Hi,

I didn´t know if I should stard a new topic. Here is my question:

Where do you think, is the Chicago Outfit today in the rank of the US La Cosa Nostra Families? With rank I mean power, membership, earned money etc.

The New York Times from 1995 lists there members

- GENOVESE: 300
- GAMBINO 200
- BONANNO 100
- LUCCHESE 50 bis 60
- COLOMBO 50 to 60

I read that there were just 28 government recognized made Outfit members. What is your ranking from 1.2.3....

source: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/03/nyregi...mp;pagewanted=2

im not sure where those numbers came from for the Luccheses and Colombos, for the past 30 or 40 years they have always been about the same size of the Bonnano family.

And membership wise(since it is impossible to know how much a family makes a year) i would put the chicago outfit on par with the other remaining faamilys outside of new york, so about the same size as philly, boston, and new jersey.

Genovese
Gambino
Lucchesse
Bonanno
Colombo
Chicago
Philly
Jersey

Ranking familes has become kinda silly IMHO, after all its not the NBA or NFL. We all know the Genovese is the strongest and most lucrative family other than that the remaining five familes and then the remaining familes outside of NY. It's funny but comparing Barny or Stevie isnt like comparing Lebron or KD but some people still try, oh well I understand the threads do get boring when there not much new happening. No problema just my opinion.

Genovese
Chicago
Gambino
Lucchesse
Bonanno
Colombo
Philly
Jersey. I know the New York guys are gonna be like "what, Chicago number 2 ??? Yes Chicago number 2. I have no idea how many made members their are in the Chicago Outfit but my gut tells me its more then 28. To this day according to the FBI Chicago has its influence all over the western United States. New York has the east coast and Chicago has the west. I got my info from someone I know who is a Department of Defense cop and he gets briefed once a year by the FBI on organized crime. They also said Chicago generates more money then any other "single" Italian organized crime entity in the United States.

Ummm, no.

I know...of course not, couldn't be, FBI has no idea what they are talking about. New York is the center of the universe. Chicago only has its tentacles in St.Louis, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Denver, L.A., Seattle, Twin City's, Phoenix, North Western Indiana etc Definitely no money to be made there..

Chicago barely has its tentacles in anything. It's a barely functioning family, most of it has either died off (considering the family has the same demographics as a nursing home) or gone legit.

your probably right

Boston?
I assume you mean Providence, and you would be wrong,Chicago dwarfs them, Philly and Jersey is size and scope.

If we are talking about just the 5 NY families and Chicago
1 Genovese
2.Gambino
3 Chicago
4.Lucchesse
5 Bonanno
6 Colombo

You have any evidence whatsoever for this assertion? When was the last indictment?

Chicago fanboys, please note:

ALL five families are larger in EVERY way than Chicago. As has been REPEATEDLY stated, proved, confirmed etc the 5 families are the the largest in size followed by (in no particular order)Philly, NE, Chicago and Jersey.

Try and stop fantasizing.
Facts are a lot more interesting.

1: What entails a DOD cop that would be briefed on Outfit activity? He works at an airport with the TSA?

2: Did you seriously just say they make more money than the Genoveses'? Or the Gambinos?

1.) Pittsburgh
2.) Buffalo
3.) Tampa
4.) Who gives
5.) A fuck

2.375) New Orleans

Yea that looks more accurate

I am far from a Chicago fan boy, I just happen to be a NY transplant live here, but I can tell you that is size, scope, and every other measure, Chicago is bigger than 3 of the 5 NY families.

And you can divine this how? Have you been calling Mrs. Cleo or something?

This is just complete & utter nonsense though

Wow, Chicago fanboys are crazy, they just can't get over the fact that the family is so small and powerless.

Great. I love different opinions. Please tell me how.

Don't the five families have a lot more involvement in the drug trade than the outfit? And everyone knows drugs are the most lucrative.

In Chicago the Sinaloa Cartel in conjunction with the largest street gangs (Latin Kings, Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords etc.) totally dominate the drug trade, so its impossible for the Outfit to take advantage of that market the way the Italians do in New York

Also much of the Outfit money has gone legitimate as has been stated..real estate, restaurants, construction and sanitation companies, lingerie bars and even farms downstate

The better question would be where the heck are you getting this nonsense from?

I know this sounds like I'm making this up, but people who would know and who grew up in Melrose have told me that almost all of it has gone legit and many of the lowlife criminals who still try stuff on the streets get no respect from the descendants of the old big shots.

I could have been lied to though and it was really none of my business

The burden of proof is on those making outlandish claims that Chicago is powerful and even in the same arena as the Five Families.

The number of indictments since Family Secrets has been very seldom. There have been none outside Chicago. You are left with two options: 1) They are criminal masterminds that have figured out how to beat the 21st century FBI OR 2) Activity is way down, either abandoning the family altogether, going legit and scaling down.

The Geneovese is by all accounts the most powerful, secretive, smart LCN in the country. While you don't see the admin indicted often recently (although even then you got Leo, Nigro, etc), there are large number of soldiers and associates that get indicted every several years. It gives us a indication of their activity.

Elmwood park, and Melrose park, much of which migrated from Cicro, has gone legit, but be careful not to assume "legit" means they are not walking a fine line of legality, and pulling scams are rackets around the legitamate business.
For example...you buy a distressed property on North Avenue in the Chicago Burbs or the West side of Rockford, on a short sell, which mans you pay peanuts. You gut it, from the copper piping to the door hinges, and sell it off. then you either walk away and "dump it" fopr unpaid taxes, or you renivate it to the bare bones of occumency and sub divide it 6 ways, and rent it to Russian prostitutes who came to the US thinking they had a Nanny job,to drug dealers, or to people with a rent voucher from welfare. you put nothing back into it. This is the outfit's version of "legit"

Good point.

Also there are a number of Eastern European girls who work in those lingerie places on Manheim and I wonder whats going on there, but like I said I don't ask too many questions, because it's none of my business.

I will say I've never been outright solicited in those places though, so I'm not accusing any of them of being brothels

There is a lucertive partnership between the Russians and Elmwood park, and to a lesser extent Melrose Park in Adult entertainment,prostitution and human trafficing. There is a strip club owner who may never know how close he came to getting whacked recently over this, and a lawyer in Country club hills who pays every week.

Okay Huron. You win, there are several hundred wiseguys in Chicago. They rival the Hispanic drug gangs and the black gangs. In fact, the ethnic gangs who peddle thousands of kilograms a month and gross millions of dollars a year and drop bodies are scared of 72 year old Italian numbers runners, bookies and loansharks.

The same fbi who has a squad that rivals the numbers (or lack thereof) of philly mobsters and are resistant to the fact the mob no longer warrants the investigative attention in philly it did 30 years ago. Those same feds who have decided to shrink their Chicago mob numbers to so few are for some reason, oblivious to the fact here are several hundred Chicago mafia members

Huron never said there are several hundred wiseguys.

The outfit is nothing more than a glorified crew.