Inside the NYC Mafia in 2025

[Music] The Italian mafia is alive and well in New York City. And they're operating in places that you might not expect.

>> Take this cafe behind me. From May 2012 to just this past January, it was coffee and ice cream up front and the feds say illegal poker games in the back.

>> These poker games were being run out of the Genevese crime family, one of the five major mafia families of New York City. Taking part in these illegally run

City. Taking part in these illegally run poker games were everyday residents of Lindbrook, New York, an average suburb of New York City. Among these players were some maybe just down on their luck,

others wanting to get away from their wives for a little, and others probably just had a gambling addiction. To an

outsider, it might have looked like just a few guys playing cards. But this

wasn't the only game in town.

At South Shoe Repair Shop in Merik, Long Island, there were illegal poker games held in the back rooms of this ordinary store three nights a week. Then there

was a central Calcio Italian club. On

the surface, a legitimate community center, but on the inside, another front for illegal gambling.

>> Middle-aged elderly men whose nicknames are Joe Fish, Sala Shoemaker, Joe Box, and Little Anthony out on bail while they fight to clear their names. All of

them were tied to the Genevese crime family and all were facing charges linked to organized crime. But the truth is the mafia doesn't look like it used to. They used to run the streets. Now

to. They used to run the streets. Now

they're running spreadsheets.

>> The mob runs all the unions. That's

their bread and butter. um certain

unions, especially like the locals within New York City, you'll be you'll be in trouble or whatever if you go in there and try to start pushing people around because that's still very uh I

would say connected with organized crime actively.

>> To better understand how the Italian mafia operates today, I talked to Tony Hernandez, an ex- New York City police officer and the owner of the YouTube channel Corruption Connection. I asked

Tony what people get wrong about the mafia today and what it actually looks like behind the scenes.

>> But there were social clubs where the mob did business. So you could find illegal gambling in there going on card games, the joker poker machines, the slot machine sitting in the corner that might not spit out money, but when you

win, you go to the bartender, you exchange the money.

>> What Tonyy's describing, the social clubs, the backroom card games, the labor unions, those are all just pieces of a much larger puzzle. The mafia isn't just a few old Italians running illegal

poker games. It's a structured,

poker games. It's a structured, organized system. And in New York, that

organized system. And in New York, that system has a name, the five families.

Since the early 20th century, five powerful crime families have dominated organized crime in New York. There's the

Genevese Gambino Luchi Bonano and Colbo families. Every mafia family

Colbo families. Every mafia family follows a chain of command. At the top of the chain is the boss, who is the undisputed leader. Below him, there's

undisputed leader. Below him, there's the underbosses that act like the second in command. Below them are the capos or

in command. Below them are the capos or captains who are in charge of a group of soldiers. The soldiers are typically the

soldiers. The soldiers are typically the ones doing the dirty work like running the gambling rings, trafficking drugs, and in the past carrying out violent acts. Along with the soldiers are

acts. Along with the soldiers are associates participating in the dirty work, but the associates aren't officially part of the family. The guys

at the top keep their hands clean and rake in the profits while the soldiers and associates at the bottom are working to one day reap in the rewards. Each of

the five crime families in New York City all have guys at these different levels.

>> I believe the Gambinos at that height were about 1,500. The Genevie is about a thousand maybe a few hundred so on and so forth. Because what the mom did in

so forth. Because what the mom did in order to prevent law enforcement and informants from infiltrating their ranks is they closed membership. They closed

the books, they call it.

>> As the FBI started cracking down on the mafia in the 70s and 80s, the crime families realized that growing even further was risky. The mafia knew that fewer new members coming in meant fewer

risks. And because of this, they decided

risks. And because of this, they decided to close off their families to any new recruits. This is when the mafia started

recruits. This is when the mafia started moving away from the flashy violence and public rackets and shifted more towards the lowprofile white collar crime that they embody today.

>> They're no longer killing people.

They're kind of operating from the shadows, concentrated more on white collar crime. They've legitimized

collar crime. They've legitimized themselves.

