Considering the lack of prospects of Italian descent in the United States, is it time for certain long time associates in the same standing of Joe Watts, Mike Meldish, Foxy Jerothe, Jimmy Burke, Herbie Sperling types to be considered eligible for entrance into a family as a soldier. The new blood might invigorate and energize the families to recapture their former glory.

Granted,there are many associates,who are wiseguys in everything but name only.
They are great earners,and exhibit great loyalty and business savvy.
Having said that,I do believe that the Italian requirement should remain in place.
It promotes a sense of brotherhood and belonging,and is the highest honor for an Italian criminal.
I would also submit that in any decent size area,there are always going to be talented Italian recruits.
When Luciano set up the Commission,he saw the value in working with people of all ethnic backgrounds,
but limiting actual membership to Italians to give them a sense of being the elite as well as
reinforcing the blood bonds that united them.
Interestingly enough,at one time Luciano considered ending the "blood and fire" induction ceremony.
He felt that is was a silly throwback to the Sicilian mob,and interfered with his plans to Americanize the Mob and operate on strict business principles.
If the original heads of the 5 Families would have went along,who knows what the Mafia would look like today?
Hell,we could have the Lansky Family instead of the Gambinos. LOL

Absolutely not.

No need. At this stage it appears more of a symbolic thing than something needed if you are a hard core successful criminal. What are the advantages? Back in the day there were many but now?

The 'Ndrangheta has accepted gypsies into their ranks, granted they lived in Italy for centuries they are Roma or Sinti not Calabrian, Sicilian.

Can most current members actually even find Italy on a map!

It is an interesting topic cause I feel American mob culture is as much a New York thing as it is Italian albeit the highest percentage of white people in the metro area are of Italian descent. I think Italian American heritage is still strong enough for now but I do think there is a time where they could more become the “American mafia” as opposed to just Italian American. A first step I anticipate them inducting guys who are Italian on their mothers side which could lead to some funny “Italian” surnames

Sorry to break it to everyone here but the mob doesn't have many young people who even give a fuck about being a mobster in 2024.

I witness this first hand. These kids are raised with a silver spoon in their mouths and actually frown upon organized crime for the most part. They want nothing to do with it which for us is unfortunate because we would love to see the mob go back to what it was in its heyday.

The mob isnt a gang where the members have tatoo that show their position on the hierarchy! Its an organization that (should) operate in the shadow. Today given the low quality of many mobsters or wannabes,to have a good,loyal and moneymaker associate is a very good thing and this associates have more respect on the streets that many mobsters.
For me anyway can easly made also the italians on the mother side but after changed the surname.

The generation that would have taken over is too far gone. They all moved out of the city and into the suburbs after college and then took legit jobs, many in state government. If not that, they became lawyers, doctors, attorneys, and some stuck to blue collar jobs such as laborers and even owning their own construction businesses. They had children, raised them in good home around kids who came from legit families. These kids instead of being John Gotti, had aspirations of holding the same jobs their parents had. Now those kids are grown up and having their own children raising them to be the same way.


This is the biggest factor as to why the mob is not the same as it once was.

BTW about half these kids are ashamed of the history of their own families who were tied to organized crime over the years. I know that sounds fucked up but its looked down upon in their social circles and among the younger generation in their own family. Also I can guarantee that there is a really good chance we here on this forum know more about gangsters in their own family tree than they even do.

Initiations are a thing of the past anyway, criminal minded people Italian or not, don't need a button if you have the right connections.

I agree with this last part when talking about the kids that are coming up now in areas that have been traditionally hot beds for mob areas. The influences these kids are getting now are from social media figures, hip hop figures, etc. Plus the mob to these kids now is what's going to appear on YouTube and all these podcasts talking about it. So the generation that would pass the ideology to them of keeping tradition going is almost over. This next generation coming up, with parents in their 20's/30's won't have any influence on them. I mean just look at the majority of the ages in most families of made guys. It's rare to find guys across the board under the age of 50.

There are still large recruitment pools in Staten Island and in certain pockets of the Bronx. You would be amazed at how many young retards are out there still

I think the majority of old school mob guys (In their 70's and 80's) would knock these kids over the head with their fist. Way too much opportunity now in the world to turn to a life of crime like they had to do.

These same grandfathers risked so much to provide a life for their family so one day they would be able to live a life that was better than they could have ever imagined. It must break their hearts to see their grandsons wanting to not take advantage of the opportunity to get a quality education and be someone they can be proud of and brag to others about with their heads held high. But instead their grandsons fuck everything up and waste all the opportunity they were given.

