no, no, no. in new york where the mob is still very viable every enthnic group you listed are bigger players than the italians.

Sounds like you are the one talking out your ass claiming they still enforce the "no drug rule" in LCN. And saying other ethnic groups are bigger players than LCN in NY of all places confirms this.

I don't think anyone would argue that the Mexicans were not #1 in the drug trade in NA. So my question is when did they surpass the Colombians and do you think they Mexicans will always dominate this trade or will they go the way of Escobar and be replaced?

I don't think anyone would argue that the Mexicans were not #1 in the drug trade in NA. So my question is when did they surpass the Colombians and do you think they Mexicans will always dominate this trade or will they go the way of Escobar and be replaced?

http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2011/08/staten_island_marijuana_cocain.html

Gambino cocaine ring. This is probably the norm for mob drug traffickers. There more or less just like every other drug gang in the city.

Staten Island marijuana, cocaine bust lands 3 mob heavy-hitters in cuffs
Published: Thursday, August 11, 2011, 1:33 PM Updated: Friday, August 12, 2011, 7:00 AM
By John M. Annese
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Neil Lombardo, 55, of Las Vegas, left, and Joseph Sclafani, 46, of Prince's Bay, were among two suspects in a drug ring.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Three Mafia heavy-hitters have been arrested on federal charges they ran three marijuana grow houses and a cocaine distribution ring on Staten Island.
The arrests read like a Gambino crime family who’s who list — Joseph Sclafani, 46, who in 1989 harbored a fugitive mobster who killed a DEA agent in the borough's Charleston section; Neil Lombardo, 55, who shot and wounded an informant’s brother; and Afrim Kupa, 38, a professional heist man with ties to Albanian organized crime and the Gambinos.
Last night, DEA agents raided a grow house at 264 New Dorp Ln., seizing 150 marijuana plants, according to federal law enforcement sources. And when they arrested Kupa in his swank Kensico Street home in Richmond, they found a kilo of cocaine and the suspect wearing an ankle bracelet from a past arrest, sources said.
The marijuana operation lasted more than three years, federal authorities allege.

GROW HOUSES
DEA agents first raided one of their grow houses this past April — a sophisticated, hydroponic lab run out of an auto repair garage at 3075 Veterans Rd. West — and arrested two men, Keith Levine, 33, of Eltingville, and Michael Arroyo, 37, of Sunnyside, according to prosecutors.
The bust made front-page headlines, and it spurred one of the suspects’ accomplices — identified only as a confidential source in court papers — to shut down a second grow house on Seguine Avenue.
Sclafani repeatedly requested the informant re-open the Seguine Avenue operation, to recoup the losses from the Charleston bust, court papers allege.
Sclafani had also started another grow house in a garage at the aforementioned New Dorp Lane address in 2008 and, with the informant’s help, ran two growing cycles that yielded about 100 plants.
The garage is tucked behind a commercial strip along New Dorp Lane, at the end of an alley next to a deli. Just across the street sits the New Dorp office of Rep. Michael Grimm.

THE COCAINE CONNECTION
Sclafani, who lives on Wheeling Avenue in Prince’s Bay, started distributing cocaine around the same time, getting his supply from Lombardo, who lives in Las Vegas, court papers allege.
Lombardo would give Sclafani the cocaine in advance, on the expectation that he’d get paid $32,000 a kilogram from proceeds from the drug sales, court papers allege. Sclafani said in one conversation caught on tape that he was trying to sell eight kilograms of cocaine a month.
In recorded conversations, Sclafani told Lombardo that he would "re-rock" the drug, meaning he’d break it down and mix it with other substances, court documents show.

‘OUR NAMES ARE FLASHING’
And Lombardo scolded Sclafani for driving to Boston to make a $10,000 deal: "You can’t keep driving to Boston... You can’t do it. You can’t do business if you’re driving product," he said, adding, "You’re gonna get stopped sooner or later."
"They’re not going to need much," Lombardo continued, court papers allege. "Our names are flashing like a bastard on the computer."
Kupa, meanwhile, was part of Sclafani’s "re-rocking" operation, who performed the process at a house he had in Brooklyn, court papers allege.
The trio are slated to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn this afternoon. If convicted, the defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, said Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York.

