In the opinion of the members on this forum why has there been such a tremendous drought of mob-related criminal cases brought against reputed members of organized crime over the last three to five years (maybe even longer) as opposed to years back?

1) a vast reduction of criminal activities plied by mob guys who have chosen to retreat to the trenches, or just go legit?

2) a vast reduction of FBI field agents in the NY office resulting in less criminal investigations being started, which results in less indictments and news?

3) a smarter and savvy NY/NJ underworld who are as active as ever, yet learned lessons from the failings of their processors and now keep their heads low?

4) ALL, or NONE, of the above?

I'm curious as to your thoughts.

Each one of your points is true, apart from 4. I go with 1 and 3, leaning more towards 1 though. It's easier to get yourself a little property portfolio and make a good legit income, or with any other viable business venture, which will let you sleep easy at night and keep the bullshit away.
I'm not preaching, but I've seen a few things and crime never pays, unless you're very very lucky and get away with something .Even then it's only the white collar guys who make something out of that life, with them and their family intact.

Agree.. mostly 1 but also 3.
As been said many times before, the dwindling number of blue collar italian neighborhoods.

I think all 3 points are very valid

All the above plus 9/11 changed priorities to anti terrorism from OC operations resulting in a reduction of manpower dedicated to investigating organised crime operations. You probably have as many guys investigating all organised crime operations as you did just on one family before September eleventh.

FBI isn't a national police force, and directors have wide latitude in choosing how their limited resources are used--meaning whatever generates the most headlines, the most praise and the most budgetary support from Congress. After Rudy Giuliani won the ultra-high-profile Commission case, US Attorneys and the FBI were falling over themselves bringing RICO cases against Mafia hierarchy. Then, as CNote says, 9/11 diverted resources to fighting terrorism. Today, the Mob just isn't high profile enough to warrant the same FBI attention as before--not enough well-known "Public Enemies." Even members of this board have a hard time identifying current Mafia hierarchy. The FBI leaves most anti-Mob work to state and local police.

Sophisticated surveillance technology has made a lot of guys nervous. They are not only more careful, they are also staying away from the most serious crimes. There's plenty of guys out there, but they are playing on a different field. If you're an old timer, you could almost say they're not playing at all.

I think NYPD also has their hands full with other crimes robberies, violence, shootings, drugs etc..

I think to a good degree they've repaired a lot of damage done by imbeciles like Persico, Gotti, Amuso, Casso, and Scarfo and are quietly making lots of money in the shadows. That's really what it's all about. Someone posted a photo of Bellomo and his son going out to pick up some pizza. Here you have a boss that has been running the Genovese Family freely for over a decade now, low-key and looking like an ordinary person, in jeans and a t-shirt. That guy could afford the nicest attire money could buy, but he doesn't care what the public thinks, and that's how they're supposed to operate.

Number one. Drug cases get you buried with time. Almost every other racket is legal now. There’s not much left. When sports were locked down last year a lot of guys were really hurting.

Crime today is not even close to the 80s and they were paying a lot of attention back then

true.

Yet multimillion-dollar illegal gambling operations are still being busted today, mob-related or not. I don't buy the whole once it's legal it all goes away.

All illegal gambling operations this year that were busted:


https://www.orlandosentinel.com/new...08-dskzoiufbfdvtnxpsrhp4sd474-story.html


https://www.irs.gov/compliance/crim...sentenced-for-illegal-gambling-operation

https://www.amarillo.com/story/news...-illegal-gambling-operations/5851515001/

https://www.wesh.com/article/semino...-major-undercover-investigation/38460237


2019:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl/p...8-million-due-illegal-gambling-operation


2021

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/11...of-running-an-illegal-underground-casino


Nov 2021
https://www.12newsnow.com/article/n...502-07c13599-dd5f-49da-9e55-69e6558e55c3


Oct 2021
https://www.ktvu.com/news/cash-drug...d-in-oakland-illegal-gambling-shack-bust


2020


https://www.wpbf.com/article/record...ling-operation-in-boynton-beach/33539561

Illegal Gambling isn’t going anywhere!!

Well put JB. Well put.

IMO, It's a contributing factor but far from the main reasons why the street, and "The Life," is in the battered condition we see it in.

Part of the equation IMO, and one of the contributing factors. But far from the main reasons why there is a reduction in "traditional" organized crime as we know it.

Well put. They're all playing on a vastly different "playing field" which is almost unrecognizable to the one their predecessors played on. "Lots of racketeers, but no rackets to run, does NOT a mob make."

And just like Southshorekid stated above, the VAST majority of rackets that in previous decades served to fuel the engine and provided great revenue to the mob are mostly legal now. And the few others they are left to operate just don't draw the way they did years ago.

