MOB BLOG #43:
Response to NY Daily News Article
“21st Century Mob: How the Mafia Learned
to Adapt for the Future”

Today I read the above titled article by News Staff Writers John Marzulli, Thomas Zambito, and Greg B. Smith. The article was so fundamentally flawed at first glance that I posted a comment on the News, promising readers that I would have a full length posted response to it within 24 hours. This is it.

I have a long time street pal who has called me periodically over the years to remind me that something he read or saw on TV about the mob was wrong. My answer was always, “That’s the way it’s supposed to be.” But that was when traditional organized crime was active; deteriorating but still alive. Today it’s not. Today the mob is in its final stages, and to argue that it isn’t is just a falsehood, propagated by the authorities and the media.

The article in question starts out with a sentence about the mob in the 21st Century that ends with the words, “…still armed and still dangerous.” Okay, where does that come from? Name the last mob rubout you can remember? Those on Sopranos don’t count. Wonder how many the writers can mention that occurred in their own city in the last year, two years, three…? Any of those involved under fifty years old? Under sixty? The New York Post reported that “One night in 2003, Albanian gang leader Alex Rudaj showed up at famed Italian eater and mob hotspot Rao’s in East Harlem. It was one year after the death of Gambino crime leader John Gotti, and Rudaj demanded the Italian’s old table. When he was refused, he came back with dozens of cronies, who hovered menacingly as Rudaj had a one-on-one with the restaurant’s owner. After a short conversation, the table had a new regular.” The Post article went on to say the Albanians had also taken over Greek gambling dens run by the Gambinos and Luccheses. The alleged acting boss of the Gambinos purportedly arranged a meeting with the Albanians, where “The Gambinos had bats and guns; the Albanians had Uzis. When [the acting boss] pointed a gun at Rudaj, one of the Albanians pointed his shotgun at the gas pump, threatening to blow the whole place up. The Italians dropped their guns, and left Soccer Fever to the Albanians….” Armed, yes, but dangerous? And, this was the old guard involved in the two incidents.

“Today’s traditional Mafia family has ventured far from its roots as an ultra-secret society formed in the streets of New York at the dawn of the Depression.” Won’t go into it too much because I’ve written extensively about it, but there is no “Mafia” organization in the United States. However, the article falsely claims the roots of traditional organized crime, that it calls “Mafia,” go back to the Depression. If they’re talking about the Mafia, it goes back centuries in Sicily. If they’re talking about American traditional organized crime, the early 1930s were a transitional period, when young men with names like Luciano, Siegel, Genovese, Lucchese, Profaci, and Mangano overturned old fashioned Moustachio rule. The wars between families ended in the name of business. All shooting conflicts after that have been internal power struggles within families.

The only totally true statement, though not intended to be, from the authors, is that “To some, it appears a gang of criminals has turned into a popular culture commodity, spawning movies and TV shows that will long outlast the real-life story. In that version, the bosses are in jail, the gang is undone and all that’s left is the book and movie deal.” The perception they write about is true, true, true.

The authors go on to quote Michael Gaeta, supervisor of the New York FBI’s organized crime unit, “Despite our attacks, they’ve managed to adapt.” Who are these adaptors? Anyone with an Italian name? I can provide a long list of convicted organized crime figure, all elderly, most in the age range from their sixties to their nineties. How many can Gaeta name who are actual members of the mob who can adapt to a changed meatball recipe, let alone criminal behavior. Many have no idea how to work a computer, couldn’t explain how financial markets work, could identify a hedgehog faster than a hedge fund. Gaeta and the rest of the FBI’s organized crime detail will identify every young criminal with an older relative in the mob or just an Italian last name as part of an organized crime that has “adapted.” If they admit how much disarray the mob is in they may be transferred to an anti-terrorist unit, where the targets have no scruples about chopping off an FBI Agent’s head or attacking his or her family. Does that mean that no younger, more sophisticated criminals are not connected, but certainly not all. I have done many TV, radio, and print interviews in this country, Canada, and Italy. I am invariably asked about what kind of people mobsters really are. I tell them that the mob is a microcosm of the rest of society. If society, as it is today, self indulgent, self absorbed, and without self-discipline then mobsters will be too. However, for traditional organized crime to flourish, it depends on discipline. Without it, the mob has more than one foot in the grave.

Further on, FBI supervisor Gaeta illustrates how savvy mobsters are, because “…they make sure everyone leaves their cell phone at the door.” With security like that, how can they ever be destroyed? I am awed by their genius, and am sure the planted bugs and weak-kneed rats-to-be won’t have any effect at all on their freedom. The fact that many of their associates may have insurance with the carrier company, Federal Witness Protection Program, means nothing at all. Duh. Right after that, the G-Man says that they “…no longer perform the ornate induction ceremonies in which a card depicting a saint is burned and a gun is displayed. They’ve ditched the saint and the gun.” Okay, then, I ask what makes them members of whatever name authorities want to call traditional organized crime? If my father worked in the Post Office and I bring a letter to the mailbox, am I a mailman? If it doesn’t quack like a duck, swim like a duck, or waddle like a duck, what the hell makes it a duck? In truth, the membership ceremony is necessary to traditional organized crime as a carrot to hold out to younger crooks, to keep the paydays coming and to maintain discipline. Without discipline, the organized comes out of organized crime, and all society is left with is crime…often chaotic crime.