CRIMINAL PASTS
All three have lengthy criminal backgrounds, and DEA officials are particularly happy to get Sclafani back behind bars.
Back in 1989, Sclafani helped hide out Costabile (Gus) Farace, a Bonanno associate originally from Prince’s Bay who was being hunted by both the feds and the mob since killing an undercover drug enforcement agent, Everett Hatcher, in Charleston that February 1989.
"This arrest really hits home for the DEA," said John P. Gilbride, special agent in charge of the DEA's New York office, who had worked with and befriended Hatcher.
Farace was gunned down in a gangland-style attack in Brooklyn, and Sclafani, who was in the car with him, was wounded.
He got 33 months in federal for harboring Farace, and his criminal career continued after his release, with charges in 1999 and 2000 for bank fraud, drug trafficking and racketeering that netted him several more years behind bars.
Most recently, he was stopped by Kansas State Police in 2009, and found with 15 cell phones and more than $100,000 cash in a false compartment in the rear bumper of his car, according to federal authorities. That landed him another years in prison for a probation violation.
"Mr. Sclafani apparently has not learned anything from his previous crimes," Gilbride said. "It’s unfortunate that these three individuals continue to get involved in drug trafficking and violence. That’s not a surprise to me, because drug trafficking and violence go hand in hand."

HEIST PRO
Investigators believe some of Sclafani and the drug operation’s money came from Kupa, who made a living pulling off high-end bank and retail heists, said one veteran law enforcement source.
Kupa was on 24-hour house arrest when the DEA came knocking in this recent case. He’s slated to start a 46 prison-sentence on Sept. 30, after pleading guilty in connection with a multi-million dollar bank heist in Brooklyn.
Kupa and a crew of burglars used a blowtorch to cut through the roof of the Astoria Federal Savings Bank at 4302 18th Ave. in February 2009 and made off with 64 safe deposit boxes, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.
He at one point worked with Miami "club king" and Mafia turncoat Chris Paciello, the source said, and his criminal record dates back to at least 1992, when he was busted on arson and reckless endangerment charges.
His other arrests include a 1995 home invasion robbery where, police said at the time, he held a knife to the throat of the homeowner’s wife, and a 1999 federal indictment accusing he and his brother of staging a string of bank heists across the Midwest and funneling the proceeds into a stolen car parts trafficking scheme.

COCAINE AND QUAALUDES
Lombardo’s criminal history dates back to 1973, when he was arrested on cocaine distribution conspiracy charges.
He was busted again in 1980 and 1983, and in 1998, authorities arrested him in San Diego on charges he was distributing quaaludes.
At one point during the San Diego case, he shot and wounded the brother of a man believed to be cooperating with the law. That netted him a 10-year prison sentence.

In the streets and in prison --- where it really matters, yeah it does. Felonies is right Detroit is probably going to be the first LCN family to be exinct, maybe after KC, but definitely up there. I like to think of myself as being honest with myself as to the state of the American mafia, maybe albeit a little to hopeful, naive, about the stability of the remaining families. But even if a rival crew of Nove Tocco (who's a snitch) tried to manipulate them into killing the head of a powerful biker gang; you really think there wouldn't be a far more brutal revenge on those wiseguys? Detroit may have some thick necked soldiers --- a handful, if that. But the Outlaws have literally hundreds, and whos far more down to Uzi some guys house or kill multiple enemies, instead of one good hit? Shit, when was Detroits last "hit", 2002?

I think it hurts some guys feelings on here that the mob is no longer the top criminal organization in America....The fact that La Cosa Nostra is not even as strong as some of these inner city street gangs is a testament as to how far the granddaddy of all U.S crime rings, La Cosa Nostra, has fallen! It doesn't bother me. But a lot people have this romanticized vision of La Cosa Nostra as being a more respectable, righteous evil organization than the others. So, when another group comes along and challenges them or, in many cases, overtakes them, the pro-La Cosa Nostra fanboys get all bent out of shape!

