Joe C gets beat up at wake on Mikey Nose orders

Anyone heard this? Jerry Capeci is talking about it in this week's gangland lol. Apparently Joe C turned the tables on his former friends when some biker associates of his came to his aid. This is what the mob is today ladies and gentlemen. Attacking people at wakes

Johnny Joe's kid was apparently one of the attackers. They all got fucked up though lol. How embarrassing. Johnny must be fuming

I do know one thing. There will be an answer. There's NO WAY Mike will let this slide. His ego is too fragile

Vito Grimaldi died and Cammarano was ordered not to go to the wake. Cammarano and his brother Dino attended anyway, bringing friends from the Crazy Pistons Bikers Club with them.

John Spirito Jr punched Cammarano in the mouth and knocked him out as he was approaching the casket. Then the bikers intervened and gave a beating to Spirito, Ernie Aiello, and John Sciremammano.

Huh isn't Vito his father in law? This cant be right. For the first time in 14 years I feel the need to subscribe to Jerrys website

Yeah, Grimaldi was the father-in-law. Probably why Cammarano felt the need to attend despite being told not to

It comes down to how reliable is Capeci's story is. He obviously got it from a source that is on one side of the dispute, or LE trying to stir up something. Capeci has always played both sides.

Wow. That is an incredibly sad humiliation for the Bonanno crime family; on two levels: first there's the fact they'd go about it this way in the first place: at a funeral??? You have to be kidding me, the old dons would be spinning in their graves.

But to not be successful in executing this outrageously amateur plot? That's sacrilegious. Mancuso's dumb idea just emboldened ever biker club in North America not to feel intimidated by LCN.

A motorcycle club takes on one of the storied five families and wins??

Unthinkable that this situation would exist even 10 years ago.

There are apparently no depths to which the Bonanno's can't sink.

'Shelved' Wiseguy Assaulted At A Wake Allegedly On Orders From His Mafia Boss Turns The Tables On His Attackers And Leaves Several Bonanno Mobsters Battered And Bloodied

It was a Mafia-style, funereal smack down to wake the dead.

Standard mob protocol calls for mourners to park their grievances and rivalries at the funeral parlor door when attending a fellow mobster's wake. But that sensible old school rule was tossed aside last week when Bonanno boss Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso dispatched a trio of thugs to bust up the wake of the father-in-law of ex-acting boss Joseph (Joe C) Cammarano, Gang Land has learned.

The Bonanno tough guys triggered a major brouhaha at a Long Island funeral home when they attacked Cammarano as he approached the casket in full view of other family members of the deceased. The attack quickly went south for the Bonanno boys, however, when a swarm of bikers came to the aid of Cammarano, a longtime motorcycle enthusiast.

Sources say that Cammarano, 62, his brother Dino, 63, and the bikers who came to Joe C's aid, left at least a trio of Bronx-based mobsters, capos John (Johnny Mulberry) Sciremammano, 65, Ernest (Ernie) Aiello, 42, and soldier John Spirito, Jr. 40, bloodied and battered on the floor of the funeral parlor when they left.

Sources say the dispute goes back to 2019, when Mancuso got his nose out of joint about trial testimony disclosing that Cammarano had tried to get family capos to anoint him as "official" boss in 2017 while Mikey Nose was behind bars. The sources say Mancuso banned Joe C from showing up at the wake for his dad-in-law, Vito Grimaldi — and ordered a crew of loyalists to make him suffer the consequences if he didn't heed the boss's directive.

But when the dust settled at the Dodge-Thomas Funeral Home in Glen Cove, it was the Bonanno crime family that paid a heavy price for what was an unprecedented and hard to fathom move by an apparently insecure Mafia boss. Back in 2019, Cammarano was "shelved" by Mancuso — i.e. relieved of all his mob rights and privileges — for his efforts to take over the beleaguered bourghata in 2017. Mancuso, who took over as official boss in 2013, made Joe C his acting boss in 2015.

The late Vito Grimaldi, like his-son-in-law, was also shelved, essentially a defrocked mobster. But he was still a very valuable guy as far as Mancuso was concerned, sources say. That's because he opened Grimaldi's Home Of Bread, the legendary Ridgewood Queens bakery in 1959, and until he died at age 82, was paying a tribute to the Bonannos.

