Selwyn Raab: Zips Making American Mob More Brutal

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Selwyn Raab claims that the American Mob, influenced by Zips, have "recently taken over" old country methods and "spread the word" that ratting could not just put you but also your family in danger.

Any truth to this? I'm aware of the wiretap quote he mentions, but seems like a stretch to imply this is widely practiced now by the 5 fams.

Article:

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/is-the-american-mafia-on-the-rise-w451888

Excerpt below:

Rolling Stone:
You write that in order to "counter defections," newer Mafiosi have "initiated savage relations including murdering relatives of traitors." What can you tell us about that?

Selwyn Raab:
The long established rule was that anyone who was a civilian — not implicated in mafia activities — was immune. One of the reasons that's changed is because of these so called "Zips." That's a nickname for Sicilian newcomers who are not members of the Sicilian mafia but recent immigrants, and they've pretty much taken over the Gambino family. And one of their effective methods [in the old country] was that if you became a rat or you in any way betrayed the Italian or Sicilian mafia, it wasn't just you, but anybody in your family could be victimized. The Americans have now also taken that over and spread the word. You can't pinpoint this practice down to one year, but "recently" would be the best way of describing when it began. But the point is, very simply: it's a method to prevent people from becoming informers and betraying the Mafia. There's stuff on tapes in which they talk about it – "If my kids have to suffer, why shouldn't the rat's kids have to suffer?" Stuff like that. It's an effective tool, and again, they're still getting reinforcements, they're shipping more blood over from Sicily and Southern Italy.

I think it's really time to reexamine the balance of power amongst the NY families, I can't help but see the Gambinos as the number 1 right now....

Especially if this is true, it means they have the young, hungry, violent, aggressive, vicious element to go with those Calabrian connections...

Interesting stuff....

In the US the vendetta trasversale or next to king revenge won't work !!!
Casso ordered to kill chiodo sister and Fat Pete had another reason to flip.
If a mobster want to flip and had a wife and children the first thing to ask to the fed is that put them in a safe place.
US isn't the Sicily and kill people will create to much heat and don't solve the problem.

I think that's certainly true, IF they know who these guys are.

If they are fresh off the boat so to speak, and keep it low-key, like ghost hitters/shooters, people may or may not know who they are.

I would be interested if the American wise guys know all the Calabrese gangsters operating in NY?

You think they are all on record with the Gambinos? Or some with the Genovese? Other families even? All that heroin in Jersey? Is that the Gambino Zips?

If they were operating in their territory, I would venture to guess that the NY families keep tabs on em, just so they don't step on each other's toes.

The thing is though, outside of narcotics, these groups might not intersect much. And the Old world gangsters just have a different mentality, maybe this edict was restricted to Gambino members and not all of NY?

Few questions to ponder....

I thought it very interesting that Lupoi guy took the fall for everyone...

Can anyone confirm this? Are the Gambinos really saturated with new recruits from Sicily?

What about the Bonnanos and Colombos?

I ask because Mr. Persona non grata ( Giacomo Vacari) said something like this before, even went so far as to name the specific places in Sicily. I think he linked the Bonnanos to Trapani.

So how true is all this? Not so much the wacking family members, rather the recruitment drive.... Is this a real thing?

My two cents: I think this is Selwyn Raab's attempt to sell more of his book. Maybe someone can shed some light on this but the Mafia in Sicily and the American Cosa Nostra are two separate and distinct criminal organizations. I don't how the American CN would relinquish their power and most importantly, their money to another criminal group. This is all bout money. Just my two cents

Hasnt he been selling the same book for the past 20 years now. What examples are there that they are more brutal now.

Selwyn Raab is a great author and a knowledgeable guy, but I do agree he is overplaying this a lot. Although, he isn’t claiming the LCN is relinquishing power to Zips, but morseo I think he’s referring to the top Gambino guys who have strong connections to Sicilian Mafia and Zip factions.

I see that there’s two sides to this – because on one hand, I could see this word being spread around on the street – as a threat – to deter guys from ratting, because nowadays, it seems like there’s almost no repercussions for it. So it could be to deter from creating a culture of guys who would be apart of the life but they second they get pinched they can just rat and retire to Florida, worry-free.

On the other hand, at the peak of LCN, they didn’t even condone this type of brutality, and that was one of the big differences between LCN and the Sicilians. Even Fat Tony called off the contract on Pistone and said something like, “We don’t kill cops or judges; we kill each other.” And currently, the LCN is less violent than it's ever been.

So, I can see this word being spread in certain Zip-linked circles, but to claim the Americans have "adapted it" is a huge stretch imo.

