How about Joquin GArcia saying the Gambinos had 26 crews? How does that work? How many soldiers you think that would equate to?
26 crews seems like a bit of a stretch. During Gotti's reign there were 21 crews. Later, during the 1990s, the family was down to 10 or 12 fully functioning crews at one point. While I believe they have more than that now, 26 seems high. As I said above, 200 total members is the estimate.
I think you can see why I try to read as much as possible, but kinda draw my own conclusions a little bit, like everyone respects the five families book, so is the guy a hack? Probably not, just a mistake I guess, but he's supposed to know right? Lol
Not at all. Raab is one of the best mob journalists out there, right up there with Capeci, Anastasia and Robbins. But his figures have always been on the big side. You'll notice in chapter 28 of the book, which is after the Commission case in the mid 1980s, he has the Gambinos at 400 members. In one 1995 article he said the family had gone from 400 to 200 members in the last 5 years. Not sure how that's even possible. In the book and article, he had the Genovese family at 300 members which also seems inflated for that time.
