Serp, I remember reading that Philly never had the big, lucrative white collar scams like New York had. Like Philly never had much in terms of garbage or construction.. even going back to the Scarfo years. Is that true? If so, that’d make sense that not many people are earning these days.

And I agree about the “all chiefs not enough indians” part. Killing Bruno and the ensuing wars in the 80s and early 90s really gutted the family. Killed a lot of smart people and big time earners, and too many rats. I mean, losing smart guys like Leonetti and both Testa and his son hurt the family a lot. Eventually you end up with people in power who are a lot less talented... that and your bench becomes a lot thinner and weaker.

That, and Skinny Joey was never really an earner. He did a great job of winning the war and controlling his Young Turks or whatever, but he’s probably not much of a businessman.