It likely comes down to the ones who lived day to day and the ones who invested in businesses or made big money but lived small. They also wind up with more if they are not always paying lawyers in case after case. There are broke mafia members , there are few broke lawyers, if any at all.
Correct.
The ability to have first earned big money was pivotal. Next was to have been smart and able enough to have held onto that money through good intelligent investments, lack of criminal cases that ate away at your bankroll, and not blowing your funds like a drunken sailor on leave also helped.
Also many knock around guys are DG gamblers, big coke users, big drinkers and nightclubbers, have 2-3 'gumare's' etc. All of those things quickly deplete a bankroll (taking for granted that the guy in question even HAD a big bankroll to begin with - which many did not).
