Prediction time

In lite of the latest news that as come out about buffalo's lcn activity, which city do you predict will be discovered as having an active lcn family that was previously considered inactive???

P.s. please take the sticks out of yours butts and have fun with this

In the spirit of having, Pittsburgh is my pick, there's just to many family oriented rackets going on for it not to be lcn. Plus the fact that I never heard of a monster from out of state being arrested in Pittsburgh, that tells me all of the existing lcn families is respecting this territory, if Pittsburgh lcn did not exist other lcn families would be all over it

With feds increasingly focused on terrorism and cartels, there could be an increase in traditional racketeering. The 5 families don't even have separate FBI divisions assigned to them anymore, do they? Isn't there only one NY organized crime unit now? East coast cities that still have active mobsters may see an increase in their power. Regions out west that have been dormant for years regarding traditional Italian/Jewish syndicate activity could see a rise in organized crime from other ethnic groups, notably Asians and Russians.

Russian and Asian organized crime presence in north america is over exaggerated in my opinion. For the last 20-30 years "experts" have been predicting about Russians and all that taking over, and it's certainly not the case.

I think if there's anything we've learned in recent years, the Russian mafia is by far the most powerful organized crime group in America right now.

There's little if any reports that have actually proven the "Russian mafia" holds any significant power at all in America.

Sure, if you don't watch the news, at all.

Previously, people said Detroit' lcn was defunct and they have proven to be active, the same for buffalo. Which other lcn city is out thier?

Show some reports and I'll be happy to take back what I said.

And I'm talking about racketeering-type organized crime, since that's the kind of organized crime that mostly gets discussed here.

What about jersey can i predict that they active ?
Well did someone say that they are ‏not active ? That tough to know...
So I don't know if I can count them
Maybe they're rebuilding on low profile who knows

Except on most police themed television shows and in movies. at least once a week I see a Law and Order or similar show with Russian gangsters. In reality they are close to nothing here in this country. In Russia they may still be big but here they are almost non existent.

The DeCavalcantes are not that different from Philly. Small, but very active.

What were the last "Russian" racketeering busts in the USA? A few Ukrainian-Israelis shaking down a businessman, selling pot and running a few underground poker games and a group of Georgians involved in organized theft and robbery. Both got taken down quite easily.
Even during the "Russian mafia" heydays in the late 80's and 90's the more noteworthy groups had to pay off the Italians just to operate.

If we're talking about gangsters, the "Russian" groups are definitely existent but not dominant.

In a lot of countries today, even developed countries, the line between leadership and organized crime is razor thin, if there's a line at all, and Russia is one of them. We've seen a lot of examples in the news in recent years.

Well the type of organized crime we mostly discuss here is small fish compared to what the governments pull off.

"Organized crime" as we once knew it, is over. Unless you're a politician.

Law enforcement busts have shown that Russian organized crime is very loose and much less formal. There's no real evidence that the Russian Mafia outranks the Italian Mafia in the United States, even today. Organized crime busts, like the recent bust of Leonid Gershman and Co., show that the Russian Mafia as an organized criminal force is pretty much only dominant in Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Sheepshead Bay, compared to the New York Mafia which still exerts influence all over New York City and New Jersey.

Oak, I'm not going to "harass" you over it, but if you'd be willing to provide the evidence you hinted at earlier that the Russian Mafia is "by far the most powerful organized crime group in America right now" then I'd be happy to concede I'm wrong.

I was recently in St. Louis, in the Hill area, noticed tons of Italian restaurants/bakeries/etc. Supposedly gone, but my guess for an under the radar one even if small.

A city just having an Italian population alone isn't an indication of anything. It's whether the Italians in that region are acclimated to racketeering and the mafia lifestyle. It's a sub-culture, that spans generations in the genetic backgrounds of most involved. There's probably more non-Italian wannabes in these regions who grew up watching Goodfellas that would be more willing to take on the lifestyle than there are Italians with any social or familial links to it, even if they wouldn't have the first clue what they're doing.

I agree St. Louis... I used to live there. Also, I hired a black associate pastor from the area that used live in the projects—forget which one. Italian Mob brought the narcotics for black gangs to distribute. Still a small Irish gang in the city too.

The Hill is still extremely Italian, I agree with you Kaos. I wouldn't be surprised they still got some small things going on, I heard alot of the relatives of old St. Louis wiseguys still own alot of nightclubs and what not in the city. There's some articles out there talking about how they were having trouble with large groups of African Americans fighting at the clubs a few years ago, clubs owned by the sons and nephews of historical local mobsters. Things like gambling, local loansharking and some other stuff is still very lucrative, especially combined with owning business legally.

Does the Italian mob still supply black gangs in St. Louis today?

While I agree with what you say, have you ever seen the hill in the present day? Take a quick google tour around and the place is huge, probably bigger than Manhattan's Little Italy, full of Italian/Italian American businesses and flags.

He says they are all still active. Just remembered he lived in LaClede Town. Says he knew a few members of “the family” and still gets a free lunch at an establishment on the hill after church when he goes back to St. Louis. Can’t remember the name.

