as everyone seems to be doing a 2023 recap of mafia family activity i thought i would do the same but for lesser known and now totally irrelevant,defunct,inactive U.S. mafia families.

california
los angeles family
-its over lads and lasses there is nothing left out west and has not been since the death of peter milano.
-tommaso gambino although sharing a legendary last name IS NOT THE BOSS OF ANYTHING!!! he is the son of a made member rosario gambino. he owns and operates a sparkling wine company. i have no clue where this rumor started but it is not based in fact.
-there was recently rumors that there was a making ceremony in L.A. where 2 members were inducted...antonio caputo of toronto? and one of the iavarone brothers antonio or albert? albert is dead murdered in hamilton in 2018. antonio is still alive and living in hamilton. antonio caputo is the twin brother of martino caputo. now why any of these guys would be made out in l.a. then return to hamilton to operate is puzzling. there is no info as to which family was doing the induction. but i will say that the los angeles family never had any influence into canada let alone hamilton over the years so how they would gain a foothold in hamilton is beyond questionable.

-one other point...joe isgro being described as a crew leader in LA. he lived out there but when indicted in 2014 it was on old gambling charges which took place in ny so i dont get the crew leader or gambino based leader non sense.

-the crime being committed in the los angeles area is dominated by black and hispanic/mexican street gangs and cartels. the hells angels and other biker mcs still operate as well across the state. armenian power are also very prominent in los angeles area.

san jose
-salvatore marino could be the only made member left after release from prison in 1998. he is the son of former boss angelo who died in 1983.
-there is no mafia left in the san jose area. the city and surrounding parts of the state are fully in the hands of nuestra familia and its affiliates.

-i wont even bother with san francisco,seattle,dallas,denver,st louis,bufalino,milwaukee,baltimore. there is nothing going down mafia wise in these cities and has not been for decades.

new orleans
-joseph gagliano was last arrested may 7 2014 in the "sniper van" case along with dominick gullo. gagliano on parole was sentenced may 15 2015 to 2 years. i can find no other info on d.gullo. joseph gagliano is the son of former UB frank gagliano and josephs brother, frank jr. still operates a restaurant in nerlons.
-gagliano bros have both taken gambling related busts in the past but nothing lately. i can see joseph gagliano being a made member but there has been no mafia related arrests or reports on family in decades.
-almost around the same time that last known boss anthony corollo died, street gang leader telly hankton began his reign on the streets of the big easy.

trfficante\florida/tampa
-vince lo scalzo is still alive but this family is not.
-several mafia families from u.s. have crews/members operating in the state as well as a number of other larger more violent crime groups.

cleveland
-russell papalardo is still alive but mafia related crime in ohio is non existent latley. there have been some recent large gambling busts but not sure if there is enough info out there to link them to a defined family in cleveland, aside from papalardo only james martinos name comes up. i can find no other recent info on any members/associates from cleveland crime past.
-ryan driscoll was leader of fairly large on line sports book that operated between 2015-2019.$34 million in total wagers making driscoll et al $4mill in profits.
- russell massetta who was son-in-law to former LA boss peter milano. as for if he is active seems doubtful.
-carmine agnello,former son-in-law to john gotti was busted aug 7 2015, plead guilty to charges june 2 2017 and is out from the meager sentence he was given. divorced from wife and now re married to the daughter of an armenian political activist. no new info on his activity.

rochester ny
-no evidence that this is still a functioning family. if activity exists it is at the direction of another ny based mafia family...buffalo,bonanno???
-i say this only because of another large on line sports betting ring busted june 24 2014. this ring took in $76 million in gross wagers between jan 2012 and indictment date so pretty big. 3 men paul borrelli and brothers joseph and mark ruff were convicted for operating this group. borrelli appears to be out after light sentence and restitution payments of close to $1.5 million. there was no mention of who else was involved in this but you have to figure these 3 were paying tax to somebody then if not now.
-thomas e. marotta has been id'd as a member of past rochester family with some info that he switched over to the bonannos. he was last released from jail feb 11 2011 with no further arrests.
-dominic taddeo has been named as a member and currently imprisoned again after a brief escape last year. not sure what his time left will be now after escape. his old release date was mar 2023 i think.
-frank frassetto and his 2 sons frank p. and philip have past arrests for drug dealing in the 1990's. i only mention them because of past involvement in drug trafficking as it seems to be a very busy gig in rochester area mostly by street gangs sourcing drugs from ny.

pittsburgh
-i am not ready to right off steel city yet. as a structured family yes its gone. but there is still some serious gambling going on.
-the philly family by rights should control pittsburgh being the same state but it could be an open city now.
-the iannelli family has controlled large chunks of gambling for years as well as ronald melocchi to former close associates of last known member/boss thomas ciancutti. some of ciancutti's associates still active are john conley and ralph maselli.
-the pagans mc have a presence in the area also dealing mostly in drugs.

