Does it currently have any crews in the area, social clubs or is it just like Mulberry Street, all tourists nothing going on to speak of. Btw does anyone even rule Mulberry street anymore?

In that section of the Bronx there are still tons of crews, from at least four Families that operate (and live there as well). VERY active and strong.

Even Mulberry Street and Little Italy has plenty of guys around. Not nearly as many as years back, but plenty still. And that's not even counting guys who just pass by to visit or do business. The Village too. Very strong.

Queens and Brooklyn also for that matter.

It's not hard to imagine some made guys having a hand in all those tourist shops selling Sopranos t-shirts and Godfather posters. Kinda funny as well

Many of the guys around Arthur ave are albanian. I dont think any Italians live around Arthur ave. Ive been there many times

The Arthur Avenue Area was mainly Genovese and Gambino crews. Maybe a couple Bonanno or Lucchese places but they were more located out in the East Bronx area.

Last night I saw a Youtube doc from many yrs. ago showing how obsolete & dilapitated South bronx was..looked like a bombed city after WW2...is it still like that??

Traditionally the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese were the 3 main crews. Bonanno and Colombo had little to do up there. Same with the DeCav's

Colombo seem to really be isolated in brooklyn. Then they spread to other boros besides the bronx. Maybe the other family's did that for a reason after all the trouble in 60 and 70tys basically gallo colombo war

Same time it always kept the colombo family in almost equal esteem with the other bigger families in brooklyn/queens

The Colombo’s are really only in brooklyn, staten island, and long island.

That's correct. Arthur avenue area was mainly Genovese and Gambino. Further east you had more Lucchese crews headed by Mike Salerno whose HQ was Larry's Tobacco shop and also Luis "Gigi the whale" inglese ran a huge heroin drug ring out if his Westchester avenue Hq. Stevie crea's social club was just across the street. Patty "from the Bronx" Defillippo represented the Bonanno contingent in that area at his waterbury Aquarius Social Club. Vinny Gorgeous was initially in that crew until he broke off and became a Capo of a separate Bronx crew mainly centered in the Throggs Neck/Country Club etc section. Sally Daz was an associate of his. He ran machines out of Daz amusements and put up Vinnys gf in one of the apartments he owned on Tierney Place.

Thanks guys. Good info

Not exactly. North Philly is worse off than the South Bronx right now (tons of abandoned homes, addicts, etc) to put it into perspective for you. It's still rough but not like it was in the 1970's and 80's. In fact, they are attempting to gentrify the area now. Some realtors are trying to call it "SoBro", like SoHo in Manhattan. Was the documentary "80 Blocks from Tiffanys"?

No, I was checking out old videos about 70s Times Square & one video was titled "south bronx in the 70s"..thanx 4 ur reply though.

I started watching 80'blocks from tiffany's. A Father Gigante shares a few words as he smokes a cigar. Is that Chin's brother?

Yes. He had 3 brothers. one was a priest - Louie Gigante. Great guy. Priest, political figure, advocate, etc

He ran a parish in the So. Bronx before going into politics and later opening up a revitalization project for the area. He rebuilt half the So. Bronx.

He came under fire a few times. Even went to the can once to protect his priestly vows of silence when conferring with a congregant or subject. In this case Jimmy Nap who was jailed at the time in NY.

They broke Father Gigante's balls pretty good. But he stood up like a man and a half. Hellava guy (and priest). Went to jail until someone, another judge, overturned his sentence as disgusting. but he still spent over 10 days in the can on a contempt citation for refusing to talk

Same with Morris Park. I’ve been wondering how active that neighborhood still is.

in morris park there are still several italians

There aren't tons of crews in any family in any present neighborhood in any 5 boroughs. 1 Genovese crew and 1 Gambino crew in the Arthur Avenue Area. Lucchese fam has 1 Bronx crew (not Arthur Avenue) same for the Bonanno family. Both have interests near Arthur Avenue but their crews aren't HQ in that area.

Nowadays most guys and crews have closed ALL the clubs. very few around because they get raided. No sense in having them. Plus they offer exposure which is something most guys wanna avoid.