The bakery is operated today by Grimaldi's three children, Joseph, Margherita, and Angela Cammarano, their spouses, and his grandchildren, according to its website. Grimaldi' son Joseph is also an inducted soldier who was placed on a shelf in 2019 along with his dad, and Joe C, and former consigliere, John (Porky) Zancocchio, after Cammarano and Zancocchio were acquitted of racketeering charges. The Grimaldis did not return a Gang Land call, but the regular mob tribute is likely to continue.

Mancuso, who completed a 15-year sentence for a 2004 mob rubout a day before Cammarano and Zancocchio won a stunning acquittal on racketeering charges in March of 2019, "is still pissed that Joe C tried to take over the family when he was in prison," a law enforcement official told Gang Land. When Grimaldi died on July 15, the source said, "Cammarano was explicitly told, 'Do not come to the wake.'"

"I categorically deny the allegation" that Mikey Nose ordered a beating of Joe C, said attorney Stacey Richman, who represents Mancuso for violating his supervised release (VOSR) for meeting with two Colombo mobsters and Bonanno soldier John (Bazoo) Ragano several times between August 2020 and June 2021. That VOSR, which was lodged against him in March, is still pending.

Law enforcement and underworld sources each say the decision by Cammarano to openly defy the boss's order and retaliate the way he did, "cries out" for a violent response by Mancuso if he hopes to retain the loyalty of the mobsters who obeyed his orders, and if he wants to maintain any credibility with the rest of his bourghata as well as the other New York crime families.

That's especially true since Joe C "belligerently" disobeyed an order "by bringing outsiders, bikers, into the mix," said one underworld source. "That's like saying, 'Fuck you. I go where I want. And if you try to stop me, I'll kick you in the balls.' This is a very volatile and dangerous situation."

Two law enforcement sources told Gang Land that even though the Commission has essentially banned mob rubouts since the mid-1990s, they say a violent response against Joseph and Dino Cammarano by the Bonanno family "is a real concern." Mancuso has stated, said one law enforcement source, that but for the Commission edict, Joe C would have been whacked for what he did in 2017.

"If there is a Bonanno family," the underworld source cracked, "the administration is in a pickle."

But this source, as well as others on both sides of the law, voiced surprise that Mancuso ordered Cammarano to be beaten since he was paying his respects to his father-in-law, and they have both been on the "shelf" since 2019.

"This kind of conduct by a boss is unheard of — telling a guy he can't come to his father-in-law's wake. They should have worked it out diplomatically to avoid this kind of a fiasco," the source continued.

This source opined that Mikey Nose has to shoulder much of the blame for the beating his guys took for ordering the "unheard of" assault against a wiseguy at a wake, and he may be pressured to forget about it by his Cosa Nostra peers.

"Since Joe C was told not to come and still came, this is a direct challenge though, and it's a big problem for the Administration," he said. "The way it stands now," he said, "their guys were beaten up for enforcing an order from the boss against a shelved guy, so something has to be done. If nothing is done, it's a disgrace. And if something is done, it's a federal case."
"It's hard to predict whether there will be retaliation," said one law enforcement source. "A violent reaction would have been a knee-jerk response a few decades ago, but the mob has stopped whacking people these days," the source said. "But that is still a fear," he added.

The last so-called "sanctioned" mob hit, of former Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish, took place nine years ago, in 2013. Just last week, former FBI supervisor Bruce Mouw stated in a New Yorker piece that mobsters are "still doing the beatings and the strong-arm stuff. But, as far as mob hits, they're not happening.”

A veteran mob lawyer who has represented mobsters from all five families said a "sensible" solution would be for the Commission to "put the whole Bonanno crime family on the shelf," similar to what the Commission did in 1981 when it took away the family's Commission vote when FBI agent Joe Pistone posed as a jewel thief and ran with them for five years.

But "sensible" doesn't always come into play when Cosa Nostra is concerned.

