With the Genovese being so secretive, how has there inner workings changed? How do they operate differently? Or are they just doing what they have been doing for many years?
Are there less sit downs? Are there less meetings between Captains? Are crews run differently?
Thanks.
Well, for starters they are more selective about who they let in than other families. It seems they don't make guys just because there are empty slots to fill. Quality attracts quality just as incompetence can attract more incompetence. I think a crucial time was the Commission case. The Gambinos went from Castellano to Gotti. The Luccheses went from Tony Ducks to Vic and Gas. The Colombos ended up still being at each other's throats. The Bonannos had a decent run for a while but only because the feds took their eye off the ball with that family. Once that changed, Massino's house of cards fell. The Genovese didn't skip a beat when Fat Tony went away. Law enforcement credited Chin with exceptional ability in picking loyal captains. And, even after his death, many of those same guys continued to run the family. The attrition of quality is there in the family, but it's not nearly as apparent or has come on as quick as in the other families.
They also continue to enforce policy by violence, including murder. Larry Ricci ended up in a trunk because he wouldn't take a plea deal. Al Bruno was killed because he was suspected of being an informant. As Chin once said, "We don't break our captains. We kill them."
Another factor is Genovese members, on average, being wealthier than their counterparts in other families. There isn't as much jockying for position in order to get rich. A lot of these guys are already rich. And already having money means they don't have to become as involved in dangerous endeavors such as drug trafficking.
Still another factor was the family's quickness to take plea deals, which dramatically cuts the amount of prison time a guy does; giving him less reason to flip.
Genovese guys have also been known to be exceptionally wary of surveillance. There's well known stories about Dom Cirillo having his driver go the wrong way up freeway ramps to lose tails. Or Tino Fiumara hiding in the trunk of a car on the way to meetings. Or Barney Bellomo walking up to an FBI surveillance van, after he spotted it, and looking in the window. Not to mention them making guys who are just in a robe, so as not to risk the ceremony being recorded.
Beyond that, I think much of it has to do with them always having been at the top; even going back to the days of Masseria and before. It's easier to stay on top if you've started there then get there from below.
