Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Glory days for Patriarca crime family in Rhode Island are over


ABC6 - Providence, RI and New Bedford, MA News, Weather
For decades the mob ruled Rhode Island's crime scene through fear and intimidation.

But those days are long gone. Their brand of violence has been replaced by something more sinister and far reaching.

ABC6 got a peak inside state police headquarters to see what now commands their full attention.

The glory days for the Patriarca crime family in Rhode Island are over and have been for a while.

"Completely diminished is the best way to describe it. On a scale of 1–10...if it used to be a 10... I'd call it 2 ½...to a 3 if that," said State Police Colonel Steven O'Donnell.

Colonel O'Donnell would certainly know, back in the day he spent 6 years working undercover in the Patriarca crime family.

"Their old shakedowns where they'd walk into a club and ask money for protection...most of those days are over cause the people that work hard for their money they call the police," he said. 

Colonel O'Donnell credits prosecution of mobsters, death, made guys rolling over and cooperating with authorities as witnesses or informants.

"There's not a lot of trust within the Mafia families who is cooperating with police and who is not."

I don't want to give you the impression that the Staties have forgotten about the Organized Crime guys, because they haven't. 

They'll always be keeping an eye on them but like everything else crime has evolved and the State Police have to change with the times as well, which means a greater emphasis on what goes on in the computer crimes unit.

"The explosion of the internet has put a lot of these things that law enforcement never really saw before out into the mainstream," said O'Donnell.

Things like crimes against children, child porn, sex trafficking and on and on. That's where the specialized troopers of the computer crimes unit come in.

"All of them go to schools they're highly trained, they travel around the country and get trained. They do in–service training to make sure that they're state of the art, they're the best at what they do."

There is also the financial crimes unit, which goes after identity theft, scams and big investigations involving 38 studios and the international institute of sport.

According to Col. O'Donnell, there isn't that ambitious young guy looking to take over and there is no trust in the organization anymore because so many "made guys" have rolled over here and across the country.

Those who are still active in the mob, their bread and butter crimes are still protection, shakedowns, drugs, gambling, and the construction trade with bid.


http://www.abc6.com/story/27473635/replacing-the-mob


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