits from his video poker machines with the family.

Do the five families/philadelphia for instance impose a pizzo form of extortion on local businesses? Specifically in modern times. I remember reading the Colombos were shaking down some places in an old americanmafia.com article.

With those 5 in nyc it seems difficult to divvy up whay would be territory for one another when many were in a lot of the same areas, no?

The Luccheses (Eugene Castelle) were extorting local businesses in parts of Brooklyn back in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

Strip clubs and other adult businesses are a often favorite shakedown target for the mob. There are several examples involving most, if not all, the NY families just since 2000.

Extortion charges are often seen in mob cases involving labor racketeering and industries like construction, the waterfront, trucking, garbage, etc. I think that's what Pogo is referring to.

But when you mention "pizzo," I think most people have the image of a couple enforcers walking into a small business and informing the owner he has to pay so much every week or his windows will be broken or the place burned down. But the approach doesn't always have to be so blatant and cliche. It can come in the form of forcing a business to purchase products from a mob-owned supplier. Or a mobster can be put on the company roll as an "consultant" or whatever.

[FriendofFamily]

Usually Strip Clubs are the Target in the US anymore that are legitimate but have a Building (tough to get zoning anymore) and don't want the hassle and they have CASH to pay. Sometimes they give bonuses with the Girls just to keep everyone happy.

[Bruno187]

Back in the early 90's a crew of guys I knew used to roll around to bodegas and just walk in and take machines out then leave a card with a number on it telling the guy, "if the machine belongs to anybody who is supposed to have machines out, have him call us". Sometimes the machine belonged to somebody and they would return it...if not, they got a machine and the cash in it. They would go back in a few weeks and repeat if there was another machine in there until the guy got the message: Only wiseguys are allowed to put machines in places, otherwise they're ours.
Could never get away with that shit today.

[Wiseguy]

Back in the early 90's a crew of guys I knew used to roll around to bodegas and just walk in and take machines out then leave a card with a number on it telling the guy, "if the machine belongs to anybody who is supposed to have machines out, have him call us". Sometimes the machine belonged to somebody and they would return it...if not, they got a machine and the cash in it. They would go back in a few weeks and repeat if there was another machine in there until the guy got the message: Only wiseguys are allowed to put machines in places, otherwise they're ours.
Could never get away with that shit today.

What's happened between the early 1990s and today that would prevent the mob from doing that now?

While the machines can be found across the country and there's raids all the time in various states that have nothing to do with the LCN, within organized crime circles it seems video poker machines have been as mob-dominated as sports betting as, at least where there has been a viable family still present.

You mentioned bodegas so I assume you're talking about Hispanic areas. For years, in the New York/New Jersey area, gambling in those communities was said to be under the control of the Cuban Corporation. Supposedly - and maybe this answers my question - they and mob families maintained a mutual respect for each other's territory. A lot of big numbers (how widely it operated, how much money it made, etc) were attributed to the group but there didn't seem to be a lot of significant cases until 2004 when much of the leadership was indicted. Battle Sr, of course, died in 2007. There haven't been any cases involving the group since then that I'm aware of. In fact, it seems most cases involving organized Hispanic gambling in recent years have been the Dominican lottery.

[Bruno187]

My last commentary had more to do with the changes in NY law enforcement than in the ability or tendency of the mob to control the video gambling industry.
The late 80's early 90's in NYC there was a much more "lawless" attitude and young guys would do all kinds of stupid shit on a routine basis.
With today's "law and order" approach to community policing, the cops would be on you in 2 seconds if a bunch of white guys rolled up on a Puerto Rican or Dominican grocery store and unloaded one or two large cabinets from the back all the while the ownership is hotly contesting the removal of the machine. That's not even factoring in the probability that these NYPD street cameras have caught the whole thing and your plate numbers on video.
IMHO it's just not worth the risk nowadays.
Maybe that's more a reflection on my own mindset as I get near 50 years old vs being 20 something. I don't know.

[JOJO]

A bodega is a convenience store anywhere in NYC

[UTC]

Spanish Raymond paid a street tax of sorts to Pleasant Avenue, even though he liked to deny it. At the end it was very minimal though.

[bronx]

now he was a #s legend