thank you tiger.lol. you get it though. there are no 'hard and fast' rules. just know that most guys start hanging 'around' in the late 20s, early 30s. [today i mean]. back in my day you started a lot younger. it really was a neighborhood thing. there were a lot more gangs back then. you hung out with a lot of tough guys and kids tht dreamed of being made. the bullshitters got 'weeded out' quick. if you couldnt hold your ground people would find out. now, a lot of new made guys are worried about looking 'tough' instead of being tough. and in 10 yrs, there either in a fed prison, witsec, or working a 40 hr work week like the rest of us. there are exceptions. plenty of them. but thats the majority.
to the guy who mentioned which crew, your right to. but there are bums that are with the westside. whos that colombo guy with the car dealerships? john S-------, worth 50 million dollars!if your the son of a union boss, youve got it made i dont care who your with. its all who you know. if your nephew of some skipper with a family, you got a good chance to rise fast and [possibly] make some money. if your the nephew of a baker, you got a good chance to learn how to make the other kind of 'dough'.lol.
sal vitale must be it, he worked until he was in his late 30s, completely legit work. he marries joe massinos sister, hes underboss of the bonannos in 5 yrs.lol. perfect example.
Why do u think guys are starting later in the the life today as oppose to years ago?Do u think in your day guys actually needed to do it to survive and today the kids live at home with their parents then in their late 20s they try the life out and if it doesnt work out they dont care because they can just live at home?
when a guy 'gets on' with a crew, hes one of two things.hes either'hungry' or hes 'scared'. if hes 'hungry', hes a 'wanna-be'. he wants the button from day 1. hes already into some shit like drugs. these guys will usually get 'on' younger and burn out faster to. they can be total pussys, and some can be real dangerous. some guys turn into the real deal. most end up burn out inside, with whats left of there crew fucking them over at every chance. the guys who come for protection are actually a lot more common than you think. a guy is a week or two behind on a loan and he gets his ass beat. he goes to a made guy.the made guy says, hes with me, you cant touch him anymore. in exchange the other guy and his 'guy' agree not to touch him and now the young guy's 'friend' is responsible for makeing him pay. usually these legit guys are made to pay some money [not always] and usually are 'groomed' into knockaround guys if they arent already. [although a true knockaround guy doesnt get his ass beat by anyone, made or not]. they usually find out that between the average cost of life, plus there 'dues',is alot of money and they start getting into 'the street' themselves. most guys end up being 'wanna-bes'.a lot of guys are working class, college drop outs who take there shot at a 'legitamtate' life. when i was younger, yes we were a lot poorer, but cosa nostra its self was a lot stronger then too. you had half a dozen hang-outs within 2 blocks of my house. you walk down 18th avenue,and you would see wiseguys from every family. its a lot different now though, half my block is italian, the other half is either mexican or chinese. [or russian]. when i was 16 some of my friends took the bus up to sunset park and robbed this small restaurant. one of them left a print somewhere, was arrested, a day later the charges were dropped. today? it would be in the daily news and the guy would be sentenced to life plus twenty or some stupid shit. in my day kids and women had shy books,if they had a 'guy' behind them, it was respected and they made money. i hung around a kid who had enough shy loans to keep 3 of us busy with pickups. these kids today cant even calculate interest points. the general nieghborhood aditude is gone. ratting is so fucking comon, it is a joke. i hate to use the movie as an example, but you know that scene in the bronx tale where calorgero denies he saw sonny kill the guy in front of the whole street? and the camera pans around and you see the whole crowd nodding in approval and saying 'what a good kid' and 'thatta boy'? thats whats missing. you dont learn those things out in nassau county or in princes bay.
i hope i answered your question.
