r/Mafia • • Feb 16 '23

r/Mafia info thread - new users MUST read (updated 2.16.2023)

100 Upvotes

Posts from accounts with less than 50 comment karma will be deleted by auto-mod.


Welcome to r/Mafia.

This sub-reddit features stories, interviews, documentary and news articles about organized crime around the world with a main focus on Italian Organized Crime. This thread will be used for various functions, The book lists and Ask A Question threads will be rolled into this one. I will also be using it as a FAQ and will begin removing threads which ask questions already here. If you have any questions that should be added to the FAQ, or books that should be added to the list please respond to this thread.

If you wish to contact me directly, please do not send me a chat, I don't see them. Send a message to modmail, DM me directly, or even tag me on our discord (see below).

last edited: 3/30/24

r/Mafia Rules

  • Please only share organized crime related content.

  • Keep self-promotional posts to a minimum. If you are a very active contributor to the subreddit, you are allowed to occasionally submit the best content from your site. If you're not sure if you qualify, please message the mods. Violation can result in a permanent ban of your username and website domain.

  • Vote manipulation on submissions will result in a permanent ban.

  • Be Respectful. Abusive comments will be subject to removal. Continued abuse will result in permanent ban. Remember to follow reddiquette.

  • Picture submissions should NOT include family or random unconnected people. Photos including such individuals should have them censored in some way, leaving only the organized crime subject visible. Exceptions: Long deceased persons, those famous for their relationships with gangsters, and those who have involved themselves via articles, interviews, documentaries and books, i.e. Victoria and Angel Gotti.

  • NSFW submissions (i.e. crime scene photos/videos) MUST use the NSFW option when posted.

  • New Reddit Accounts: Posts from accounts with less than 50 comment karma will be deleted by auto-mod.

  • Sopranos quotes will be removed. Offenders will be banned.

  • Submissions that are links MUST use the "post a new link" option not "Submit new text post".

  • Please report any submissions that violate our rules.


r/Mafia Discord

  • Join our discord server here

  • modded by community members Il Norte and 00NizarSoccer and sub moderator slumpadoochous

  • Don't forget to visit our meme/shitposting subreddit r/OCcirclejerk


r/Mafia FAQ

see:Common Mafia myths debunked


r/Mafia Top Book Recommendations

  • The Five Families : Selwynn Raab
  • Murder Machine : Gene Mustain & Jerry Capeci
  • The Sicilian Mafia: Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia : John Dickie
  • The Sixth Family : Adrian Humphreys & Lee Lamothe
  • The Good Fellas Tapes : George Anastasia
  • Underboss : Peter Maas
  • Paddywhacked : TJ English
  • Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia : Joseph Pistone & Richard Woodley
  • History of The Mafia : Salvatore Lupo
  • Blood & Honour : George Anastasia
  • Supermob : Gus Russo
  • Family Affair : Sam Giancana & Scott Burnstein
  • The Mafia and the Machine: The Story of the Kansas City Mob : Frank Hayde
  • The Milwaukee Mafia : Gavin Schmitt
  • The Life and Times of Frank Balisteri : Wayne Clingman
  • The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino : Matt Birkbeck
  • Mob Over Miami : Michelle McPhee
  • Hitman: The Untold Story of Johnny Martorano : Howie Carr
  • The Sinatra Club : Sal Polisi & Steve Dougherty
  • Man of Honour : Joseph Bonanno
  • The Valachi Papers : Peter Maas
  • The Westies: TJ English
  • Mafia Prince : Phil Leonetti, Scott Burnstein & Christopher Graziano
  • Black Mass : Dick Lehr
  • The Black Hand : Chris Blatchford (Mexican Mafia)
  • Garden City Gangland : Scott Deitch

Previous threads: 1 | 2


Mafia news and research resources:


