Viable LCN Families left

[thewestside]

1990 Mob In Decline Article
"The Mafia remains potent in the New York City area, where officials say the mob is hard to uproot because it has five separate and large crime families, and in the suburbs of Chicago. But in most other areas, where prosecutors have to contend with only a single family, the legendary mob that once controlled entire labor unions, city governments, and criminal enterprises has clearly lost its grip."
http://www.the-laborers.org/lexisnexis/ ... ecline.htm


1997 The Mafia Slate Article
"Only New York and Chicago have substantial Mafia organizations."
http://www.slate.com/id/1054/


1999 UN Report
The estimated made membership of the LCN is 1100 nationwide, with roughly 80% of the members operating in the New York metropolitan area. There are five crime families that make up the LCN in New York City: the Bonanno, the Colombo, the Genovese, the Gambino, and the Lucchese families. There is also LCN operational activity in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and the Miami\South Florida area, but much less so than in New York. In other previous strongholds such as Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh, the LCN is now weak or non-existent.
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/218555.pdf


FBI site
The LCN is most active in the New York metropolitan area, parts of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and New England. It has members in other major cities and is involved in international crimes.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate ... cosanostra


2000 article
Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. Moreover, the Mafia's influence still extends far beyond New York. There remain active families in Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/badgu ... cosa_n.htm


2005 Five Families Book
"Only families in New York and Chicago, the largest traditional bases, retained a semblance of organizational frameworks. Elsewhere in the nation, the twenty-odd borgatas were in disarray or practically defunct, except in areas where the New York and Chicago families had branches, especially in Florida. The remaining strength of the Mob was largely concentrated in New York and the Northeast Corridor."


2005 Mafia Is On Shaky Ground Article
"Cosa Nostra, once a nationwide organization of Italian-American mobsters, is down to one outfit in Chicago and New York City's five organized families - the Bonannos, Colombos, Gambinos, Genovese, and Luccheses. They are about 'all that's left,' Mob historian Selwyn Raab says."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... over_x.htm


2006 Will the Real Mob Please Stand Up Article
"They're beleaguered, battered, and bruised but they are far from wiped out. They have been hurt by nearly three decades of prosecutions, mostly by federal authorities. But the five families in New York and those in other metropolitan areas, notably Chicago and its suburbs, remain viable criminal networks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/weeki ... apeci.html


2007 Italian Mobsters in Widespread Decline
Today, families in former strongholds like Cleveland, Tampa, and Los Angeles are gone. our thing - as initiates called the mob - is in serious decline everywhere but New York City.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... 8181_x.htm

2009 Michael Franzese speech
(3:30) "There are 9 La Cosa Nostra families throughout the country; five of them exist in New York."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4itjtW-3sbw


2011 FBI Bust of 7 Families in Northeast
"While the Mafia - also known as La Cosa Nostra - may no longer possess the robust national presence it once had, it remains a significant threat in the extended New York metropolitan area, New England, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit."
http://documents.latimes.com/fbis-mafia-family-tree/


2011 Structure Keeps Mafia Atop Crime Heap
Even after imprisonment of senior leadership, it survives, and in some places thrives, though most experts agree that its operations are now largely confined to its traditional bases in the Northeast and Chicago.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 89246.html

[thewestside]

Going by the above excerpts, which span the last 20 years, as well as indictments - or lack thereof - over the past 10 years - one can only argue there are formally structured, viable LCN families left are the 5 NY families, the Outfit in Chicago, the Patriarca family in New England, the DeCavalcante family in New Jersey, the Bruno family in Philadelphia, and maybe the Detroit family.

[Mukremin]

You are right, the rest is defunct. Maybe some members left here and there, but no structure or hierarchy.

I have made charts, i want to post them. What part of the forum do i post it? It is in JPG format, the previeus post was deleted.

