Steve Crea as boss

having an official boss on the streets obviously helps things like organisation but doesn't mean your stronger. Does having a clever mobster like him benefit lucchese family? as boss will he make the family more powerful in the legit industries and does he teach the new recruits about labour racketeering?

Of course having a smart, lowkey boss is beneficial to the family.

4 years he's had the spot and the family hasn't had many indictments. He's the most effective leader they've had since Tony Ducks.

Of course it does, plus I bet he's made some guys to replenish the ranks and it puts a solid hierarchy in place when dealing with other families...

btw, anyone have a recent picture..?

yes I know but in terms of influence on the streets? will he make the lucchese concentrate more on construction etc since that was his bread and butter?

No. Because you have to have a blue collar wing to survive as a crime family.

That's what makes Stevie perfect for the spot. He's hands on in construction because he has so much experience in that field. But hands off (for lack of a better expression) in more street level matters. And he has plenty of skippers who can handle that aspect of the business for him (the street stuff: sports, shy, etc).

But don't go mistaking him for soft. Not by ANY fucking stretch of the imagination. For everyone who wants to post about how white collar the guy is, all I'm saying is, you didn't know him twenty five years ago .

Yeah, he's smart. Hell, he's a business genius. But he's tough as fucking nails when he needs to be.

Is Crea an Italian name then?

No, I think it's Japanese. He just happens to be the boss of an Italian Mafia syndicate.

The mafia will concentrate on anything that makes money, including drugs. The Luccheses and Bonannos have always been the biggest dealers. The only large family that was never big into drugs is Chicago. They had a huge city to themselves plus most of the West.

I was meaning is it a shortened version of his real name or something?

The Gambino's have been the biggest dealers in the last 30 years.

Only because they're 3 times as big. As a percentage of made guys dealing, I bet the Bonannos and Luccheses were bigger. Even their top guys were known as dealers, like Carmine Trumunti, John Ormento, Furnari, Santoro, Casso, Amuso, Madonna, and now Baratta. They were also involved with the French Connection along with the Bonannos. Ralph Cuomo was dealing out of Ray's Pizza. Bonanno bosses Natale Evola, Paul Sciacca, and Carmine Galante were huge dealers and their big zip faction were all dealers too along with the Montreal crew and even Tommy Pitera's crew. The Bonannos were the American wing of the Pizza Connection. The Gambinos had their zips and a few guys in the Gotti crew were known for it. For the most part, their top guys like Gambino, Gravano, Castellano, Dellacroce and even Gotti kept their hands out of it.

Also the di palermo's who ran the prince st crew for the lucchese were one of the biggest drug dealers in the family

As per Gaspipe Casso, Gravano was one his biggest customers in his drug trafficking business. He also ran a huge ecstasy ring in Arizona, after he left the mob. On the stand, however, Sammy said he didn't deal in drugs.

Also, I have my doubts about Gotti. His brother, Gene, and his best friend, Angelo Ruggiero were involved with drugs. Could it really be that it was all around John, but he didn't get involved with this lucrative racket?

Is this substantiated or speculation?

I'm
Wondering what happens wen frank papagni , frank gioia and George zappola r released ??? They were jailed in part on conspiracy to murder crea , is all forgiven on that front ?? I know frank lastorino was part of the plot and nothing has happened to him since he has been released , does anyone know if a peace agreement has been reached

Salute to Crea he has done a good job so far staying under the radar and keeping the rest of the boys in check as well.

Seems to be old school with staying out of the limelight and seems to get the respect needed to be an efficient leader.

I don't think anyone is going to fuck with Crea right now, hell after the horrible leadership from Amuso all those years and Casso that fucking nut the family is probably relieved they have someone new leading them not a bunch of nut bags.

All of the informants and witnesses against Gotti ad well as the feds said he wasn't involved.

As for Gravano nothing indicates he evercdealt drugs. Only the word of a well known liar who was kicked out of witsec because he was a pathological liar. What happened after he left NY is different.

Zero substantiation. Casso is as trustworthy as Kuklinski LOL

It's speculation. That's why Little Man prefaces every post he makes with "as per Gaspipe Casso."

You're a good guy, Little Man. You're obviously very bright and well read. But you really have to start recognizing the Philip Carlo book for what it was: A fanboy whitewash by a hack writer.

I was going to take him as a sweet old guy All I am saying is that having an official boss does not mean you are more powerful on the streets. same goes for Cefalu with the Gambino's.

One thing I want to know though, is having an official boss who ccan calm things down and get the family smoothly running, will he make the family as a whole create more revenue then the ruling panel which was just looking over things?

I agree.

You really have to be careful with what you believe in any mob book, really. Raab, Capeci, and Anastasia are three of the best but the rest typically rely on biased sources, shady information, or they just plain make things up. True crime isn't exactly the most scholarly field out there, especially with the dearth of information on most subjects, so it's extremely important that you take everything you read on the subject with a modest grain of salt and check it with what we already know and where we got what we already know. In the end, sometimes you just have to use your head.