But make no mistake, there are tons of guys all through those areas. they come and do their busiesss and leave, some still live there. they hang in bars and restaurants as opposed to mob joints. thats the trend. The same holds true for Brooklyn and Manhattan as well.

Q
So are you retracting your initial statement saying there are "tons of crews" and are now saying there are "tons of guys"? Please clarify.

Colonel, Not at all.....in fact I'm doubling down on my statement. There are TONS of guys all around the five boros daily. They just don't hang around social clubs today. What are crews made up of? Guys right? So doesn't tons of guys essentially mean tons of crews? It's one and the same thing. All six families in the NYC metro area have guys there, in every boro daily. Many still live within the boros themselves, many more have moved to the suburbs which is a trend because the demographics in the city changed. But they still come into the city to do business and/or hang around daily. But social clubs which were on nearly every corner years back are no more. I myself owned several private clubs in my day, I gave that up twenty years back. Today, the guys hang in restaurants, cafes, stores, businesses that they run. Social clubs draw way too much heat and the cops bust em up. You can't even have a card game anymore. So what's the point? But there are a lot of guys all around the city. Make no mistake about it. And that means tons of crews!

Tons of "guys" or tons or "crews"? 6 of one half dozen of the other. Its all the same. Petty challenges like this are worthless to even acknowledge.

Fair enough. Tons of crews, tons of guys. Ton is a weight. A more accurate assessment would be there are 2 family crews in the Arthur Avenue area with many a dozen made guys and maybe 80 associates in that area alone. There aren't tons of crews. There are 2 crews around Arthur Avenue. A dozen made members. You can factually say there are a ton of associates. If a ton is 100 that is.

Lol...Colonel, We don't need to get testy. We're only having a friendly chat here. Am I correct here or what?

A "crew" is NOT only composed of made men. Far from it in fact. That is a fallacy that's been perpetuated. Not to get off the subject matter at hand, But there are many crews, in fact make that many many crews, that only had 1, 2 or 3 actual made guys. 95% of the crew were associates of different calibers. In a regime of 25 guys, it's not uncommon to only have 2 or 3 good fellows. Did you know that?

Of course there are other crews that have had 20-30 made guys and literally hundreds more associates in particular crews. That is the beauty and uniqueness of Cosa Nostra. A capo does what he likes and designs his crew as he chooses many times. Other times he is "assigned" made guys and associates alike by the boss. But not always.
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That said, Arthur Avenue is not the end all of the Bronx. There are so many others sections that indeed have made guys and associates alike operating in them. And thats only one borough. Let's not forget Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan (Upper, Lower, and Midtown), Staten Island, Lower Westchester, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and right over the bridge in Northern NJ. All the above named areas are but a few miles away from one another. And they are ALL part of the greater Metropolitan area.

There are VERY FEW social clubs around today in any borough. Did you think that because wise guys closed their clubs that they just evaporated? Of course not!

When I say there are tons of guys, I mean exactly that. Tons of guys. There are presently (according to the FBI) appx 200 Genovese, 200 Gambino, 175 Bonanno, 120 Colombo, 120 Lucchese, 30-40 DeCavalcante = thats almost 900 made men. Plus literally thousands of associates of different calibers. (including at least another few hundred or so who are "proposed" for membership - these men ALMOST hold the rank of a good fellow. did you know that?).

Collectively, in my lexicon, where I come from, thats a Ton of guys! .... thats a lot of hoodlums (which by the way is a distinct compliment to call a street guy. A "Hoodlum" does not hold the same bad connotation to knockaround guys as it does to the general public. To be called a hoodlum is a compliment.

There are at least 55 to 60 "regimes" or crews between the 6 families operating within the NY/NJ area. Maybe more. But I'm being conservative here because the crews have shrunk and some have been condensed in recent years. But they have at least that many.

BTW: thats not even mentioning other "out of town" families (from other states) who also have individual guys operating in NYC. There are also Sicilian, Calabrese, and Napolitano born guys who also have formed regimes here. If we count them then we are talking about even more guys....... Tons!

