I don't think I have a first hand knowledge of anything. Those were just things I did that were interesting to me and my impressions.
I'm not even arguing anything anymore.
This whole discussion got started because someone wrote that the Outfit had 200 made members which I said was ridiculous.
We obviously have different impressions of where the Outfit is and its near future but I don't pretend to have definitive knowledge on the subject.
But no, I don't think low-end jewelry thieving and video poker are indicative of a real healthy, cutting-edge criminal organization, particularly compared to the very real and frightening political and financial power it wielded until the early 90s.
The RATE of decay is the writing on the wall.
Anyone who thinks the Outfit still has 200 members is clearly uninformed. But so are those who think video poker and low end jewelry heists are all there is left to the Outfit. And nobody is saying they are what they were 20 years ago. No family is. But having declined does not mean dead.
Mods should mind their own business and leave poster's profile signatures alone.
