The DeCavalcantes was always considerated a second class family and had to fight with philly and NY for the most lucrative rackets but according Vincent Palermo testimony they had 68 made men in 2003. For sure not young but now are less twenty made men and risk to begun a gambino crew. What are the reasons of this decline?
i dont think there are any heavy mysteries about the decline of them furio. heavy prosecution, admin member/acting boss cooperating, old age, reluctance to induct new members, sitting boss imprisoned for a long stretch with no intention to give up the throne ( this has long been a problem especially for ny families), those members on street not being able to start or expand new rackets outside a small geographic area and no interest in parterning with other non mafia crime groups. also infighting which goes back to riggis holding on to boss position. riggi installed a 3 man panel that did not get along and tried to take each other out. the decavs basically suffered the same reasons for decline as every other north american crime family, because of there already and historical small membership only made the decline faster. with it decline any prospective members from an already small pool in the state of new jersey likely went with one of the other top 3 families in the state; genovese, lucchese and philadelphia.
On September 14, 2009, the New York Daily News exposed Palermo's new life in witness-protection as a strip-club-operator in Houston, Texas.[5] He has been living under the name "James Cabella".[10] Houston Police alleged that Palermo's strip clubs were a source of drug dealing and prostitution in the Houston area. Palermo claimed that many of his Houston friends already knew of his past because of an A&E television special. He lived in a gated mansion in Houston.[11][12]
Maybe I'm reading it wrong but I think he's saying 68 is their cap for membership and they had 24 open spots so the membership was actually 44. In 19985 the FBI had the DeCavalcantes at 31 members and in 1993 33 members. Jumping to 68 in 10 years is a little high and even 44 but that is more reasonable.