Where do you think they all stay? At home watching TV? Or hiding under a rock in the Bahamas?

They are each doing their own thing (whatever that may be) alone, and in concert with each other, all over the city of NY and its immediate outer areas. Makes total sense no? Everybody is just keeping their heads very, very low, the exact way that Cosa Nostra should have been from day one, and used to be, before the John Gotti's of the world....with any luck, and proper leadership from up top, thats the way it'll stay.

Havent been in here for a few years and this is the first thread I read. I have to say a big thank you for some knowledgeable posts. Interesting topic and a lot of good answers, thank you very much

Ny mafia is awesome !!!
He is doing great job with his posts i love reading them

You are half correct. Crews , historically were made up of a Capo and ten soldiers. But those soldiers could have hundreds of associates under them. Also a Capo could have a top moneymaker associate directly under them and that associate could have say 50 guys in his crew, some of Italian heritage that rose above the crop could be put on record and rise above that top Associate technically. It's not like if Tommy DeSimone(who was part of Jimmy Burke's crew) would be Jimmy's boss if he was made. If Tommy got made he would have been put into Paulie's crew or another Capos crew. Jimmy Burke wouldn't be put with a Soldier. He would always be direct with Paulie, Paulie's replacement, another Capo if the Administration decided or direct with the Administration.

ColonelReb, Good Morning.

You are now talking about 2 separate, but interrelated things here. And with all due respect to you, I am not "half correct". If anything I am 100% correct... make that 101% correct! You are correct when you say that a crew historically had 10 soldiers assigned to it, thats why it is (or was) technically referred too as a "decina" which literally means 10 in Italian.

But for many, many decades already that tradition is no more. As I stated you would be amazed at how many crews have way less than ten made men in their ranks. But they have a crew mainly composed of associates of different value and "rank" for lack of a better word. It is not uncommon to have some crews with only 2-3 made guys. There are even capos who have NO made guys in their crew. They were given a capo rank for status only, and serve a different purpose for the boss than "running" a crew.

Now nobody starts out as a boss. They are ALL soldiers. So who ever was a friend of those men often became associates in the soldier's crew. As a guy rises up in the hierarchy he takes those men with him. If he becomes a capo those associates are now direct with a capo. If he doesn't rise, then they are direct with a soldier. So many associates are "registered" with the hierarchy. Its called putting your guys "on record" (I'm sure you've heard the term).

This going "on record" is done with all assets (your associates and any racket operations you have going). that a soldier may have. So most (not all) associates are technically with the soldiers.

Members of my own family were all "on record" associates of several different borgatas at a very young age. As several of my family and personal friends were elevated within these families to soldiers, capos posts and higher, other blood family were in their "official" crew. Other of my blood family who were associates came along for the ride and several of them were later elevated (inducted) themselves. Others remained as associates. If and when a made member wanted to promote one of his associates he went to his capo, or the capo went to the boss and put the associates name in. If not, then the associate remained just that, and associate. But he was still a member of that particular crew. He just wasn't a button-guy.

Some remained "technically" under a soldier, those who were direct with our brood who had later rose higher remained direct with their man even though he was now a boss. So some associates are direct with soldiers, some with capos or bosses direct. But ALL are technically "with a crew". Even those associates who are with soldiers are still "under" a particular crew and capo. They only "report" to their particular man for logistical purposes.
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Your last statement about Jimmy Burke is "half correct" as you say. He could very well remain under Paulie if Paul wanted it that way. Or Paulie could now ask DeSimone to "service" Burke. THAT is the word thats used. To "service" a guy means that a soldier is now in charge of that associate. So although ALL men affiliated with a crew are technically "with" the capo (soldiers and associates alike), if the capo has a lot of guys and is very busy, he will assign certain soldiers to handle matters for him including certain associates.

If the capo runs a small crew, or he wants to keep certain associates close because they are close fiends, big earners, or for whatever reason, then he does so. Its entirely up to those capos as they see fit.

What I am telling you here IS the way it actually works. There are no two ways about it. I have lived it and have seen it for myself. This is not something I pull from the sky.