On some documentary about Donnie Brasco, they mentioned that Lefty Guns lived "like a pauper in a public housing project" and was incessantly broke because of his gambling. I assume there are some made guys that just don't earn well. Are there many broke made guys? If you just can't make money and you're made will they just kill or shelve you?

It depends on who you are and who you're with. I know that guys don't like that answer, but there's no SOP about earning in the American mob. There's favoritism, nepotism, and the rules aren't as black and white in that life as you might like to believe.

But nowadays no one is getting killed for being a brokester. Unless they think you're holding out on them. Then it's a different story.

In the Pistone book,he mentioned that Lefty and Tony Mirra both lived in Knickerbocker Village,which was a public housing project. This didn't necessarily mean they were broke,since in order to keep below the IRS and Law Enforcement radar,they didn't want to show any type of assets. Mirra was a big earner,and Lefty did pretty well,except his ridiculous gambling habit forced him to kick up just about everything he earned to Nicky Marangello to cover his vig.

A lot of wiseguys own small legit businesses whether they be restaurants,trucking,construction,or whatever. Then they can at least justify their lifestyle,pay some Income Tax,and even establish retirement funds,and probably be eligible to collect Social Security.

But then you have the ones that are so into the "don't give nothing up" mentality that they would rather drive cars that are in someone else's name and live in the projects.

They end up fleecing the system on our dime and then go down the shore have a great time...then handsomestevie will post their pics up on here lol @ lil nicky

So what about guys who get shelved? Are they allowed to do their own things? I assume you won't see Graziano being a clerk at 7 eleven. I guess he gets some cash from that terrible show, but you get the picture.

They do what any other broke people do lol, they earn whatever they can and scrape by

Knickerbocker Village was in an italian area back in the day so to say you were broke by living there doesnt really mean anything. A lot of guys grew up there and it wasnt becoming black or crime ridden so why leave ?
Many wiseguys basically live from score to score . The most successful mob guys( today ) always have something legit going on. This is a good for a few reasons; most importantly you dont need to rely on crime to pay your bills which makes you less likely to engage in more risky criminal activity that could easily end up in getting arrested.
All crime is risky but some is much more risky than others...example, robberies.

Knickerbocker Village is rent controlled and all of my family on my father's side lived there. It was not for the rich thats for sure but wiseguys with a ton of cash lived there. One of my family members has a three bedroom and is still paying less than $500 a month. (Small 3 bedroom but a 3 bedroom nonetheless). It was Bonannoland. I tried to get an apartment there after I graduated college but my uncle told me the city took it over because the Chilli brothers had there hands in saying who got places and Jr. was locked up at the time. A bit of history Julius & Ethel Rosenberg lived there as well. It was working class. There are a ton of Chinese there now but if you look at the names on the list you still see a bunch of Italians. Its still a cool place and you can still see remnants of the old neighborhood.

That's because they're too cheap to change the signs on the mailboxes .

But seriously, I use the exact same billing agency for my two of my buildings as they use down there, and I follow Manhattan real estate VERY closely. Property management is my life. Knickerbocker is less than ten percent Italian today. Thirty years ago it was ninety percent. That's a 180 degree turn .

Pizzaboy, What about Southbridge and IPN ? Seem's to me that the Westside and Little Italy both co exist at both places.

Those places are next to impossible to qualify for (especially the towers, Mitchell Lama is no joke). They use a lottery AND they're regulated by both State and Federal agencies.

As far as Little Italy itself, we discuss the neighborhood here every time someone posts an article about how it's shrinking or whatever. At the 2010 census, there wasn't a single Italian born resident living in the 10013 zip code. But if you want a studio, I'll be happy to recommend one in the $2500 range .