I'm in my 40s, and have lived in Italian neighborhoods in and around New York my whole life and I'll just say this - growing up, every day someone was pointed out to me as being "connected" or "with this family" or "his dad is such and such".... all the mob guys hung out at their social clubs, mob block parties everywhere, mob shootings were weekly to monthly occurrences. Yet in the last 20 years I can only remember a handful of shootings, don't see mob clubs anymore and never have conversations about "who's who."
None of that is necessarily a “bad” thing from their prospective.
Fewer shootouts equal fewer murder investigations and convictions. Plenty were sent away for good (and many ratted) because of their violent behavior. Not to mention that it’s even harder to get away with murder today.
Talking business in and around social clubs/hang outs isn’t the smartest strategy. A quieter approach was generally taken around the time Cefalù was rumored to be leading the Gambinos. Many relocated to NJ/SI/LI/Westchester and elsewhere so that’s also something to consider when it comes to the lack of social life and hang outs in metro NY.
I still get the “who’s who” whenever I meet my relatives and friends from LI/SI/Queens but that’s just anecdotal evidence based on personal experience so take it for what is worth.
The Italian mob may still be around in small numbers and still doing dirt, but their reach is so nominal that that they lack any significant influence and power.
There really is no middle ground on this site:
the mob is either as strong as in the 1980s or it lacks *any* significant influence and power.
