I COMPLETELY disagree with Wilson/Dapper Don
That wasn't the question though, it wasn't the children of mobsters, it was young people in general, the new generation of Italian Americans if you will. And if New York has shown us anything its that Mobsters raise their children to join the life. Look at John Gotti, Carmine Persico, Carlo Gambino and Joseph Bonanno just to name a few. In the major mob bust last year there was Gregory Fucci and Gregory Fucci Jr.
And the way you grow up economically has nothing to do with it. That is more of the romanticized view of the mafia that movies have shown us. I'd say most of the young Italian American who has gotten involved in organized crime since the '80s was born and raised in a comfortable middle class home.
No longer is it the "You either become a cop, a firefighter or a crook" type of world.
Those guys were exceptions, the majority of mobsters dont want their offspring to follow them into the mob. When Gotti Sr told Chin that Gotti Jr had just become a made man, Chin said "I am sorry to hear that" because the whole point of you being in the life in the first place is that you want to provide a comfortable lifestyle for your family so your kids will not need to enter that lifestyle. Same thing after Bill Cutolo Jr graduated from community college and he told his dad he wanted to enter the life, his dad dissapointed. The Chicago Outfit has a well-known rule that even Frank Calabrese Jr always mentions that you are not suppose to bring your kids into the life. Obcourse there are guys like Gotti Sr,Frank Locascio, Greg Scarpa Sr, Persico Sr who's kids follow them into the life. I wouldn't look at the sons of mobsters who followed their dad into the lifestyle, a better judgement of that would be the hundreds of kids who didnt. Those you rarely hear about, and when you do its the "my dad's past is hurting my career" article like the daughter of Anthony Spero or the son of Frank Sparaco who is a politician, or one of Scarfo Sr's son's who changed his last name.
Most young Italians are brought up in a comfortable middle class background in general, the VAST majority of those Italians (I personally know a bunch) go on to become white collar professionals such as wall street brokers, lawyers, professor's, etc. There are some from this bringing who pursue crime, just like any other group and like other groups those that too usually are lazy, always getting in trouble, poorly educated (non-college),criminal record, hang out with the wrong crowd, or the few who want to enter whats left of LCN.