Youtube Channels & Podcasts


Youtube Full Length Documentaries

Please report any broken links

last edited 2.16.2023


r/Mafia • • Nov 01 '25

r/Mafia Book Recommendations 2025

54 Upvotes

r/Mafia Top Book Recommendations

  • The Five Families : Selwynn Raab
  • Murder Machine : Gene Mustain & Jerry Capeci
  • The Sicilian Mafia: Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia : John Dickie
  • The Sixth Family : Adrian Humphreys & Lee Lamothe
  • The Good Fellas Tapes : George Anastasia
  • Underboss : Peter Maas
  • Paddywhacked : TJ English
  • Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia : Joseph Pistone & Richard Woodley
  • History of The Mafia : Salvatore Lupo
  • Blood & Honour : George Anastasia
  • Supermob : Gus Russo
  • Family Affair : Sam Giancana & Scott Burnstein
  • The Mafia and the Machine: The Story of the Kansas City Mob : Frank Hayde
  • The Milwaukee Mafia : Gavin Schmitt
  • The Life and Times of Frank Balisteri : Wayne Clingman
  • The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino : Matt Birkbeck
  • Mob Over Miami : Michelle McPhee
  • Hitman: The Untold Story of Johnny Martorano : Howie Carr
  • The Sinatra Club : Sal Polisi & Steve Dougherty
  • Man of Honour : Joseph Bonanno
  • The Valachi Papers : Peter Maas
  • The Westies: TJ English
  • Mafia Prince : Phil Leonetti, Scott Burnstein & Christopher Graziano
  • Black Mass : Dick Lehr
  • The Black Hand : Chris Blatchford (Mexican Mafia)
  • Garden City Gangland : Scott Deitch

Previous threads: 1 | 2

Add your recommendations below. A new updated thread will be added in the new year.


r/Mafia • • 8h ago

IF Vinny gorgeous ever get out do you think he’d go back to the life ?

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51 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 9h ago

Toupee battle: Which wiseguy had the best hair system?

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24 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 4h ago

I Know This Is a Low-Effort Post, but I Can’t Believe No One Has Made a Movie About John “Handsome Johnny” Roselli

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8 Upvotes

This guy was banging Hollywood starlets, running rackets in L.A. and Vegas, and got recruited by the CIA to help assassinate Fidel Castro. Enough said.


r/Mafia • • 14h ago

Happy birthday to the best guy around...

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51 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 10h ago

“No work” construction jobs—Why do those guys bother hanging around the work site? In other words, why not just go home or not show up to “work” at all?

11 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 11h ago

John Pennisi says that Barney "The Purple Dinosaur" Bellomo is trying to crack down on/locate information leaks within his own family, while redoubling his efforts to use his multiple social media accounts to counter such leaks when they arise. He's also said to be unhappy with a certain YouTuber

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10 Upvotes

I assume that the YouTuber in question is Joey Merlino or Tommy Karate, because John goes on to talk about how made guys shouldn't be on social media.

Not the first RatTuber to claim that Barney has an army of troll accounts online...


r/Mafia • • 6h ago

The Michael Francese Movie how’d I’d do it:

5 Upvotes

If he does get a movie I doubt it not holding my breath since his life storu is a walking movie from his dad to him and so on. I’d want the punisher guy as Sonny Franzese idk I ain’t no movie director should I put narrating maybe the movie shoood open w Michele telling the story during his trails or sum I’d bet it’s feel like the real life god father frfr! Or should the movie start off with Sonny and his trials and then we meet the main character Michael as a Pre Med student n then he hears the news of his father or idk thats all I got lol. Y’all want a MF Movie?


r/Mafia • • 21h ago

Las Vegas/Chicago/Genovese (historical): The alleged story of how the Outfit wanted Joey Cusumano eliminated following the death of Tony Spilotro and how the Genovese family prevented another attempt on his life (from The Gangster Report)

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55 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 38m ago

The Camorra boss Valentino Gionta Jr was arrested, he was hiding in a bunker inside his bathroom