Thanks for the feedback and I understand what you guys are saying. I learn a lot from this site, especially from PB, and try to kick in some info when I can so I don't feel like a freeloader. I know that I can end up quoting a hack, but I always try to mention my sources so people can take that into consideration.

And Snakes, I agree that Capeci and Raab (I'm surprised that Raab's Mob Lawyer hasn't been better received) are pretty good sources, and I'd also toss in Robert Lacey. Anyway, sorry about hijacking this thread, carry on....

Just a quick comment on factual mob books. When it comes to credibility, no book is either black or white. They are all in a gray area of truth and imagination/wrong author´s conclusions. As bad as the Casso book seems to be in some regards, there are stuff in there that should be taken seriously and not ignored. Ignoring info just because it doesn´t sound right or clashes with facts we think we know, can be foolish. Also Capeci´s and Raab´s works are fallible. There are factual errors for example in the latest D´Arco book and although a hell of a read, Five Families contents errors too.

I completely agree with LittleMan when he says that he always try to mention his sources when posting, so people can take that into consideration. I think that´s the right approach and attitude to have when posting on here. (I mean the stuff that comes from books.)

Agreed. Even if they are written by people like Frattianno, Vincent Teresa and Sammy the Bull. It is all grey because you have people who were there and know things (the black) then you have only their aspect/side of the truth (the white) making grey.

So nothing can really be 100%, correct?

One book I absolutely hated because it took something real and turned it into complete fiction was this book about Joe Gallo called "The Mad Ones" written by some kid in his late 20s early 30s who clearly is a fucking dork hipster who probably has never even been Brooklyn (hes probably never even been to Red Hook, Brooklyn but still..) He pretty much just made up so much shit and I just couldn't read it because it was all "Joey looked up at the sky as he pretended not to check out the passing girls butt" Just a bunch of shit like that in the book.

By the way, is Underboss by Sammy the Bull any good?

Underboss is very good, and you come away with a reasonable assumption that Gravano is telling the truth about most things.

If you want a good book about Gallo, read "Joey" by Donald Goddard (straight-up biography) or "The Sixth Family" by Pete "The Greek" Diapoulos (written by a former associate of the Gallo crew, it mainly focuses on the time period between Joey's release from prison and his death).

I enjoyed underboss , one of the best I've read is mafia prince about Phil leonetti , u also get the sense leonetti is telling the truth

I agree about Lacey, Little Man. We haven't discussed it here in awhile, but I've always said that Lacey's "Little Man" is the best individual mob bio ever written.

Now as a comprehensive book about the American Mafia in general, we're all pretty much in agreeement that the nod goes to Raab's "Five Families." But as far as a book centered around one guy, I'll go with "Little Man."


I agree with you in principle, Hairy. But it's just like real life. If a guy lies to your face 99 times, it's hard to take him seriously on the 100th. Same goes for books. But that's all subjective and a matter of opinion .


That book had some decent pictures, if you go for that kind of thing. But that's about it. The prose was awful. He turned Gallo into a hipster beatnik, which was clearly his agenda as a writer dwelling in the "New" Brooklyn. Fucking long haired, bearded hipsters from the Midwest, with their wool hats and Clark Kent glasses, should all fucking die. But that's a rant for a different section .

"Little Man" was great because Lacey didn't fall for all of the fairy-tale stories of Lansky ruling this vast gambling empire and being some kind of mob big shot his entire life. Nobody wants to make the stories less glamorous but Lacey made it a goal not to let glamour get in the way of the truth.

Yes Underboss is a good read.

"Fucking long haired, bearded hipsters from the Midwest, with their wool hats and Clark Kent glasses, should all fucking die. But that's a rant for a different section"

I thought a "hipster" was something women put around their waistline to attract men. Oh man was I wrong...!

"not to let glamour get in the way of the truth."

Well said, Snakes. +1

You say tomato, I say girdle .

PB might have rabies?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UBOcjnCY9f0

" Fucking long haired, bearded hipsters from the Midwest, with their wool hats and Clark Kent glasses, should all fucking die. But that's a rant for a different section lol."

I always thought that the extreme hatred people had for hipsters was strange. Granted, I dislike them too, but I still think they catch too much hatred and blame for some things. You complain about the "new Brooklyn" in your rant, but if you look at the demographics (particularly in regards to the Chinese and Carribean people) there would be a 'new brooklyn' without the hipsters. Over the course of your life, hispanics completed a similar change in much of the Bronx. I am no expert, but it doesn't seem that there were any hipsters involved in that. Where are your "goddamn ch*nks/sp*cs" rants at? Sometimes it seems that the hipsters catch all the heat because they are PC approved targets and most people don't have the balls to make the same types of rants against the Chinese, hispanics, or other new groups changing neighborhoods/cities.

Did he strike a nerve?

"Did he strike a nerve?"

