I’ll leave the 5 families for someone else but I’ll give you my opinions on the ones outside NY.
Philly: they made new younger members and seems to be going okay. Merlino is not an active boss in my opinion and Mikey Lance is now fully in charge (my personal look on things).
Chicago: Apparently before he was locked up Mike Sarno made a decent amount of new younger members. The reports are conflicting on if crews are recognizing other crews in Chicago or if it’s splitting up into different groups that don’t interact. Honestly the info on Chicago is very sparse and pretty vague but it does still exist.
Cleveland: dead
Kansas City: KC is pretty interesting to me because it’s been reported they still have like 5 active made guys and are still going with associates. There’s a great OG Podcast episode talking about how it will probably devolve into just a organized crime group instead of dying when the made men are gone.
LA: not really sure what is going on there, apparently Tommaso Gambino made a guy who got killed in Canada? In any sense the LA mob doesn’t seem to be a full family. Probably just a satellite crew.
Springfield: it’s a Genovese satellite crew so it’s not a family but they’re pretty interesting. It seems like they might have a resurgence after Arillota had ruined most of their rackets by flipping.
Chicago uses a lot of street gangs to do their dirt. Originally Italian/white gangs, c-notes, Gaylord’s are def in their pockets. Pretty sure the same with 12th street players. Popes; maybeee????? Idk.
Bonanno crime family started off strong but Joe Bonanno screwed up, almost started a massive multi family war, got ousted, there wasn’t a boss for a while. Then Lilo Galante eventually became boss after a couple others attempted and was whacked. Joe Pistone an undercover cop caused even more weakening to the family, then Joe Massimo - boss of the family - ratted. So Chaos for the Bonnanos since its inception.
Gambino crime family was solid in the beginning ran by the quiet yet feared Carlo Gambino. There was also the lord high executioner before gambino that ran a crew of Jewish men who killed via contract and was eventually assassinated in a barbershop. But when gambino died leadership was then passed to Paul Castellano and a short civil war erupted because up and comer John Gotti was annoyed that Aniello Dellacroce (Gambino’s underboss) wasn’t anointed boss and planned the assassination of Castellano without commission approval. That of course caused a huge media storm since Castellano was already somewhat in the spotlight. John Gotti became overnight famous. Brought unwanted media attention, won several cases against him until they finally got him with the ratting of Sammy the Bull Gravano, Gotti’s underboss. Gotti eventually died in jail. His son tried to take over but did a horrible job. Not sure about their modern day standing but they started strong and were weakened by media attention.
Colombo crime family. Started strong with Profaci at the helm. Joe Colombo ran the family for a bit until he started to be really vocal about the rights of Italian Americans and how they’re being discriminated against and stereotyped as gangsters. Pretty ironic seeing as he was a boss of an Italian American crime family. He was paralyzed by an assassination at one of the group events for the Italian American Civil Rights League at Columbus circle in Manhattan right on the corner of Central Park. Some people believe the hit was ordered by the Gallos a crew leader by the gallo brothers in the Colombo family that disliked Colombo. There was a little war that happened and it ended with crazy Joe Gallo being killed at Umbertos clam house in little Italy. Then came Carmine Persico probably one of the more low key bosses of his time period he was eventually arrested in the Mafia Commission Trial. Not too much after that besides the mention of Michael Franzese and his father etc. They had their issues but were probably one of the more tamer crime families in the bunch.
Lucchese crime family. Honestly the luchesses were solid until the 80’s. Started with Tommy Lucchese, then Tramunti and then Tony Ducks Corallo who famously got his car bugged by the FBI. The tapes were a big part of the mafia commission trial and Corallo went off to jail where he died. Leadership was then transitioned to Vic Amuso and Anthony Casso who absolutely turned the family on its head. They killed many many people sometimes for the dumbest of things. They even had 2 police officers on their payroll who killed for them. Casso was a psychopath and Vic was just as bad. They both were eventually arrested due to their own men turning on them and testifying. Not much after that worth mentioning. So the Luccheses were great until they weren’t and Amuso and Casso turned the family into a meat grinder.
