Just for the record, law enforcement has always considered the Genovese family to be the wealthiest Mafia family in both New York and the nation. Even when the Gambinos surpassed them in size, the Genovese were always considered to be richer. Nevertheless, Genovese guys have often been said to be the least likely to flaunt their wealth.

What about Joe Todaro Sr? After selling 25 million odd chicken wings and pizza's, you'd think he'd be doing alright. No wonder he's been made no serious moves to be charged with over the last thirty or so years.

Who was that Colombo g--ah John S-------? He's doing alright, as a modern day example (not saying he's the richest, just he's doin' alright). Thats the thing, as "weak" as some would call the Colombo outfit, it only takes a handful or so of guys like this to put a real back bone to operations. So imagine a borgata with a bunch of guys like that.

Some of the Genovese and Lucchese guys just entrenched in waste haulage and carting and other businesses in NY would have to be up there. And there's some monster books around.

Ivy, in your own opinion, who are some of the highest present day mob earners and most profitable bookmaking crews?

I don't know if he's still active but Salvatore LoCascio made a ton of both legal and illegal money, his cramming and stock frauds have made hundreds of millions.

I would think the chin.He was in charge of the bigggest family and even before he was boss he was the most powerful capo.I wonder what he did with his money?He lived in a modest home wore a bathrobe allday and didnt travel too much in his later years.

Thats right Nicky Salvatore and the other guy made very high millions off porn credit card scam

I say Jerry Angiulo was neck-deep in the usual "business activities" commonplace in any Mafia regime: gambling, loansharking, prostitution, drug dealing and, where deemed necessary, murder. But in the early 50's he isn't a made man, so
he promised to Patriarca $ 100.000 per month, if he had made him.He became the underboss of the Patriarca crime family, managing the activities of the Boston underworld from the '50s to 1986.

Generally speaking, the Genovese family has the biggest and most profitable bookmaking and loansharking operations in the New York/New Jersey area. When you boil it all down, that and the fact they have the most labor union influence left, is what makes them the #1 family.



I don't recall Locascio's crew being involved in stock fraud. Their main two scams were the internet porn scam and phone cramming scam.



Chin was actually known for not taking a lot of money off his captains. He was already a millionaire and so didn't really need it. And you're right, he never really went anywhere. After he died, one law enforcement official was talking about what Chin got out of it. He thought it was really just the "pure power" he exercised.

THANKS IVY

I remember reading that about Gigante. That, and the fact that he lived pretty much his entire life in and around New York, never getting on a plane once or anything. I believe the prison he served at in Springfield was possibly the furthest he'd ever been from NY.

Not sure if they r made men but angelo and vincent ponte
multi multi multi millonaires

Oh yeah it was the porn scam i remember now. However was there a soldier under LoCascio who was into stock stuff? LoCascio seems a real smart guy, I bet he's done some real shady business deals!

The soldier was named Richie under loc

Richie was the master mind of the porn scam.

Yeah Richie Martino I think?

What's interesting is Locascio started a computer program business way back in 1983. And in the late 1980's, Martino got involved in the 900 number business. Both were making millions even before they pulled the internet porn and phone cramming scams.

Check out this article -

http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-02-10/news/cyber-age-goodfellas/

Yeah interesting stuff, I wonder if he really has quit the mob, sources still list him I think as Capo of a Bronx crew?

yep, on a wiretap when sal and richie went to pay their respects to gotti when he was boss after they left gotti remarked to frankie loc i think it was that 10 years from now they are going to look at the family and be very proud of these two, something to that effect

He's the last official captain of that crew as far as we know. Andy Campos was acting captain while Tore was in prison. Supposedly Locascio spends a lot of his time down at his place in Florida.

From what I understand, Tore lives in Naples, Florida pretty much full time now. That's not to say that he can't be operating a crew down there, but in my opinion it's unlikely. If the guy is smart, and by all accounts he IS smart, he's enjoying his money and living clean. God knows he does have money.

In terms of dollars PER WEEK how much do u think these guys made or are currently making in their prime?

