Thanks for the response Ivy.
So black gangs that are mostly involved in the drug trade would they be paying tribute to the local crew as most wiseguys were involved in narcotics dealing themselves?
I remember hearing Sewlyn Raab talk about Sonny Black's crew on a documentary. He said that Sonny was in charge of a crew that had approximately 15 soldiers and 25 associates. This struck me as an incredibly small soldier to associate ratio. Am I naive to think that when I first read that the average associate to soldier ratio was 10 to 1, and therefore there would be 100 associates to one crew?
The 10 associates for every member is one you often see a lot but I don't know how much basis in fact it has. As I've said before, I take associate estimates with a grain of salt because, while a member is a member, definitions of an associate may vary. You could get several different estimates for the same family or crew depending on how loose your idea of an associate is. Its usually up to the FBI SEC in a given area. But for the record, 1:5 is the most common I've seen for the NY families. In New England and Philadelphia it's 1:2. The New Jersey family has a rather low ratio, about 1:1. Chicago 1:4 by the latest figures.
Like I said, there is little interaction between the mob and black gangs. There are examples but they're the exception that proves the rule. The mob is a white organization that generally operates in white areas. It's why it's become more and more a suburban phenomenon over the past few decades. If it is exacting tribute in an area, and we have seen this with the Gambinos in parts of Queens and the Luccheses in parts of Brooklyn in the past, it's from other white dealers dealing in white areas. When Scarfo had his street tax in Philadelphia, he was extorting white bookies, loansharks, and drug dealers.
