# Is This What the Mafia Has Sunk To?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626 "2008-05-08T23:33:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626/1 "2008-05-08T23:33:50Z")
Don Vito Coleone would have been embarrassed! [http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1092600&srvc=home&position=3](http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1092600&srvc=home&position=3) Is the Mob attracting low-IQ people these day? I can’t imagine this guy working for the Genco Puro Olive Oil Co.!! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626/2 "2008-05-09T00:44:31Z")
I thought the mobs in Boston were all Irish? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626/3 "2008-05-09T00:53:31Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I thought the mobs in Boston were all Irish? [/QUOTE] The mobs everywhere aren’t all anything. ---
**Author:** ![JimB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f4b2a3/32.png) [@JimB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimB)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626/4 "2008-05-09T04:30:12Z")
The Mafia has been coughing up blood for 15 years now. Today’s environment is just to inhospitable for blue-collar organized crime. Looks to be crooked white-collar types and street gangs from here on out in America. ---
**Author:** ![Pollux\_Oil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/858c86/32.png) [@Pollux\_Oil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pollux_Oil)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626/5 "2008-05-09T06:13:46Z")
No wonder they caught him, he was giving off tons of scum tells. What. Don’t look at me like that. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626/6 "2008-05-09T07:28:47Z")
“Scum tells”… I am unfamiliar with this piece of presumably American slang. Just tell me whether I should google before or after the breakfast I am about to eat? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626/7 "2008-05-09T10:24:11Z")
In poker parlance, a “tell” is anything the other guy does which tips you off about his hand. Maybe he sweats, or brushes his hair back, or even goes expressionless when his hand is particularly good. “Scum” means the same here as it does where you are. In other words, the guy looks like somebody the cops would just naturally take an interest in. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-the-mafia-has-sunk-to/448626/8 "2008-05-09T14:36:24Z")
[QUOTE=JimB.] Today’s environment is just to inhospitable for blue-collar organized crime. [/QUOTE] With all due respect…try telling that to some of the 1%ers, especially in the Southeast, where the Red’N’White never quite took the emperor’s seat.