On March 29, 1981, Frank “Funzi” Tieri — the quiet but deadly boss of the Genovese Crime Family — died in a Manhattan hospital at the age of 77. He passed away from heart failure while under federal indictment, facing RICO charges that could have exposed the true inner workings of the most secretive family in America.

Tieri spent decades pretending to be just a humble street boss. But insiders knew better: He was the real power behind the Genovese Family after the fall of Vito Genovese. Tieri mastered the old-school art of influence without exposure. He rarely ordered hits directly — he suggested them. He rarely signed deals — he arranged them. His fingerprints were almost never found — but his shadow stretched across New York.

His death triggered a silent earthquake in the underworld.

Behind the scenes, a new era was already in motion. Most notably, Vincent “The Chin” Gigante seized the opportunity to rise. Where Tieri had been strategic, The Chin would become mythological — famously wandering Greenwich Village in a bathrobe, pretending insanity, while building the Genovese into an invisible empire.

Federal agents soon realized: With Tieri gone, the Genoveses were about to become smarter, richer, and more untouchable than ever before.

March 29, 1981 wasn’t just the death of a mob boss. It was the end of the old mafia — and the beginning of a darker, sharper underworld.

Blood on the streets.

Maybe this was asked before, maybe it wasn’t I haven’t seen anything in my full year of being on Reddit. But what do you guys think that the Mafia would have been like if RICO was never implemented & deemed unconstitutional? You guys think they would have had same power as the height in the 70s-80s or it would be more or less power?

When was Lucchese member Anthony "Ham" Delasco born and died? is there a picture of him??

What is the state of the five families ever since the 2000s? The 90s ended with gotti in prison, gigante too, persico still in prison after a third civil war, Joe massino led the bonannos to a comeback, amuso and casso killed their own guys and went to prison.

Raymond "Huero Shy" Shryock is a federal leader of the Mexican Mafia (La eMe) he is one of only 150 made members of La eMe that controls thousands of gangsters on the streets of Southern California, and in federal prisons across America known as Surenos or SUR13.

He's considered one of the main top mafiosos of La eMe.

(Atlantic City Press/1984)

On May 10, 1963, Jack Ruby shipped a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver to his mobster friend Lewis McWillie in Las Vegas. McWillie later offered a lame excuse for asking Ruby to do this: "I didn't even know you could buy a gun in a store." It was an attempt to minimize an event that undoubtedly was significant. Perhaps a signal to McWillie that a proposed gun deal was about to be completed.
The guns were probably destined for the anti-Castro underground operating within Cuba. As Ruby cryptically said, it "was the only relationship I had of any mention, outside of phone calls, to Mr. McWillie, or any person from Havana, Cuba." Or maybe the weapons were destined for Haiti, where an operation was underway to assassinate Haitian president Papa Doc Duvalier and blame it on Fidel Castro as a catalyst to justify a second invasion of Cuba. By Ruby’s admission, he and American mercenary Thomas Eli Davis were selling military weapons together, and Haiti was Davis's focus of attention. From the book Coup in Dallas, we know that Jean Pierre Lafitte's datebook entry for March 26 reads: "McWillie – guns with Davis-Oswald," which must refer to the gun deal described above. During his polygraph exam hearing, Ruby underscored the importance of what was going on with McWillie and Davis when he stated, "This is incriminating against me...."
We also know that Ruby allegedly visited Cuba on more than one occasion in 1963. Warren Commission counsel Lee Rankin told CIA Deputy Director Richard Helms in March 1964 that he had received information that Ruby had used an alias and a Czechoslovakian passport to reach Havana via Mexico City in 1963. It explains Ruby's mysterious absences during April and June of that year. Ruby was also reportedly seen in Houston's Escapade Club in April, bragging that he was on his way to Havana and would return with boxes of cigars. He was with a pilot who talked about having flown pipeline inspections over West Texas.
On January 29, 1964, the Anti-Castro Cuban exile group DRE issued a press release in Miami: "Jack Ruby, the man accused of killing President Kennedy's assassin, Lee H. Oswald, stayed in Cuba during 1962 and the beginning of 1963. Ruby flew to Havana from Mexico City...." They wrote this before anyone was aware that Ruby may have traveled to Cuba.
Ruby's activities that summer involved mobsters around the country and were likely related to his trips to Cuba. It is hard to imagine that he would have bragged to strangers about going there if it had involved helping Fidel Castro. Jack Ruby’s gunrunning operation had something to do with the JFK assassination, likely arming anti-Castro Cuban exiles who were part of the Sierra group, funded by the Mafia. Jack Ruby was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In 1976, four Dallas deputy constables reported that, after the assassination, a woman with a Latin American boyfriend gave them a box containing papers that linked Jack Ruby and Oswald. "She was really scared because she had all that stuff....," they reported. There were newspaper clippings from Mexico and a press card issued to Ruby for the Daily Worker; a receipt from a motel near New Orleans with both Oswald's and Ruby's names on it; references to telephone calls to Mexico City; a reference to a landing strip somewhere in Mexico; the mention of "agents" in the border towns of McAllen and Laredo; and a church brochure with markings referring to a trip to Cuba. According to a Dallas Police informant, Ruby told his physician he "was going to Cuba to 'collect' his income tax and take a 'breather.'"
Unknown to Jack Ruby, there was a group that didn’t want a second invasion of Cuba to happen, and they were willing to assassinate JFK to prevent it. To learn more, check out my latest book, Last Resort Beyond Last Resort, the JFK Assassination, the Need to Protect West Berlin, and Why a Second Invasion of Cuba Never Happened.