A bit. I wish someone would compare the number of 'hipsters' to the number of recent immigrants whose ethnicities don't match the historic neighborhoods that they moved into. I think that they would find that those recent immigrants had much more to do with changing New York over the past few decades than hipsters. Of course, not a whole lot of people have the balls to do that because the fear being called racist, insensitive, etc.

Well, first of all, I should really apologize for singling out the Midwest. Being that you're from Missouri, I can see where that would be offensive. The truth is, these kids are from everywhere.


I can't explain New York City life to you anymore than you can explain Midwestern life to me. All we can do is try. But here's how I feel about it in a nutshell: New York has always been a city of immigrants, and we welcome immigrants here every day. Welcoming entitled hippies from other areas of the country is a different story. They're driving the property values up and pushing the blue collar people (who've been here for GENERATIONS) out at a much faster rate than a bunch of newly arrived immigrants making minimum wage in a restaurant kitchen. And lest you think I'm some poor and bitter socialist, you should know that I make my living today as a landlord and property manager of buildings in three different boroughs of this city. But what's right is right.

One of my buildings is in Astoria, which is quickly becoming gentrified with these kids. And the truth is, I'd rather keep a family that's been in the neighborhood for three generations than to make an extra three or four hundred a month renting to these kids. But I have, of course, rented to them. The upside is that the rent usually comes straight from their parents, so there's rarely an eviction. And they don't usually stay very long. Two or three years and NYC is out of their system.


I'm a lot of things, but politically correct isn't one of them. And if you think I'm short on balls, then you don't know a thing about me. I'd just encourage you to ask around about me on this board to the people who have known me for awhile. And again, StLguy, I didn't mean to single you out. As a matter of fact, I don't even recall you posting in this thread, so I certainly didn't reply to you personally. But let's not hijack this topic any further. You can pm me anytime you want .

I can vouch for PB he is as solid as it comes on this board.

if you go asking around around PB it would be like signor roberto(landlord in gf2) asking around the neighborhood about vito, and just like him you would also be coming back with your tail between your legs begging for forgiveness

I hate hipsters with a passion. Why? You may ask. Because Fuck em that's why

I wanted to respond , but PB put it so well . Obviously , NYC is safer than it was 25 years ago , and the gentrifying hipsters have helped BUT , unless you lived in or really knew the marginal outer borough neighborhoods,u wont understand. Most people (outsiders and even some NYC natives) dont realize how the changes came about . With the middle class flight of the 70s and 80s, many neighborhoods were left barren or populated with elderly (many areas of BX and BK and Queens , uptown Manhattan) The immigration of the late 80's and 90's filled the BX , and BK and Queens with vibrant communities with activity . These are the people who suffered most, by living in 'ghettos' from the citys downturn and helped turn these areas in to vibrant retail strips (The Hub , Lydig ave/pelham pkwy, Westchester ave and Brook ave all in BX. Roosevelt ave ,Steinway , 37th ave and Main ST all in Queens . Broadway , knickerbocker ave , Coney Island ave , Flatbush ave, Brighton Beach ave all in Brooklyn . In manhattan , Broadway uptown , 181st and 116 th st on the east side .) These neighborhoods are all where many were afraid to walk 20 years ago , were vibrant with with economic activity from majority immigrants who settled in these forgotten areas. Yes , change is inevitable , and these areas are now better and , just as quick , the ones who helped make changes for the better are being priced out . Unfortunately , the new residents(hipsters) , put very little into the community , before moving on . and their also OBNOXIOUS . ps I am not a NYC native myself (20 yr resident of BX, Queens and now Manhattan), so I may be a bit hypocritical but I am no hipster . What pisses me off most , is when i wanna get a newspaper, a sandwich(without pre sliced coldcuts) or a coffee and I cant find one(unless I goto 7/11 or a chain) , because of the new retail places that can only afford the rents .

25 years ago ,it seemed you couldnt walk 2/3 blocks anywhere in the 5 boroughs without a bakery selling fresh bread , now you cant walk that far with out finding cupcakes ! WTF??

The solidest.

I really appreciate it, guys. But let's get back on topic. It's not fair to the originator of this thread.

But again, thanks .

So is the whole Luchesse administration Bronx based today?

Wonder when somebody will mention who the new Underboss may be?

Also I have heard both one is Caridi is still consigliere and the other says he no longer holds that spot. Anybody have anything on this?

I know PB needs to take Jose under his wing the kid is being mislead by going to these mob trials.

lol

I missed some anti-hipster rants. My favorite.

This website says it best about Brooklyn gentrification...

www.diehipster.com

now back to crea...

Wait 5 years from now and see how many more chinese immigrents come to NEw york and start buying up property.The same thing is going to happen here like it has in Europe canada and australia. They over populate a city and start buying up in one area then they just spread.Hipsers for the most part grow out of this Phase.But chinese people who are extremly racist and cheap ( they love buying property but forgo daily nessiteis that other people cant go without)never grow out this phase.

I wish to respond to PizzaBoy and Tiger84, but I don't want to derail this thread any further, so I started another one in the OFF TOPIC section.

Here's the link:
http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=760892&#Post760892