A former FBI agent who spent years pursuing New York's mafia said modern mobs are struggling with poor management and flaky new hires who are not used to the cutthroat world glamorized by The Godfather and Goodfellas.

The newer generation of mobsters who were raised in the suburbs is accused by its elders of being too soft, stupid, and obsessed with phones, according to a Wall Street Journal interview with Scott Curtis.

One associate for the Colombo crime family, for example, is accused of sending threatening text messages to a union official being extorted.

“Hey this is the 2nd text, there isnt going to be a 3rd,” the mobster wrote, according to court records.

The newer generation has also cut back on violence, in part because of operations in the 1980s and 1990s that led to the arrest of hundreds of top members.

The Colombo family is one of five major mafia clans still operating in New York City, albeit on a much smaller scale than it used to. Andrew Russo is the alleged boss of the family, now 87 and awaiting trial on nine federal charges. He pleads "not guilty" to all of them. Russo has seven prior convictions.

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Curtis, who investigated the Colombo family, said Russo's main problem was micromanaging new hires and holding on to his position as the boss for too long. He was also allegedly too hands-on, which showed a lack of confidence in newer hires.

“That’s why you see some of these guys getting arrested repeatedly,” Curtis told the Wall Street Journal. “They have to have their hands on all these minute details of the scheme.”

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Russo's charges include racketeering, extortion, money laundering, and conspiracy. No court date has been set.

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Tags: News, FBI, Crime, New York

Original Author: Misty Severi

Original Location: Modern-day mafia plagued by mismanagement and bad hires, ex-FBI agent claims