When the epidemic hit, the New York gangs were forced to die

(Observer Network News) The outbreak of the new crown epidemic in the United States has brought the actions of the gangs to a standstill.

According to the New York Post on the 29th, the US law enforcement sources quoted as saying that in the case of the spread of the new crown epidemic, large-scale sports events have been cancelled, which has also led to tens of millions of dollars of illegal gambling revenues being wiped out, and has caused a "historic" blow to the New York mafia.

How the coronavirus is hurting gangs in New York The New York Post

"They (gangsters) have always made money from gambling, starting from the time of Charlie Luciano (a well-known criminal in the United States, the boss of the gang, known as the father of modern organized crime in the United States, the observer of the Internet) era, that is, when the five mafia families started... This is historic. ”

However, in the early days of the epidemic, thanks to the Internet, illegal gambling was not much affected, but then including the suspension of MlBa, horse racing and golf leagues, the illegal gambling industry was greatly impacted. According to the New York Post, some gamblers have placed bets in African cricket and Australian football leagues, but the illegal gambling industry has "basically dried up".

The source explained: "A lot of people live on this money. He estimates that the losses to the illegal gambling industry due to the pandemic have reached tens of millions of dollars. In addition to the illegal gambling industry, another "industry" that gangsters rely on, extortion, has also been greatly affected.

Previously, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had ordered the closure of all restaurants and halted all "non-essential" construction projects, which were precisely the industries on which the gangs depended. Sources said that due to the closure of restaurants, the gangs' extortion of catering establishments has decreased.

In addition, the construction industry, as well as its associated trucking and port industries, used to be the "big business head" of the gangsters, but under the impact of the epidemic, the gangsters could not continue to rely on them as before. The private garbage transportation industry has always been dominated by gangsters, but as the epidemic expands, all walks of life have been affected and less garbage has been generated, which has also led to the impact of the garbage transportation industry.

As these "money-making" roads are blocked one after another, the New York Post quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that criminal activities may focus more on the "drug trade."

"The (drug) trade continues." The person familiar with the matter revealed that many of the recent surveillance conversations have mentioned drug trafficking. "A lot of the time, the most talked about topic was gambling, but the industry has dried up, so they've turned to drug trafficking."

But even so, covid-19 has had an impact on drug trafficking. Previously, much of the drug trade took place in restaurants, bars and strip clubs, but now these places are also closed.

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