I find it interesting in the mafia’s evolution that many “made men” now don’t make as much money as some of their predecessors in the heyday of the mafia. By this I mean, they may not be as prolific earners as others. Given that the volume of violence appears to be lower than it was in the past (especially with regards to murder), what do you suppose is the rationale of making these men now?

If we were to make up a generic crew of 8-10 guys, what do you think the earning range might be on average for each of the made men? Certainly few will be rock stars, but when you look at people in history like Lefty Ruggiero, and some members that never reached Captain status, what do you suppose their general earning potential is per month/year?

it all depends on the crew members.

It's impossible to answer such a question. But I will say that most members seem to be more or less middle class. With a minority being on either extreme - wealthy or brokesters.

It's an interesting question to me because it addresses the likelihood of the obviously bloated charts of "associates" and "soldiers" people love to post, painting a picture of organizations with dozens if not hundreds of members who are implied to be making substantial income from organized crime.

I don't know the answer to the question, but consider that Sammy Gravano was only making about $250K in illegal income as number two in the Gambinos 25 years ago.

Which suggests to me that anyone less than the very top echelon in lesser families these days is making peanuts.

sam made over a mil a year just from his shy book..he had almost 3mil out

Not according to what he told Diana Sawyer. What he said roughly aligned with this:

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-05/news/mn-574_1_gravano-sammy-bull-family-boss/2

If you watch the interview there is a point where she basically prods him on how little he was making and he shrugs and says "It was enough for me" and talks about how he owned an office building.

I'm sure the guy made a decent amount of money; I am just saying that he was basically the second most powerful gangster in the entire country, at a time when the mob was doing a lot better than it is today.

Gravano has very good reasons for minimizing his income.
Profits of crime are seized by the G.

250k a year is Bullshit.

Estimates for John Gotti's income were around $10-12 million a year. Gravano was probably making around $1-3 million at that time.

In the interview he tells her they let him keep his money, or at least some of it. He doesn't mention them taking everything. He just responds, "I have a few bucks."

Gravano's estimate for Gotti's income was $5-$12M.

He didn't know but thought the higher number was more likely, and says he was kicking up 1-2M a year, which I think -- can't quite remember - but think he mentioned was about 75 percent of what he made.

Which jibes with the $250k.

Ok this says $200k in kickbacks plus "hundreds of thousands" in juice.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/26/nyregi...today-what.html

Gravano was not kicking up 75% of what he made.

The article states he got 200k a year from "control of unions in the city, extortions from construction companies in exchange for labor peace and from secret partnerships in construction companies" in addition to "hundreds of thousands a year" in juice.

So we're already at 500k and this excludes his primary revenue source which were his own construction companies. He also had interests in nightclubs etc.

He was making far more than 250k.

Maybe not. If you read the NYT article that's pretty much what it says though, at least from the kickbacks. Not from the juice, apparently.

Anyway, it was in all likelihood less than a million a year, and potentially less than half. For being in it 30 years, the number two Gambino and killing 19 people, in a much stronger era.

Everyone can have their own opinion on what that suggests a Chicago or Detroit "associate" is pulling in these days; I know what mine is.

Between the available sources I've seen its $200K from kickbacks, "hundreds of thousands" in juice and $500k legit.

They are all pretty consistent in that reporting.

There is no reason to assume his illegal income exceeded $500k a year.

Gravano estimated that Gotti was making $5-20 million a year. The figure I got of Gotti making $10-12 million a year was from estimates by FBI agents, $20 million sounds too much for me.

And yeah there was no way Gravano was kicking up 75%. For capos its traditonally always been a 10% kick up to the boss, sometimes slightly more, so for an underboss to give up 75% is ridiculous. So thats evidence that Gravano is bullshitting in the interview, so that would lead us to believe that hes probably lying aswell about only making $250k illegally.

Maybe he was BSing. The Times article says the same thing; it was likely written from his testimony.

I am pretty sure in the Sawyer interview he said 5-10, but who cares.

Gravano was reporting by 1989 780k in legit income
He made 15k a week from his Shylock book and he had his night clubs and restraunts
And he made roughly 250k a year from local 282
I believe John gotti made around 20-25 million a year. Based on the money from the garment center,garbage,local 282, the Russian gasoline tax. Etc etc

i think its harder to make money today in anything legit or illegitimate compared to how it was back in the hayday for these guys. the fact that these guys were earning more back in the day speaks more toward society as a whole not just them. the city is a different place now so is the world its tough to make big money like these guys were doing in the 70s and 80s