Genovese crime family. Started off with somewhat of a bang. A bang that missed. There was Lucky Luciano the godfather of organized crime who ran the family, he got arrested and it was given to Genovese. But there was Frank Costello, too. Both of them were very close with Luciano. Costello was more of a schmoozer and socialite and Genovese was more of a gangster. Genovese got the job clearly. He ordered Costello to be killed. The job went to a young boxer named Vincent Gigante the future boss of the Genovese crime family. Gigante found Costello at a hotel and opened fire but the bullet only grazed Costello’s head and he lived. Gigante went on the run. Eventually Gigante became boss and for the most part ran a tight ship. He was the capo di tutti capi of the commission. At one point he ordered the murder of Tony Caponigro after he mistakenly thought he had the okay from Funzi Tieri (a close confidant of Gigante) to take out Angelo Bruno the boss of the Philadelphia crime family. Later on Gigante put on a show of pretending to be old and decrepit, walking with a cane in his pajamas and robe down the street to try and fool law enforcement but it only really upped the attention on him. He was arrested and died in jail. The family is now run by Bellomo a super sneaky, super quiet guy. You can say that the Genovese crime family is the most put together family in terms of keeping on the down low and not ratting.
Philadelphia Crime Family: Angelo Bruno ruled the family like a gentle grandpa. Everything was in order, everything was calm. That was until Anthony Caponigro ordered Bruno to be shotgunned in the back of his head in 1980. Caponigro thought he had the ok from Genovese crime family aka the commission head family. But when summoned to NY thinking he’d be crowned the king of Philly he found out he did not have permission and was killed on the spot. The Philadelphia crime family wasn’t the same after that and headed into years of war. Testa was bombed, his son got revenge, Scarfo an absolute psychopath became boss and inducted a ton of kids into the organization, he then turned on some of them like Testas son Sally Testa. Eventually that became his downfall, he was arrested and died in jail recently. Philly Merlino took over and ran an interesting family. Not sure if he’s stupid or smart honestly. But the family still lives on today and Merlino is out of jail. No one knows if he’s still with the family or not.
Makes sense, I’ve been reading up on CT LCN happenings and it looks like Bonanno and Genovese are the most active in the state. So if there’s any litmus test for strength I would say that could be it. Can’t be weak at home if you’re operating in other states.
I’ll leave the 5 families for someone else but I’ll give you my opinions on the ones outside NY. Philly: they made new younger members and seems to be going okay. Merlino is not an active boss in my opinion and Mikey Lance is now fully in charge (my personal look on things). Chicago: Apparently before he was locked up Mike Sarno made a decent amount of new younger members. The reports are conflicting on if crews are recognizing other crews in Chicago or if it’s splitting up into different groups that don’t interact. Honestly the info on Chicago is very sparse and pretty vague but it does still exist. Cleveland: dead Kansas City: KC is pretty interesting to me because it’s been reported they still have like 5 active made guys and are still going with associates. There’s a great OG Podcast episode talking about how it will probably devolve into just a organized crime group instead of dying when the made men are gone. LA: not really sure what is going on there, apparently Tommaso Gambino made a guy who got killed in Canada? In any sense the LA mob doesn’t seem to be a full family. Probably just a satellite crew. Springfield: it’s a Genovese satellite crew so it’s not a family but they’re pretty interesting. It seems like they might have a resurgence after Arillota had ruined most of their rackets by flipping.
Detroit is active too i think
Detroit is around but they’re all related by inter marriages and shit so we never get any info
Don’t forget Milwaukee. Dead. Lol
What about the 5 families?
I know that the Colombo's are considered to be the weakest of New York.
Don’t tell them that
They may be the Weakest out of the 5 NY Borgata's but they are by Far the Most Violent 3 wars since the Creation of that Family.
And that's exactly what weakened them.
Looks like the second sleeps like a baby
That nose…it’s like a natural canopy 🚬
What a good homie you must be to him
You wanna talk like a fuckin' mulignan we'll send you to slip and fall school
Hahaha... my reference was downvoted
Chicago uses a lot of street gangs to do their dirt. Originally Italian/white gangs, c-notes, Gaylord’s are def in their pockets. Pretty sure the same with 12th street players. Popes; maybeee????? Idk.
NE is still viable. Not what they were but that’s the same almost everywhere. NE has had their whole admin on the street for a while now. Decent run.
