It's called general attrition, and you're right. To make it short and to the point: There's no "new blood."

And the second and third generation Italian Americans in the United States are among the most upwardly mobile European ethnic groups in the entire country. Why pick up a gun when you can go to college, better yourself, and give your family an honest, respectable life?

The Italian immigrants of the early 20th century didn't have this option open to them, so if you want to make excuses for them becoming gangsters, you might have a valid point. But today there's no excuse; and to the credit of most of the younger Italian Americans, they know it. I just don't see as many mob "wannabes" today as when I was a young guy. And that's a good thing.