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• Upvotes

A bed, a television, a PlayStation, and a secondary exit leading to the garage—a small, secret room tucked away behind the bathroom, accessible only via a complex mechanism operated by a remote control. This is where 35-year-old Valentino Gionta Jr.—a man with a long criminal record and the third generation of the Camorra clan that has stained Torre Annunziata with blood for half a century—had been hiding for twenty days. Fifty years of Camorra history are encapsulated in his name: he is the grandson of a man currently serving a life sentence, who was once tried for the murder of journalist Giancarlo Siani (though later acquitted by the Court of Cassation). Now 72, the grandfather remains incarcerated under the strict 41-bis regime—an unrepentant, die-hard boss. The same is true for his father, Aldo Gionta—known as the "poet boss"—who authored a book titled *Aldulk the Rebel*. The volume contains his prison memoirs, but according to the Anti-Mafia authorities, it also includes lyrics for songs such as "Nun c'amma arennere" ("We Must Not Surrender"), which became a cult hit in the narrow alleys of the "Quadrilatero delle Carceri" district, popularized by the *neomelodico* singer Tony Marciano.


r/Mafia • • 12h ago

Tommy Karate makes it crystal clear that he's not friends with Sammy the Bull

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7 Upvotes

He also says that he mostly reserves his ire for people who've said negative things about him, such as Cicale, Pennisi or Calandra.


r/Mafia • • 17h ago

Montreal: Steve Barthelemy, who acted as driver in failed hit on Leonardo Rizzuto, set to be released from prison (from the Montreal Gazette)

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19 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 15h ago

Former Bonanno member Alfonso Gagliano speaking before the Canadian House of Commons Public Accounts Committee

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12 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 14h ago

Cosa Nostra: Drug Money Pushes Mafia Bosses to Reconstitute the Commission

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9 Upvotes

The cocaine trade, investments in the local economy, and the release of several longtime Cosa Nostra figures are fueling new moves to reorganize the Palermo Mafia. After months marked by intimidation and the use of AK-47s against shopkeepers and business owners, the streets of the city appear to have grown quieter. Behind this apparent calm, however, new criminal power dynamics may be emerging, along with attempts to reconstitute the provincial Commission, known as the Cupola.

Palermo prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia warned of the organization's continued threat during an event titled Repubblica Insieme on Wednesday afternoon.

“Cosa Nostra remains an active criminal organization,” prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia warned during the event. “It is a reality we all have to reckon with.”

The growing importance of drug trafficking in the business activities of Mafia families is a particular cause for concern. The seizure of large sums of money in recent months by the Narcotics Section of the Palermo Flying Squad and the Guardia di Finanza's GICO unit illustrates the scale of the phenomenon. According to investigators' findings, the money was allegedly intended to pay for shipments of narcotics.

Cocaine has become one of Cosa Nostra's main sources of revenue. Purchasing and distributing drugs requires agreements between different Mafia districts, while the profits must be reinvested in businesses capable of generating further income. According to information gathered from investigative sources, hundreds of thousands of euros derived from drug trafficking may also have been used to open bars and restaurants in central Palermo. These financial flows are creating new business opportunities while also fueling tensions between Mafia families.

The need to manage these disputes may have reopened an internal debate over whether the organization should reestablish a central governing body. Younger Mafia bosses are reportedly pushing for the return of the Cupola, aiming to create a structure capable of coordinating criminal strategies and settling disputes between the various districts.

The disagreements reportedly concern the management of drug supplies, unpaid debts, and disputes over the quality of certain shipments. Without a recognized authority, such conflicts could escalate into more serious violence.

There is a significant historical precedent. In 1981, the disappearance of a cocaine shipment helped trigger the Second Mafia War, which would plunge Palermo into bloodshed in the years that followed.

Today, Cosa Nostra does not possess the same military strength it had at the time, partly because numerous judicial operations have struck its leadership. Nevertheless, the possibility of renewed violence cannot be ruled out.

The weapons used in the intimidation campaign in recent months, including the AK-47 that spread fear throughout the city, have yet to be recovered, despite hundreds of searches ordered by the Anti-Mafia District Directorate across Palermo and the surrounding province.

Within the organization, two competing approaches are reportedly emerging.

Younger Mafia leaders want to accelerate the reconstitution of the provincial Commission, selecting representatives through internal discussions within the various districts. Their objective would not be to concentrate power in the hands of a single boss, but to restore a collective leadership capable of managing criminal business and containing internal disputes.