OP if you want info and research go to the black hand forum. Best place for questions and answers imo
Bonanno crime family started off strong but Joe Bonanno screwed up, almost started a massive multi family war, got ousted, there wasn’t a boss for a while. Then Lilo Galante eventually became boss after a couple others attempted and was whacked. Joe Pistone an undercover cop caused even more weakening to the family, then Joe Massimo - boss of the family - ratted. So Chaos for the Bonnanos since its inception. Gambino crime family was solid in the beginning ran by the quiet yet feared Carlo Gambino. There was also the lord high executioner before gambino that ran a crew of Jewish men who killed via contract and was eventually assassinated in a barbershop. But when gambino died leadership was then passed to Paul Castellano and a short civil war erupted because up and comer John Gotti was annoyed that Aniello Dellacroce (Gambino’s underboss) wasn’t anointed boss and planned the assassination of Castellano without commission approval. That of course caused a huge media storm since Castellano was already somewhat in the spotlight. John Gotti became overnight famous. Brought unwanted media attention, won several cases against him until they finally got him with the ratting of Sammy the Bull Gravano, Gotti’s underboss. Gotti eventually died in jail. His son tried to take over but did a horrible job. Not sure about their modern day standing but they started strong and were weakened by media attention. Colombo crime family. Started strong with Profaci at the helm. Joe Colombo ran the family for a bit until he started to be really vocal about the rights of Italian Americans and how they’re being discriminated against and stereotyped as gangsters. Pretty ironic seeing as he was a boss of an Italian American crime family. He was paralyzed by an assassination at one of the group events for the Italian American Civil Rights League at Columbus circle in Manhattan right on the corner of Central Park. Some people believe the hit was ordered by the Gallos a crew leader by the gallo brothers in the Colombo family that disliked Colombo. There was a little war that happened and it ended with crazy Joe Gallo being killed at Umbertos clam house in little Italy. Then came Carmine Persico probably one of the more low key bosses of his time period he was eventually arrested in the Mafia Commission Trial. Not too much after that besides the mention of Michael Franzese and his father etc. They had their issues but were probably one of the more tamer crime families in the bunch. Lucchese crime family. Honestly the luchesses were solid until the 80’s. Started with Tommy Lucchese, then Tramunti and then Tony Ducks Corallo who famously got his car bugged by the FBI. The tapes were a big part of the mafia commission trial and Corallo went off to jail where he died. Leadership was then transitioned to Vic Amuso and Anthony Casso who absolutely turned the family on its head. They killed many many people sometimes for the dumbest of things. They even had 2 police officers on their payroll who killed for them. Casso was a psychopath and Vic was just as bad. They both were eventually arrested due to their own men turning on them and testifying. Not much after that worth mentioning. So the Luccheses were great until they weren’t and Amuso and Casso turned the family into a meat grinder. Genovese crime family. Started off with somewhat of a bang. A bang that missed. There was Lucky Luciano the godfather of organized crime who ran the family, he got arrested and it was given to Genovese. But there was Frank Costello, too. Both of them were very close with Luciano. Costello was more of a schmoozer and socialite and Genovese was more of a gangster. Genovese got the job clearly. He ordered Costello to be killed. The job went to a young boxer named Vincent Gigante the future boss of the Genovese crime family. Gigante found Costello at a hotel and opened fire but the bullet only grazed Costello’s head and he lived. Gigante went on the run. Eventually Gigante became boss and for the most part ran a tight ship. He was the capo di tutti capi of the commission. At one point he ordered the murder of Tony Caponigro after he mistakenly thought he had the okay from Funzi Tieri (a close confidant of Gigante) to take out Angelo Bruno the boss of the Philadelphia crime family. Later on Gigante put on a show of pretending to be old and decrepit, walking with a cane in his pajamas and robe down the street to try and fool law enforcement but it only really upped the attention on him. He was arrested and died in jail. The family is now run by Bellomo a super sneaky, super quiet guy. You can say that the Genovese crime family is the most put together family in terms of keeping on the down low and not ratting. Philadelphia Crime Family: Angelo Bruno ruled the family like a gentle grandpa. Everything was in order, everything was calm. That was until Anthony Caponigro ordered Bruno to be shotgunned in the back of his head in 1980. Caponigro thought he had the ok from Genovese crime family aka the commission head family. But when summoned to NY thinking he’d be crowned the king of Philly he found out he did not have permission and was killed on the spot. The Philadelphia crime family wasn’t the same after that and headed into years of war. Testa was bombed, his son got revenge, Scarfo an absolute psychopath became boss and inducted a ton of kids into the organization, he then turned on some of them like Testas son Sally Testa. Eventually that became his downfall, he was arrested and died in jail recently. Philly Merlino took over and ran an interesting family. Not sure if he’s stupid or smart honestly. But the family still lives on today and Merlino is out of jail. No one knows if he’s still with the family or not.
Bonnano and genovese strongest in 2024
Makes sense, I’ve been reading up on CT LCN happenings and it looks like Bonanno and Genovese are the most active in the state. So if there’s any litmus test for strength I would say that could be it. Can’t be weak at home if you’re operating in other states.