Thread by @TelegraphWorld

⚫ Millennial mafia members in New York have been accused by veteran mobsters of going soft, @nickallen789 reports.

They’re obsessed with their phones and using text messages rather than fists to intimidate victims

Thread 🧵
telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/10/0…

The new generation of mafia soldiers are said to be less brutal and less versed in traditional in-person tactics.

➡️One alleged gangster sent his victim, a union official, a message saying: "Hey, this is the 2nd text, there isn't going to be a 3rd"

The extent to which social media has now infiltrated the crime world was evident in the recent case of a fugitive mafia suspect.

His son pictured him in a swimming pool in Florida and taunted the FBI by posting it on Twitter, along with a rat emoji 🐀

Ageing crime family bosses are now left concerned about their succession.

🚨They have to be more personally involved in criminal operations, leading to them getting arrested more often

❌ Last month Andrew "Mush" Russo, the Colombo family boss, was arrested along with most of the rest of its senior leadership.

They were held over an alleged two-decade long plot to seize control of a New York City construction union

Mafia experts said their involvement in the details of the alleged plot showed a lack of confidence in lower-ranking members.

According to court records, Mr Russo was taped by the FBI saying of his leadership role: 🗣️"I can’t walk away. I can’t rest"

The five crime families that have controlled New York's Italian-American mafia for decades are "shadows of their former selves", according to a research paper

🔻It says there is a lack of tough young mafiosos coming up through the ranks

⛔Professor James B. Jacobs of New York University School of Law wrote there had been a "breakdown of omerta" (the mafia code of silence).

And that "the current generation of members and associates may have less loyalty"
telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/10/0…

✍️ Working-class Italian neighbourhoods “have dramatically shrunken as Italian-Americans have steadily assimilated into mainstream society,” wrote Jacobs.

“Thereby radically diminishing the pool of tough teenagers with Cosa Nostra potential"

Read more ⬇️
telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/10/0…