FBI downsizes to two squads to investigate New York City's five families
Fugghedouboudit.
The FBI has only two squads -- and roughly 25 agents -- left to combat New York's five Mafia families.
Once a prime focus for the feds, enfeebled mob crews - worn down by death, informants, and imprisonment - are no longer considered a major menace by the agency, sources told the Post.
"The mob agents are the bastard stepchildren of the FBI these days," an FBI source told the Post. "Everything is terrorism now. If you want to be somebody with a future in the FBI you want to be assigned to terrorism."
The FBI once had a squad for each of the Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino, Colombo and Bonanno crews but has consolidated and contracted them in recent years.
One squad handles the Lucchese and Gambino families while another handles the rest, sources said.
But with 700 made mafia members and more than 7,000 associates still operating in New York, some G-men are worried that the lack of attention could lease to a Wiseguy resurgence, according to Ganglandnews.com, which first reported the shortfall today.
"The Genovese family alone deserves 20 agents," a former agent told the site. "Once you only have a few agents working a crime family, you're dead in the water. You can't develop informers. You don't know what they're doing. They could be infiltrating a new industry."
The FBI also had a dedicated sqaud for Albanian mobsters that now handles all Eastern European organized crime activity.
The department's resources for mafia related intelligence gathering has also dried up and been rerouted to anti-terror campaigns, sources said.
"If you want a couple grand to get an informant on a mob case you're going to be waiting a month," said an FBI source. "If you need that same money for a terrorism case you're going to get it the next day."
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/feds_only_have_squads_left_to_combat_bpOGcXGuTYkqUi1ZilFROK
The FBI has only two squads -- and roughly 25 agents -- left to combat New York's five Mafia families.
Once a prime focus for the feds, enfeebled mob crews - worn down by death, informants, and imprisonment - are no longer considered a major menace by the agency, sources told the Post.
"The mob agents are the bastard stepchildren of the FBI these days," an FBI source told the Post. "Everything is terrorism now. If you want to be somebody with a future in the FBI you want to be assigned to terrorism."
The FBI once had a squad for each of the Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino, Colombo and Bonanno crews but has consolidated and contracted them in recent years.
One squad handles the Lucchese and Gambino families while another handles the rest, sources said.
But with 700 made mafia members and more than 7,000 associates still operating in New York, some G-men are worried that the lack of attention could lease to a Wiseguy resurgence, according to Ganglandnews.com, which first reported the shortfall today.
"The Genovese family alone deserves 20 agents," a former agent told the site. "Once you only have a few agents working a crime family, you're dead in the water. You can't develop informers. You don't know what they're doing. They could be infiltrating a new industry."
The FBI also had a dedicated sqaud for Albanian mobsters that now handles all Eastern European organized crime activity.
The department's resources for mafia related intelligence gathering has also dried up and been rerouted to anti-terror campaigns, sources said.
"If you want a couple grand to get an informant on a mob case you're going to be waiting a month," said an FBI source. "If you need that same money for a terrorism case you're going to get it the next day."
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/feds_only_have_squads_left_to_combat_bpOGcXGuTYkqUi1ZilFROK
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