>> But this new level of secrecy isn't just about staying off law enforcement's radar. It's about protecting who you

radar. It's about protecting who you are, what you do, and keeping that information out of the wrong hands. But

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Today, the New York City crime families are operating in more places than you might think. One of their major revenue

might think. One of their major revenue streams comes from something called loan sharking. Loan sharking is where the

sharking. Loan sharking is where the mafia will lend money at insanely high interest rates to desperate people who can't qualify for loans from a bank. For

example, if you take out a personal loan of $10,000 from a bank, this loan might come with an 8% interest rate. This

means you would pay the bank $800 in interest by the end of the year. In a

lone sharking scenario where you're taking out a loan from the mafia, that same $10,000 would come with a 10% weekly interest, not annually. That's

$1,000 a week in interest alone. Say you

miss a week, now you owe $11,000, and your new weekly interest payment is $1,100.

This interest keeps snowballing if you aren't able to pay it off in full. From

an outsider, this seems like a terrible deal. So, I asked Tony, "Who would ever

deal. So, I asked Tony, "Who would ever take this kind of loan?" Uh, I think it's anybody to be honest with you. It

could be a guy who's down on his luck.

It could be a gambler, you know, somebody that likes to gamble. Uh, a

local businessman that just needs to make payroll, you know, you guys got a pizzeria or deli, something like that.

Um, and it's also people that don't have really good credit, you know, like if you I've seen times and it's not always broke people, it's guys looking to expand and the bank just looks at them like they're a joke. I remember my

cousin telling me a story once about this guy who had a bread group, right?

And he he a regular Italian guy and he's got all these clients now. He's got a bread group and he needs to fund this business. He's got all the contracts.

business. He's got all the contracts.

He's got all the signatures, all the promise, the orders are there. He just

he needs to get going. He need like a million dollars to get this thing up and running. Tough you look at the guy. He's

running. Tough you look at the guy. He's

got a baseball hat on, a t-shirt. He's

got shorts. He walks into a bank, you know, with his heavy Italian accent.

He's like, "All right, listen. I got out of bread. I got all these customers.

of bread. I got all these customers.

This is my purchase orders. Like I need a million dollars. And they just, you know, these bank suits just looked at him like he had three three screws missing. But he was a legitimate guy

missing. But he was a legitimate guy just looking for some help to start a business. So what did he do? He he got

business. So what did he do? He he got denied by the bank and he went to the mob guys. And the mob guys knew who he

mob guys. And the mob guys knew who he was. Gave him, you know, knew what he

was. Gave him, you know, knew what he was about, knew what he was going to do, and lent him the million dollars. So

it's not technically someone that's always down on their luck. It could be somebody that, you know, wants to expand, wants to grow, and maybe isn't afforded the traditional route of obtaining a bank loan.

>> But not everyone borrowing money from the mafia is starting a bread business.

A lot of times, that loan is just the first bet. Because one of the mafia's

first bet. Because one of the mafia's most reliable and profitable businesses has always been gambling.

>> The backbone of the mob has been and always will be gambling. When it comes to gambling, one of the most common methods that the mafia uses to make money is hosting highstakes poker games

in the back rooms of bars, social clubs, and different storefronts. These games

are never advertised publicly. They're

run through word of mouth and personal invitations. They are done very

invitations. They are done very discreetly and run out of what seems like legit businesses, but oftent times they're not discreet enough. New Jersey

State Police, meanwhile, say they broke up a mafia run gambling ring across North Jersey.

>> This was not a backyard betting pool.

This was a highly structured, highly profitable criminal enterprise run by people who believed they were above the law.

>> A 2-year investigation by New Jersey officials led to 39 individuals being charged in this illegal gambling operation. All 39 people were either

operation. All 39 people were either direct members of the Luchi Mafia family or were associates working on their behalf. The head of this family was

behalf. The head of this family was known as George Georgie Neck Zapola or otherwise known as the boss. Below

Georgie Neck though was a whole list of other underbosses, capos, soldiers, and associates all caught in the crime.

These gambling rings held in the back of legitimate businesses in North Jersey were highly structured where the underbosses delegated to their cappos who then delegated to the managers who

then delegated to the managers of the stores who then delegated to the hosts and agents running the rings. Among the

different businesses found to have illegal gambling rooms were Cafe San Jinaro in Woodland Park, New Jersey, the Italian-American Soccer Club in Tadawa, New Jersey, Garden Pinball in Patterson,

New Jersey, and an unnamed restaurant in Garfield, New Jersey. The Luchi family was able to rake in over $3 million from these backroom gambling rings. And they

were able to do so with the help of a city councilman. You think about where

city councilman. You think about where this infiltrated into into local governments into appointed and elected officials.

