I know there total membership is around 40 to 60 made guys but how many of those are active and not in jail?

Probably around 20 to 30 Nicky. It's pretty small

Joe is right on no more than 30.

Total DeCavalcante membership is actually 40-50. I have 42 or 43 listed.

But in terms of active soldiers and members it can't be more than 30 Ivy. Do you have the list?

I seriously doubt if more than 20 are active

I heard the same as Ivy, but also there's only one guy listed as a Captain who's not in jail,acting or otherwise ands its tht guy Sal Tampani , so that also points to a lower amount of active guys being lower

It goes without saying that every family is going to have a lower number of members who are actually active than the number of their total membership. Relatively speaking, the DeCavalcantes don't have a lot of guys in prison at the moment but there still seems to be not that much activity, as seen by indictments.

The family has around 20 or 25 made guys active maybe but with nyc families controlling the big loansharking,gambling,construction,labor and extortion rackets the family would be lucky if they could ever beef up their numbers considering if a guy is a capable earner in New Jersey he would go with new york

Any advantage to hooking up with a smaller family? Like I was thinking there may be evidence that being out of the way keeps your name off of indictments? The reasoning being less FBI time devoted to little guys (DeCavalcante, Columbo, etc)? Where as they might have a hard on for the larger more elusive families (Genovese) and to a lesser degree Luccheses, Gambinos).

I don't know one way or the other just asking some of the more educated schooled memnbers on the boards.

you dont chose your family.most people dont have that opportunity. you go with where your immediate family is first.for me,i was born and raised in brooklyn.but my family was 'fourteenth street' on the lower east side.we were close to 'the baker' and his older brother.i knew guys that were in all families,but you dont make that decision based on the reputation of a crew/family. some times you dont even get to make a choice.but im talking forty years ago.today,i guess you can choose,but its not done like that,your not a basketball recruit chosing a college.when your 'claimed' your claimed.its 'ironclad'. there is no changing with out permission.

So are they mainly just bookmaking and loansharking nowadays? Anything else?

I don't think anyone really got a clue Nicky

The DeCavalcantes were unique in that they were always very dependent on a certain construction union - Laborers Local 394. The Local was actually considered the "life blood" and "cash cow" for the family. John Riggi was the business manager for years and many DeCavalcante members were members of the Local. Not just no show jobs but actually involved in union and construction business. The NY families used to joke that they couldn't meet with DeCavalcante guys until after 5 pm when they were off work.

The family's control of the Local took a huge hit with the busts in the late 1990's and early 2000's. And it was finally put under oversight by LIUNA in 2006. Even prior to that it was reported that the family's hold on the Local had been slipping and it was becoming harder for the union and mobbed up contractors to form relationships. Mobsters were even having to work when they're names came up on jobs.

In my opinion, most of the gambling, loansharking, drugs, etc. in New Jersey is controlled by the NY families. Not to mention the waterfront, garbage, etc. So the DeCavalcantes are a small family with a small niche and that's probably why you don't see these big gambling and loansharking busts involving them like you do with even the New England or Philadelphia families. They are involved in that stuff, as well as things like stolen goods, but a lot less so, relatively speaking.

i've seen you talk about how the chicago syndicate is damn near defunct and blah, blah, blah. but yet you think the jersey mob has over 40 members when they barely had 40 members in their heyday

That's becouse it's the amount of members they have my friend, the family has been reported to have had induction ceremonies well into the 2000's and is located in a part of the country with much higher densities of Italian-Americans than Illinois, According to Outfit informants they have not held an induction since the mid 1980's and it seems to me like the activity level is comparable

First, nobody said the Outfit is defunct. It's still considered a viable family. Second, the DeCavalcantes supposedly had about 60 members at their peak years ago.

In terms of total manpower, Chicago is actually bigger even though New Jersey has more members. Chicago is said to have 25-30 made members and a little over 100 associates; putting it's total manpower at about 150. New Jersey is said to have 40-50 members but only about 50 associates, which puts them at about 100. As I've said before, I don't put a lot of stock in associate estimate but if we're making comparisons, those are the official numbers.

Also, the last ceremony Nick Calabrese said he was aware of was in the late 1980's. However, considering Mike Sarno is made, I think they would have had to have other ceremonies after that. At least I don't recall seeing Sarno identified with any of those ceremonies we learned about in the 1980's.

you're an idiot if you think that they haven't made anybody in the last 25 plus years. the syndicate doesn't have that many informants to give information to begin with. illinois is a totally corrupt state which is the real reason the chicago syndicate doesn't get indicted often

That really isn't the reason. Whatever local corruption the Outfit still benefits from, it has no influence over who the FBI or the Justice Department chooses to go after. And the Outfit has it's share of indictments in recent years.

you just contradicted yourself, i've seen you say that chicago ain't that active because of the lack of criminal prosecutions against them. now you say that they've had their share of indictments in recent years

I've never said the Outfit isn't that active or they have had a lack of prosecutions. I have a list of every Outfit-related indictment since 2000. I know how many cases there have been. And the busts in Chicago have been comparable to New England or Philadelphia but not the NY families.

Cookcounty, I'm above name calling on the Internet, can you please name someone to me who has been formally made into the Outfit in the last quarter century and by whom, to me it appears DiFronzo deactivated most of the family ad you just cant refute that he's devoid of young blood.

It seems to be that the North Side crew, which is still overseen by DiFronzo and Andriacchi to some degree, keeps the other crews at arm's length. The guys in the North Side crew are richer, have more legitimate interests, and seem to be less dependent on the street racks like the other crews. I wouldn't go as far as to say there are 2 Outfits but there does seem to be a divide of sorts. DiFronzo was said to be the top Outfit boss for years but, more recently, it seems Marcello and later Sarno were acting bosses and had oversight of everything outside of the North Side.