Andrew, winds of change were on the way.
10
1988
At some point during their working years, most people take stock of where they are and where they want to go with their careers. Although he didn’t have what the majority of us would consider to be a normal job, Andrew was striving to be a professional in his chosen field, so he had work-related decisions to make. As he improved his criminal skills and became more valuable to his boss, he started thinking about a step up the career ladder. In his case, that meant becoming a made man.
Traditionally, to become a made member of the Mafia, the inductee had to be of full Italian or Sicilian descent. However, to become a made man in the Italian-American Mafia today, the candidate must only be of half-Italian descent on either his father’s or mother’s side, provided he has an Italian surname. A frequent example of a made member who wasn’t a full-blooded Italian is John A. “Junior” Gotti, whose mother was of Russian and Jewish descent. However, with a person as powerful as his father behind him, the traditional requirement was waived.
And the nominee should also have “made his bones” by committing a murder on behalf of his Mafia family or crew. Many Mafia families, especially the more violent factions,don’t consider a killing for personal reasons to meet this requirement.
If a man does get made, his elevated status entitles him to additional respect and financial rewards. In addition, he is not allowed to be killed without the permission of the Mob hierarchy—in essence, making him untouchable to his organized-crime rivals or enemies.
Andrew believed he had a legitimate shot at becoming a full member of the Gambinos in spite of his youth. He was qualified in regard to his ancestry. He’d demonstrated his loyalty and his ability as an earner who would do whatever it took to protect his turf. And even though he hadn’t yet committed murder for Nicky, it wasn’t for a lack of willingness to pull the trigger when necessary. He didn’t think he was someone special, but that he was as deserving as the others in his crew. Besides, as Andrew describes the made-man issue as he knows it, the rules and requirements of tradition weren’t always adhered to.
“People hear a lot of things about being made that sound good, but just aren’t true in the real world. For example, made men aren’t supposed to be involved in drug dealing. You’ve gotta kill somebody to get made. Everybody who gets made has been there and done that. They won’t tell their men to do anything they haven’t done themselves. That’s all bullshit. The human element involved makes some of these so-called rules a joke.
“Does anyone really think organized crime doesn’t make a huge amount of money from the drug business? I was involved in dealing pot and shook down dealers of hard drugs. I kicked money to Nicky and he passed some of it on to the family boss. And one of the reasons John Gotti was at odds with Paul Castellano was because Gotti’s crew was into the drug business in a big way selling heroin and Castellano was pissed off about it. He didn’t mind collecting his envelope. But he was worried that if those guys got busted, it would bebad for the family’s image.
“I’ll tell you how this made-man thing really worked in New York City. In order for guys to get straightened out [become made], their names had to be submitted to the Commission [the heads of the five New York City crime families] when the books were open. Opening the books was like an enrollment period. And all the families opened the books at the same time. It didn’t happen that often, because with all the pressure the law was putting on, it was tough to get the five bosses together in the same place at the same time. It might happen once a year or it could be a couple of years between enrollments.
“When the books did open, the crew boss gave his list of candidates to the head of the family, who put the
10
1988
At some point during their working years, most people take stock of where they are and where they want to go with their careers. Although he didn’t have what the majority of us would consider to be a normal job, Andrew was striving to be a professional in his chosen field, so he had work-related decisions to make. As he improved his criminal skills and became more valuable to his boss, he started thinking about a step up the career ladder. In his case, that meant becoming a made man.
Traditionally, to become a made member of the Mafia, the inductee had to be of full Italian or Sicilian descent. However, to become a made man in the Italian-American Mafia today, the candidate must only be of half-Italian descent on either his father’s or mother’s side, provided he has an Italian surname. A frequent example of a made member who wasn’t a full-blooded Italian is John A. “Junior” Gotti, whose mother was of Russian and Jewish descent. However, with a person as powerful as his father behind him, the traditional requirement was waived.
And the nominee should also have “made his bones” by committing a murder on behalf of his Mafia family or crew. Many Mafia families, especially the more violent factions,don’t consider a killing for personal reasons to meet this requirement.
If a man does get made, his elevated status entitles him to additional respect and financial rewards. In addition, he is not allowed to be killed without the permission of the Mob hierarchy—in essence, making him untouchable to his organized-crime rivals or enemies.
Andrew believed he had a legitimate shot at becoming a full member of the Gambinos in spite of his youth. He was qualified in regard to his ancestry. He’d demonstrated his loyalty and his ability as an earner who would do whatever it took to protect his turf. And even though he hadn’t yet committed murder for Nicky, it wasn’t for a lack of willingness to pull the trigger when necessary. He didn’t think he was someone special, but that he was as deserving as the others in his crew. Besides, as Andrew describes the made-man issue as he knows it, the rules and requirements of tradition weren’t always adhered to.
“People hear a lot of things about being made that sound good, but just aren’t true in the real world. For example, made men aren’t supposed to be involved in drug dealing. You’ve gotta kill somebody to get made. Everybody who gets made has been there and done that. They won’t tell their men to do anything they haven’t done themselves. That’s all bullshit. The human element involved makes some of these so-called rules a joke.
“Does anyone really think organized crime doesn’t make a huge amount of money from the drug business? I was involved in dealing pot and shook down dealers of hard drugs. I kicked money to Nicky and he passed some of it on to the family boss. And one of the reasons John Gotti was at odds with Paul Castellano was because Gotti’s crew was into the drug business in a big way selling heroin and Castellano was pissed off about it. He didn’t mind collecting his envelope. But he was worried that if those guys got busted, it would bebad for the family’s image.
“I’ll tell you how this made-man thing really worked in New York City. In order for guys to get straightened out [become made], their names had to be submitted to the Commission [the heads of the five New York City crime families] when the books were open. Opening the books was like an enrollment period. And all the families opened the books at the same time. It didn’t happen that often, because with all the pressure the law was putting on, it was tough to get the five bosses together in the same place at the same time. It might happen once a year or it could be a couple of years between enrollments.
“When the books did open, the crew boss gave his list of candidates to the head of the family, who put the
Similar Books