>> Of the 39 arrested was a man named Anand Shaw, a Prospect Park Burough councilman who was elected to public office. Shaw

was working alongside the Lucesi family managing illegal poker games in the backroom clubs across Tadawa, Garfield, and Woodland Park. He was also responsible for overseeing an offshore

online sports book, which is where online users place sports bets on an illegal platform. Shaw was not made a

illegal platform. Shaw was not made a member of the Lucesy crime family, but he was in an associate who reported to higherups in the Luces ruling panel like

boss Georgeneck and Joseph Big Joe Pera.

Prosecutors also alleged that Shaw used one of his Subway franchises to launder around $570,000 in gambling related transactions. This

goes to show just how deep the mafia has penetrated even into local governments.

Personally, from my experience and from what you see, the cops and the mobsters work hand in hand. They work together.

It's always been like that. It always

will be. The mob is a real part of life.

It's not like you can just throw them away, lock away the key, and that's it.

they're so intertwined um in society and you know kind of embedded in the social fabric that it's almost impossible to weed them out.

>> It's unfortunately relatively common for law enforcement officers and elected officials to take bribes from the mafia so that these government agencies will let the mafia operate without any

issues. Just in March of 2025, a

issues. Just in March of 2025, a Brooklyn federal jury convicted Hector Rosario, a detective with the Nassau County Police Department, for conspiring with the mafia. Prosecutors revealed

that Rosario had received monthly payoffs ranging between 1,000 to,500 from the Bonano Crime Family in exchange for protecting their illegal gambling

operations on Long Island and Queens.

Rosario would allegedly fake staged police raids at gambling dens run by the Genevese crime family, places like South Shoe Shop and the Grand Cafe. The goal

wasn't to shut them down officially. It

was to scare off their regular gamblers.

Once word spread about these raids, those gamblers would stop showing up at the Genevese spots and start frequenting Bonano run poker games instead. Rosario

would even give tips to his fellow detectives about the Genevies ran gambling rings, making sure the Genevese family's operations got targeted while the Bonanos flew under the radar.

>> I read a bombshell lawsuit from a former police commissioner, Tom Dan, who says the NYPD is criminal at its core. It's

operating like a mafia family. So, I

mean, when you look at things like that, there really wasn't a difference between the cops and mobsters. In my days in the restaurant business, before I was actually on the job, I would see a wise guy sitting next to a deputy inspector.

>> Wise guys is a term used around the mafia to describe a member of a crime family. But who's actually walking into

family. But who's actually walking into these back rooms to gamble? Who's

risking their money and sometimes a lot more to play poker at mafia run gambling dens? Well, one of the reasons comes

dens? Well, one of the reasons comes down to convenience.

>> Let's say you're a neighborhood person.

You don't have money to go to a bus ride to go to Atlantic City or even Resorts World doesn't have table games. You have

to go all the way to the Cat Skills.

Meanwhile, the guy in the local deli has a card game going on where if you don't have any money, you could still gamble.

You just take a loan from the Lone Shark. You know, you're right there as

Shark. You know, you're right there as long as he knows who you are.

>> Often times, compulsive gamblers will take out loans from the mafia that they know that they can't pay back. But

they'll gamble this money with the mafia chasing a big win. These compulsive

gamblers will often lose thousands of dollars that they never had to begin with. But the mob would keep extending

with. But the mob would keep extending them more and more credit knowing that these gamblers were hooked. In some

cases, these gamblers would end up owing over $100,000 in gambling debts and on interest from their loans. The mafia

knows that this person wouldn't be able to pay back their debt. But that's not all the mafia was looking for. Once

somebody owes this much, they're not a client anymore. They're now an asset to

client anymore. They're now an asset to be used. For example, the mafia will run

be used. For example, the mafia will run much of their bets and operations through this man's name so that the mafia stays clean. As these compulsive gamblers keep digging themselves deeper

and deeper into debt, the mafia just then gets more and more control over this person's life. But even for the more sophisticated gamblers who aren't gambling their lives away, there's still

an incentive to be gambling with the mob. There's some big-time gamblers with

mob. There's some big-time gamblers with a lot of money who would much rather gamble with the mob than they would with a legally run casino.