Like their late wiseguy father, the Cammarano brothers are both motorcycle aficionados, and longtime riders. But sources say that most of the bikers who came to Joe C's aid were buddies of Dino Cammarano, a longtime member of the Crazy Pistons Bikers Club of Brooklyn, which is not alleged to be one of the scores of so-called "outlaw" motorcycle clubs across the country.

Sources say that when Joe C approached the casket where Grimaldi was laid out on Tuesday July 19, Spirito Jr., backed up by a handful of mobsters, "punched him in the mouth and knocked him down," and began to pummel him when bikers wearing suits who accompanied Joe C into the wake immediately came to his aid when the fisticuffs began and pulled Spirito off him.

"In a flash, another dozen bikers who were outside in a truck rushed in and started beating the crap out of all the Bonannos who were in the funeral home," said one longtime mob associate who told Gang Land he got the details from "someone who was there."

"I don't know if they (the bikers outside the Dodge-Thomas facility) saw or heard or were called in by Joe C or Dino but they charged in and wiped the floor with the Bonannos, and then they walked out," said the source.

Guy Minutoli, the funeral director who owns the Dodge-Thomas funeral home told Gang Land that he "heard about" the fisticuffs but was "in an out" of the funeral parlor during the one-day, 4 PM to 8 PM wake for Grimaldi and "wasn't there for that."

"It wasn't my funeral. I didn't handle it," said Minutoli, explaining that the Grimaldi family "called this other director who they were friends with" and "they just rented my building. I'm out of it."

He declined to identify the director, he said, "because he told me to keep it confidential." Minutoli also declined to describe the damage to the place, before he stated, "I heard about it, it was squelched right away. How did you find out about it," and hung up the phone.

Grimaldi was laid to rest on July 20 at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale following a funeral mass as St. Rocco's Church in Glen Cove, where he lived for years, and where his son-in-law still resides.

Haven’t posted in long time but on this one I had to! So my girlfriend was there! She is also friendly with Joey grimaldi’s wife so she went to pay her respects. I can tell you that she called me immediately after it happened and what jerry wrote about today was not at all what she had told me happened. She told me camarano caught it pretty good and that they even knocked down one of those fake walls they use in wakes you separate the rooms, she said Dino joe’s brother did nothing, a biker did try to jump in but he got hit immediately when the 2 groups were separated some yelling back and forth went on and then the bonanno guys hit another biker on their way out . All that about these guys getting beat up and left on the floor I guess jerry added for ratings or he’s getting his info from someone on camarano’s side but according to my friend the bonanno guy got the best of camarano and the bikers . I’m sure we will hear more about this and find out the truth eventually

The bikers never feared the mob,in 1984 the Pagans forced Scarfo sr to pay medical bills of a biker that was punched by Merlino's father. They shoot over 200 bullets against Merlino house and Scarfo sr doesnt retaliate.
Now what should do Mancuso? Order to kill the bikers,come on the feds would be happy if this thing would happen.

looks like the story is changing already, capeci updated his story to say that aiello may not have even been there.


Sources say that Cammarano, 62, his brother Dino, 63, and the bikers who came to Joe C's aid, left at least a trio of Bronx-based mobsters, capos John (Johnny Mulberry) Sciremammano, 65, Ernest (Ernie) Aiello, 42, and soldier John Spirito, Jr. 40, bloodied and battered on the floor of the funeral parlor when they left. (Shortly after today's column was published, Gang Land was told that Aiello denied being there that night. "I absolutely had nothing to do with it," he stated. Gang Land was not there. But our sources say that one of the assaulters sure looked like Aiello.)

I think there is so much about this that we simply don't know. Ernie Aiello has a reputation for assaulting people, but I still have a hard time believing he was there. Or the others for that matter. Johnny Mulberry is 65-years-old and a captain. Maybe they were all there, but this just doesn't add up.

To bad for the Bonanno family because Joe C would be much better in charge then this whack job Mancuso.

Totally agreed. Only the Bonanno's in their degraded, post-Massino state could have been willing to make an incarcerated woman killer its official boss. His every action seem to re-confirm just how bad a choice he was.