Older figures, by contrast, reportedly favor a less conspicuous arrangement: a federation of Mafia families that would preserve greater autonomy for individual districts and allow alliances to shift according to economic interests.

The older bosses' caution is also influenced by memories of the police operations that thwarted an earlier attempt at reorganization in 2018 and 2019. The Carabinieri's Cupola 2.0 operation and the Palermo Flying Squad's New Connection raid struck at plans to reconstitute the provincial Commission. The period was also marked by renewed rapprochement between the Corleonesi faction and the so-called scappati — Mafia figures who had survived the Second Mafia War and its aftermath by fleeing Sicily.

Another source of concern is the technology used by Mafia bosses to communicate. One system reportedly in use is No1BC, an encrypted telecommunications platform said to be particularly widespread among Palermo's Mafia leadership and difficult for law enforcement agencies to intercept.

Secure communications could facilitate contacts between members of the organization while making it more difficult for investigators to identify meetings and agreements. Against this backdrop, the possibility that a future Commission could coordinate its activities through group chats or video conferences has not been ruled out.

The situation is further complicated by the release of several prominent Palermo Mafia figures who have completed their prison sentences.

Among them is Pietro Tagliavia, a leading figure in the Brancaccio Mafia district, who returned to Palermo last February. His father, Francesco Tagliavia, is serving a life sentence for his involvement in the Via D'Amelio and Via dei Georgofili massacres.

Calogero Lo Piccolo has also been released in the Tommaso Natale area. His name has surfaced in accounts of the shifting criminal dynamics in the territory. However, no established evidence links him directly to the intimidation incidents involving the AK-47. He is reportedly currently volunteering with an association that assists people with disabilities.

In the Porta Nuova district, Tommaso Di Giovanni remains an important point of reference. Meanwhile, in Partinico, Francesco Nania has completed his period of house arrest. He is described as a figure with significant connections in the United States and well-established business interests.

The presence of veteran Mafia figures alongside the rise of newer players is contributing to a period of realignment within the criminal organization, in which control over drug trafficking revenues is becoming increasingly important.

The overall picture is of a Cosa Nostra seeking to establish a new balance of power, as the profits from drug trafficking strengthen ties between families while increasing the need to settle internal disputes.

The silence that has followed the intimidation campaign of recent months should therefore not necessarily be interpreted as a retreat by the organization. Instead, it may signal a period of negotiation and reorganization, during which Palermo's Mafia is determining what kind of leadership structure will govern its criminal interests in the years ahead.


r/Mafia • • 20h ago

What do you think is the largest outfit, numbers-wise, outside of NYC proper nowadays?

15 Upvotes

Gotta be Philly, right? They have the largest remaining recruiting pool.

Chicago was never that large and is more or less defunct, NE is heavily diminished, New Jersey might not exist at all as an independent borgata, Detroit is just an extended blood family, Buffalo... maybe if you include the Canadian side?


r/Mafia • • 13h ago

Gene Borello getting chased out of Howard Beach Video

5 Upvotes

Does anyone have a clear good video of the gene getting chased. The only one I found looks like it was recorded with a microwave.


r/Mafia • • 1d ago

Henry & Karen Hill Wedding

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274 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 15h ago

Article on St. Louis Black Hand Leader (March 1913)

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6 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 1d ago

Tommy Karate (L). Frank Lino in middle.

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79 Upvotes

Former solider Thomas Mallette and associate Ronald "Monkey Man" Filocomo I believe are also pictured .


r/Mafia • • 1d ago

Frank Sinatra with Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano and others

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138 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 20h ago

Mobster - Big Jim Colosimo

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4 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 17h ago

A Mafia Don DOES wear SHORTS - The TRUTH in the REAL LIFE MAFIA - OCShortz

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3 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 1d ago

Current Buffalo Mob chart on made members according to Burnstein and Pizza Boy from Real Life Mafia Forum

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37 Upvotes

r/Mafia • • 1d ago

If American-born or Americanized Bonanno and Gambino members disliked the “Zips,” how did Salvatore “Toto” Catalano become Bonanno acting boss, and why did the Gambino Zips eventually take control after John Gotti’s imprisonment?

25 Upvotes