WTF is this bullshit? Women? Are you serious here? Cmon you have to be kidding me with this garbage.

Genovese now allowing women associates

They used them for money laundering. Not wisegirls for now and even if it were? In Italy women are involved in the rackets and in some cases can take decision in the clan.

One of the most infamous women associates was Virginia Hill who in turn worked as "bagman" for the Mob and also worked as "spy" for the Chicago Outfit.

Also as Furio said, some women in Italy acted as messengers between their imprisoned husbands or brothers, or even sometimes acted as bosses for the organization, again in some "connected" role. Maybe Im wrong and probably both Furio and Strax can correct me, but I think these examples were mainly seen in the Camorra...

was she actually on record? if so, do you know with who specifically?

I just read that about Virginia Hill in a government report. Also, is the woman you're speaking of Maria Licciardi?

Outfit associate and member of the Guzik crew, Joe Epstein was her pimp and also used her for numerous illegal activities and later introduced her to the Genovese family. While being with Siegel, her job was to watch him.

To be on "record" means that someone received a chance to get made in the future or become official associate...and since we are currently talking about the US mob, use your brain before making such statements obviously because we are talking about females here.

If you are talking about women from Italy who were involved in the "Life", i completely forgot their names, meaning you might be right Lisa.

Colosimo's wife Victoria Moresco was also deeply involved in the "Life" together with her brothers.

I think Licciardi was Camorra who took over for her husband and brothers when they went to jail. Also, I think there are lots of instances of women becoming deeply involved with their husband's business. If I recall correctly, Philip Rastelli's wife Connie tried to bribe witnesses who were going to testify against him sometime early in his criminal life. I'm sure there are other examples as well...some very deeply involved as you say, others more peripheral.

I've read somewhere that Former Bonanno Consigliere, Anthony Graziano, would use his daughter as a driver.

Yes,Maria Licciardi is an example and women regents are common in camorra and ndrangheta less in the sicilian mafia. And an associate can be everything not only a killer but also a person that help in the rackets.
RushStreet,in my opinion to use a woman as killers would be a good idea for return to the bloody old days but you can rest assured,nobody in american mafia would have the balls to do that.

In Italy women are important part of the mafia. There were even some who became bosses and were ruthless. There are wiretaps of 'Ndrangheta, when men wanted to calm things down, women were saying "we should just cut them with chainsaw".

Thanks Lisa, Strax and Fur for all of the additional info.

It seems to me if OC wants to survive, it needs to evolve its operations and how they do it.

???? I guess they have all kinds of people as associates, not because they care about fairness, but because if you're making money they want you to kick up. Male or female,black or white they want your money. It doesn't mean they're going to make women or non Italians, it just means they want everything to be under their flag.

Good points. This must be some new school shit though because guys like Gotti never would have allowed blacks or women to be involved with his operations.

Besides having some women involved in the rackets, the old Chicago Outfit also had many African-Americans involved in the "Life" and you'll be surprised what they controlled and also how many people they killed for the syndicate.

i dont see the big surprise here, mostly because that bust was now 7 years ago. very common around the world to have women working in criminal orgs this is not new. perhaps for ny families it is but i imagine if we were to go back and search similar arrests/busts you will find a few female names. typical of u.s. mafia families to be behind the curve in using females or other ethnic groups to further there criminal rackets. and who cares what gotti would or wouldnt have allowed, clearly what he did wasnt good. maybe he should have allowed some women, minorities and the like to make money with gambinos could've helped. this practice is very common in canada by the way across the spectrum of criminal groups around the country. not with women as leaders but actively participating in crime. the wife of former andrea scoppa clan member nicola valiente was busted along with others in 2018 i think for smuggling guns across border into canada. in that arrest her husband was not arrested and best evidence says valiente wasnt even involved. you would have to think as well in speaking of prostitution or high class escort rings that usually there is a woman in charge of the women and money. her name escapes me but was arrested in chicago 2016 and had links to or was paying a street tax to gary gagliano of the outfit.

Do you feel Ronnie Jarrett was taken out by black hitmen?

Not as well known as the Camorra bosses, but Maria was hardcore.