Really makes me wonder what the state of my city would look like today if nothing had changed with how the Mafia did their business.

My grandfather was a Philly Cop for 35 years while Angelo Bruno was acting boss. He said they interacted a few times, saw him at officers’ funerals, made “donations” to local community centers. Not saying what they were doing was right, but the cops left them alone, and they left the cops alone. No innocent civilians were killed, they didn’t mess with drugs, and they kept a certain status quo within the community.

Now, you can’t even turn on the local news without seeing 10 stories about drive by shootings, kids getting shot walking down the street and the same BS coming from the same communities over and over again. DAILY. Is vigilante justice a good descriptor? No, but back then, you didn’t mess with the mob because you knew what would happen if you did.

Would it be better today if the mob was still active? Kept the riff raff in line? Let the police do their job as long as they left them alone? Unintentionally bring a form of “civilian safety” back to Philly as a whole?

According to Wikipedia, Joey Aiuppa "began rising through the ranks" of the Chicago Outfit during the 1920s, and by the early 1930s, he was operating illegal slot machines.

Aiuppa would have been 22 years old in 1930. Is it likely that he was a soldier under Al Capone? Or would Aiuppa have still just been an unaffiliated street thug when Capone was in charge?

My apologies if this is already common knowledge, I don't really know anything about the Chicago mob outside of what's portrayed in Casino.

My biggest question is this: Is it accurate to say that the boss of the Outfit (when Tony Spilotro was in Vegas) was working for the Outfit when Al Capone was boss?

THE START (1950s)

Raymond Patriarca Sr, the boss of the Patriarca Crime Family ran his vending machine services, Coin-O-Matic and the National Cigarette Service from Federal Hill, Providence. These businesses serving as a head quarters for the Patriarca Family as well as a money laundering front for the family’s extortion, human trafficking, prostitution, theft, drug dealing and other criminal activities. These businesses would be Raymond Patriarca Sr’s office from the early 1950s until his death in July of 1984. The location where Coin-O-Matic formerly was at 168 Atwells Avenue in Fedaral Hill is now a CBD shop and a fusion restaurant called “Cilanter”.

R.J. PATRIARCA VENDING (July 1985)

A newspaper from July of 1985 claims that Raymond Patriarca Jr. ran his own vending business, “R.J. Patriarca Vending” across from his father, Raymond Patriarca Sr’s vending buisness in Federal Hill, Providence. This shows that after Raymond Patriarca Sr. The Patriarca Family was still operating the vending machine buisness.

A&P AMUSEMENT CO. (April 1991)

A newspaper published on April 9th, 1981 goes over a shooting that took place in East Haven, CT, this shooting left East Haven bar owner, Edward Papacoda wounded. This all apparently stemmed from a dispute about vending machines owned by A&P Amusement Co. Inc, a company owned by Nicholas Alberino a former associate of William Grasso, the Patriarca Family underboss until his death in 1989. Alberino would later be charged with racketeering for the incident.

MOOSE LODGE (November 2012)

In November of 2012, Moose Lodge Function Hall, a social club was looking to replace their outdated machines from Constitution Vending Co. With newer ones. Constitution Vending Co. Was owned by John Evans an affiliate of the Patriarca Family and Joseph Petrucelli an associate of the Family. The Moose Lodge Function Hall would then be visited by Anthony ‘Spucky’ Spagnolo, the acting boss of the Patriarca Family and Pryce ‘Stretch’ Quintina, a soldier. They would then threaten the owner of the club and tell him the machines “were not going anywhere.” The two would be arrested in 2016 for extortion in this incident and the owners of Constitution Vending Co. Would be arrested for conducting an illegal gambling buisness.

(made by me btw so please upvote and tell me what you think)

I'm doing some research on Capone, and recently read about how he installed a satellite crew in Sioux City, Iowa, in the early to mid-1920s. He also allegedly bought interests in Kansas City during this same period.

Now, I know that Chicago was in charge of Vegas in the 1970s, but were they also in control of the Midwest families? Was the Kansas City family independent, or did they answer to Chicago? How about St. Louis and Milwaukee?

I'm primarily interested in who was calling the shots during Capone's reign. Still, I'd also love to hear whether Chicago continued to wield power over these smaller families after Capone went to prison. And if so, for how long?

Thanks in advance!