You'd have to wonder whether Joe C wouldn't come back under a different boss. The guy seems to be LCN to the core. The fact he'd disobey Mancuso's order on being at this funeral too shows how little Mancuso is feared and respected, at least by Cammarano.

He must have balls of steel.

He is cut from a good cloth his father was a stand up guy

As I said....

The story will keep unraveling. I wonder if there were any bikers involved, or just regular people. That is, if there was even a fight. I think that scene from the Bronx Tale has led to all these fake Bikers ads Mafia stories.

My experience with Capeci is his articles are mostly true.

It must be very hard coming out with original content every week after week.
Especially now when LITERALLY every "TOM, DICK AND HARRY" has a "MOB-CAST"

He is as good as his sources, who else even comes close to he?

I have seen him very quick to print a retraction when he gets something wrong.

He clearly has peeps on the inside as he publishes new articles, week after week and has been doing so for many, many, many years.
Truth be told there inst really that much going on in today's LCN environment.

If this was in the 70's/80's/90's they would have been waiting for Joe C as he left OR on his way in and....... "ba beep, Ba Beep, BA BEEP- THAT'S ALL FOLKS"
Their family would have gotten a TWO-FOR SPECIAL PRICE...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If this is true,there's all kinds of unanswered questions.

1) The Crazy Pistons are a Brooklyn based Club. They wear an MC cube on the back of their colors,but do not fly a 1% diamond,therefore, they are not considered an OMG (outlaw motorcycle gang).
2) They are almost entirely comprised of African Americans,yet Cammarano is described as a "long-time member"
3) Their bottom (territorial) rocker says N.Y. Ghettos.

So,are we to believe that a pissant MC decides it would be a good idea to bust up a Mob funeral ?

Mind you.this would be pretty much suicide for any group,but given the traditional sentiments between the Mafia and Blacks,how in the world will this go unanswered.?
I'm curious to see how this story plays out over the coming weeks.

What's hard to believe, that 14 guys can't beat up 4-6 guys, half in their 60's ??

Mob guys have been beaten before..Look at John Gotti, and he had to pay for protection so he wouldn't get his ass kicked again...

What's an embarrassment is if they just don't respond like the Gambino's never did after the albanians beat and stripped Joe Gambino, with no retaliation at all

Wasnt Joe Gambino stripped by albanians but a non italian white man that was friend of the italians and after all they assaulted the albanians as retaliation.

What is Mancuso thinking? Something about this does not seem right. Joe C being ordered not to attend Vito Grimaldi's wake? I get the feeling that that order did not come from Mancuso, but from Johnny Joe. Now there is history between Joe C and John Spirito Jr, so I dont doubt violence erupted. John Spirito Jr is known to hold his own. Johnny Mulberry getting into a fight? No way, if anything remotely comes close to that is that Sciremammano was in the middle before John punched Joe and was pushed. The biker gang is not an outlaw gang, it does have some fighters in its ranks. Joe C is affiliated with that gang because of his brother Dino who is the opposite of his brother, so no way do I see Dino jumping in. Joe C is ordered not to attend but shows up to pay his respects, no surprise there as he always had balls and grit. Where was Joe Grimaldi? If the Bonanno administration is really trying to unite the family, they would have made sure that every made member that was family of Grimaldi would show up regardless of being shelved or not. Any mob related business would be done in private with the shelved members told they could not go into a certain area at the time. It seems like the Bronx faction is flexing way too much. If that is the case then that faction does not have or feel like they dont have enough protection to hold the reigns.

Now here are the main things to think about.
1. Why would Mancuso make a stupid order barring Joe C from attending, now he can be mad at Cammarano all he wants but he would not disrespect Vito Grimaldi like that who was also shelved before he passed away.
2. A made man had hands placed on him, regardless of being shelved or not, that is a no no unless the mob does not consider that a rule anymore. Example is to be made.
3. This look bad on Mancuso, not Cammarano. The Nose is the boss and this fiasco happens shows a lot of disrespect in the eyes of the other families, that Mancuso is going to have to answer for. It was in his own house, but there was a big lack of protocol.
4. Mancuso gets a bad rap, but on the order, I think that Johnny Joe ordered it as he had lost a few sitdowns with Cammarano Sr in the day and wanted to get even, also Johnny Joe and Mancuso had done serious time, while Cammarano Jr has not, so there is some resentment there. It is quite possible that Johnny Joe is an administration member and violence is right up his street.
5. Why is there so much fear about Joe Cammarano Jr attending the wake? Most likely even though Joe C is shelved, he is still respected and he still has support from those that do not like Mancuso. There is fear that Cammarano will be able to take reigns and that makes him a potential rival eventhough he is shelved he could pose a threat to the Bronx factiin.

