Izzy Rosen, whose profession has enabled him to learn a great deal about mob lore over the last 30 years….

“The bad guys’ had their ‘old Mafiosi on the East Coast, time, long ago. Below Rosen writes about the arrest yesterday of 14 members alleged to be part of the “Gambino crime family,” an old mob from New York.

The U.S. Attorney and Federal Bureau of Investigation charged the fourteen with a rack of crimes over the last ten years, including these stated in layman’s terms: extortion from small and large business owners, physical assault on the unguarded, loan sharking to bleed others with astronomical payback rates or else face death, illegal drug trafficking, taking the lives of others by various means, and— child trafficking, the meanest of crimes, the lowest of low, the most cynical form of demeaning that ever goes something like this: ‘She wanted it…see? Yeah, she’s only 15, but she likes the money real good; she likes this, she aint no victim.”

According to the 23-count indictment, Daniel Marino, 69, was alledged to be running a ‘come-back tour’ of the fading Gambino family of 200 members and 300 more associates.” The photos of the fourteen men’s arrests yesterday, all the more shocking, for many of the men seem so very young– in their twenties– and the girls they are alledged to have sold to other men, are like little sisters in age. Marino’s “most trusted soldier,” Thomas Orefice, is accused of pimping out underage girls — advertising on the internet, driving to in-calls, and making them slaves at high-stakes card games the family ran.

Yeah, Da Mob Remains in Business: No, Da Family Ain’t What It Usta Be
by Izzy Rosen

It is plain to see the most salacious facet of this new case – is the allegation regarding teen prostitution. Otherwise, in so many ways this newest event is like any other mafia prosecution of the last three decades… in that it features as one of it’s centerpiece allegations– the murders by mobsters of individuals whom they (correctly) believed were cooperating with the authorities.

Underage- teen prostitution is a different endeavor for the mob; otherwise this case would be more of a “meet the new boss… same as the old boss,” situation.

The question is: What does mob involvement in this type of truly repugnant offense mean?

The US Attorney who announced the arrests in this case described it as a “new low” for the mob, and he’s right on that count. But more than that, while others may suggest the unsealed complaint suggests the mob remains a powerful criminal force in New York, it might also be suggested that the prostitution allegation demonstrates that the mob has become more desperate in it’s attempts to generate money, and in fact, remain alive.

Of course the Gambino family – often seen as one of the most powerful of the five organized crime families in New York – has a long history of involvement in the egregious organized crime offenses: murder, loan sharking, extortion, and labor racketeering. But for many decades – the decades which arguably represented the heyday of the Gambino’s “criminal-financial” succcess – the family’s heirarchy made plain to it’s members that the one crime which would attract the most focus of federal criminal investigators was absolutely – upon penalty of death – off limits to the family. And that was, trafficing in narcotics … this was theoretically forbidden for those who wanted to retain Gambino family membership.

However, this did not stop a number of prominent members of the Gambinos from selling dope, mind you, and it’s rather clear that one primary reason for the murder of Paul Castellano – the last old school don of the Gambino crew – was the fear by certain members of his family (all of whom were associated with eventual boss John Gotti ) that Castellano would discover that they were trafficking in narcotics and would then have them executed for doing so.

The infamous murder of Castellano outside of Sparks Steakhouse in New York removed that fear.

Yet, it was Castellano, and those before him, who understood that the Feds saw narcotics dealing as a marquee issue which would always be investigated, and which would always focus unwanted attention on the family.

But for some, the money in drugs was too good, and they couldn’t resist, despite the obviously high likelihood of being caught. They were caught, prosecuted, and sent to jail. In the meantime, John Gotti became boss, and his new style of leadership, and enjoyment of being in the spotlight, led to just what Castellano and the family’s namesake Carlo Gambino himself feared: government attention being focused on the mob…

and with exactly the disasterous results the family feared and harped on their members to avoid: the convictions of the top ecehelon members of the family, and the once highly organized family becoming far less organized, and perhaps now even disorganized.

If one were to choose from the small list of offenses which would surely bring more heat to the mob than peddling drugs, high on that list would be child prostitution.

In an era when so many of us have reasonable disagreements on what the government is using it’s resources for, it’d be tough to find anyone who believes that the Feds should not be trying to root out those who victimize children in such a dastardly manner. So this incursion into such a despicable offense not only bespeaks the mob hitting a new low, but it also plainly illustrates the desperate measures to which the mob must now reach in order to attempt to fill it’s coffers.

While some may claim that the Feds case announced yesterday against mobsters is illustrative of the continued vitality of the mob, it can also be reasonably argued that the desperation of the mob turning to child prostituion demonstrates that in fact the mob now has less influence than it once did, and in fact does not at all have the strength it once had. By allegedly turning to such an abhorent crime, and one so obviously worthy of Federal investigation, Gambino mobsters have exposed their weakness, and in fact, their disorganization.

Interestingly, while the new case is focused on old mob issues – the two murders (in which both victims were associated with organized crime in the first place) each having been committed over 10 years ago – it is the new path which some might contend says the most about where the mob is now.

Yes, the mob remains in business.

And yes, the case suggests that the highly focused wave of organized crime prosecutions cases which took place in the 1990’s did not eradicate the mob.

But it also very credibly suggests that the mob has been weakened greatly, and is now reduced to attempting to enrich itself by the commission of the type of degenerate offenses which are an invitation to arrest and prosecution.

The old school dons would never have stood for such a thing. They knew how to run an organized crime family when the mob wielded far more power than it wields today, and when it was understood that it made good sense to pass up the chance to make money when doing so would far more likely lead to the Feds coming a’knockin’.

Those old school dons ran tough, lucrative, and fearsome groups of organized and generally disciplined criminals. Yesterday’s arrests – even though making clear that the mob is still in business – suggest that those old school groups are now more a thing of the past then they’ve ever been.

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CODA from Dr. E: It’s ironic perhaps… the old saying, ‘the sins of the father’ visited on ‘the sons.’ Carlo Gambino, the pater-familias, head of the crime family, came from Sicily to the US in 1921. Shortly after, in ingratitude to his new country and all it had to offer, he began importing death-dealing drugs into the US from his hometown in Palermo, Sicily. During his lifetime, he danced hard in all crimes possible and plowed huge amounts of ill gotten lucre into legitimate businesses. Prosecutors tried time and again, to catch, charge and convict him. He always slipped through, all the way to his death, he lived as a free and murderous man. Today, thanks to better surveillance methods, more street intelligence, many criminal wanna-bes who couldnt hide a june-bug in a jungle, and superior electronic developments, Gambino family ‘sons’ have not been so lucky as Carlo. Had Carlo lived today, it is likely he too would have been captured far more easily and quashed completely, not having lived out a life of fine houses, prostitutes, golden cars, servants, and silver service, snuffing life with one gesture… but rather day and evening prison jumpsuit attire, and bleak barbed wire panoramas in every direction. As it is (see below) the street attire of thugs has changed dramatically in the nearly 100 years of crime families…

THEN: CARLO GAMBINO

TODAY: AN ALLEDGED GAMBINO FAMILY MEMBER ARRESTED YESTERDAY