Maria Serraino (1931 – 7 December 2017) was an Italian female criminal and a member of the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria.[1] She is one of the rare examples of a woman leading a 'Ndrangheta clan.

She belongs to a longstanding 'Ndrangheta family from the Reggio Calabria area, the Serraino 'ndrina, from Cardeto, about 10 km southeast of the city of Reggio Calabria. She is a cousin of Paolo Serraino, the boss of the Calabrian branch of the clan.[2]

Moving north
She married Rosario Di Giovine, a prolific tobacco smuggler. Between 1949 and 1985, he was sentenced 65 times for tobacco smuggling and 23 other violations of the tobacco monopoly rules. In 1963 the family moved to Milan.[3] The Serraino-Di Giovine clan ultimately controlled the territory around Piazza Prealpi, a square located in the north of Milan, and via Belgioioso.[3] The family began their illegal career with smuggling cigarettes and receiving stolen goods. Maria Serraino, stood for trial on tobacco smuggling seven times and six times for fencing in the 1970s.[4]

During the 1970s, the trade shifted from cigarettes to drugs (including hashish, cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy) and weapons, and involved the whole family of twelve children. The weapons were sent to Calabria, where their relatives were involved in the Second 'Ndrangheta war (1985–1991).[2] Her older sons, Antonio and Emilio Di Giovine, who dealt in stolen cars, helped to develop the drug trade from their contacts with foreign criminals. Within a few years time, the family's activities concentrated on the drug business and by the late 1980s, the Serraino-Di Giovine clan ran one of the largest and most successful drug dealing enterprises in Milan.[4] Their small local business transformed into a significant international trade.[2]

Running the clan
While the mother ruled the actual fiefdom in Milan, another central operation was located in Spain and managed by Emilio Di Giovine, trafficking hashish from Morocco to England and cocaine from Colombia to Milan. The operation in Milan was fully recognized by other criminal organizations that ran drug trafficking in neighbouring areas. Drug suppliers dealt only and exclusively with her, unwilling to risk taking other customers out of fear of reprisals. She ensured the overall operation of the association by distributing merchandise to her other sons and other partners, as well as collecting the money from middleman. Other important duties involved contacts with corrupt law enforcement officers.[2]

She had various nicknames, such as Nonna eroina ("Grandma heroin"), Mamma eroina ("Mummy Heroin"), or simply La Signora ("The Lady").[2] According to Maria's daughter, Rita Di Giovine, who became a state witness (pentito) in 1993: "My mother was the boss of the family. She was the one who gave the orders, even if my brother [Emilio] was the boss in name. She decided who was to do what, but she did it all in a way that my brother wouldn't notice she was running the family, not him."[2][5]

Downfall
The organisation was dismantled in 1993-1995 by three police operations, called Belgio from the name of the street where the clan resided. Some 180 members of the organisation were arrested.[3] An important factor in the downfall of the clan was the arrest of Maria's oldest daughter Rita Di Giovine in March 1993 in Verona in possession of 1,000 tablets of ecstasy.[2][5]

At the age of 12, Rita had been taken out of school to help to unpack cocaine hidden in the panels of imported cars, and to stuff heroin into bottles of shampoo. She transported large sums of cash and quantities of drugs. Part of her job was to bribe local police to overlook the family's activities, and in some cases to recruit them in order to give the family information on investigations or imminent arrests. A mother of three children by different fathers, she had been in jail several times herself. Rita's son became a heroin addict; he had been dealing heroin for the family when he was 15. By the time she was arrested, Rita was exhausted and angry with her brothers, mired in debts and addicted to amphetamines. She decided to give evidence against her family in return for state protection. Police picked up her brothers, her mother and stepfather, her son, and her ex-husband.[5]

Maria Serraino was sentenced to life imprisonment for Mafia association and murder in September 1997. She had ordered the murder of a drug dealer who worked for the family and was guilty of attempting to go into business on his own.[2][6][7]

Female boss
Maria Serraino embodies the main characteristic of female power in the 'Ndrangheta: power not in appearance but in substance. Unlike men, women are less interested in external recognition of their power and more interested in exercising it. Her daughter Rita Di Giovine attributed her mother with the qualities of a boss and made her charismatic leadership abilities a question of blood lines, of belonging to a traditional 'Ndrangheta family. "She’s got it right there in her blood, in her veins," Rita said about her mother. "My mother had all the power, because if she decided some job shouldn’t be done, then the job wasn’t done."[2]

