Is that just a function of the media concentration in the city? It often seems like, when it comes to nonfictional characters, New York mafia figures get all the juice, all the attention.

Of course, the DeCavalcante family was caught on an FBI wiretap comparing themselves and certain people in their crime family to Sopranos characters, so I think the DeCavalcantes being a smaller hometown, New Jersey Mafia family kind of mirrors The Sopranos in that sense. There are people in the Lucchese family and the DeCavalcante family that could fit for the characters.

I think its the same thing with Sopranos. It’s like The Godfather-who was he based on? People said from Sam DeCavalcante to Carlo Gambino. I think The Sopranos are kind of an amalgamation of different characters in the New Jersey underworld. To address the elephant in the room, experts and Mafia pundits have joked for years who The Sopranos are really based on, with the DeCavalcante family often described as the obvious answer. There’s been tons of books on New York, but there’s really only been a handful of books written about New Jersey’s mob. I’ve always thought that a good overall history of the mob in New Jersey was lacking in Mafia literature. I was kind of in that Northern New Jersey sphere of influence, not too far outside New York City. Deitche: My whole life and formative years were in New Jersey. VICE: Why explore the rise of the mob in New Jersey? Between The Sopranos and constant fawning in the tabloids, it's not like this is underreported turf, right?

Ny mafia news 2015