I don't believe we have many teenagers on the board so I doubt it would hurt anyone's feelings if LCN or any other criminal group went extinct, however everything you just said is wrong. Give us one example of when another group openly challenged and defeated any LCN family. Just one. Not even as powerful as a street gang? Well the FBI seems to think LCN is still the biggest homegrown threat in the country but I'm sure your "sources" on street gangs are more accurate than the FBI's right?

i don't think a street gang is even comparable with the mafia, the street gangs can't last more than 10 years at most cosa nostra is around for centuries
street gangs are involved only in drug and robberies, nothing else they have no future
nobody really took over, in some cities lcn disappeared coz rico law they don't really care of street gangs members
and where it is still strongly present it's by far stronger than any local gang

I aint sayin that lcn is done or anything but they are not in the position where they can muscle people without consequence

yes in new york and jersey and other places they still can

Tell that to Vinny Basciano or a dozen others like him.

who hurted basciano except fbi?

i don't think there is a real continuity between crips and bloods in the times everyone can claim is a member of these gangs since he needn any authorization its enough to wear a bandana lol
it would be impossible to claim being mafioso if you are not you couldnt last 1 hour

try this, go into any bad area in northern new jersey, newark, jersey city, patterson, east orange and start some trouble. right before you get shot let the gansters know that your with the Lucchese, decalvacante or even the genovese family and see if it stops you from getting shot

honestly is a stupid example it's logic you can't hurt people in their zone infested of some strong gang but they can everywhere out of that since these gangs have influence in a couple of zones at most
the mob has influence all over new york and even other states

and what? perna wanted to meet him, typical of the mob, he didn't fear to meet and probably it would hurt him if he didn't obey
the same happened with the so-called ultraviolent rudaj, after he meet squitieri he calm down and he was cared... the mob is still extremely feared in certain areas

i dont know what to make of you sometimes. you seem very knowledgable about the mafia in italy, but over here not so much. gangs do what they want when and where they want in america

Why does everyone bring up the albanians?

i'm talking in general not of a single area

Easy cowboy. I said "some street gangs"; I didn't say ALL street gangs. Gangs such as MS-13 are bonafide criminal organizations with tentacles in several big cities across the U.S. In terms of manpower and overall strength in numbers and weapons, I doubt any LCN family can match them. Again, I'm not extolling the virtues of one crime group over another; rather, I am simply pointing out how far LCN has fallen over the years. 60 years ago, La Cosa Nostra (the Mafia) was big, bad and booming. They are nowhere close to being as big and bad as they once were. Al Capone owned Chicago and forced other gangs to pay tribute to him. Does the Outfit own the Chicago streets any more? Same for New York. There's too many rival ethnic gangs and organizations around that have forced LCN to concede ground.
I don't believe we have many teenagers on the board so I doubt it would hurt anyone's feelings if LCN or any other criminal group went extinct, however everything you just said is wrong. Give us one example of when another group openly challenged and defeated any LCN family. Just one. Not even as powerful as a street gang? Well the FBI seems to think LCN is still the biggest homegrown threat in the country but I'm sure your "sources" on street gangs are more accurate than the FBI's right?

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/italian_mafia

i think you hypes gangs too much... they are not an unique organization there are hundreds of street gangs not connected eachother they can what they want in their little zones only (maybe) not wherever



because somebody calls them ultraviolent more than other gangs, it was just an example... lcn calmed down the most powerful leader of the albanians, he wanted to blow up the gas station coz he was scared the gambinos outnumbered his men 30-5

and what? perna wanted to meet him, typical of the mob, he didn't fear to meet and probably it would hurt him if he didn't obey
the same happened with the so-called ultraviolent rudaj, after he meet squitieri he calm down and he was cared... the mob is still extremely feared in certain areas