I earned in those days by running guns between NJ, NY City and upstate NY. In those days evidence rooms and cops were like Wal mart for guns. I "reported" directly to a skipper because my dad, a made Buffalo guy, asked for him to take me under his wing.
When all hell broke loose in the late 70s,like everyone else, I got sent for and was called to the mattresses, both literally and figuratively.
We beat down the Colombos and sent most of them back to NY crying like bitches, and the home grown Utica/Rome Syracuse crew had all but given up...we won the war, but as a result some of us got pinched as well
I was looking at RICO perquisites that would have put me awy for 30 years, but I never flipped. When you have a made dad and two made uncles who the fuck can you?
In the end the Feds had fucked up my case and I ended up doing back to back misdemeanor sentences,consecutively.
When I got the world was my oyster, I stood up, didn't flip and did the right thing. There is no doubt in my mind I could have been made in a year, two tops; Instead I asked to pull back a bit, and got the nod.,,,,There is a lot more too it than that but that is it in a nutshell. Some people ask how I have knowledge of so many crews and areas, it is because I come from a family who's name allows me access and a place to hang my hat in a lot of different places