This is a Brand new Era for the Mob ! All the old stuff has been put to rest, all the old prosecutors are retired,dead,etc. All the old cases are cleared up,Wars have come and gone, books have been written, people ratted, people were imprisoned ! Everything from the 1950's--1990's has been cleared up ! There is nothing left to write about, No one left to Rat on,All the mysteries have been unlocked!! Look at Ganglandnews the last 2 years up until the current date, The articles are horrible, boring, Rehashed; Revisited BS !! The slate has been wiped clean !! All the big bosses and relevant people over the last 35 years are gone !! Amuso's, Gotti's,Massino,Persico's,Casso's,Gigante's ,etc etc..... GONEEEEE !! families are rebuilding, People are unknown to the public and Law Enforcement,New Rackets, New territories, And, The families are Deep underground !!! The Sicilians are definitely at the Top right now ! Selwynn was definitely right about one part with his book ! But wrong with the BRUTALITY PART !! Where on the Streets of Ny or Nj have we seen any insane Brutal acts of violence pertaining to the Gambinos or sicilian or calabrese Gangsters ???

Just as in the mob heydays, the Gambino and Bonanno families seem to have the strongest links to the Sicilians and Calabrians. And just as then, the primary means of business is drugs. Coke to Europe (where it sells for a lot more) and heroin to the US.

The feds did try to tie the one Queens Ndrangheta coke bust to the Genovese. Haven't seen anything regarding other families to foreign Italian OC.

So I wouldn't be shocked if Gambinos and Bonannos have some new blood from Italy.

It is a new era, for sure. And there definitely has not been any acts of extreme violence like this. I think what Raab is claiming is, with this new era, they are instilling this as a new possibility to deter future rats.

The Mustache Petes won after all.

With recruiting, I agree with that, but them gaining power I don't see it. Raab may be confusing alliances, such as Palermo, CDG, Villabate, Argentino, and Messina, just name the Sicilian clans forming alliance with Bonanno, Colombo, and Gambino families.
Genovese and Lucchese families have maintained connections with those on mainland Italy, not just one region.
For the recorded, the Ndrangheta is the strongest Italian criminal organization in the world, may be the most powerful in the world.

This is bs. Ive met some young people who live in my little dump city there just hard working chefs man. New england funny still small towns heavily populated by certain exnestys fuck that word up.

TLDR version: Lack of evidence is evidence in and of itself. the favorite fall-back of the "mafia's big come back is just around the corner" advocates.

@Tony Pro

You make a good point...

But the Gambinos and Bonnanos DO seem to have a LOT of fuckin crews no?

Like I kept wondering, how do the Bonnanos have Seventeen crews? Who is in em? I know it's been said that there is probably a lot of overlap though...

I keep wondering, are these like full crews, ( with the ten made guys) or maybe 2-5 made guys per?


Are the Gambinos still around Twenty or more crews?

The Gambino and Bonnanos seem to be the most " In the streets" so to speak...( although, the Bronx Genovese seem to be pretty heavy too, the Jersey guys seem to be racketeers, gambling, the docks, you know...)


It might be hard to track the real numbers without the obvious signs, really active social clubs, the usual hangouts ect...

I would be really interested in something or someone looking at the Genovese clout with Medicaid. Parello, Colleti, they seem to have some major league stuff going on with Medicaid in multiple crews...

The Gambino's, I have at 22 crews. The Bonanno's I have at 16 crews. You see numbers of Gambino have 30 crews or Bonanno having 20 crews, but these reports are including acting capos as well as capos themselves. The writers seem to have a hard time distinguishing the crews, even some overlapping one another.
As for activities of the families, all are active, with the Lucchese family being most quite, with the exception of Brooklyn crews, but historically, the Brooklyn wiseguys have always been loud for all of the families.

Killing family members here in the U.S would bring so much public outrage, they would start to view american LCN as ISIS. It just wouldnt work here.
The US is much different than italy.

He's Cali's guy. Got a very good deal

Highly doubt it, it's the kids of Gambino bro's, mannino, spatola, Inzerillo's that are coming up in that family. Scars mentioned it not long back in that interview, that he was schooling the zips kids while they were in jail. They don't need to recruit from italy

-sigh- For educational purposes, please don't buy in to what this guy or Giacomo Vacari is putting out there.


If anything, evidence shows a clear relationship between families like the Gambinos and Calabrians. At this point, I think that's really all we can rely upon as it's the only actual evidence which shows up in indictments and cases, that we have.

It's like he took, Urso, halfway distraught and angry venting while being taped, from what, 2003? And the recent Gambino developments and cobbled em together, took it way outta context, to create a narrative to sell a book that's twenty years old.

This is a prime example of why 1. These type of interviews shouldn't be conducted by the Rolling Stone, or platforms like that. You need veteran crime reporters, who have the knowledge and facts to ask hard questions, and call people on their shit.

2. Even published authors, or guys like Capeci need to provide sources too..

I think that's exactly what he did. He's reaching big time.

Although they are brutal and mostly stick together, they are smart enough to know USA isn't Sicily.

If anything the Sicilians in the Gambinos are makin everything more low-key to avoid the heat. Like how things used to be in Sicily before the Corleonesi took over.