2011 is the year {I think} that Joey Merlino gets out of prison as does some of his other associates. Would you suspect they'd try and clean up that mess that has been around since Stanfa was boss? Living in Philadelphia all my life I can tell you right now that crimes are at its worse, the city is approching it's 400th murder this year. I think a healthy non-FBI infiltrated mob would stabilize the city's recent crime surge.

Do you think Merlino will manage to stay out of jail long enough to rebuild anything?

I don't know about Phila. specifically. But speaking broadly:

Selwyn Raab, in the conclusion of his outstanding book, "The Five Families," noted that once law enforcement learned how to use RICO effectively, Mob bosses tumbled like bowling pins; and squealers, frighened by double-digit RICO sentences, underminded the rest. Prosecuters fought each other to prosecute Mob guys because nothing succeeds like success. But since 9/11, he notes, much of the total law enforcement resource that had been aimed at organized crime has been diverted to anti-terrorism work, leaving the field more open to the Mob.

My conclusion: as long as people want to gamble, do drugs, visit prostitutes, buy hot goods, cut corners, etc., there are always going to be organized crime gangs willing to satisfy their needs. But with respect to the Mafia: the caliber of people recruited in Phila. and everywhere else had been at or near rock-bottom for years. So, the future of the Phila. Mob (and others) rests on leadership--a doubtful proposition these days.

Hey Turnbull i have that book "Five Families" waiting to be read!
Glad to hear you say it's outstanding!

"Outstanding" doesn't do justice to it, Yogi. The first section, on the pre-Seventies history of the NY mob, probably won't add a lot to what you already know. But the Seventies-and-later stuff is definitive. Finally I was able to make heads and tails out of the revolving door of mob leadership since then. Finally I was able to understand how RICO works. And lots more.

Why don't you post a review when you finish?

So much for my application to UPenn...

UPenn has an outstanding campus and is in the heart of the city where there is less crime. The murders usually take place in North Philadelphia and wherever poverty is prevelent. You'd think Ted Bundy had risen from his grave with all the murders and rapes taking place.

I will Turnbull
I just have to finish off "Friday Night Lights" by H.G. Bissinger( not a crime book i know ) then i will turn my attentions to "Five Families"

Penn is indeed safe. Temple and Drexel are not.

Hopefully Merlino will take control and establish the so-needed Mob prescence, and I hope this is done all over the country because those gangsta scumbags are destroying towns as a plague, if there must be crime let it be the Cosa Nostra.
By the way, that Merlino is some lucky fuc..., survived nearly two dozen attempts on his life. Maronne!