>> I've never been in any really big games like this where guys are betting six figures to a million dollars. Like I

think the the highest game that I've ever maybe been in that was on the table was less than six fig 50 grand maybe which is a lot of money but not at that level to the six figures to a million.

But recently, I saw that Stea refused to pay out uh a better that made a legitimate parlay. It was like I don't

legitimate parlay. It was like I don't know how insane this parlay was, but he hit it and it was like for several million and the casino just decided not to pay him out.

>> And I won $350,000, >> but they won't pay it to you.

>> No, they will not.

>> I won $500,000. They will not pay my money out.

>> You invite somebody to your business.

They pay the money. They win. you're

supposed to pay.

>> Could that happen with the mob guys?

Sure. But most of the time, I would say 99% of the time, they're going to pay you what they owe you because if they don't, then the reputation spreads around. Hey, uh, you know, Tommy or

around. Hey, uh, you know, Tommy or Blake or whatever went in there, he won legitimately. They didn't pay him his

legitimately. They didn't pay him his money. And, you know, I think that's

money. And, you know, I think that's something that resonates with a lot of big-time gamblers. You know, that the

big-time gamblers. You know, that the word is your bomb. You don't have to go through all this corporate [ __ ] or oh look Caesars has this little thing on the ticket that says we cannot pay you if we we don't feel like it. You know,

you don't deal with that kind of um [ __ ] when you deal with the mob.

Everything is usually above board and you're dealing with serious men like you know you could lose your life at any seconds but there's no time for games like guys are not in there trying to scam you know.

>> Caesars and many of the other major casino companies are all regulated by the federal, state and local governments. These casinos also pay the

governments. These casinos also pay the governments a share of their earnings, given they're all under something called revenue sharing arrangements. Although

government regulated casinos have historically been less corrupt, there is a real argument to be made for why the mob run gambling rings operate better.

For one, many mob figures have been arrested for gambling operations only to see the government adopt the same tactics and rake in billions. Second,

the mob typically reinvested their profits locally to places like restaurants, clubs, and delies who were all owned by wise guys. Today's state

sponsored casinos often send their share of the profits to state budgets, corporate headquarters, and Wall Street investors, only making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Government

partnered casinos are aggressively marketed to vulnerable populations, especially in economically depressed areas. The mob ran the table games and

areas. The mob ran the table games and sports books, but not the constant dopamine addiction machines and sports books that legal casinos are now profit from. I mean, if you went to a wise guy

from. I mean, if you went to a wise guy and you continually gambled and you lost and you lost and he saw that you were mortgaging your house and all that stuff, most of the time, not all the time, there was some bastards, but a lot of times they'd be like, "You had a

family. I'm not taking your bets

family. I'm not taking your bets anymore. You're not allowed to gamble

anymore. You're not allowed to gamble here or anywhere. Don't let me find you gambling anywhere else until you pay this back." Like, they would kind of,

this back." Like, they would kind of, you know, put the pressure. go to

Caesars and tell them, "Hey, listen. I

just liquidated my house. My the kids are going to be in the street, this and that." They would let you gamble until

that." They would let you gamble until the last penny and then take security to kick you out.

>> To a certain degree, many people felt safer and more connected to their neighborhoods when the mafia ran the streets of New York City. Oftent times,

disputes over rent, business conflicts, and even domestic problems were sometimes handled by mob connected figures, not the police or courts. This

created a stronger sense of internal community, even though it was more based on fear and loyalty rather than what we aim for today, democracy and justice. In

a world where legal casinos can deny payouts and push addiction, The Wise Guys sometimes offered a different kind of gamble, one where a handshake meant

more than some fine print.

And special thanks to Tony Hernandez for taking time to teach me about the ways of the mafia. You can find him and listen to his crazy stories on his Corruption Connection YouTube channel.

And speaking of hidden operations and unexpected betrayals, there is probably no greater betrayal that the US government has ever faced than from a man named Humam Khalil Alawi. Alawi

completely fooled the United States CIA into thinking that he was working for them. And you can uncover that whole

them. And you can uncover that whole story in my recent video here. And thank

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