-so in the end 4 members left with no family structure. salvatore marino,russell papalardo,joseph gagliano and vince lo scalzo.
-the possibility of taddeo and marotta being members brings number to 6. i think its still relevant that these guys are around as living members of a once secret society but in no way do i think they continue to operate as functioning crime families.

The action that is left when it comes to the mob in Tampa is heavily controlled by New York. Everything goes through NY when it comes rackets such as gambling, strip clubs/high end prostitution and loan sharking. Plenty of NY guys have property down in the Tampa area as well along with restaurants.

Tommy Gambino was reported as the underboss in a 2001 report and people assume he's the boss now after Milano died since he held the next highest rank. He's not criminally active or not directly but there's talk he and his brother are still involved with his father and extended family in Sicily and new York. Whatever is going on is Gambino Family controlled. The inductions were for the gambinos who are involved in Ontario. The la family does have historic links to Ontario and Buffalo and one of the remaining la members is living in Buffalo currently

Joseph Gagliano might not be made and Dominick Gullo also never reported to be made died in 2020 in Vegas.

Tampa still has half a dozen member left and they mingle with out of town mobsters. The most recent activity was from government witness Mamone last year or in 2021 when he was indicted in a medical fraud scam and believe or not he sold out his conspirators again. There might be some activity that is *under* Tampa but there members are not active but other families do recognize them from what I've been told


There's a recent gambling case that just came to light out of Rochester and its huge considering its 2 guys. No names have been released yet and no connection to lcn. I agree that whatever is left is under Buffalo or the bonannos since Rochester was never recognized as a family just a rogue element of Buffalo


I can't see Pittsburgh having anyone left. There was a clear decline in membership for decades and it ended with Ciancutti. The remnant associates are doing their own thing. Maybe Philly will take over the action there who knows

Yeah all of these families are done and have been done for a long long time.

The fact that they try to make out Tommy Gambino to be boss of the "Los Angeles Mafia" is ridiculous. All this because his last name's "Gambino"? He's a legit businessman, pure and simple.
I'm not ruling out LCN having money laundering operations in the Los Angeles area, but when it comes to running the underworld it's street, prison and biker gang territory over there as well as a notable cartel influence of course. Mexicans, Armenians, African Americans, Belizeans, Salvadorans, Chinese, Cambodians, Vietnamese, Koreans, Samoans as well as blue collar white guys all have their gangs in the Southland running rackets in their respective communities. Street, prison and biker gangs are much more ingrained in the underworld there than any traditional kind of "mafia" ever was.

Same goes for San Jose. That's Norteño heartland first and foremost and it has prevalent activity from Vietnamese gangs as well as Samoan gangs.

New Orleans' underworld is an African American drug gang clusterfuck. The NOLA gang underworld is chaotic and bloodthirsty to such an extent it's difficult to conduct any kind of traditional organized criminal activity over there.

Whatever LCN activity is still going on in Pittsburgh, Rochester, Tampa or Cleveland can probably be traced back to NY/Philly/NJ.

Has nothing to do with his last name. He was the underboss under the last known boss so people assume he runs what's left. It's the same as people calling Thomas Ciancutti of Pittsburgh or Russell Papalardo of Cleveland boss of those families.

This has been discussed previously ...

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=756069&page=1

10 years ago

Can you show me when and where exactly the Tommy Gambino of Los Angeles has ever been indicted for anything illegal. People have been calling him the "underboss" and then the "boss" of the "Los Angeles Mafia" (which has most possibly been defunct since 2003) for years now, but on what basis? Seems to me like he's the victim of being a Gambino and being Rosario Gambino's son. Basically everything there is to find about Tommy Gambino's activities is legit.