You clearly don't know the meaning of being shelved. Joe C is not made. When you're shelved, you are no longer recognized as made. You think there would be repercussions if someone in that life decided to rearrange the face of John Gotti Jr? No. They would be applauded. They'd probably get a promotion

Do you ever stop with your paranoid delusions about LE persecuting career criminal parasites?

I feel like Gorilla Monsoon chastising Jesse Ventura.

Why would Aiello lie? Mobsters, by their very definition, are trustworthy people. I would be comfortable leaving my wallet in the room with a stand-up guy like Aiello in it.

Rusty Rastelli says hello.

Pardon me - I wasn't aware that Rastelli had killed his wife.

It was not Rastelli that killed his wife it was Mancuso back in 84. Speaking of Gorilla Monsoon I met him 3 times class act and strong as a bull.

You are an idiot, I am not the only one questioning it, and even Capeci is backing off. You came back here after not being around for a month just to post that? Go out and get a life.

You would be scared to go into any room with him in it, that's why you talk about them as if you are a tough guy. Also, I would trust their word over yours any time.

His wife died in suspicious circumstances after becoming an informant.

link

And raping women didn't stop John Franzese and Christopher Furnari's ascent through the ranks.

Roy De Meo was made after his crew had an innocent woman murdered. In the same family, Robert Di Bernardo was in a powerful position despite peddling child pornography. Matthew Ianniello was a capo in the Genovese family despite exploiting underage prostitutes.

Mancuso is hardly an outlier here.

Don't get where you are going with that comment but sure.

I did.not know about the Rastelli wife thing though.

Did Rastelli have kids ?

In the old days there were also feuds at a wake so I'm not suprised..

Rusty ended up having to clip his first wife Connie (who was a total hothead and nut job herself) because she actually looked to gun him down in the street after she caught him having an affair with another woman. She actually shot and wounded Rusty, but he survived. Afterwards she wildly (and carelessly) threatened to reveal mob secrets about his rackets to law enforcement. That became another threat (one that he and his associates couldn't take a risk on). So after those incidents it was decided she had to go....and so she went!

They shot her dead one day!

No one likes a woman who talks too much

I am pretty sure Massino either put Mancuso in as A.B.
Or had to give his blessing for it to be consummated as official.

Maybe it was Basciano, who put him in however, the Bonanno’s were a mess at the time, high ranking guys flipping a bunch of them.

Basciano basically usurped the family from the panel that Massino put in.


Then when Basciano got “KNOCKED”
guys that didn’t have the balls to stand up to him when he was on the street starting rebelling….

That’s when Basciano decided to leave bodies on the street.
Bonelli was one hit he ordered that never got done.
Pizzolo- was left in the street as a message to everyone that was all over the board
That Basciano could still touch you even from the inside.

Shortly thereafter Massino flipped and well “………
The “SLOW SINGING & FLOWER BRINGING”

That was all she wrote for that era of the Bonnano family.

The reason I bring this up is
I don’t think the Captians voted Mancuso in,
I think he Mancuso got Jr. Soprano’d

They let this idiot take the “BOSS TITLE” and all the heat that goes with it.
He has been boss for how long I think he spent 95% of the time away.

Yes,but now he is free.

Seems like a dumb mistake. Now what?

Mancuso is out on bail and even if he will return to prison,now he's the boss so I doubt he would be replaced while in prison or someone would try to make a move to take the role.

I believe this more than I believe Capeci's story. Thanks. I hope you can clear more of it up.

Since Joe C and Grimaldi were shelved and had no standing what is the nose even worrying about them for?

