But yet there's this: "They got help from a third party, who warned the restaurateur the very next day that Celso wanted him to recant his police report — which the victim did, the feds allege. The debt was later paid in full."

Plus it sounds like it's just a good defense strategy to make it look like it had nothing to do with extortion but with racist slurs.

And yet he testified against him without going into witness protection.

Try killing a witness in 2023 and see what happens, they will be all locked up in 24 hours.

Never say never. "These days" is said a lot, but I'm sure there were similar cases in the 90s too. The problem is that no one wants to do time anymore. When was it when they tried to kill Curtis Sliwa? Practically in a pretty public fashion. But the mob had people who were really about that life then. I can't see today's wiseguys doing that. Society at large is soft. Everything's soft, not just the mob. Even the military has gone soft. Drill sergeants used to be able to rough you up and curse you out, now basic training has stress cards.

So you're saying what I'm saying..

Seriously though, is the mob so deprived of manpower that their elderly have to go and do debt collections?

True H - and will be the same moving forward. We talk about “who’s left” but there’s always a large pool in NY left as well as other high concentrated Italian American cities. A pool that the elders can use at their wish.