Hey guys, I'm from Pittsburgh, as you can see from my info to the left. Before I get into what I want to talk about, please don't call me a fan boy for making this post. It has absolutely nothing to do with that, just a question asked and a friendly debate with the more knowledgeable New York guys, and the few here who have close information about Pittsburgh.

As we all know, according to law enforcement and everyone else, the Pittsburgh family is virtually extinct. The Feds put the final nail in the coffin over 20 years ago and I believe that Chucky Porter's was the last federal mob trial here, and that was in the early 90's. Not my main question, but another off the top of my head, for the guys in the know about Pittsburgh: why was Porter allowed to be inducted anyway? Obviously, his last name signifies that he isn't full-blooded Italian - or am I wrong, and possibly it was changed?

Sonny Ciancutti is supposedly the last made man alive in Pittsburgh, other than Porter and Strollo, who both became rats. (Was Joey Rosa ever made? I believe he'd be in his mid 50's now, but he also became a rat.) Anyway, to my main topic of debate...and before I get to it, I know that New York could care less about what's happening in other mob cities in 2014, let alone Pittsburgh. Ciancutti is an old man, 82 or 83 I believe, and some say he still has ties to some bookmaking and gambling in the area, but it isn't really "organized crime" or mob related. From what I've read/heard, the New York families haven't recognized Pittsburgh as viable, or any of the bosses, since Michael Genovese passed. Which brings me to my main point - say Ciancutti didn't want his last memories of the Pittsburgh LCN as a dying, possibly extinct ship; and whether recognized by NY or not as a viable boss, didn't want to be the last name associated with a defunct family. Maybe Sonny decides he wants to induct some of the guys that got proposed to be made in the late 80's/early 90's by Genovese (if they are still alive), but that never happened because Porter became a rat and nobody got made after that. Sonny also probably has some younger guys around him as well, and I'm sure there are younger associates from the 80's and 90's that are still involved with bookmaking (and Sonny), and possibly guys who have bloodlines to the remnants of the Youngstown faction.

So, say Sonny maybe wants to induct 10 guys or so, and wants his last legacy to be trying to rebuild the family, something Genovese wanted to do in the 90's but never succeeded at. This is where New York comes in - would they care at that point what's happening in Pittsburgh, and would they recognize it as LCN? Would it be a viable family to them, or would they basically see it as some bums in Pittsburgh doing things together, but they still aren't the "real deal"? In the sense that, if Ciancutti succeeded and re-built the family, would NY recognize Pittsburgh/him as boss, and see them as a continuation of the LaRocca-Genovese organization that's been dead for some time now?

Again, it's all hypothetical for the point of debate. My last question, this time for some of the guys I know that are in the know about Pittsburgh: do you think Pittsburgh would have remained more viable had "Jo Jo" Pecora not been imprisoned, and taken over after LaRocca's death instead of Genovese? I've heard that LaRocca had Pecora tagged as his successor, but then he went to prison and Genovese basically became the boss by default. Also, had it not been for Chucky Porter, do you think Pittsburgh would have remained active longer than they did? I've heard that Genovese loved Porter simply for all the drug profits he was bringing in - such a shame, because that's not true LCN, and it brought the downfall of the family, just like the old time gangsters predicted about drug trafficking decades ago.