Casso

Gotti

Gravano

Demeo

Castellano

Vinny Gorgeous

Merlino

Ligambi

Bellermo(Now)

Crea (Now)

Danny Marino

Cefalu ( now)

RG I could not have made a better list. Does anyone know or think Gotti was getting as much as Big Paul was from his Capo's

I think that he's still active. White collar...but active.

yeah...I'd say all three generations of the Todaro family are definitely living pretty well. La Nova was the No. 1 independent pizza place in the U.S. for a while . But you got to remember that a dollar in Buffalo is like a dime downstate in the NYC region. It's like Mexico up there.

I'd guess that Basciano was the biggest money maker of the most recent modern era. thats just my guess though

^^^ditto def vinny gorgeous is in the top moneymakers of recent memory

How about Tommy Gambino. His trucks and the Garmet district

Anthony(T.G.)Graziano and his strip clubs.

Graziano had some huge stock scams as well.

And Basciano? I didn't know this. How did he earn?

I guess a better question would be how didn't he earn. I think drugs were his number 1 (I forget who, but some Bonanno rat said he always knew Basciano as "Vinny Pills", not Vinny Gorgeous). He was big into dope when dope was big, then big into pot and ecstacy too. He also allegedly ran numbers in Morris Park/East Tremont, video poker, and gambling. and with gambling you can only assume he had money on the street too.

I remember reading something where Vitale said him and Massino didn't care for Basciano - thought he made money too fast and too flashy - and even would avoid him when he came down to CasaBlanca on sundays for dinner. Which makes me Massino purposely let him "play boss" so he could set him up. But that's just me.

vitale said that thing about vinny pills, and your right on point about vinny, he had tons of hispanics/dominicans dealing for him in the bx and none of them ratted him out

Inside the Bonanno crime family, gangster Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano was viewed with disdain by some of his peers as a John Gotti wanna-be and a dangerous "Mad Hatter" capable of anything, a mob turncoat testified yesterday.

Former underboss Salvatore Vitale recalled that two capos from the Bonannos' crew in Montreal had serious reservations about Basciano, 47.

"Vinny's another John Gotti, he has illusions of grandeur," Gerlando (George from Canada) Sciascia complained, according to Vitale. Vito Rizzuto, another north-of-the-border wiseguy, went as far as to say, "Tell Vinny to stay out of Canada," Vitale recalled, although he never learned the reason for the ban.

Vitale said former boss Joseph Massino wanted to keep a close eye on Basciano after learning that he had fatally shotgunned a man in the Bronx without permission from superiors.

Basciano is on trial for murdering Frank Santoro in February 2001 outside his Throgs Neck, Bronx, home because he allegedly threatened to kidnap Basciano's son.

On cross-examination, Vitale acknowledged that he had no "personal knowledge" that Basciano had killed Santoro.

The two gangsters were not close, but Vitale said he presided over Basciano's mob induction ceremony around 1990, and several years earlier they split $120,000 in winnings from an Atlantic City casino.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime...l#ixzz1XgLKRegX

Dapper,

You're right about Vinny. He did make a ton of money, but he couldn't declare most of it. Which raises an even better question than "who are the wealthiest mobsters?"

The better question is, which mobsters can show the most money?

Using Vinny as an example, he and his family lived right around the corner from me on Revere Avenue, in a nice, modest house, with a beautiful view of the Long Island Sound. But it wasn't anything that a moderately successful "working guy" couldn't have afforded. It makes you appreciate the genius of guys like Tommy Gambino all the more. He raised his kids in a Park Avenue apartment worthy of the Astors or the Vanderbilts.

Or to use a more modern example, look at Steve Crea or any of the Di Napoli brothers. These guys live large in palatial homes in Westchester (Pelham and Scarsdale respectively). They can live that way because they were prudent enough to show their money through their construction rackets. I guess Vinny could only declare so much money though "Hello Gorgeous."

But in all fairness to Vinny, it's a lot easier to funnel sizeable amounts of cash through large construction companies than through an independent beauty parlor in Throggs Neck.