You are correct. It was from the Real Deal forum. The "28" referred to guys on the street and not dead, in jail, or retired. And that's just the guys that Calabrese knew about.
I didn't know that no. was from Calabrese, though I guess that makes sense since it was reported around the same time as the trial.
I do remember they said Nick had knowledge of 60 made guys, but that number clearly referred to dead and jailed too...as we have gone over here many times .
Actually, I started having second thoughts and double checked the source. It was actually an FBI agent during the Family Secrets trial who cited that number, although the fact remains that it was tabulating active Outfit members active and on the street.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
And no, of course Nick probably wouldn't have known anyone.
But the feds did not, as we just determined, come up with the number based solely on Nick's testimony. Or, maybe they did. But in any event they didn't say how they came up with it, so we don't know.
I remember around that time it also came out that they had at least one other high level informant, too. (Not Nick.)
It's likely they actually have a pretty thorough understanding of a lot about the organization. But they only move when they can prove something. And we generally only find out what they know at a trial. Too bad !
