Skinny, There is a Cosa Nostra presence in Chicago in certain neighborhoods, just not as much as before. 26th street area has the exact presence you're talking about with things being interconnected through somebody. Another area like that is Melrose Park, same thing. There's still some of that neighborhood connection around Grand Ave area, but not as much as Melrose Park or 26th street area neighborhoods. Elmwood Park is different. There is that feeling of things being interconnected somehow to organized Crime, but it's more on a higher white collar level. The other three areas still have a more blue collar interconnected level in the neighborhood. Again, I know this upsets a couple of other posters who want Chicago to be like it was in 1977, but as a whole, the Outfit is only a shadow of what it once was in this City. I WISH the Outfit was like it used to be in the old days when my father was alive and belonged to Taylor St. Sadly, it isn't. Why pretend anything else? the facts speak for themselves. Everything in this Country has degenerated from 35 to 40 years ago. the only thing that has improved is technology. Nothing else has improved. Every time I turn on the radio, it reminds me of it when I listen to all the modern shit music that no one will remember 6 months from now. Why would the Oufit be any different? The Outfit has degenerated right along with America. The Outfit in 2013 is like a football team that has the second string on the field trying to learn more about the offense because the star Quarterback and a couple other key players quit.
