1990 Article: Mafia Destroyed

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/22/us/a-b...=all&src=pm

Interesting article from the NY Times in 1990 about the destruction of the Mafia. Looking back 24 years later, the authors and experts were right about certain things and completely wrong on others.

Correct:

All of the families West of the Mississippi are practically gone
Other than NY and Chicago, most of the families are dismantled
The interest in Las Vegas and California has waned

Not Correct:

Taylor Street crew (Outfit) still in existence
Chicago had no presence in Las Vegas after 1986 (Chicago and other families did well into the 1990s)
Lucchese, Bonnano and Colombo were decimated
Philadelphia wouldn't bounce back

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

I believe I read that Don Angelini(sp) was sent to Las Vegas after Spilotro was murdered, or at some point in the late 80's or 90's. I recall several articles stating how FBI agents liked Mr. Angelini. A rare occurance for the FBI to speak favorably about an Outfit member. I believe Mr.Angelini was charged and eventually sent to prison. Can't remember the charges or the sentence.

Correct. The Outfit reorganized their West Coast Operations after Spilotro. Basically, guys that could be trusted were reorganized, others voluntarily left organized crime and others were bounced out by Chicago.

After 1986, the major players on the West Coast (LA, Las Vegas, Phoenix) were:

Frank Buccieri
Don Angelini
Michael Carraci
Dominic Cortese
Joseph Hanson
Chris Petti
Paul Schiro
Vito Spillone
Herbie Blitzstein
Rocco Lombardo (debateable)

Several of these individuals had little crews of associates, of which apparently the DiNunzio brothers were part of. Herbie was in jail until the mid 1990s. Angelini, Caracci and I think Petti went to jail with DiFronzo over the attempted takeover at Harrah's Rincon.

Many of the Las Vegas local guys loyal to Spilotro were considered untrustworthy and thus shelved. These included John Brancato and several members of his Hole in the Wall gang, in addition to more minor players.

An important article to remeber when you hear the media, and the FBI for that matter, declare a family "dead"
I would also move The interest in Las Vegas and California has waned to at very least, "partially incorrect"
I said it before and i'll say it again, any given week, month or year in the LCN is nothiong more than a snapshot....Rockford, Utica, Rochester,and Ontario are cases in point.

Other than Sam Cecola owning Club Paradise and possibly his little 3-4 person crew that is completely unknown to the Outfit outside of Sam Cecola, what mob activity exists in Las Vegas?

I did read there are about 5 or 6 other known made guys in Las Vegas from the East Coast. Apparently they run Prostitution and a little bookmaking, but that's the extent of it.

California has relatively no traditional organized crime. There are a handful (maybe 15-20) made guys from back East who have businesses in California, but most of them are legitimate and cash cows. Most people out here throw money at these guys because they want to work with a real mafia member. Perhaps these guys loanshark on the side, but nothing major goes on here.

California is dead, but the Genovese and Buffalo families have had an interest in Vegas since the 80s, mostly via via Steve Wynn. Steve was "born" connected to Buffalo and has had to explain his ties and close brushes with Genovese family guys repetedly. He is far from mister clean.
There is no more full blown skim operations, those days are over, but both families have assoociates and made guys with moneyon the street, and is kicked back to Erie County and NY on a regular basis

Depends on what you mean by "did well." The mob was gone from the casinos by the mid-1980's. Some of the families hovered on the fringes of things into the 1990's - loansharking, telemarketing scams, slot cheating, nightclubs, escorts, etc. But by the new millennium there was said to be only about a dozen or so actual made guys still living in Vegas and some of them were in prison. In 2011, it was reported that Asian and Eurasian OC was now a bigger priority for the FBI in Vegas than the LCN. The mob's extensive bookmaking networks still extend out to places in the west like Vegas, Phoenix, LA, and San Diego but there doesn't seem to be any standing, active crews. Just individual mobsters here and there, some not active anymore. There's a reason the last semi-significant news out of Vegas involving the mob was the Crazy Horse case from 2003.