Sure, he could tell made guys and associates to stay away but handing out edicts on shelved guys is plain stupid

My thoughts exactly. He can tell his guys not to attend the funeral of a shelved guy but why does he care if a shelved guy goes to the funeral of another shelved guy (who happens to be his relative).

Don't encourage her lol

Right. It doesn't make any sense

Yeah, Jerry Capeci's only covered the mob beat for 40 years or so, initiating contacts on the street, in the DA office, the NYPD etc. What would he know about it? Such a charlatan!

Believe some random person whose secondhand story favors your general viewpoint instead!

Her secondhand may be better than Capeci's third hand account. Capeci will admit when he has it wrong, he already took some
of it back, but I guess you ignore that because his first story, which he changed, favors your general viewpoint instead! Right back at you dummy!

I think Joe Yacovelli also killed his wife after threatening to go to the feds

Haha as soon as she said "So my girlfriend was there" my bullshit meter began spiking like Chris Christie's blood pressure.

Capeci has a proven track record, but I say there's a lot we don't know

I never heard that about Joe Yak. Could be, but if it is, it was a very well kept secret. Because to my knowledge I always thought that Yacovelli was a confirmed bachelor who never took a wife.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was him

The big question is why were Made guys at Vito Grimaldi’s wake if he was put on the shelf by Mancuso.? I thought made guys were to stay away from guys on the shelf.
Anyone know the answer to this ?

Rules are broken all the time, it's why they're in such a sorry shape, because they can't stick to protocol.

But again, why were made guys at the wake of a guy put on the shelf?

If Hollywood portrayed Mobsters the way the are in real life, you wouldn't have people glamourizing them as much as they do.

Its not what the movies make them out to be. Many are low life scumbags just like your run of the mill gangbanger. Most are ugly as fuck and don't have any fashion sense whatsoever, and don't really give a fuck about that. Also most are broke living in apartments and not million dollar mansions. The Mob Life is only profitable for the bosses and being an average soldier doesn't mean jack shit. The Mob is far different than it was in the 1950's and 1960's, or even the 1970's.

I'll use an example. Back then if you walked into a restaurant or club , you got VIP service no questions asked. Nowadays? Forget about it. It doesn't guarantee you jack shit because no one gives a fuck about the mob anymore.

In the 1950s-1960s and maybe in the 1970s the mob was the only organizated and transnational oc group. Now that lost the most part of its power is a oc gruop like another but I think that maybe in NYC and NJ the mob is still feared.
Hollywood ever glamourized the criminals: the prohibitions criminals and after the american mafia and now the cartels (Narcos) or the blacks (Empire).
At the end in every criminal organization there many brokesters and very few rich men.

I don't know what people mean whenever they keep saying that Hollywood glamorizes the Mafia, I don't believe it's necessarily the case. After all I've read about the real-life mob over the years, movies like Goodfellas, Casino, Donnie Brasco, and shows like The Sopranos are pretty realistic. The one exception being The Godfather, but if we're comparing Don Corleone and his fellow fictional Mafia dons to bosses like Tommy Lucchese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Angelo Bruno, or Joe Zerilli then I believe those are realistic comparisons. That's not the case with bosses like Nicky Scarfo, John Gotti, or Vic Amuso, as they had ZERO sense of what Joe Bonanno called Tradition. They were just street thugs. And many Mafiosi have a lot of fashion sense, whether they're actually sophisticated or not, just like many do not. Many have plenty of money, and many do not. I think it's all a luck of the draw, nothing is set in stone. Nothing is black and white with the Mafia, there are many gray areas.

And as for living in apartments, one gangster in Canada was found living in a $700-a-month apartment but inside police found $19 million worth of possessions. Francesco Del Baso if I'm not mistaken claimed to be a poor grocery store clerk yet was somehow able to gamble away $8 million in casinos over a few years. Looks can be deceiving. As far as them being ugly as fuck, I can't argue with you there. Many are pretty hideous. But should an organization that's supposed to be brutal in nature and have goals for generating billions of dollars in illegal cash consist of a bunch of pretty boys? It would make them look kind of soft in my opinion, kinda like what Twilight did to the vampire genre.

