“American Godfathers: The Five Families,” a six-hour special about the New York Mafia on the History Channel (August 11-13, 8 p.m.), begins on Sunday and will raise the question for some readers: “Why the Mafia?” Do these (smart) guys still exist?
In fact, this has been the case for the last century, starting in 1931, when Charles “Lucky” Luciano created the “Commission” – five families – that controlled much of New York’s commerce, not to mention a vibrant corner of film culture, from “Little Caesar” (1931, based on the life of New York’s first mafia boss, Sal Maranzano) to “The Sopranos.”
“Five Families” — with veteran Newsday police reporter Anthony M. DeStefano on camera — concludes Tuesday with “The Last Don.” It’s a fascinating journey through seven decades, but leaves viewers with the impression that Joseph Massino was the end of the line. Head of the Bonanno crime family since 1991, Massino became a federal witness in 2003 and became New York’s first crime boss to break the “omertà” vow of silence.
The death knell for the Mafia, too? I recently spoke with legendary organized crime reporter Selwyn Raab, 90, who also appears on camera throughout; the 2018 edition of his best-selling book, Five Families: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires, is the basis for this series.
By my count, this is your fifth television documentary about the Mafia – a gift that continues to bring joy!
I’ve lost track, because I’ve done them or been a part of them, starting in the ’70s when I worked in television at WNBC (as a producer and editor) and PBS (WNET/13’s “51st State”) and as a newspaper reporter (for the New York World-Telegram and Sun in the ’60s and the New York Times from 1974 to 2000).
In fact, as a newspaper reporter, your work exonerated George Whitmore Jr. (which led to the creation of “Kojak”) and boxer Rubin “Hurricane Carter,” both of whom were wrongfully convicted of murder. How did a specialist in wrongful convictions end up in the Mafia?
Actually, it was by chance that I ended up at the Times as an investigative reporter, covering courts and local corruption. For years, nobody there took the Mafia seriously, and it wasn’t a path to greatness — people wanted to be foreign correspondents or go to Washington — so it was left to the tabloids to cover organized crime. They asked me to do it, and I agreed, on the condition that I wouldn’t write about John Gotti’s socks. The economic consequences (of Mafia control) were enormous, and they had a lot more political influence than people realized.
You end these six hours with a compelling observation: The Five Families live on because capitalism lives on. What does that mean?
Whatever worked for capitalism, they did it, whether it was Wall Street or the construction industry; whatever produced profit, they were very adept at it. The Mafia is not as powerful as it once was, but it is still involved in racketeering and unions, in construction, on the waterfront in New Jersey, in bogus jobs… And people forget that the big attraction (for them) is gambling and loan-loaning – the two are closely linked, because if you get involved with a bookie and start owing money, the next moment you are a victim of loan-loaning.
But we don’t hear or read anything about the mob anymore. Why?
Because they are very quiet. (Gambino crime family boss) Frank Cali, who was known as Frankie Boy, is killed on Staten Island in 2019, but no one knew his name until a madman had a vision that he was involved with QAnon (Anthony Comello, 24, who shot Cali outside his home, was declared incompetent to stand trial in 2020.)
Law enforcement must know what’s going on, right?
One thing that saved the Mafia was 9/11. They were the priority of the FBI, which had 50 to 60 agents permanently assigned to each family, but after 9/11 they lost their priority status and disbanded those (units). In the meantime, the Mafia adapted.
For example?
In the past, they would turn to him if a member was an informant. Now, if you are involved in any kind of cooperation, they will not only go after you, but your entire family. This form of intimidation is something they have adopted from Sicily and it is just a way of maintaining loyalty within their own ranks.
I would be remiss if I didn’t ask the local question: How crowded is Long Island?
Oh, they (the educated men) left the city long ago and moved up into a higher class! There is hardly anyone living on Mulberry Street (in Little Italy) anymore. Most of them have moved out of the city to the suburbs and settled on Long Island.
