Things are tough all over, particularly in the New York City area these days. Many businesses are shuttered, the hospitals are overflowing and you go into a panic every time you step outside and hear somebody cough. But there’s one group being particularly hard it according to Big Apple law enforcement agencies and that’s La Cosa Nostra. (Assuming you believe in such things.) It turns out that the pandemic is really cutting into their action because most of the activities that they rely on for revenue have basically disappeared. The biggest area where they’re missing out is the illegal gambling game because all professional sports have shut down so there’s not much to bet on. (NY Post)

The coronavirus has succeeded where lawmen like Bobby Kennedy and Rudy Giuliani failed for more than a century — by putting the freeze on the mob.

The wholesale cancellation of major sports in the face of the contagion has wiped out tens of millions of dollars in illegal gambling income, a “historic” blow to the Mafia, law enforcement sources told The Post.

“There’s never been a time when they weren’t making money through gambling,” said one insider. “Since the days of Lucky Luciano, when the Five Families started.

“This is historic.”

Apparently, things have grown so desperate for the hardcore gamblers that they’ve been taking wagers on African cricket and Australian soccer matches. But that only goes so far, so most of the gambling money has dried up.

It’s not just gambling that’s taking a hit, either. The feds claim that extortion of restaurants is another big revenue stream, but most of them are closed now or doing very limited takeaway service, so that money has disappeared. The same thing goes for corruption in the construction industry. All non-essential projects have been put on hold.

So where would these alleged criminals go for cash now? According to one law enforcement source who remained anonymous, more and more of them are turning to drug trafficking. The pandemic apparently hasn’t cut into the illegal drug trade noticeably, though where the junkies are finding the cash to score a fix is something of a mystery. But that’s a riskier line of work because the penalties for dealing hard drugs remain very stiff indeed.

Of course, all of this information is based on conjecture and relies on your belief that there’s actually a mafia operating in New York City. Which, of course, there isn’t. There’s no such thing as the mafia. It’s just a long-standing bias and a slur against Italian-Americans that’s been a tradition in Gotham forever. All of the Italians I know are honest, hard-working, upstanding citizens who would never engage in such activities. I said, HONEST, HARD-WORKING, UPSTANDING CITIZENS. (We cool, guys?)

The bottom line is that things are tough all over out there and likely will be until the pandemic passes. So if you’re able, you should safely patronize whatever local businesses you’d be willing to help keep afloat. Particularly if they’re owned by Italian-American families.