The article goes on to list various businesses that “mob-linked” companies have participated in, like subcontracting on construction projects that include “…highway repair, the midtown office tower boom, the massive water treatment plant in the Bronx, even the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.” He then says, “They were taking advantage of that – even if it was only removing waste from a construction site.” No, not removing waste! They’d have their favorite companies getting jobs.” Ever hear of ACORN? “If the union was a problem, they’d take care of it.” Once again, all I’m left with are questions. Are the actions involved in the aforementioned projects illegal? If so, why not arrest the participants? If they’re legal, why not? Would the authorities insist that those who have been associated with the mob in the past, or are still associated on a social level, be doomed to only commit crimes as a source of income? Should people, regardless of their past or associations, be barred from legitimate business? Someone with very shady associations was elected President of the United States. Does being Italian carry less rights to succeed in the legitimate world than any other ethnic background? If the authorities can find a crime, by all means they should do their job and try to convict the offender. If not, let them live and let live, and move on to crimes that endanger our citizens in a real, 9/11 type way.

The next issue brought up in the article is the Wall Street boom, and that a Lucchese soldier formed a “fake” hedge fund and “…conned hundreds of wealthy investors into putting their money in bundled mortgage securities – one of the major causes of the economy’s collapse.” What?!! The Lucchese Family busted the United States’ economy? How about the world’s economy? How about killed Cock Robin? Forget those small time chumps like Bernie Madoff, or Morgan Stanley, or AIG, or other huge hedge fund operators…it was a Lucchese soldier that caused the economy of the entire universe to collapse. Boo!

The article cites what they call “The Gambino Family” that stole credit card numbers through internet porn sites, true in as much as the thief was the son of a convicted Gambino executive, but I remember seeing a bunch of non-Italian names involved in the crime. Is the young man even part of the Gambino crew? The Feds found a crime and convicted and imprisoned the perpetrators, but have not proven any link between this yuppie crook and the Gambino Family? They also have charged Gambino members with having taken over a water company and laundering money through it. How new age is that? And, those charged are primarily in their late sixties. The article takes too much liberty mixing apples and oranges, yuppie crooks and organized crime figures.

The last business mentioned regards illegal offshore betting on the Web. First of all, gambling has always been the purview of the mob. Going from writing down bets on a slip of paper to taking action over the phone was not a major move, and neither is going from the phone to the Web. In fact, some time ago, a huge internet gambling operator out of Canada wanted to advertise his service on television. Friends of mine in the advertising business tried unsuccessfully to get a network that would allow the operation to sponsor a boxing event, which is what the owner wanted. Organized crime sticking its dirty tentacles into legitimate business? Trying to infiltrate boxing? Take over a TV network? None of the clichés applied in that case because the owner of the gambling operation happened to be a Hasidic Jew.

Suddenly, the article takes a contradictory turn. “As part of the new mob order, the penchant for violence has diminished.” Could that be because the mob order is in disorder? The authors take the reader on a tour of ‘80s violence and ‘90s rats then say that law enforcement sources admit that since 2000 violence has dropped precipitously. They conclude that “…the mob once again craves a lower profile to avoid scrutiny.” So we should conclude that a drop in any city’s general crime figures indicate and underground conspiracy to commit more crimes? Is there no good news for the Feds? (Remember the terrorist assignments) Can’t the lower violence seen in the mob be seen as a result of the mob’s falling apart? “They try to keep things looking legit. They’d rather take 5 cents from 1,000 people than $10,000 from one.” Doesn’t that belie the crimes they’ve charged? The credit card scam from porn sites they mentioned earlier amounted to over 800 million dollars. Oh, they forgot to mention that. Incidentally, of it all, they claim the son of the Gambino exec raked in as much as 30 million, if you choose to believe that figure, or, according to them, less than five percent of what the rest of the group made.

If you remember, I cited the authorities’ claim that what they now call organized crime under a bunch of erroneous names does not do the membership ceremony anymore. They now add, “Three of the five families have retired the official boss altogether, forming flexible leadership panels that mediate disputes and enforce the so-called rules.” No membership ceremony, no official boss, and apparently from the tone, no firm rules. Again, I ask, what makes those involved part of the Mafia (not in America) or La Cosa Nostra (a false term fed to the world by a moron, Joe Valachi, which became a proper noun even by members), and not JUST PLAIN CRIMINALS with Italian names? The authors go on to list the names of social clubs, like Gotti’s Ravenite, used by mobsters that have gone by the wayside, but again decide that means that “…just because they can’t be seen doesn’t mean they aren’t there.” Each reader has to figure out how much sense that makes when combined with the other points in this paragraph.

The mob is in the throes of death. It always depended on discipline, on rules that would be disobeyed by one’s own peril. As long as low level mobsters rolled over and testified against others, discipline could still be managed to some extent. Once higher ups like Joe Massino, Gaspipe Casso, Little Al D’Arco, et al became rats discipline was lost. From the beginning of mob time there was always a system of “going on record,” or reporting to superiors everything that was done or would be done, ostensibly for the family to protect the underling in the event of a beef with another crew, but more truthfully to extract money for every little score and to limit crimes that could have implications on higher ups. Going on the record is gone. Anyone who reports anything incriminating that will make its way up the ladder to the boss has to be out of his mind. Today, real mob figures are old, in large part imprisoned, and mostly suffering with chronic illnesses. When they ride off into the sunset, traditional organized crime will finally go the way of the Wild West. America will still be left with crime, but it will be chaotic crime. However, there will still be books, films, and television shows to let future generations know what if was like. To do that, the writers of those formats have to know what they’re talking about…not depend on the self-serving gratuitous words or turncoats like Henry Hill or law enforcement personnel dependent on the Mafia bugaboo to gather funds and work in a safe place.

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