You may be the biggest liar on the internet. Ianiello never was even involved with prostitutes , let along underage ones. Funari was not going through the ranks for rape. You would tell people that they all kill their wives and innocent people all through their years. You openly, and gleefully, lie.

I couldn’t agree more. I’m younger then a lot of the posters here to give my observations some context I’m talking about the late 90s and later. Staten Island and Jersey. Except for a handful of old timers I knew or was related to growing up (that are long dead), most of the guys in the life that I’ve met are scumbags. Most of them were broke or middle class at best. And they were jeans and t shirt kinda guys. More often then not they were heavy drinkers, into drugs, or were degenerate gamblers . Or all three. And they gossip and complain about people nonstop. Have drama over women or petty bullshit nonstop. The guys who acted and dressed the part were usually barely connected gym rats who just liked to get into bar fights. Philly guys I’ve met are a different animal from NY and they are actually more down to earth in my opinion. I’ve been to many weddings at Russos on the Bay. I’ve seen that side of it too. But in general, from my experience the life is nothing like the movies. At least not in the last 25 years.

Of course it's not going to be like the movies anymore, because they can't be so blatant about it anymore in today's Surveillance State. But if you're judging their financial status by the clothes they wear, that's just ignorant. Billionaires like Bill Gates dress like shit, they look like they shop at the Salvation Army. Cosa Nostra boss Bernardo Provenzano sat on top of the entire Sicilian Mafia yet was found in a dilapidated farmhouse, Ndrangheta bosses are found all the time in underground bunkers living like rats. Chin Gigante stumbled around in a bathrobe and slippers. On the flip-side, you have guys wearing high fashion but are neglecting their utility bills. These things really mean nothing.

I don’t know what was in their safe or their bank account. But most of them complained about money all the time. They were always “robbing Peter to pay Paul” borrowing from this guy to pay off this other guy. Most of the time the money they have on the street is somebody else’s too and they just make a spread by borrowing cheaper than lending it out. I’ve met captains but never really knew one so I dunno that might be a different level.

I disagree that Hollywood “glamorized” mobsters.
Early gangster movies form the ‘30s portrayed organized criminals as schizos and overly well dressed (to the point of looking cartoonish) lowlifes that spoke in broken English.

Even in The Godfather the only “good” and “moral” mobsters are Vito, Tom (if you even consider Tom a mobster) and Michael, although Michael does get darker by the end of the series. The rest are a bunch of thieving, back-stabbing, sociopathic criminals.

Goodfellas shows this very well. Tommy is a sociopath that kills a teenager over a joke. And the others don’t bother to do nothing about it.

In Casino, the torture scene and the Santoro brothers’ gory death aren’t exactly filed as “glamorous”.

Donnie Brasco beautifully depicts them as broke hoodlums that would brutishly murder their own to move up. The Three Capos murder scene is phenomenal because it shows that these people are legit serial killers. It’s a clear contrast to the ”clean” and “professional” hit scene when a target is shot with a silenced handgun.

Anybody that finds these depictions as “glamorous” should seriously consider the help of a good therapist for I believe he’s a closeted sociopath.

There are a lot of brokesters within and around the mob. I question whether these types should even be permitted to join the ranks, I mean why would you want guys around who can't manage their money and are always broke. Plus it's very bad when you have these types borrowing money from loansharks within the Family, nothing good comes out of that. At the same time, sometimes they make the best soldiers, and are otherwise Cosa Nostra to the core. It's a double-edged sword.

Liggio - Bro, they are the only guys joining the ranks at this point. It’s brokesters, drug dealers, a few guys making decent money with gambling, and some wanna be types successful in legit business that basically buy their button. It’s been rehashed here a bunch but that’s all that’s left. Made guys working day jobs are common and it’s not always just to fool LE and show legit income.

Luan - Movies don’t show them as nice guys. But the stylish good looking part is mainly bullshit. And a lot of these guys are much bigger assholes to everyday people than the movies portray them to be in my opinion. Again, not everybody.

And the funny thing is, I’ve never met a wiseguy who wasn’t a hustler. The lifestyle is actually a lot of work. And the ones I knew were all great salesmen. If most of these guys just went into sales in a legit job they’d probably make more money and not risk their ass.