Good examples of rackets that are now either legit or have been ripped from their manicured fingernails are liquor bootlegging; hardcore pornography; the once very lucrative policy-numbers game and other lottery variations; floating dice games; illegal casino operations in general; truck hijacking and cargo thefts rackets; JFK Airport; The Fulton Fish Market; The Hunts Point Terminals; the Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island docks; stocks and securities thefts; counterfeiting U.S. currency; credit card thefts and credit card counterfeiting. On top of all, then throw in the loss of their one time all-pervasive control over, and "soup to nuts" domination of, national labor-unions like the Teamsters, Longshoremen, Restaurant & Bartenders, Laborers-Hod Carriers, and a thousand other unions which once opened the doors to decades long multimillion-dollar embezzlements, frauds, shakedowns and extortions over a wide variety of legitimate industries and businesses, and you start to understand what I'm trying to say here.

"Once upon a time" the American underworld as we have come to know it was a powerhouse. It held the whip over big business and a wide swath of industries because of their pivotal control of labor unions that largely governed these industries so everybody had to play "nice" with Cosa Nostra. To do otherwise might damage your business. This also allowed for mafiosi to hold great sway over local, and even national, politicians. But since the loss of union control and all the other previously lucrative rackets I named above the mob is but a "shell" of its former self.

Oh sure, they still run some bookmaking and shylocking. But with legalized sports betting and the plethora of legal sources available nowadays to borrow funds (credit cards advances, bank loans, payday loans, business lines of credit, etc), even those last two rackets are getting a run for their money and heavy competition from the government and big business who have stepped up and bitten a huge chunk out of two previous top sources of racket revenue the mob once counted on as their bread and butter.

In other words, the "racket pie" has been vastly reduced in size. Today there are too many racketeers to eat off a very small and meager pie. Not enough fat slices to go around to feed everyone. Of course their are still drug rackets, but as Southshorekid so aptly put it, "drug cases you get buried with time." And many racket guys just don't feel comfortable dealing drugs. It goes against them.

So what's left?

A little bookmaking? Some shylock? A half-assed card game?

Legalization only goes so far, just look at how long Las Vegas has been around. Theoretically that one city should've knocked every illegal gambling operation around the country out the park, yet there's even illegal gambling operations going on in Vegas! There's always going to be activities being run outside of government regulation. Sure you can go to a bank or a payday loan place and get a loan, but what if you don't have credit? What if you don't want to do all the paperwork? What if you want more than they're willing to loan you? Go to a loanshark. What if your local illegal gambling business offers better odds than your nearest casino? None of these things are going away. Even cigarettes are legal, yet organized crime makes a lot of dough selling untaxed cigarettes because the taxes are so high.

Dilly, I don't know where you reside. Whether it's within the U.S., or in another country, but you gotta wake up out of this pipe dream you're in. Please listen to me for a split second here ok?

I just got finished saying there is still some bookmaking and shy business out there. But only "sports" action. No more horses which was the "cash cow" for bookies years ago. And yes, sometimes they offer better odds, pay you in cash if you win so that tax-free, and also offer "credit" which (for the time being at least) legal outlets do not. Shylocks will always be around for those who need them as well. But the "playing field" for both those mob "industries" has been reduced by what I mentioned above.

Las Vegas Casinos? Ya kidding right? Las Vegas today is run by big corporations, NOT the mob. And when mob guys ran em and earned if was way before "legalized" casino gambling became a thing across various states in the country. Today, a solid portion of the 50 states have legalized casino gambling which has knocked out 99.9% of illegal casinos the mob ran. NO more roulette, crap games, blackjack, poker, etc., etc., in places like NYC, NJ, CT, MA, Chicago, Miami, etc. Once in a blue moon, a "blue moon," you'll find a half-assed card game in some run down little shit-hole run by a wiseguy.

Cigarettes? Yah, there are a few guys doing it. But 99.9% of them are NOT Italian mob guys. They're Spanish, Chinese, Indian, or some other far-flung "non-mob connected" entity who took a shot. And it's generally nowhere the scale of what the mob "used to do."
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Lastly, let me say this about what I just wrote. This is NOT my opinion on the subject. These are facts backed up by deep-probe statistics, solid data, arrests and convictions (or the lack thereof), and FBI observations.

Italian-related organized crime in America has been reduced tremendously in both volume and scope of their activities. Basically, there is little left for them to engage in even if they were so inclined to do so, and accept the heavy consequences when they do....It's largely over.

PS: Big multimillion-dollar white-collar frauds that you see like Farese, Scarfo Jr., and others have engaged in? Nicky Jr is serving 38 years as a young guy. His life's ruined. Watch and see what Farese gets. He's already an old man and served over 20-25 years of his life behinds bars. This will finish him if he's convicted.

If you stop talking all this rhetoric for a hot moment, and really pay attention to what I'm saying you'll realize this for yourself.

And I think it's very possible that future guys who do choose to get involved will lean toward trafficking in hard narcotics; heroin, cocaine, etc., because that's where the quick money always was, and still is. Problem is when caught, you're buried. A very precarious and short lived career for most. And you gotta have the stomach for that sort of racket. Many guys do not.