You don't have to be criminally active to be apart of the mafia or hold rank in it and I never said he was criminally active. Two associate identified him as underboss to Milano and a 2001 report

Ok so basically what you're admitting is that he's not a criminal? Which kinda proves my point: why are some media outlets trying to prop him up as the "boss" of a "crime family" (keyword being "crime") when he's admittedly not criminally active?

And the word of two associates don't mean oogatz. Plenty of so-called "associates" are in fact useless penniless junkies who'd sell out their own geriatric grandmother for a slightly reduced sentence and a nickel bag of crack.

I'm admitting I don't know the guy and he hasn't been charged with anything but he was the underboss of the la mafia family. Once again you don't need to be criminally active to be apart of the mafia so that point is moot. Two associates word's means a lot more than you disputing it on a forum. These were people who were involved with the la family so their word plus the 2001 report outweighs whatever you think.

My point exactly. Please show arrests, court filings, and or news reports (legit sources) that would persuade a rational person any of these families are organized, functioning criminal enterprises. Running a small book or making a few loans does not make a crime family in my humble opinion.

The reality is LCN is dead in these cities in the traditional organized crime sense (labor racketeering, extortion, fencing, drug traficking etc.).

Reading doesn’t seem like a strong point on this forum. Not one person in this post has claimed these families were criminally active. But LCN does exist in these cities since we have members still alive. I don't know how many times a member has to say it but a family is a family until the last member dies. The numbers are irrelevant to their recognition. New Orleans had 6 members in 1968 and they were recognized by every other family and given more respect than anyone even though they were probably the smallest family.

Looks like reading isn't exactly your strong point either so I guess you'll fit right in. The entire discussion isn't about whether or not there are Mafia members still around in a city like Los Angeles or New Orleans or Tampa. The discussion is whether the borgatas that called these cities their home are still - like TonyG states above - "organized, functioning criminal enterprises". And it's clear as day that they aren't.

And we can extend this to people calling Tommy Gambino a "LCN boss or underboss". The boss of what exactly? Does he have people running rackets in Los Angeles that are kicking up to him? As far as anyone of us can see he doesn't. If you wanna go and state that he's part of the Mafia by virtue of his family ties then have a go at it, but can you truthfully say that he's the "crime boss" of an "organized, functioning active criminal enterprise" (which whether you like it or not, is exactly what the papers mean whenever they throw around the term "Mafia")? Nothing seems to point in that direction and on the contrary everything seems to point in the direction that Tommy Gambino is a successful businessman running a legit business.

Actually we're just talking about defunct/dying families. You're the one trying to make it solely about criminal activity. VitoCahill's post talked about Tommy Gambino and the allegations that he's held recent inductions of mobsters from Ontario and the family's last criminal activities My first comment here outlined the activity from criminal to Mafia politics, the same as his. I just addressed the point that these families may be criminally inactive but that doesn't mean they're inactive mafia members.



Ffs you clearly haven't been listening to anything I've said. His family ties have nothing to do with him being labelled a mafia member. Informants and the 2001 report identified him as one. If he is criminally active or not is irrelevant to his status as a mafia member or the rank he holds within the Mafia structure. If you can't understand that you have a poor understanding of the mafia.


I don't know how to explain this any simpler for you. Do you consider Chicago a defunct family?

No I don't consider Chicago a defunct family. Far from it.

Let's just end the discussion on this note because I got other shit to do and I don't have the energy to get involved in long winded petty arguments like this : I don't have a clue about how LCN works and you - the resident "Mr. Y'all" - know everything about the inner workings of the mafia. That's awesome, man. I'm happy for you.

Lol but we haven't seen criminal activity from those dozen or so old men in decades

Glad to hear it man I just wish you thought of that 4 messages ago.

I do believe Tommy is pretty clean since he moved to the West Coast, but his father and other relatives were arrested in 2019.

Yeah I don't think he's been arrested but he was involved in a ecstasy ring in early 2000-2002 but somehow avoided charges

Perfect description of Pittsburgh and what is left here. Bobby Ianelli and his son Rusty and Duffy Conley are the top dogs over gambling.
Sonny Ciancutti former team still hold areas. Hard to believe Sonny didn’t make anybody when he finally became Boss. He came up under Kelly Mannarino so he was old school, Sonny had to know the official family died with him.