I know all about Valley Stream and Rosedale I ran around both places in the early 70s to 80. I don’t usually post personal info but I was asked by Dante where I was from I answered. Both those areas and MOST not all the other past hot bed locations are no longer hot beds of mobsters simply because the mob is not what it was. They still may have Italians but that doesn’t make them mob hotbeds. Oh and I’m in nj now for the past twenty years and very aware of what’s going on here. Very few if any hot beds to speak of. Italians yes, hit beds no. A few mobsters here and there. May be our definition of hot beds is the real difference. Lastly, don’t forget that the kennedys were also behind the immigration law of 1965 which effectively slowed and now today just about has eliminated the immigration of all Western Europeans. Thereby eliminating Italian immigrant communities, the tightness of it, and the farm system of recruits.
I have to largely agree with you. There are a lot of heavily Italian neighborhoods today, but not "mobbed-up" per se. I grew up in several NYC neighborhoods back in the 1960s-1970s that were considered hotbeds of all the families. Hotbeds! .... you couldn't drive through the area without seeing clusters of goodfellas on nearly every corner. a bunch of social clubs where they ran dice and steady card games daily. Bars, restaurants, little cafes where all the crews hung out.
Today? LOl... I drive into the area, park, and go see who I wanna go see. But I gotta search em out. There are a few spots where friends still hang. But if you're not in the know, then you wouldn't know!
And MOST connected guys actually live in the suburbs of LI, Westchester, and Jersey. Most of the fellas who are still residing within the 5-boros is because they are not earning. Don't get me wrong, there are still fellas who you'd consider to have plenty of wood who live in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, etc. But the vast majority (if they made money) got their wife and kids out of the shit.
Most of these areas that we came from, grew up in (and loved), are long gone. The demographics as we knew it are very different than yesteryear. Not to be prejudice or racists, but most people feel more comfortable with their own kind (people who knew them when, and are familiar with the same old Italian customs, etc). These areas today are mostly bullshit. Either all fucked up like its the United Nations, Yeppified, or a completely changed area. Many have a much higher crime rate, etc.
NO more cafes, Italian bakeries, and latticini's, no more old Italians sitting on the stoops waving hello, no more stickball in the street or handball against the brickwall, no more Italian Feast days and celebrations. Why would we stay?
These areas, and the folks who live in them, don't value our customs. And as far as the wiseguys go, the "street action" is not even around these areas anymore. Everything as we knew it is vastly reduced and different.
They told us it was "progress". Lol..... Ho Hum!.... so much for progress.
