Gerry you have a point and I always kind of thought the same thing about NY. But as I do more research on the 5 families...they seem to always have a new racket to replace money they may be losing on older rackets that are more neighborhood oriented. But lets not go crazy..gambling will always be the stronghold for the mafia no matter if its legalized or not, or the landscape has changed or not. And NY definitely doesn't have the neighborhoods like it use to but there are still some areas that are Italian american neighborhoods...they just aren't in the heart of the city/borough anymore. But as for recruits, don't you think the trend now is to stay closer to home, like family members and close friends who have been around it already? I feel like you see that more often then not. There has to be a close connection already and not really recruiting outside of that. You don't really see "recruiting" per se. That's why i evenutally see LCN in America get smaller. We have already seen it thoughout the country but to your point, there isn't as many guys who want to be a mobster anymore or are around it as much as before because if they don't have a family member or friend, they wouldn't really see the action. I think Philly will be detroit in 15-20 years, Chicago will be Philly, and so on in terms of size. Even NY will get smaller and more close knit eventually. Just my opinion. But I do think this will help in some ways to stablilize the mob. They seem to be having trouble getting Uncle Joe in Philly, and he has become a more quiet, small close knit family.
There is no doubt that gambling still exist, and it is a big money maker, I just don't think it nearly as big as it used to be. The casual neighborhood bettors aren't there like they used to be. A lot of them moved out the neighborhood, and took on houses that cost more, and the overall cost of living has increased, so they no longer have the disposable income to bet like they used to. I'm 30, and I've seen how things have changed over my life time, in the 90's, just about everyone I know bet atleast on football games, now less then half do. I think the mafia has to stay closer to home now out of necessity, because you don't have the areas where guys grew up together from kids, or their fathers and grand fathers grew up together, those kind of bonds don't exist as much anymore. I know the Bonanno's under Joe Massino were keen on fathers recruiting their sons, and keeping things in the family. I know I wouldn't want to recruit a guy I met later in life, because you really don't know what he's been life throughout his life, like I would a guy i grew up with.
I might have been overly harsh on NYC, but when I spent time there last summer, and not just in Manhattan, it struck me how much the place has changed. It was chalk full of white yuppies, Chinese, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Arab types (they didn't appear happy or personable either), they didn't represent the NYC I grew up thinking existed. It wasn't just the lack of Italian Americans either, those old black and Irish American neighborhoods are quickly coming a thing of the past too. NYC isn't going to be producing the next Jimmy Burke anytime soon.
