http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/feds_only_have_squads_left_to_combat_bpOGcXGuTYkqUi1ZilFROK

Feds only have 2 squads left to combat city Mafia families


By SELIM ALGAR
June 20, 2013


Fugghedouboudit.

The FBI has only two squads -- and roughly 25 agents -- left to combat New York's five Mafia families.

Once a prime focus for the feds, enfeebled mob crews - worn down by death, informants, and imprisonment - are no longer considered a major menace by the agency, sources told the Post.

"The mob agents are the bastard stepchildren of the FBI these days," an FBI source told the Post. "Everything is terrorism now. If you want to be somebody with a future in the FBI you want to be assigned to terrorism."

The FBI once had a squad for each of the Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino, Colombo and Bonanno crews but has consolidated and contracted them in recent years.

One squad handles the Lucchese and Gambino families while another handles the rest, sources said.

But with 700 made mafia members and more than 7,000 associates still operating in New York, some G-men are worried that the lack of attention could lease to a Wiseguy resurgence, according to Ganglandnews.com, which first reported the shortfall today.

"The Genovese family alone deserves 20 agents," a former agent told the site. "Once you only have a few agents working a crime family, you're dead in the water. You can't develop informers. You don't know what they're doing. They could be infiltrating a new industry."

The FBI also had a dedicated sqaud for Albanian mobsters that now handles all Eastern European organized crime activity.

The department's resources for mafia related intelligence gathering has also dried up and been rerouted to anti-terror campaigns, sources said.

"If you want a couple grand to get an informant on a mob case you're going to be waiting a month," said an FBI source. "If you need that same money for a terrorism case you're going to get it the next day."

This is what's happening now but Capeci hinted towards the new FBI director who's taking over later this year reinstating the usual squads for NY or at least increasing them.

Definitely a trend here...



1980's & 1990's - 350 FBI agents and approximately 100 NYPD detectives investigating the LCN in New York.

2001 - After 9/11, 75% of FBI agents in New York investigating the LCN reassigned either temporarily or permanently to counter-terrorism units.

2005 - total number of FBI agents investigating the LCN in New York down to 150.

2009 - The FBI in New York further downsizes it's manpower investigating the LCN, with the Lucchese, Colombo, and Bonanno families having under 10 agents each, the Gambino family 12 agents, and the Genovese family 12 agents and a handful of NYPD detectives.

2011 - the FBI combines it's five squads investigating the LCN in New York to 3 squads - one for the Gambino and Luccheses, one for the Colombos and Bonannos, and one for the Genovese - with a total of 45 agents.

2013 - the FBI further combines it's squads and reduces it's manpower investigating the New York LCN - one squad for the Genovese, Colombo, and Bonanno families and one squad for the Gambino and Lucchese families - with under 30 total agents.

Yesterday Bernanke said the in 2014 the US reserve would stop buying US Securities. Translation, the US reserve will stop printing money to buy securities that they are printing. Since then the dow has dropped 450 points. There is no better indication that the US economy has been held up by the Fed printing worthless paper. Anybody out there have any idea how the US taxpayers are going to pay off 17 trillion dollars in debt? How are the taxpayers going to pay for all the unfunded liabilities? The US is a mirror image of Detroit.

The genovese family must be partying

With the way their family is run ( prolly 100 secret active guys ) and with only 7-8 low level agents on them and no $ to pay informants or OT, these guys really can solidify their hold in the unions and constructions which are huge $ makers . Putting this $ on the street with how hard it is to get loans today, plus keeping violence to a minimum and out of the papers, they really could be stuffing their coffers . Might be time for them to start funneling big campaign $ thru their lawyers now that campaign finance reform has been loosened. These guys are smart enough to be a real force with no one having any idea

My friend is in the NYC carpenters union and he says the caddalacs run the show lol

With so much new technology introduced past 10 years, they can track people through their car, their cell phones, and with satellites. I don't think Justice Department did this without careful review. If money put forward on manpower was not getting results, it was correct move.