I still say that the only reason Scarfo Jr got slammed so hard is because of who his father was. Richard Martino and those guys ran a $700 million scam and only got a couple years. The Luccheses were busted in a $2.2 billion illegal gambling operation as recently as 2007. There's still a lot of money to be made for organized crime if they do it right. Prison and death is no fun, but neither is being a working stiff square busting your ass on a timeclock in extreme weather conditions only to give a huge portion of your paycheck to Uncle Sam. Come on now, if we're going to talk about this let's talk about the other side too, it's just as shitty.

A working grunt will always be a grunt. A working stiff will always be a stiff. It's got nothing to do with OC. Get an education. Go to college or learn a solid trade, and go make your way in life. If you're gonna sell newspapers on the corner for a living then yes you are fucked! Then go take your best shot in the street (if you have the balls and the wherewithal to do the time that comes along with it nowadays). Which most legit people do not have the constitution for.

Richie Marino, Sal Locascio, and that bunch were hit with millions in restitution and if I remember correctly and still got hit with heavy terms of 5,8,11, years. Not a few years if memory serves me correctly. That I gotta check on to be certain. The $2.2 Million Lucchese bust in Jersey they got slammed. 8 years, 6 years, 5 years, etc. For gambling???? You gotta be joking here. They also got heavy heavy forfeitures and seizures of their assets. Lost their homes and cars, etc. Do you even know what you are talking about Dilly??

You really gotta check before you speak. Because you are so wrong here that it's not even funny. It actually becomes like talking to a brick wall with you sometimes. No offense pal, but really now.

As the mastermind, I believe Richie Marino pulled a 5 year bid on one scam based out of state, and was nailed for another 9 years collectively on two federal NY phone porn scam pleas he took. A 14 year collective bid. He also received a $4.6 million dollar fine plus a $15 million-dollar forfeiture. I think he actually served 9 years behind bars. The other defendants were sentenced accordingly to what they received in compensation from these rackets, etc.

Locascio served a 2 year term, and got a $1.5 million dollar fine. He also served almost a year before that on another case. So aside from getting banged for money, he hasn't done too bad.

To me that's not a bad deal considering the money they made, and I highly doubt the government got everything. I mean if you're not smart enough to bury some cash somewhere and put some assets in the names of legitimate wealthy people, then you deserve what you get.

Seems like I seen a pretty recent photo of the Pernas from the Luccheses, and to me it doesn't look like they're doing too bad. Look, no one here plans on having a career in organised crime, we just like to be entertained. I don't know if you're just trying to convince everyone that crime doesn't pay or what, but you're starting to remind me of the Internet version of those lame dopes who visit schools and go from classroom to classroom telling kids to say no to drugs. No offense, I'm just saying, I don't think anyone here actually wants to be in the mob.

Lol, Dilly, I'm no preacher. In fact, I'm the farthest thing from a preacher. But when you're talking organized crime and you pull these "theories" of yours, these evaluations, and these self-serving "facts" out of your ass I gotta call you on it. Plain and simple!

Especially when you hypothesis about all the lucrative rackets out there today, and the vast millions wiseguys are earning. It's just complete unadulterated hogwash. And as I say (not to be insulting because I really don't mean it in that way, so I hope you don't get offended by what I say), but you'd better put down whatever "opium pipe" you're smoking because nothing could be further from the truth "on the streets" of NYC today. Nothing! And if it ain't happening in NYC, trust me when I tell ya it ain't happening anywhere else in the country either. Period!

It's a pipe dream of yours as I said. And NOT steeped in reality at all.

Believe it. Don't believe it. That's entirely up to you my young friend. I really don't care. But don't say I didn't try and open your eyes to the truth.

PS: And quite frankly, done correctly, "crime did pay" for many decades. Hence, thats why guys went into the street in the first place. But today it's a different story all together.

In my opinion its because they don't have enclaves like they did in the past. The mob thrived on it's own, from shaking them down to loaning money, providing gambling (etc) and the ones in the enclaves who were legit would go into city, county or state jobs making it easy for contracts, some went into politics again a connection, some went into law enforcement for providing protection and information. Once the older generations dies and the enclaves disappeared the entire thing started to fall apart. Very Very few of the old "Loyalties" remain in any of the areas I stated. And of course there's no FEAR of the MOB anymore. You don't have to hurt or kill anyone just make them think you will and you can take advantage of people. And of course with the enclaves gone the language barrier is gone and the fear of authorities does not exist like in the past. The Italians are NOT going into the current immigrant enclaves and controlling them and taking advantage of them, actually they can't since they don't have the men willing to fight for the turf. So every year goes by and the mob controls less and less until it will all be gone. What will be left will be criminals with Italian names, but not a Mafia like we are talking about.

The FBI is on to bigger things; like framing US presidents, instigating riots, spying on hard working Americans, and suiciding politically connected pedophiles. You know there are only so many hours in a day.

Bingo Mamaluke, you made my day.