By that I mean which mobster lead to the mobs downfall. The mob is still here and still making tons of money obviously but not like they did years ago before Giuliani came in and cleaned everything up in NYC. A lot of people are also getting locked up. So if there is one person who do you think it is? I think it was john gotti. He put the mob too out in the open, and served as the poster boy for what people and kids thought a mobster should look like and how a mobster should conduct himself. Which was the wrong way. Every old school wiseguy knows he wasnt doing what cosa nostra rules said. He was flaunting his money and lifestyle too much. He should've kept his business to himself. And I don't even blame sammy for flipping on him. John double crossed him and he deserved it. That's my opinion. But I'm sure gotti isn't the only one. There had to be many others who contributed to the mobs downfall. The justice department deserves a lot of credit also. But that's a different story.

Joe Valachi started it all

I'd say that's kinda hard to say unless you see where an investigation startss and the legs of it .. look at how Massino Fell...Paper Tigers

No doubt it was Sammy Gravano IMHO. Of course it was Gotti that caused him to flip, so you can blame him.

It started with Valachi and ended up with Massino,so thats two guys,not one

Gotti did nothing but hurt Cosa Nostra as boss!
If there is an after-life, I can only hope Carlo Gambino was waiting to boot his butt

I agree with all of you! Lol

Gotti.

Doesnt matter if Gotti would have stayed in the shadows or "ducked" the spotlight, regardless the govt had the mob's number and they were gunning for all these guys and it was just a matter of time before they got busted. It's ridiculous to pinpoint to one specific guy IMO.

I dont think one specific mobster broke the mob's back, if anything I would say RICO broke the mob's back. The mob isn't necessarily broken per-se, its just a shadow of its former self (reduced influence) but it is still around.



Forensic accounting, it's brutal.

I hear you Dapper. I just think Gotti was a fucking tool that's all.

I'd say that Italian-American assimilation did more to break the mob than even RICO.

The mob has adapted somewhat to RICO, but it cannot adapt to the assimilation of Italians into the mainstream of American society. Though of course RICO has probably helped speed up this assimilation in that it likely works as a strong disincentive for getting involved in OC to begin with.

It's complicated. Like you said, it's silly to pinpoint one specific guy, or even numerous specific individuals.

Completely agree.

Valachi.

Completely agree with Nicky.

Obviously not one person, but the whole Apalachin mess really thrust the mafia into the spotlight. No longer could J. Edgar deny the existence.

I say that who have created more damage to the mafia was Vito Genovese, for two important reasons:
1) The meeting of Apalachin where over 100 Italian, Sicilian or Italian-Americans mafiosi, in fact all the US family in the country, discovered by pure chance, a police officer of the area Edward Croswell was surprised to see so many Italian names in the register of hotels and noticed that the mobster Joe Barbara had ordered 95 kg of steak, 10 kg of slices of veal and 7 kg of salami;
with the following the raid and the arrest of several
the FBI awoke from his sleep and decided to hit the mob, but the damage could still be contained
2)Joe Valachi, Genovese believing that Valachi , had spoken to convict him, and tell ​​him that he would have whack him,
Valachi for the fearst of been killed, accidentally murder a thief with no ties with the Mafia, and risking the electric chair tipped everything he knew, 30 years in the Mafia,to the FBI.
After Valachi in 1970 was the RICO law,
''Under RICO, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity." RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages (damages in triple the amount of actual/compensatory damages).''