Extortion 2022

[Newyorkempire]

Are these Italian street gangs still active in Chicago?

Very much so, although the bulk of their current membership today is Latino (Mexican and PR).

Yet they are Italian gangs?

[PolackTony]

Are these Italian street gangs still active in Chicago?

Very much so, although the bulk of their current membership today is Latino (Mexican and PR).

Yet they are Italian gangs?

They were founded by Italians in the 50s, 60s, and over the decades with demographic change they came to recruit others who were moving into what used to be heavily Italian neighborhoods. Thus many of the older and former members today are Italian while most of the ongoing recruitment is Latino. If you notice, I’m careful to describe them today as “historically Italian”.

[TallGuy19]

2022 American LCN doesn't murder people anymore so how is it that the are able to extort business's, demand tribute, or even collect debts without the threat of real violence? why wouldn’t a guy into them for money just basically tell them to go fuck themselves?

Its a fair question because there has been so little hits in the past 10 years. I always wonder how they can keep everyone/everything in line without the bodies dropping. The intimidation and reputation factor obviously goes a long way but how much $$$ would they actually kill over. 20-30k? Seems unlikely. But then again they seem to make it work without all the murders so its obviously a last last resort.

Also they don't really target rats at all anymore from what I've read in the forum. And that is with their lives and freedom at stake. So why would they kill someone over a financial debt?

I've asked it before but how could they possibly not even consider targeting someone like Pennisi, with all the rumours that he is going to tesitfy in a future trial against the admin? Has Pennisi or any of the youtube rats ever said anything about being in fear in there day to day lives? Because they seem to live out in the open still in New York.

Pennisi said that he runs into made guys from the Lucchesse family occasionally, and they just ignore him. He saw a couple of guys at a mall once, and he ran into another guy at a birthday party.

There have been a couple of attempts to kill informants recently, but neither were carried out. In 2014, Genovese associate Sal Delligatti tried to have a suspected informant named Joseph Bonelli killed, but the gang members he hired to do the hit were arrested at the scene by a couple of detectives who were watching Bonelli's house.

In 2016, Lucchese soldier Joseph Datello drove to the house of federal witness Sean Richard in New Hampshire to kill him but backed out at the last minute. He pled guilty to the attempted murder in 2018 and is currently in prison.

[Newyorkempire]

Are these Italian street gangs still active in Chicago?

Very much so, although the bulk of their current membership today is Latino (Mexican and PR).

Yet they are Italian gangs?

They were founded by Italians in the 50s, 60s, and over the decades with demographic change they came to recruit others who were moving into what used to be heavily Italian neighborhoods. Thus many of the older and former members today are Italian while most of the ongoing recruitment is Latino. If you notice, I’m careful to describe them today as “historically Italian”.

Got it. Interesting

[Ciro_DiMarzio]

2022 American LCN doesn't murder people anymore so how is it that the are able to extort business's, demand tribute, or even collect debts without the threat of real violence? why wouldn’t a guy into them for money just basically tell them to go fuck themselves?

Its a fair question because there has been so little hits in the past 10 years. I always wonder how they can keep everyone/everything in line without the bodies dropping. The intimidation and reputation factor obviously goes a long way but how much $$$ would they actually kill over. 20-30k? Seems unlikely. But then again they seem to make it work without all the murders so its obviously a last last resort.

Also they don't really target rats at all anymore from what I've read in the forum. And that is with their lives and freedom at stake. So why would they kill someone over a financial debt?

I've asked it before but how could they possibly not even consider targeting someone like Pennisi, with all the rumours that he is going to tesitfy in a future trial against the admin? Has Pennisi or any of the youtube rats ever said anything about being in fear in there day to day lives? Because they seem to live out in the open still in New York.

Pennisi said that he runs into made guys from the Lucchesse family occasionally, and they just ignore him. He saw a couple of guys at a mall once, and he ran into another guy at a birthday party.

There have been a couple of attempts to kill informants recently, but neither were carried out. In 2014, Genovese associate Sal Delligatti tried to have a suspected informant named Joseph Bonelli killed, but the gang members he hired to do the hit were arrested at the scene by a couple of detectives who were watching Bonelli's house.