I will never understand it.

Absolutely. Like Clint Eastwood said 'This is the pussy generation'

Lol lol



Nicely said.



+1

Now, I know that if I say this, lots of fanatics might come after me Lol, but from the 1940's up until the 1980's Chicago had more than few non-Italian "bosses" who completely knew on who was made and who wasnt, and also completely knew the Mafia's hierarchy and on who belonged on which spot or which areas were controlled by the Italian made guys. Lots of Chicago's non-Italian "members" grew up with members of the Cosa Nostra brotherhood and so they were able to receive lots of information. Im talking about guys like Guzik, Humphreys, Alex, Patrick, Pierce, Kruse, Yaras, Corngold, the German etc. and if anyone of these fellas ever became an informant, like Lenny Patrick, they were going to give the government complete picture of the Italian Cosa Nostra organization, and thats what Patrick did, meaning he was one of the most credible informants for saying that Carlisi was the boss and DiFronzo the underboss, after Aiuppa's and Cerone's imprisonment, meaning it wasnt Ferriola like most media and government sources said at the time. Another example is from the 1960's or when Frank Ferraro died or was about to die, the Daddano clan was allegedly quite worried on how much Ferraro told Gus Alex regarding the innerworkings of the Italian brotherhood and Accardo was also allegedly worried about it. Thats why by the early 1970's Alex became one of the top 3 or 4 leaders of the Outfit (Accardo, Aiuppa, Cerone (released in 1973/74), Alex) and remained in that position for quite some time, but on the other hand, after Ricca's death or after the death of the old "Capone faction", the whole non-Italian group began shrinking, almost to a non-existence. So regarding Outfit secrets, I dont see much difference between a made guy and non-made guy during those days. Maybe if they kept the non-Italian "members", the Outfit might've been number one crime family in the US even today?!

What Irish,Jewisht,Polish,or other European descent prospects like the ones you mention are around that are any better than any Italians?
Like Italians, every generation ,the smarter ones don't need that life.
Back in the beginning,for many of the smarter ones had no other good options in
Can't see inducting Black or Latin or Asian because of the mutual distrust they and the Italians seem to have for each other
Italians can't even trust each other unless maybe blood related.

First off, the mob isn't as weak or as disconnected from the old country as many people here seem to think. Recent busts and investigations have proven that. Secondly, I don't see any reason to water down LCN any more than it already is by recruiting non-Italians. My main reason for this is because they can still be very beneficial and powerful associates without diluting the ranks and without the extra headaches from internal mob politics as well as the added target on their backs. That doesn't benefit neither the associates or the made men.

The Italian Mafia is very strong at the moment, its just not conducting its business in the USA but instead up in Canada.

You know those stories of how the mob here in the states made you trunk music way back when? Well its happening up North across the border on a regular basis.

Outside of maybe Bonnanos and maybe their cousins ,the Magaddinos, what American families are active in Canada ?

I stated "Italian Mafia"

I totally understood that you meant

I'm not speaking of the families based in the United States. I am speaking of the Mafia from a Global standpoint.

If an associate is italian on the mother side can easly change his surname. But only in the cases that really deserve to be made.

To be completely honest being a made guy sometimes isn't the best way to be successful. Some of the most productive earners and men who contributed the most were associates.

I imagine that in Italy over time they might have admitted some of those Greeks that have been there for centuries since manyn Italians decended from Greeks anyway. And no way for them to really know how much Norman,French,Spanish,Greek or Arab any prospective members have. Somer last names have what look like Arab,Spanish,or French roots,

Since the 7th century, as it began to recover, the mezzogiorno became a melting pot with a rich variety of cultural influences.

Contrary to the title of this thread, I think LCN needs to beef up their ranks with more gangsters from Italy and Sicily. Even Albanians seem to make great associates, as well as Serbians and Bosnians. Just look at Zef Mustafa and Mike the Serb, those guys are assets.

I agree, Lou.

And that said, as it is today, the traditional Italian mob as we knew it is almost unrecognizable to what it once was. Modern times, the laws and the way the world has changed all greatly helped to make that happen....and they are currently in serious trouble.

But if the day EVER comes where the basic structure and membership of Cosa Nostra becomes "open" and available to other ethnicities, then its all over!

It would become the bastardization of every basic concept, of everything! Its OVER!

It may still be something....but it certainly won't be the Mafia anymore!

Should go to Naples,here is plenty of young wannabes that will happy to go in America to joint the US mafia.