[mayugastank]

In New York, the colombos-bonanos-lucchese seem to be in bad shape. Especially the Bonannaos. I read something somewhere that said they are not considered viable by the FBI

[thewestside]

In New York, the colombos-bonanos-lucchese seem to be in bad shape. Especially the Bonannaos. I read something somewhere that said they are not considered viable by the FBI

All the five NY families are still considered viable by the FBI. They'll be around after every other family outside NY is gone. If the feds still consider Chicago, New England, Philly, etc. viable, obviously even the smallest and weakest NY family will be as well. But it's a sliding scale. Because of their smaller size, obviously the Luccheses, Colombos, and Bonannos are not doing as well as the Genovese or Gambinos.

[sticks]

Whats left of jersey? the decavalcantes? theyve been out of the spotlight for years. that means either theyre actually dead or theyve been picked up by another family. probably a combination of both. a made guy in that family is still made and it doesnt matter who he kicks up to, but hes gonna kick up to someone. the guys that are made are still made but what of the administration? Without a boss made guys would lose their business and not be able to do shit about it.

The luccheses are doing just fine. leadership practically untouched in the bronx. plenty of capable capos willing to fill the void that stevie wonder will leave. Theyre still big into construction, which imo keeps a family alive. The bonannos are probably the most fucked-informants all over the place, plus joe massino and vitale-who knew every fucking guy whos a player now. lol sucks for them. colombos will come out fine in the end if they can keep the unions they got (local 6 etc) in good hands. And if they can choose their buttons better. Jnukies with a sensitive trigger finger are getting made. Amuso and gaspipe ruined the lucchese, persicos fucked the colombos, and joe massino wass only the beggining for the bonannos- my bet they'll have another major player flip before the years out.

Another question- I know about NE, chicago, and philly, but are there still other families in places like detroit, New orleans? KC? St louis? LA? Cleveland? ohio?

[thewestside]

Whats left of jersey? the decavalcantes? theyve been out of the spotlight for years. that means either theyre actually dead or theyve been picked up by another family. probably a combination of both. a made guy in that family is still made and it doesnt matter who he kicks up to, but hes gonna kick up to someone. the guys that are made are still made but what of the administration? Without a boss made guys would lose their business and not be able to do shit about it.

The luccheses are doing just fine. leadership practically untouched in the bronx. plenty of capable capos willing to fill the void that stevie wonder will leave. Theyre still big into construction, which imo keeps a family alive. The bonannos are probably the most fucked-informants all over the place, plus joe massino and vitale-who knew every #%@&#%@ guy whos a player now. lol sucks for them. colombos will come out fine in the end if they can keep the unions they got (local 6 etc) in good hands. And if they can choose their buttons better. Jnukies with a sensitive trigger finger are getting made. Amuso and gaspipe ruined the lucchese, persicos #%@& the colombos, and joe massino wass only the beggining for the bonannos- my bet they'll have another major player flip before the years out.

Another question- I know about NE, chicago, and philly, but are there still other families in places like detroit, New orleans? KC? St louis? LA? Cleveland? ohio?

While I wouldn't write them off yet, the DeCavalcantes seem to have been running on fumes over the past decade. They were hit hard in the late 1990's and early 2000's. In only a few years they had their boss, 3 acting bosses, consigliere, 5 captains, 7 soldiers, and several more associates indicted. That's devastating for a small family like them. Plus, they had their long-time cash cow, Laborers Local 394, put under oversight in 2006 for ongoing mob influence. In more recent years, it's been relatively small cases here and there. In 2010, acting boss Frank Guaracci was charged for extorting a pizza shop. In 2011, a couple soldiers were indicted for possession of contraband cigarettes, receipt of stolen tax refund checks, and loansharking. And a couple other associates were mentioned in the recent report on organized crime influence in the waste industry in Jersey.

As far as the remaining viable families today, there are really only 9 or 10 left. The 5 NY families, the Patriarcas in New England, the Decavalcantes in Jersey, the Brunos in Philadelphia, the Outfit in Chicago, and maybe the Detroit family (there's varying opinions on them). There are still members in other cities, and some of them may still be active to one degree or another, but nothing in the way of formally structured families still recognized by the feds.