As I already said in my previous post that the Mafia shouldve taken control over the narcotics racket. By "control" i mean selling all expensive and cheap drugs only in rich neighborhoods, also in areas like Vegas and A City, or in Miami. Nazi Germany used the same or similar tactic lol, meaning only the rich and middle class people were able to enjoy narcotics. Theres another theory in which some U.S. bosses wanted to use their own cities only as transport stations for heroin and cocaine (I think this happened with Chicago during the 70s) which arrived from Central and South America, with one small part of the shipment being kept as some type of "payment", either for their own family or for the cops to show for.

My point is that some of them made a mistake by selling stuff mostly around the poor neighborhoods, the same areas from where they recruited their future candidates. So no wonder why during the 60s, 70s and 80s many Outfit guys were involved in the dope trade, meaning the younger generation didnt grow up when bootlegging, gambling and union racketeering were their prime ops, but instead they grew up around a lot of dope dealing and loan sharking. So it was quite tough for the bosses to prevent dope dealing among their ranks, again a situation which shouldve been under their own control. Im not supporting these guys but from the Mob's point of view, guys like Chuck Nicoletti were right regarding the Mob taking control over the dope racket. Nicoletti said this way before the birth of the ruthless Colombian and Mexican cartels.

If the story regarding the bosses being afraid of the dope trade because of huge prison terms and informers is true, then I personally cant see the difference between that and the huge prison terms or life sentences which bosses from both New York and Chicago received during the 1980s, and it wasnt because of narcotics, but instead it was about gambling, extortion, loan sharking and murder.

Detroit and the Luchesses in the 40s and 50s. The whole French Connection. Yall really be acting like none of this shit happened. Yall seen Godfather too many times... pre 50s drugs just wasn't a big racket, certainly liquor was the biggest vice.

It's really like.... guys like 3 Fingers Coppola, John Ormento, these guys are invisible to yall....

IDK jace, IFIRC he was talking about mafia members and not drugs in general but heroin!

The "big time" drug dealing began during the 50s, not 40s. And saying "yall" (including me) its like you belong to only one forum group, if you know what im sayin...let me act like you...some of "you" guys are still using my years old and completely outdated narcotics article as "Bible" Lol but none of "you" guys will ever admit something like that. I know you Cabrini never did that but I had to correct you regarding "yall" with "you". Cheers pal

---

You brought out several very good points TD. And I have to agree with a lot of what you said.

On a related note, that also speaks to this issue, many years ago, I was told that the bosses in Chicago actually "subsidized" any of their soldiers and top men who were making their living from narcotics by putting them on the Outfit's payroll for $250. per week (if memory serves me correctly), just so they would abstain from drug dealing. And afterwards, if they got caught continuing to deal, they'd be whacked out!

The NYC crews offered no such incentive. You'd just get clipped if you ignored the bosses directive not to touch that shit.

And many soldiers, who specialized in that sort of thing, were complaining about their loss of income. They used Chicago as an example of how the NY guys should be similarly treated.

True story

It's hard to tell where these bosses stood morally, but I am sure many of them did not like what drugs did to people. Keep in mind that many of them had kids.

There will always be exceptions that prove the rule but it's mostly a myth like they want us to believe the mafia is all about brotherhood respect honor etc...

I agree, but it's also not true that all of these people are just pure evil scum. It's obviously a terrible life to live for many reasons, but people can have many sides.

That's also very true it's not black or white.

American Cosa Nostra were the originators the cartels and all the other drug crews came later LCN missed the boat when cocaine became popular and till this days it's a huge market.

Lol, i didnt mean " you" guys as a forum thing. More of a, Mafia Morality thing. Many people really believe the Godfather shit. It's like, if morality was a major issue, why not throw in with the Sufferage movement? That was where the POLITICAL POWER people praise so much, actually was.

Why throw in with the bootleggers? Remember alcohol WAS the heroin of its day, absolutely destroyed whole families just like opiates. The morality argument is just so weak to me.....

Yes I agree that the US CN first took the dope business on a national level, although we also must not forget that they received huge help from their non-Italian associates, especially the Jewish mob. Im thinking about guys like Lepke and Jacob Klein or even Paul Roland Jones. Some of these guys had poppy fields around Mexico since the mid or late 1930s.

Yep and the Corsicans. Antoine D'Agostino, Jean Baptiste Croce, Paul Mondolini, Antoine and Barthelemy "Meme" Guerini, brothers Dominique and Jean Venturi, brothers Marcel, Xavier and Jean Francisci, Joseph Orsini and ofcourse legendary Auguste Joseph Ricord.