Hello I am a fairly long time "lurker" of this board (Last 6 months maybe a little longer) and I finally decided to make an account. I'm 22 from the UK that's about enough personal info.

Anyway I have 2 questions that I thought you guys could possibly answer. I'm sorry by the way if they have already been answered previously.

1. The "books" where closed for the 5 families from around 1950 to about the mid 1970's I believe, did they still make guys to replace dead members very selectively or where the books totally closed?


2. People talk a lot about the "age of the rat" starting from the late 1980's to the present day. Is it possible that it's more to do with more law enforcement attention in the latter period of the mafia (RICO being a main part of this).

During the peak power of the mob, law enforcement was lax and although a small amount of mafiosa did hard time it was nothing like they where facing in the late 80's early 90's where the "rat epidemic" was beginning.

People talk a lot about the old timers being more stand up than the new generation of mafiaosa, isn't it possible that the old timers would have had a load more flipped members if they had the same law enforcement scrutiny that the later generations of mobsters had/have.

Personally I don't think the fact that rats didn't appear all too much back in the 30's-70's is because it was a different breed of mobsters, I just think it's the aforementioned lack of scrutiny from law enforcement that plagued later generations of mobsters which made the old timers less likely to rat. (Human beings are inherently selfish in my opinion, mobsters generally more so than others).

P.S I realised that the 2nd question was more of a point of view being made by me than a question but I would love to hear your guy's opinion on it. I also hope to become a good/thoughtful member of the board/community.

When you look at the arrests of them you'll notice most don't rat. Rats just get a lot more attention than people standing up. The ratio of people ratting to not ratting is a big difference.

I think it's because of weaker law enforcement and more powerful connections of the old godfathers back then.

the exact years for when the books were supposedly closed were about 1957 to 1976, there were how ever some select guys made during this time period, some names that ive seen listed were guys like Tommy Eboli,Eli Zeccardi,Rich Boairdo, Jerry Catena, Roy Decarlo, Fish Cafaro, and Pasquale Genese and thats just for the west side. Other guys were Allie Persico sr. and tommy gambino, and im sure there were quite a few more guys that i cant think of now that were made when the books were said to be closed.

As far as modern day Mafiosi being more prone to rat than the old timers,I think it really depends on the individual Mafiosi,and the circumstances of their arrests.

The RICO act has provided some harsh sentencing provisions,and given some more incentive to snitch than others.

On the one hand,you have the old school guys like Massino and Gigante giving up info to reduce their sentences.

On the other hand,you have guys like Scarfo and Gotti who could have pretty much written their own ticket had they rolled over,but steadfastly refused to do so. Whether it was out of loyalty,ego,or spite,they still stayed mute.

Lefty Ruggiero,of Donnie Brasco fame, could have gone into Witsec,but not only did he refuse to rat,he continued,up to the day of his death,to threaten to kill Pistone if he ever got the chance.
And then you have a guy like Fat Tony Salerno,who was convicted under RICO of being the Boss of the Genovese Family.
As we know,Gigante was the real Boss and Salerno was put in to deflect FBI heat. He could have easily clued in the Feds,and had a nice retirement at Government expense.

I don't think it's possible to fairly compare old school and modern day mobsters when it comes to the rat problem,it's really apples and oranges.