Very interesting article this week.

Despite the recent claims made by Attorney General Eric Holder during the recent Mafia busts in the Northeast about the Mafia continuing to be a high priority, recent changes in New York have cut the FBI squads from 5 to 3. It appears there is now 1 squad for the Genovese family. 1 squad for the Gambino and Lucchese families. And 1 squad for the Colombo and Bonanno families. And the total number of agents investigating the mob in New York has also been cut, now down to 45.

Some agents, such as former FBI supervisor James Kossler, are concerned about this trend. He and others think this is a mistake and the diminishing of resources against the mob will only help them. Former agent Lin DeVecchio said that, logistically, it's very hard for one squad to be devoted to two families. Even if you have to cut the numbers, it's still better to have one squad for each family. Also of concern is the fact that the FBI headquarters in Washington has put Belle Chen as head of investigations against the mob in New York, even though she has no mob experience, having come from the agency's gangs and violent crimes unit.

Definitely a trend here.....


1980's & 1990's - 350 FBI agents and 100 NYPD detectives in 5 squads working full or part time on LCN cases

2001 - Most FBI agents were temporarily or permanently reassigned to anti-terrorism after 9/11 attacks

2005 - Down to 150 FBI agents on LCN cases, still in 5 squads

2010 - 50 FBI agents in 5 squads, plus some NYPD detectives for Genovese family

2011 - 45 FBI agents in 3 squads - Genovese, Gambino/Lucchese, Colombo/Bonanno

Do you think the mob could make a small comeback due to this?

This clearly showes that Italian OC isnt the priority anymore. It will help to reorganize the families, but i dont expect a strong comeback. Even if there was 1 task force on all of Cosa Nostra. The Mafia wont have a great comeback, because they lack the manpower. Thats the main reason i think that the feds decided to shrink the squad sizes.

There's plenty of young Italian Americans out there who watched The Sopranos too many times. So I think they have the manpower. It's just they're all idiots .

i think they have shrunk the squad sizes becaise the fellas are relying more on traditional ways to make money like bookmaking and loansharing and these crimes are not of a high priority for the feds. Union raceteeringg and murder is what the feds look for mostly and those crimes have dropped off a great amount.

I am from boston and here the past 5-10 years or so the state police have been very active with gambling and loansharking cases. But we havent heard from the feds much

I don't think we'll see a family make a "comeback" like the Bonannos did during the 1990's. But the decreasing manpower put against them could give them more breathing room and the time and ability to stabilize more.



Well, that's the question - how much of a priority should it be? The whole point of the article is that even those within the FBI don't agree. The reorganization and downsizing is coming from the top brass in Washington DC. But it appears those in New York itself don't agree with the recent changes.

It should be remembered that even the feds have limited resources. And I don't think anyone believes as many resources need to be devoted towards the Mafia today as there was in the 1980's and 1990's. Even with decreasing agent numbers over the past decade since 9/11, the FBI has continued to hit the Mafia pretty hard. But now it seems there is a concern they've gone too far by downsizing the numbers even more, combining squads, and putting people in charge that have no prior experience of investigating LCN.



If we're talking about the mob outside of New York, I agree with you. It's basically down to the standard gambling, loansharking, and extortion rackets. Not much labor union racketeering left and very few murders.

But New York still has quite a bit of labor racketeering activity. Not nearly what it was in the past but still a significant amount. The New York families are still big into drug trafficking. As well as newer high-tech scams. And more murders and violence because of the bigger numbers involved.

This will definitely give these families some breathing room and you will probably see some sort of a resurgence. An idiotic move by the FBI. As long as the mob has guys like Salvatore LoCascio and Barney Bellomo on the street, you're gonna have problems. You can't leave any of these guys alone. Not for a second. It's very easy to underestimate these guys.

Whoa i found that way too funny. Look at all those crazy faces.

Another very interesting thing is PJ Pisciotti's situation. Apparently he's not in witsec and went right back to his old home in NY. Owns gyms, houses, and I don't know what else. He always seemed like a major bum to me.

But he's gotta be insane for sticking around and now he's gonna be testifying again. And again against Basciano, a man who still has plenty of guys left on the street. How stupid can one person be.