Ivy is this why there are mob busts, it is normally now quantity not quality? Like the mob bust last January against the bonannos?

they don't need many agents with all the wires mafia members are wearing

are the two squads even viable anymore?

Hasn't it been that way for a while?

new director coming in..i predict he makes these squads whole again..look up his name james comey..

I heard they only have two trained monkeys assigned to the Colombo family. Kicker is the two monkeys have already flipped a few soldiers.

sure but is that a result to the decrease of agents?

Where did you hear that?

Lol, maybe the Mob has pics of the new FBI boss in a Hoover-esque scenario?

I agree with you DB. The Genovese have to be living it up. With only 2 squads in the FBI monitoring the families, the city's detectives are going to be overworked, which will give the families a chance to rebuild.

Maybe they want the families to rebuild and quietly gain power so they can punk out these street gangs that cause more damage.

Doesn't change a thing...The agents on OC know what they're doing and rats are at an all time high. The Feds have figured out how to best use their friend RICO...And by the arrests since 2011 and imprisonment and cooperation of so many high profile mobsters, it's safe to say that the Feds are winning the war against LCN.

Plus, besides LCN, the Russian Mob, Triads and terror groups need to be addressed now more than ever.

The Feds will only let them rebuild to a point. They can turn it on and off like tap water. It'll never be what it was. Everything is relative, anyway. With the advances in electronic surveillance, they just don't need as many field agents as they did twenty years ago.

That being said, two agents is still a very low number. But if the Feds think these guys are getting too strong again, they'll increase that number and stop them dead in ther tracks. The smarter bosses and skippers (like Stevie and Barney) realize this, and they're content to keep it right where it is. You don't tug on Superman's cape, and they know it.

And I hate to break it to the European posters here. But no matter how many agents have been reassigned to anti-terror, the United States government STILL has unlimited resources when it wants to use them. And that's the key:

If the wiseguys are smart, they won't try to grow themselves. Because if they do, that's when the government will put those resources into action. If the New York families keep everything status quo, they'll be able to stick around that much longer.

At the moment, terrorism probably is a more urgent threat than the mafia. The FBI is not sleeping at the wheel, you can be sure of that. At any given time, they can move men around from say bank robbery and Kidnapping, to the OC unit. As others have pointed out, a new director is coming so we'll have to watch that. As P.B. has pointed out, this may not be the time for OC to expand. They may just want to sit back and be satisfied with what they can get until the climate changes. Lastly, let's not forget the Federal budget. Everyone is being asked to cut back.

maybe there are so many informants within the ny mob that they don't need many agents

i honestly don't think the ny mafia families have 200 and 150 plus initiated members

if they do it's pretty fucking stupid but i don't think they're that deep

Great fucking insight as usual cook!!

I do believe the Gambino's and Genovese have 150 plus...but none of the other three NY families. I truly believe that with the Federal Government being wise to the infiltration of the labor unions, that labor racketeering has been severely reduced. Does it still go on? Sure, but not nearly to the extent that is was even 30 years ago. Labor racketeering was arguably one of the mob's biggest cash cows, so with more Federal monitoring, cash flow has to have been severely reduced as well. Granted, illegal gambling, extortion, pornography, prostitution, waste hauling and loan sharking are the mob's bread and butter, but it was crimes like Labor Racketeering, casino skimming and obviously drug trafficking were the three schemes that catapulted a lot of the American Mafia Families into extreme wealth. Some cases of stock market scams were lucrative, but then you have to deal with the SEC who monitors every transaction, which is too risky. Is truck hijacking still a common practice in NY/NJ??

Ever heard of LoJack?

But seriously, not really. Aside from the fact that LoJack does make it next to impossible to get away with, the lion's share of Mob related hijackings were centered around the local airports. Now just try and commit an airport crime in New York City in the post 9-11 world, and they'll bury you UNDER the fucking jail .