killing little does not mean being less powerful in any case, there are very powerful groups such as the Ndrangheta, the Albanian clans, the Yakuza, the Triads that kill relatively little

Cosa Nostra in Sicily called off all murders and because of that they've regained quite a bit of power. Bernardo Provenzano even decided to welcome turncoats back in.

I don't give a fuck about Goodfellas, fact is Galante didn't give a fuck and called one that straight to his face. Gotti was already an old man and still didn't rat or run to protective custody after the incident, that gets you respect in prison.

Every single mobster in America right now could be in the prison system, and they would still be severely outnumbered. It has nothing to do with who's tougher it's easy to be tough when you're part of a big prison gang, or when you beat up old men like the guy who beat up Gotti.

But go the Aryans to get the man killed (ang Gotti was punched because didnt pay the protection) at Galante time nobody even the craziest ni**er would punch a wiseguy now is different. A wiseguy can easly killed by a guy with mental problem or a lifer that have nothing to lose.

The main reason the american mafia has weakened is quite simple: the decline of the italian american neighborhood. Of course law enforcement technology but to me, the traditional italian neighborhoods that were in major cities are now merely shadows of their former selves. You still have Italian area's but nothing like those old school blue collar hoods. BLM was protesting in South Philly for gods sakes! That never would of happened in the 80's-90's.

yes they lost the territories where they were rooted, the italian neighborhoods

Gotti was not punched due to not paying protection, and if Galante called a Black inmate the N word he would have been hurt. As for Italian neighborhoods disappearing being a reason, almost any area with a heavy Italian population had fewer and fewer people who would get involved. Times changed.

And lets not forget that most fathers who were involved in the life pushed their kids to become legit. Doctors, lawyers, restaurant owners and attorneys to name a few.

They put money behind them to go to college and have a nice life in the suburbs that would provide a good living crime free.

Galante did call a black inmate the n-word, this has been well-documented that he didn't give a fuck and respected no one in prison and was willing to serve whatever sentence thrown at him.

Italians assimilate well into American society, the Mafioso mindset has been pretty much bred out of 5th and 6th generation Italian Americans. Mark my words, future mob indictments are going to feature guys closer to the old country and not so far removed from traditional mob values.

Another thing also, so many Italian women now date guys that are not Italian. Same thing can be said of the Italian men. Back in the day that wasn't very common.

The new generations are just different. They don't really care about traditional Italian values.

We'll documented by rumor. No way a White inmate says that in prison, or says it and gets away with it.

Russians, Corsicans etc, more violence means more DISorganized Crime.

yes but it depends... sicilian mafia was very violent for a certain period but as the same time organized (Toto' Riina was boss of bosses)
Mexican cartels seem a bit disorganized

Sicilian Mafia was violent unless Riina passed the mark ordering to kill everybody and the State decided to react and after the maxitrial and the 41 bis and tons of rats,Provenzano understood that is better make money that kill people for every bullshit.
The cartels are in war from 1989 and after so many killing even the mexican state and the mexicans are seriously training to change the situation.

Weak is subjective… what criteria are we talking about and what other ethnic OC group has fared better?

Extreme violence is part of their business, but the better organized groups prefer corruption, like Escobar said "plata o plomo".

A powerful organization control the streets and kill everybody is a threat or obstacle to the organization,kill or try to kill the rats in the witsec fight with other gang for control of territory and rackets and have no fear to kill each organization members.

The sicilian mafia in the 1970s to early 1990s was like that! But at the end the violence almost destroyed it.
Now the american mafia is weak because doesnt kill the rats that turn back to the old hoods (last was mario riccobene murder in philly in 1993),dont try to kill the rats in witsec (last attempt was to kill Gravano in 1997),dont kill the gang member that kill a relative (a 15 y old nephew of a buffalo wiseguy was killed by a black gang and nothing happened),no retaliation for a made man death (frank cali's killer is still alive) and shelved instead kill people.
That is more objective.

Good question, I don't see them as weak. They are just so into legitimate businesses and many are college educated. Even the gangster types in the Mafia fit well into society, and are not out looking to kill people. They have been like this for a long time, no need for people to mention the occasional exception. When the 1930's and 1940's violence rate was high, even with other gangs, it was different. Those men faced poverty and many were imprisoned as teenagers. To compare them to those days, or call them weak because they are not out killing does not make sense. An 86-year old poked a guy who had been taunting him in phone calls and then in person, he just had that big trail and was found guilty
That is the biggest factor, the standards of law enforcement, We have more to fear from groups like ANTIFA than we do from not only the Mafia, but most other gangs.

Furio you make some good points. Regardless of how much money you're making or how smooth of an operation you're running, there are just some things that should never go unpunished. The guy who killed the relative of a Buffalo wiseguy should've been punished. Imagine if that was Tony Accardo's nephew? I don't wanna hear this isn't the 1970s or 80s, that's just an excuse. Same with the guy who killed Frank Cali. I'm all for not killing at the drop of a hat or whacking someone just for looking at you the wrong way, I'll be the first on this forum to say that the vast majority of mob killings were pointless and ridiculous, and in fact disastrous. But some things shouldn't go without retribution, I don't care if it's 1983, 2023, or 2083. Michael Meldish, the Luccheses were RIGHT in killing him (mob-wise, I'm not personally saying he deserved to die) if in fact he screwed wiseguys over 100K, even if it resulted in life sentences.