In 2016, Lucchese soldier Joseph Datello drove to the house of federal witness Sean Richard in New Hampshire to kill him but backed out at the last minute. He pled guilty to the attempted murder in 2018 and is currently in prison.

I’ve never heard of those 2 examples, thanks

[Nick Prango]

2022 American LCN doesn't murder people anymore so how is it that the are able to extort business's, demand tribute, or even collect debts without the threat of real violence? why wouldn’t a guy into them for money just basically tell them to go fuck themselves?

lCN mobsters usually extort people who are involved in criminal activities themselves. They can't go to the police. If you are some small time independent drug dealer, bookie or loan shark, the local crime family wants piece of your action, they would send guys to pressure you. What can you do? You can't go to the police. You can't fight them. You are just one man. They are an organization. They don't need murders to extort other small time criminals or shady business men involved in criminal activities.

[Nick Prango]

2022 American LCN doesn't murder people anymore so how is it that the are able to extort business's, demand tribute, or even collect debts without the threat of real violence? why wouldn’t a guy into them for money just basically tell them to go fuck themselves?

Who said they dont and are not planning on murdering people anymore. You?

The last mob murder was in 2013 which was an anomaly looking at the past 20 years and it resulted in the entire admin of the family going to prison for life, it’s pretty common knowledge that LCN does not kill anymore.

Got to remember we only know about the murders which are reported as mob related.

There could be many murders in the last 10 years alone that they were unable to connect to organised crime or they were never found. Would anybody even report a drug addict missing for example?

[Nick Prango]

2022 American LCN doesn't murder people anymore so how is it that the are able to extort business's, demand tribute, or even collect debts without the threat of real violence? why wouldn’t a guy into them for money just basically tell them to go fuck themselves?

What if they broke your jaw, arms and legs. Or they torch your car. You are a criminal. You can't go to the police. I bet you will be scared. What would you do?

[Nick Prango]

Most extortion victims are either shady people or criminals themselves what are they gonna do go to the cops? Not to mention some of these shady people pay the money to avoid any problems whether be actual violence or hindeences in their respective ventures like gambling, construct etc

It’s also a lot easier said than done telling hardened criminals to fuck off? As someone who’s been around his fair share of shady people they won’t kill you but why risk getting stabbed or fucked up by some crazy fuck

I totally agree. Getting the shit beaten out of you is still pretty good motivation to pay up.

[Coloboy]

Also important to remember that there are many ways to "extort" that don't' have to include violence. They can cut you off from betting, or from potential lines of customers, or if you are a connected business owner perhaps they can prevent you from getting a license of some kind, or can threaten to use political connections to shut down a business, or hold back important contracts (in industries where corruption is common). I could go on but you get the idea.

Although overall I have to think extortion in general is a much smaller piece of the revenue pie these days. It's easy to get caught if you extort the wrong person. I would imagine the focus has to be on extorting shady individuals who are very unlikely to run to the police.

[PolackTony]

Also important to remember that there are many ways to "extort" that don't' have to include violence. They can cut you off from betting, or from potential lines of customers, or if you are a connected business owner perhaps they can prevent you from getting a license of some kind, or can threaten to use political connections to shut down a business, or hold back important contracts (in industries where corruption is common). I could go on but you get the idea.

Although overall I have to think extortion in general is a much smaller piece of the revenue pie these days. It's easy to get caught if you extort the wrong person. I would imagine the focus has to be on extorting shady individuals who are very unlikely to run to the police.

Agreed.

You’re probably aware of the very large number of legal “gaming parlors/lounges” that litter the classically mobbed-up Chicago suburbs (Melrose Park, Stone Park, Cicero, etc). When I was back in Chicago it was really striking how these places have sprung up all over. I’d imagine that there are connected guys making money off of these places on several levels — who owns them, who owns the property, who controls the license, guys using them as hunting grounds for gambling customers to bet off the books and on credit, etc. But, much like porn shops and strip clubs of yesteryear, I see these joints as “grey market” businesses that could be ripe for exploitation by OC. While the outfit almost certainly has little to no clout in the city today, they very likely retain some influence with the public servants and cops in some of these corrupt suburban towns, and thus could have leverage to extort these kinds of businesses, for the “service” of greasing the wheels of clout as well as keeping the heat off of places where illegal gambling activity is very likely parasitizing off of the now legalized “gaming”. As well as controlling things like who these lounges buy their machines and other goods from. All of that would fall under extortion that doesn’t necessarily involve putting a gun to someone’s head.

