It's about a lot of things...



"While centered in the New York metropolitan region, the Genovese family also maintains a presence in portions of New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada, and California. The family has strong connections with other traditional and non-traditional organized crime groups throughout the United States. Of all the traditional LCN families, the Genovese has the most contact with non-traditional criminal organizations and the money and power they command. Not only is the Genovese family the strongest LCN group in the nation, but it also is the most unique. Elements of this group persist in the solid waste industry, on the waterfront, in organized labor and in public construction. It runs the largest bookmaking and loan sharking rings in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. The family’s other major criminal enterprises include extortion and labor racketeering in the construction, demolition, asbestos removal, carting, recycling, trucking, and waterfront industries; theft and kickbacks from pension funds; insurance fraud; narcotics trafficking; infiltration of legitimate businesses; and public corruption. Its influence is particularly strong on the Port Newark/Elizabeth and Hudson County waterfronts. While the organization continues to commit traditional crimes such as murder, extortion, racketeering, loan sharking and illegal gambling, it has evolved into committing more sophisticated crimes, such as computer fraud, stock/securities fraud and health-care fraud. Many of these crimes are committed with the assistance of non-traditional organized crime groups, such as those with Russian and Cuban members. Of all the traditional LCN families, the Genovese group has the most contact with non-traditional criminal organizations, and the money and power they command. The Genovese family has a proven record of resiliency that has enabled it to maintain a grip on lucrative segments of the legitimate economy despite repeated assualts by law enforcement."
- New Jersey Commission of Investigation on Organized Crime (2004)


"The Genovese family is now involved in a catalogue of crime: murder, extortion, loansharking, gambling, drugs, stock fraud, money-laundering, bank robberies, obstruction of justice and shaking down unions. While other families have been kicked out of the carting industry and the Fulton Fish Market, the Genovese family maintains a stubborn presence, investigators say. And an ongoing FBI investigation has found the Genovese family has ventured into new territory, becoming immersed in "pump and dump" stock scams and controlling the hot marijuana market in parts of the city." - New York Daily News Article (2001)



"According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state agencies, the Genovese mobsters are the country's largest Mafia faction, with 200 to 250 active members. The gang is also supported by about 1,000 associates who assist its illegal activities in the metropolitan region, New England and Florida. The family's financial bedrock is illegal gambling and loan sharking in New York and New Jersey; the authorities say this business generates hundreds of millions of dollars in profits each year. The family is also entrenched in labor racketeering and extortion in the construction, waterfront and trucking industries in New York and New Jersey."
- New York Times article (1998)


"F.B.I. agents and state investigators say Mr. Cirillo controls 200 to 250 made, or initiated, soldiers and capos, mainly in the New York City region, and about 1,000 associates, people who knowingly work or cooperate in the gang's rackets. The Genovese family's financial bedrock is illegal gambling and loan sharking, which bring in hundreds of millions of dollars each year, according to Federal, New York and New Jersey law enforcement officials. Other illegal activities in which the family is said to be entrenched include extortion for labor peace in the construction industry and from businesses at Port Newark and Port Elizabeth in New Jersey."
- New York Times article (1997)


"The Organised Crime Task Force believes the Genoveses have now forced the other Mafia families out of the trucking business, the meat market, gambling, construction and shipping. The Task Force estimates that if it were a legitimate business, the family would report annual revenues of more than $2 billion for its East Coast operation. That buys a lot of influence and a lot of firepower."
The Independent article (1995)