The rules of the 'Ndrangheta do not consider the possibility of female elements becoming members. Nevertheless, if a woman demonstrates certain abilities she can become associated with the title of sorella d'omertà, ("sister of omertà," the code of silence). However, swearing loyalty to the organization as is required for men, is not mandatory. This honour is limited to wives, daughters, sisters, girlfriends or someone related to male 'Ndrangheta members.[8]

Nevertheless, despite Maria's prominent position, she suffered from her husband's violence, considered unimportant within this milieu: "I saw my father beat my mother," her daughter testified. "Even when she was nine months pregnant, he hit her with a broom and broke two ribs." The 'Ndrangheta is ruled by male prejudice, and women are considered the property of the men. Maria could also not prevent that her daughter Rita was sexually harassed by her brothers and raped by her father from the age of nine until she was nineteen, when she became pregnant.[2]

Despite the hardships and her ruthless rule over the clan, she remained a mother in her own way. When she learned that one daughter became addicted to heroin, she undertook a pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi in Calabria. She pledged to stop dealing heroin and only sell hashish in the hope that her daughter would overcome her addiction.[3]

to be an on-record associate means that youre an official associate. Joe Watts was an official associate, despite not having the chance to be made. There is no need to be a dick, i just asked a question. Thanks for the info though

The women don't mess around, do they? lolol.

Anna Genovese ran brothels and Drag clubs in NYC and forwarded the proceeds overseas to Vito while he was in exile. When he returned, he took her to New Jersey when he bought his house there.

How is the term "Associate" defined
Some kind of formally recognized member of the family,but ranked below a made guy/soldier
Or just somebody who is involved in a family's operations/crimes/planning/ or decisions.etc?
In otherwords if a Family was involved in prostitution and had a woman pimping the hookers out would that woman in charge be an "Associate" as per the second definition above?

i would think so havana. if same role was filled by a man we wouldnt even be talking about this. the term associate appears to have different meanings amongst different families. ny/east coast families stick to a definition of non italians or italians not yet made. so yer description above is correct. chicago the term associate is irrelevant as the outfit has a long history of non italians having leadership roles of all kinds over the years.

Guys like Jimmy Burke, Joe Watts, maybe Jimmy Coonan, Willie Boy Johnson and probably a lot more Italianss and Sicilians were like "made associates" where they were treated like soldiers, with the full backing of the Family to do business, but never would be made part of the Family for whatever reason. Pimps and madame would be under the umbrella of a soldier and would be associates, but on a lower level than the names I listed above. Richard Basciano who ran Sex World on Eighth Ave and shared an office with Roy DeMeo was another one of these characters, Ruby Stein too.

Using the examples of guys with positions like Willie Boy Johnson,Jimmy Burke,and Jim Watts,but are guys of Italian/Sicilian heritge can you provide some of the reasons of why they would not be made?

And using the example of Richard Basciano,who was I assume what you are describig as a "Made Associate", are people working directly under him some kind of Less than "Made Associates" since in effect they are working for the family ,but may never even get to meet the Made guy like DeMeo who is boss of their boss ,the Made Associate Richard Basciano?
Another way to put it would be if a "Made Associate" owned restaurants, would his employees be considered in any way to be connrected to the family,especially key employees close to the Made Associate?

I'd say aa you grew more trusted, you would rise up in the ranks like any other prospect until you couldn't. Tommy DeSimone, Henry Borelli, Larry Mazza, William Bentvena(Billy Batts) are some Italian associates who would never be made, just off the top of my head. I'm sure the pundits on the forum can come up with other names.

So is it usually a matter of trust as to why a lot of the Made Associates don't get to be made? Or are there more common reasons? Like maybe age, or perhaps what they do to earn is too risky as far as them informing if they ever get caught?

Billy Batts was a made man for this reason DeSimone was killed.

Many associates refused to be made because today is after made the feds will put a target on you and because people like Frank Guerra said that he was respected on the streets and no need to be made.