You will come across people who say that “black magic” only works on those who believe in it. To the extent that the mob still engages in explicit forms of violent extortion (“nice place you got there, would be a shame if something happened to it”, etc), I’d see it as similar. People from within communities/social networks that are already connected to the mob, and who understand how the game is played, could be targeted as they’re more likely to play ball. Some guy comes in to a place run by randos who aren’t even aware that the mob exists — people like that if threatened would probably think the guy was a nut or call the police. Someone who’s already part of that world, however, would recognize what was happening and understand that playing ball is just a cost of doing business. Individuals like that are probably also involved in shady stuff anyway, and thus would be prime targets for extortion. With these gaming parlors, I’d suspect many if not most are not opened by “randos”.

[Nick Prango]

Also important to remember that there are many ways to "extort" that don't' have to include violence. They can cut you off from betting, or from potential lines of customers, or if you are a connected business owner perhaps they can prevent you from getting a license of some kind, or can threaten to use political connections to shut down a business, or hold back important contracts (in industries where corruption is common). I could go on but you get the idea.

Although overall I have to think extortion in general is a much smaller piece of the revenue pie these days. It's easy to get caught if you extort the wrong person. I would imagine the focus has to be on extorting shady individuals who are very unlikely to run to the police.

Agreed.

You’re probably aware of the very large number of legal “gaming parlors/lounges” that litter the classically mobbed-up Chicago suburbs (Melrose Park, Stone Park, Cicero, etc). When I was back in Chicago it was really striking how these places have sprung up all over. I’d imagine that there are connected guys making money off of these places on several levels — who owns them, who owns the property, who controls the license, guys using them as hunting grounds for gambling customers to bet off the books and on credit, etc. But, much like porn shops and strip clubs of yesteryear, I see these joints as “grey market” businesses that could be ripe for exploitation by OC. While the outfit almost certainly has little to no clout in the city today, they very likely retain some influence with the public servants and cops in some of these corrupt suburban towns, and thus could have leverage to extort these kinds of businesses, for the “service” of greasing the wheels of clout as well as keeping the heat off of places where illegal gambling activity is very likely parasitizing off of the now legalized “gaming”. As well as controlling things like who these lounges buy their machines and other goods from. All of that would fall under extortion that doesn’t necessarily involve putting a gun to someone’s head.

You will come across people who say that “black magic” only works on those who believe in it. To the extent that the mob still engages in explicit forms of violent extortion (“nice place you got there, would be a shame if something happened to it”, etc), I’d see it as similar. People from within communities/social networks that are already connected to the mob, and who understand how the game is played, could be targeted as they’re more likely to play ball. Some guy comes in to a place run by randos who aren’t even aware that the mob exists — people like that if threatened would probably think the guy was a nut or call the police. Someone who’s already part of that world, however, would recognize what was happening and understand that playing ball is just a cost of doing business. Individuals like that are probably also involved in shady stuff anyway, and thus would be prime targets for extortion. With these gaming parlors, I’d suspect many if not most are not opened by “randos”.

In his latest video John Pennisi explains how street tax, is still taking place up until today. It's crazy how much influence LCN still have on these businesses in NYC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB2spcH ... itdownnews

[Waingro]

I always think it's weird how people say lcn can't kill people anymore because of rats or technology when those things don't stop other groups from killing. OMCs won't hesitate to kill if they need to and they have the same cameras and recorded phone calls and informants to worry about as the mafia.

[Waingro]

Watch this video of an unsolved murder earlier this year. Use a stolen car, never get out of it at the crime scene, leave your cellphone at home and never talk about afterwards. How do you get caught?


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4xyquxjyn6s

[UTC]

The ultimate threat to many gamblers is cutting them off.