New York FBI Mafia Squads get downsized



Just two months after one of the biggest bust against the mafia the FBI’s New York bureau has downsized its mafia squads. There were mafia squads assigned by the feds to monitor each of New York’s five major mafia families to try and keep them in check. But now FBI spokesman James Margolin said the bureau is ” continuously re-evaluating how to assign resources , and the recent changes are to prevent inroads by emerging crime groups”.

Sources report that the mafia squads once assigned to watch over the Bonanno and Colombo families have now been merged into one. Also the squad assigned to the Lucchese crime family will be merged with am Eastern European crime investigative unit. But the Gambino and Genovese crime families are still formidable in the eyes of the feds to still merit their own FBI squads. In total the number of agents dedicated to the mafia squads will be cut back by 45.

Some organized crime-busters fear that this kind of reorganization and cut back in man power may lead to a resurgence by some of the mafia families. One organized crime-buster noted that the Bonanno crime family rose from the ashes after being eased up on years ago after being decimated by undercover agent Joseph Pistone. The mafia over the years has proven that they have a knack for bouncing back when it seems like they are all but gone and with less resources dedicated to fighting them it could make things even easier.




http://themafiatoday.com/new-york-fbi-mafia-squads-get-downsized

Looks like Marzulli got mixed up on what Capeci said.

The squad that was once the Lucchese squad has been assigned to Eastern European groups. What was once just the Gambino squad now oversees investigations for both the Gambinos and Luccheses. So it's really the Gambino/Lucchese squad now. The Colombo and Bonanno squads are now merged. And there is a single squad for the Genovese family.

This article proves the genovesse family is the strongest family in the country at this time

That doesn't need much proving. Everyone agrees.

I must say thought PJ is doing very good for himself these days...

I'd love to know what he's doing though. He can't be frequenting the old clubs. There's another rat who claims to be doing the same thing, Kenny Gallo. He never gave his address, but claimed to be out in the open in L.A. I know a guy (not personally) in the Colombo family who would probably pay a lot of money for more information about his whereabouts. You know who I'm talking about. I definitely could use some extra money, but I don't know where he is . Another guy is of course Joe Campanalla. Says he's in Brooklyn, but I have my doubts. Ron Pervite in Philly. There's no way they're making their presence known in these places. This is what bitter people do.

FBI mob unit gets unmade
By JOSH MARGOLIN
March 7, 2011

The FBI says it is "Mission Accomplished." But the feds may be going down the same dangerous path that led to the post-9/11 renaissance of New York's Mafia.

The New York FBI division, riding a wave of goodwill and big headlines after the largest roundup of wiseguys in American history six weeks ago, has quietly shaken up its Organized Crime Branch.

The move dramatically cut the number of agents assigned to investigate the Five Families at the core of La Cosa Nostra.

"We're shifting some bodies around," said FBI spokesman Jim Margolin. "There have been inroads made, measurable progress in reducing the effectiveness of [the] families. For now, there is a feeling that some resources should be shifted."

Soon after the Jan. 20 arrests of 127 alleged mobsters and associates, the G-man overseeing the FBI's Organized Crime branch in New York was moved and the bureau ended its tradition of operating a squad for each of the Five Families. Now, the feds have three Mafia squads in total, with the rest of those agents assigned to investigate so-called "emerging" organized-crime elements, like Albanian thugs.

"We're not folding up the program," Margolin insisted. "We're constantly in the process of allocating resources where the perceived need is the greatest." Sources inside the FBI and other federal agencies told The Post they fear the shakeup will let the families regroup.

They said fewer agents translates into fewer cases that can build on the January takedown that lopped off the top leadership of the Colombo family and may have crippled the Gambinos.

Some Mafia watchers pointed out that the last two times the New York FBI scaled back the mob beat -- in the late 1980s and then after 9/11 -- the families regrouped.

"New York's five Mafia families have taken advantage of every FBI cutback," said Mafia chronicler Selwyn Raab.

After the 2001 terror attacks, more than 75 percent of the bureau's Mafia agents were reassigned to counterterror and national-security cases.

"9/11 was a godsend to the mob, providing all families with a reprieve when they were on the ropes," Raab said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/fbi_mob_unit_gets_unmade_SBZtxidTagOAd9t8qqo7IK