I've heard from several people that Philadelphia now has a very big input, or possibly complete control, over what is thought to be the remaining remnants of LCN in Pittsburgh. I am almost 100% certain that this was even brought up and theorized by another poster on this board about a year or so ago, but I can't remember what thread it was posted in or who posted it. Whether that is actually true or not, it is a fact that there are still associates and family members of the "former" Pittsburgh mob who are still active in gambling, loan sharking, and drugs. However, most people believe these associates are loosely knit and have operated independently without a formal structure/hierarchy since at least the early 2000's (Genovese passed in 2006, however most of the power and influence was lost when Zebo passed away in 1998, and there were very few made men left at the time).

Sonny Ciancutti is the last remaining "KNOWN" made member and is now in his late 80's. He controls/controlled large gambling operations in Allegheny and Fayette counties for many, many years; however, at this point I would imagine he would not be involved with anything other than collecting his piece of the various gambling profits and enjoying time at the casinos if he is still physically up to it. Anyway, back to Philadelphia -- there are connections to Pittsburgh and they date back to the 1980's with Scarfo. Little Nicky has a relative, Joe Nistico, who is a bookmaker from Clairton, PA (30 minutes outside of Pittsburgh in the Mon Valley). Nistico had his Clairton home searched back in 2013 as part of the gambling bust in Pittsburgh that had ties to the former Pittsburgh LCN, as several of those charged were the sons of former family associates. Scarfo actually came to Pittsburgh in 1986, along with Phil Leonetti, to have a sit-down with Chucky Porter to help resolve a dispute on Nistico's behalf, who was being shaken down by the Pittsburgh family.

So, before this becomes another Buffalo 2016 thread, I'm not saying that Pittsburgh is currently functioning as a traditionally structured organized crime family with a hierarchy; however, there are definitely remnants of the former family who are still involved in gambling and several other traditional bread and butter LCN rackets, and there are arrests/convictions from within the last few years that prove that. Hopefully more information will come to light soon, a la what is currently happening regarding Buffalo, and we will find out if the present day connections to the Philadelphia LCN are true and whether or not Pittsburgh is just a loose knit, unstructured group of associates or if it remains (or was revived) into a fully functioning, structured family in the traditional LCN mold.

I am from St Louis, and my great uncle was one of the last old time Irish gangsters. He died in 1992. He ran a large book, had a bar with a card room in the back, and had a private box at Fairmont. There is no St Louis Irish gang that i am aware of. Kerry Patch is long gone and there is no Irish neighborhood anymore. I would love to hear more about this, including your source.

As far as the Italian LCN, I find it hard to believe they are moving narcotics to black gangs. Here are some threads on what remains of the St Louis LCN.

St Louis Mobster Dead

Cammerata Dead

St Louis Family

Who is left in St Louis

I hear from family and friends in St Louis there are rumors on the Hill that there are some new guys, mostly kids of known LCN. I would be stunned if there is any structure or hierarchy. The guys I knew who are kin to LCN are legit, including several who are lawyers.

Not trying to flame you. It's just inconsistent with my experience and sources.

The problem if someone golden age mobster would try to rebuilt a defunct family wold be the structure.
Ok there some smart wannabes and a old guy would made them with the traditional rite but this not made a family but a gang and why some wannabes would want to be made when just made money ?
For sure in Pittsburgh,saint luois,new orleans ecc there are criminals with italian surnames but are street guys that doesn't want to follow the rules.
I think that maybe kansas city family still exist while detroit was ever active and was like the decavalcante:small but active.

No Problem. I should have been more specific: In replying to OAK my former associate pastor said he thought the Mob was still active... It was several years ago we had this conversation, so he didn't say if they still supplied drugs, but they did when he lived in LaClede in the 90's. He mentions the young LCN kids you talked about and said they are doing things. Organized? I don't know. About the Irish thing: said OC in St. Louis works together and meetings took place in a Irish Pub in Soulard. Been a while since he's been my associate pastor, so don't remember a lot of the details.

This thread is just fun--so that is why I mentioned rumors he had passed to me. He would be first to say... it is rumor.... So take all with a big grain of salt.

So I visited a town near Cleveland US last year. My friends relative who lives there advised that there is still that type of lcn going and that it is toxic the way it gets into legit businesses there and feeds off its own community. Don’t know how much of that was casual conversation and I didn’t want to push too hard as I didn’t really know the guy too well. Also Cleveland doesn’t interest me that much in comparison to other us cities lcn to be honest. The Irishman made them look too small!

I remember when Jimmy Martino got locked up for hiring a hitman, he bragged about his connections with the Cleveland and Pittsburgh lcn

Thanks for the info on St Louis TonyG. I knew the family existed, never read anything about it before though.

Yeah, I'd be shocked if St Louis had any active members that weren't fully retired. The Hill is a large Little Italy for sure, but it's a fairly nice area. I can't imagine it being an area home to active gangsters in 2018. Back in the seventies, sure. But today, it seems a bit far fetched.

Woodbridge Ontario is generally seen as a nice area, and it's full of wiseguys.