I think most of you make some good points. "The Life" or whatever you want to call it is very complicated.

There are plenty of options out there if they really wanted to follow through on it. You just can't let something like that go.

I think the guy that shot Cali was a skitzo or something so thats why no action was taken on him. If it would have been an actual mob hit I believe you definitely would have seen retaliation.

THE STORY OF THE BUFFALO MOB VS. THE BLACK MOB IN THE 90S: According to FBI records, recently-deceased Buffalo mob capo Frank (Butchie Bifocals) Bifulco once put out open murder contracts on an African-American crime baron and two of his enforcers he held responsible for the drug-related killing of his teenage stepson.Nobody collected, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. The government swooped in before the contracts were carried out. And as a result, Buffalo’s Italian mob and Black mob never went to war.

Bifulco died earlier this week of natural causes at the age of 76. Butchie Bifocals is alleged to have overseen all underworld activity on the city’s West Side for the Magaddino crime family throughout much of the past four decades.

Carmen Gallo, his 15-year old stepson, was brutally gunned down in a hail of automatic weapon fire on the night of May 12, 1993 by members of the WAG Boys, a Black drug gang operating out of the East Side of Buffalo. East Side drug kingpin Roy (Pee Wee) Highsmith ran the WAG Boys (Winslow Avenue Gang) and was the man BiFulco believed gave the order to murder Gallo, a punky, pintsized 5-foot-4, 100-pound teenage drug boss with his eye on achieving “made” status in his stepdad’s crime family as quickly as possible.

Gallo hailed from a rich Buffalo mafia lineage. His great grandfather, Joe (The Gyp) DiCarlo was Magaddino crime family consigliere in the late 1960s and early 1970s. DiCarlo’s dad had been one of the organization’s founding fathers. When BiFulco married Gallo’s mother, he took Gallo under his wing and was said to often speak with him about what he needed to do in order to get his button, per court documents.

One of those things was becoming an “earner.” From the time he was a little kid, Gallo was learning how to score. Pushing dope at Lafayette High School was a good start he was told and encouraged by BiFulco, according to future court testimony.

On the afternoon of May 12, 1993, Gallo and his partner in the high-school drug game, Eric Harkins, went to the city’s East Side to purchase drugs from WAG Boys lieutenant Jeff (Jazz) Culbreath. In exchange for free narcotics for his personal use, the 17-year old Harkins let Culbreath and WAG Boys enforcers Forrest (DMC) Miles and Michael (Middle Mike) Ridgeway use his Taurus for a crosstown drug run.

While they waited for the return of Harkins’ car, Harkins and Gallo did cocaine at an East Side trap house and at some point spoke with Pee Wee Highsmith and his brother and right-hand man, Lawrence (Larry Bird) Highsmith, about future transactions. Pee Wee Highsmith was allegedly offended at the way Gallo was speaking to him, according to informants. Gallo would often threaten to have people killed by way of his family connections to the Buffalo mob, per grand jury testimony.

Jazz Culbreath, DMC Miles and Middle Mike Ridgeway returned to pick Gallo and Harkins up at around 10:30 and told them they would drive them back to the West Side. Ridgeway was driving the Taurus, Miles was in the front passenger’s seat and Culbreath sat in the back with Gallo and Harkins.

Minutes into the car ride, Jazz shot Harkins with a double-barrel pistol and Miles opened fire with an AK-47 on Gallo. Both teenagers were blasted out of the vehicle and onto the pavement on Woodlawn Avenue. Gallo was killed instantly. Harkins survived the attack. Read the rest of this story; https://gangsterreport.com/the-buff...drug-boss-he-blamed-for-stepsons-murder/

Bifulco blamed Pee Wee Highsmith. He wanted Highsmith, Culbreath and Miles all killed and was offering $50,000 bounties for each hit, per informants.

Are any of the five families in New York allies of the Rizzuto family in Montreal? If so, Do they do business together in any way?

So apparently it wasn't for lack of trying. Reading your original comment Furio I got the impression that they didn't even try.

The point is that when Buffalo family was more powerful,the blacks that killed bifulco nephew would be whacked by the wiseguys not offering a bounty on his heads. But in the 1990s the Buffalo mob was so weak that dont had the force to start a war against the gang.In the 1950s Bifulco would order to his crew to find and kill the blacks,whatever would happen.

True for a mafioso so many things are not permitted if it's in violation of his obligations as a "man of honor".

In Italy is different many men become crazy in 41 bis regime.

The US factions may have been weakened, 'Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra and Camorra are still very powerful.

You're exactly right Hollander, in future American mob busts we're going to see more and more "off-the-boat" Italians featuring prominently. It's already happening, just look at the recent Gambino bust. There's no more American recruitment pool to draw from.