Lol if you don't think that Casino, Goodfellas, and Donnie Brasco portray them as assholes you must've not been paying attention. And what exactly are you basing your claims that it's all they're recruiting these days, are you on the inside?

And if you look at photos of the real-life mobsters those movies portrayed, you can easily see that it was indeed how they dressed in those years. Were they as good-looking? I don't know, I hardly pay attention to that part. Henry Hill for sure wasn't anywhere near as good-looking as Ray Liotta, but Tommy Desimone wasn't a bad-looking dude and wasn't a midget like Joe Pesci. So I suppose it could go both ways. Of course it doesn't compare to this day and age, but then again, people in general dress like slobs.

There were soldiers who were wealthier than some captains, because they were smarter in a business sense. Back in the day guys joined because it was something they believed in, it was in their soul, and it offered more prestige in the underworld. They didn't join to get rich, they were either already moneymakers or they weren't. I wonder though if buying your way in always turn out bad, the Angiulo brothers of the Patriarca Family for example basically bought their way in yet refused to flip when it all came crashing down on them and turned out to be great financial assets to the Family.

Liggio dont compare the mob with italian oc gruops!
In italy its normal to go on the lam for years and if you are on the run you certainly can't live in luxury villas! Provenzano ruled Cosa Nostra through his pizzini, many bosses of the Ndrangheta manage millionaire business and then have to hide in the Aspromonte mountains in bunkers equipped with all the comforts, same thing for the Camorra.
There few cases of american mobsters that ruled on his family while was on the run.

I agree, but my point wasn't how long American mobsters can last on the run. The point I was making was that they can appear to be impoverished or broke but at the same time have lots of money. I also threw Bill Gates and Chin Gigante in there lol. My whole point was that we can't go off of fashion and their homes alone.

In Italy the criminals understand that if they want to continue to run his organizations must go on the run and be low key.
An example? Paolo di Lauro that at his peak was making 500k a day with his clan, was in fact a recluse, he went out very little, didn't frequent other Camorristi and even few people in the neighborhood knew what he looked like. When passed the command to his son who was the exact opposite, it was the beginning of the end.

I wonder if the Di Lauro clan is still a force in the Camorra.

https://www.ilmattino.it/napoli/cro..._ultime_notizie_oggi_napoli-6461409.html

https://www.fanpage.it/napoli/mappa-camorra-2021-napoli/

Eventually everyone has to lamb chop it for a while.

Yes but lost half of his power. Now is allied with the Vanella Grassi clan that are a split of the Scissionisti that was a split of theDiLauro clan.

Back in the day a lot of guys joined for the same reason they do today, so that nobody could fuck with your business. The quote in Goodfellas about it being a police department for wiseguys is what it’s all about. Everybody follows the rules and makes money, at least in theory. And No, I’m not on the “inside”. I have very little contact with anybody related to the life anymore and haven’t for years.

Happy we see eye to eye on this. Let me add, the women who are in relationships with mobsters are some of the most fucked up people you could ever have a relationship with. Not every one of them but there are quite a few that are just nuts. They refuse to branch out and create relationships with anyone outside of the little clique they have in the neighborhood they live in and they are ok with being abused physically and mentally day in and day out. Lets just say they are not marriage material or the type that you want to introduce to your mother. Many have huge coke problems and would suck cock for a hit of crack or a line. Problem with this is that they do it with a random dude and he ends up in the ER because their man finds out about it. I'll gladly stay far away from getting involved in that shit.

Truer words have never been spoken lol. Let me tell you, they loooooove to gossip. These are the women who'll post on mob forums about things they heard or believe to be true

Yup. John D'Amato found that out the hard way LOL

Thanks Furio

We are forgetting that your average Joe aren't serious mob buffs like people on this forum, they have no idea what the Mafia is and what it's really about. At the end of the day it's about obtaining and maintaining power at all costs.

I disagree, it used to be a way to make money when all other avenues were closed. In some cases a way to get in with a bigger gang. It changed, but the power they had is gone. It's almost like a fraternal group now. There are exceptions of course.