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I have always heard that mob neighborhoods were safe. So as a result street crime was very rare in these areas, a point often used by pro gentrification people. Furthermore, real estate developers and their ilk would never risk crossing the mob in the days of Carmine Gambino, preventing all the gentrification that occurs today. For better or worse the mob allowed natives to walks the streets without fear and not be priced out of their homes in favor of an over privileged "artists" They were never great but there are worse things out there.
In Europe most every "bad" or whatever area had a gang or some sort of organized crime syndicate that took care of locals in the absence of effective local law enforcement. Many times these places were deemed so lawless LE wouldn't even go into them, and or were not as effective as they should.
There was also the fact both in the United States and elsewhere local LE could be just as corrupt as the "mob" engaging in the same sort of businesses (rackets, extortion, protection, etc...).
That being said the "mob" as it relates to your post most often did what was in it's best financial and other interests. If a real estate developer truly wanted to buy up parts of say South Brooklyn Carmine Gambino or whomever may or may not have had a problem depending on what sort of a taste he got. Yes, they may have made sure locals were "helped", but for a chance to earn millions ....
From the time the project was announced until the final coat of paint was applied to walls of new homes the mob could (and often would) extract all sorts of payments. Everything from no show jobs, building materials, workers, theft of building materials/supplies, payments from various city officials such as inspectors and so forth the mob could stand to *earn*.
This famous sit-down scene from the Sopranos tells where the mob often placed values in relation to earning money.
Mafia rule just replaced one kind of crime with another. And of course they didn't do a great job preserving the now Albanian Little Italy in the Bronx or the now Chinese Little Italy in Manhattan.
Mafia rule just replaced one kind of crime with another. And of course they didn't do a great job preserving the now Albanian Little Italy in the Bronx or the now Chinese Little Italy in Manhattan.
IMHO many Albanians are "wannabe" Italians. Aside from the "Eagle" hanging around their necks instead of the "horn", most seem happy to have the world think they are Italian. Maybe because Albania does not have a wonderful reputation, who knows?
As for preserving various former mainly Italian neighborhoods, that was more about changing demographics than anything than mob related. The children and grandchildren moved to the suburbs (New Jersey, Long Island, Conn, Westchester, etc...) or simply out of the area. We had the same thing on Staten Island as native Italian families moved to New Jersey (Middletown, Marlborough, Manalapan) at first, now they are going to North Carolina and Florida.
To be fair many of the sorts of jobs such as manufacturing, construction, longshoremen, and so forth that once sustained the working class Italian population in NYC have vanished or been reduced. The other strong holds such as municipal government including NYPD, FDNY and DSNY are changing as well.
IMHO many Albanians are "wannabe" Italians. Aside from the "Eagle" hanging around their necks instead of the "horn", most seem happy to have the world think they are Italian. Maybe because Albania does not have a wonderful reputation, who knows?
As for preserving various former mainly Italian neighborhoods, that was more about changing demographics than anything than mob related. The children and grandchildren moved to the suburbs (New Jersey, Long Island, Conn, Westchester, etc...) or simply out of the area. We had the same thing on Staten Island as native Italian families moved to New Jersey (Middletown, Marlborough, Manalapan) at first, now they are going to North Carolina and Florida.
To be fair many of the sorts of jobs such as manufacturing, construction, longshoremen, and so forth that once sustained the working class Italian population in NYC have vanished or been reduced. The other strong holds such as municipal government including NYPD, FDNY and DSNY are changing as well.
Yes, I agree, especially about the changing demographics. I mean, that's essentially what the Sopranos was about. Once these people have "made it" they leave and become upper middle class suburban families. I just think the OP's premise is wrong, as it has actually been tested.
Yes, I agree, especially about the changing demographics. I mean, that's essentially what the Sopranos was about. Once these people have "made it" they leave and become upper middle class suburban families. I just think the OP's premise is wrong, as it has actually been tested.
Even the Corleone family packed up and moved out west! *LOL*
It is *very* important to remember like parts of New Jersey, New Orleans, Boston, etc... many Italians settled because NYC was a "port city" that offered many jobs for unskilled immigrants. It was Italians along with Irish, blacks (mainly from the Islands but also native AAs) and Germans that did much of the dirty work involved in digging all those tunnels for subways and railroads, not to mention building bridges. The tunnels in particular were basically all dug by hand with pick axes, not something your average WASP would find interesting work.
Where the mob did play a role in "old New York" was that it often acted as the employer of last resort for men that otherwise could not find. It was a system the vast numbers of poorer Italians from southern Italy knew and were comfortable. You needed an apartment? Local Don could handle that as well. Clothes? Help with burial costs? Food for holiday dinners? Yup, local mob bosses could help with all that as well. In the days before credit cards and when average persons couldn't get a loan from a bank the mob filled such voids.
Italian Americans IMO seem to have this thing about living around their own kind. When Tony Soprano takes his son AJ to see the part of NJ where the family lived upon arriving in America, the kid is shocked as the place is a slum full of AA crack heads. TS shows AJ the local churches Italian Americans built and how they are still standing because of excellent construction..
I have always heard that mob neighborhoods were safe. So as a result street crime was very rare in these areas, a point often used by pro gentrification people. Furthermore, real estate developers and their ilk would never risk crossing the mob in the days of Carmine Gambino, preventing all the gentrification that occurs today. For better or worse the mob allowed natives to walks the streets without fear and not be priced out of their homes in favor of an over privileged "artists" They were never great but there are worse things out there.
So you've been posting all over the place that supporters of gentrification wouldn't want black people in their neighborhoods but at the same time you want the mafia to take control of the neighborhoods. Guess who the mafia used to keep out of their neighborhoods?
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