Modern Day Numbers Operations

[Adam]

Hello. I was researching my old articles on the Detroit mob's involvement in the numbers industry in the 60s, 70s, 80s. But there's nothing past that unless you count the Detroit mob taking protection payments from numbers operators in the 90s. But it got me thinking about how I can't remember the last numbers betting ring(mob connected or not) that got busted. I was trying to think about how a modern numbers operation would operate now. It still has to exist in some format. Granted there are state daily 3 and 4 drawings, but there's got to be a segment of the population that wants better pay out rates with no taxes. So how would one do a numbers operation now which I assume would involve cell phones and the internet? Does anyone have examples from post 2000 that have been taken down by the government?

[Pogo The Clown]

The Philly still had a numbers operation up to at least 2001. In 2000 there was a raid in Cleveland involving a multimillion a year numbers operation run by one time Cleveland LCN Associate Virgil Ogletree (black?). Wiseguy mentioned a small numbers operation being part of a Gambino indictment in the last 20 years. I think that is it in terms of LCN involvement with the traditional numbers racket post-2000.


Pogo

[Adam]

The Philly still had a numbers operation up to at least 2001. In 2000 there was a raid in Cleveland involving a multimillion a year numbers operation run by one time Cleveland LCN Associate Virgil Ogletree (black?). Wiseguy mentioned a small numbers operation being part of a Gambino indictment in the last 20 years. I think that is it in terms of LCN involvement with the traditional numbers racket post-2000.


Pogo

Thanks Pogo. I found a large non mob related numbers bust in the Detroit area in the late 1990s(Southfield but right north of Detroit). Not really focused on mob related ones. I'm actually more curious about the racket in general. The old ones involved a lot of manpower/overhead. So a part of me is wondering if it isn't worth the effort and small shops/liquor stores/bodegas just do it on their own with no actual organization. Which is what the 90s payoffs to the Detroit mob came across as. So I'm curious as to how it would work today in 2022. Mob connected or not. Like in more densely populated neighborhoods in New York or Chicago or Philly.

[Wiseguy]

This was the the topic of recent discussion in another thread. The last mob-connected numbers bust was a Gambino one in 2011. None since then that I'm aware of. They were actually fairly common (in NY/NJ) up through the 2000s, though obviously nowhere near as often as sports betting cases. Rather rare up through then involving other mob families. The racket seems to have become passe. You still see news of an occasional bust in Hispanic areas though not much evidence of a large, centralized/syndicated organization running things. Like I said before, mob related or otherwise, I've wondered if it's a generational thing; i.e. those who played the numbers dying off and the younger generations playing the state lotto.

[TallGuy19]

NY Times story about a small numbers operation bust in Harlem in 2013:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/nyre ... arlem.html

[BensonhurstGuy]

There’s still numbers run in East Harlem and the Bronx. Know 2 guys still doing it

[Adam]

This was the the topic of recent discussion in another thread. The last mob-connected numbers bust was a Gambino one in 2011. None since then that I'm aware of. They were actually fairly common (in NY/NJ) up through the 2000s, though obviously nowhere near as often as sports betting cases. Rather rare up through then involving other mob families. The racket seems to have become passe. You still see news of an occasional bust in Hispanic areas though not much evidence of a large, centralized/syndicated organization running things. Like I said before, mob related or otherwise, I've wondered if it's a generational thing; i.e. those who played the numbers dying off and the younger generations playing the state lotto.

Thanks Wiseguy. I was kind of leaning the same way that the younger generation wouldn't play the traditional numbers. Like you said "Passe". Different generations. Like it might be easier to just put your money in the machines(legal or not) in the shops.

[CornerBoy]

This was the the topic of recent discussion in another thread. The last mob-connected numbers bust was a Gambino one in 2011. None since then that I'm aware of. They were actually fairly common (in NY/NJ) up through the 2000s, though obviously nowhere near as often as sports betting cases. Rather rare up through then involving other mob families. The racket seems to have become passe. You still see news of an occasional bust in Hispanic areas though not much evidence of a large, centralized/syndicated organization running things. Like I said before, mob related or otherwise, I've wondered if it's a generational thing; i.e. those who played the numbers dying off and the younger generations playing the state lotto.

ubiquitous in bed stuy certain parts of bushwick, parts of canarsie crown heights ENY. most corners in the ghetto still but they pay 700-1 now. ive never played an illegal bolita in my lfie or the lottery for that matter but lots of black dudes are addicts and the hispanic ppl that take the bets or run the banks & controllers- THE GUYS ABOVE THE RUNNERS all supposedly live across the river in nj