Years ago an old timer told me something that I totally agree with but back then was a little young to fully understand.
He said there are 3 tylpes of street guys.

1) union and construction type guys. I suppose he also meant the garment industry and waste industry.
2) numbers guys and shylocks
3) baseball bat guys, drugs, and robbery crews

He said to always stay away from number 3 because they were the one’s that took the most risk and looked at serious time. The most likely to cooperate. He also said a lot of those types are “ strung along “ with the promise of one day being made but most never are. They are just used.
They make money and kick up to impress the wise guys but they have too much to prove and most never will get made.

Look at the most violent crews in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Most of those crews flipped.
Bath avenue crew
Tanglewood boys
Gianinni crew
Colombo farm team crew
Gene borello