'Mafia Godfather is dead and new breed get high on own drug supply - they're dead by 35'

EXCLUSIVE: The criminal underworld is changing, with the traditional 'Don' frequently being replaced by a conveyor belt of rasher young upstarts who live fast and die young

14:22, 11 Mar 2023

Francis Coppola's CULT film The Godfather trailer

If you've seen The Godfather, you might think you have a handle on how mafia hierarchy works.

But just as the world has evolved, so has the gangland, with the archetypal mob boss or 'Don' apparently 'dead'.

Now, instead of a veteran mobster serving as the figurehead of a crime 'family', young upstarts motor to the top of the tree.

But Peter Edwards, the leading authority on organised crime in Canada, said they soon crash and burn.

Peter, 67, has been crime reporter at the Toronto Star for more than 30 years and co-wrote the book that inspired the first season of the hit Netflix crime drama, Bad Blood.

He told the Daily Star why mobs no longer have older criminal masterminds pulling the strings and imparting wisdom.

[Peter Edwards has been a crime writer for three decades]

Peter Edwards has been a crime writer for three decades

Peter, who has an unrivalled insight into Canada's criminal underworld, said: If you're adept on the internet and you can afford a couple flights to the Mayan Riviera, you can get your own drug supply.

So you don't need to go through a boss and you don't need someone at the top of the pyramid to give you the job.

In "mafia law", mobsters previously had to spend years grafting just to get a shot at the top job, and if they were lucky enough to become a Don, they'd very rarely reach the position before their 60s.

[Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather - but in real life, things have changed]

Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather - but in real life, things have changed

But in more recent years, Peter said there had been a conveyor belt of gangsters in their 30s who had earned the coveted title of top dog, before being whacked or meeting some other end, allowing the next person their turn.

He added: The old pyramid thing with one Godfather at the top is really hard to maintain. You had to wait until 67 to get the top job.

Now, these guys don't last past 30 to 33, 34 and they're not too happy at the end.

[Peter Edwards, Don Corleone, Michael Corleone, The Godfather, Don, Mafia, gangster, crime boss ]

A conveyor belt of 30-year-olds are taking the top spot but are quickly getting whacked(Image: Getty Images)

The new breed have seemingly lost some of the esteem and respect commanded by Godfathers of old.

Peter, who has written 18 books on his experiences with the underworld, added: For all the splashy adrenaline rushes and the paranoia, now they're dipping in to their own drugs, just to get some sort of a sense of calm.

The old [Dons], they didn't touch the drugs, and so they thought anyone who did touch the drugs was inferior to them.

Peter co-wrote the non-fiction book,Business or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto's Last War, which was turned into the Netflix TV series, Bad Blood.

In a case of life imitating art, only for it to imitate life again, he said a lot of real-life gangsters are influenced by characters in Francis Ford Copollas 1972 classic, The Godfather, and other films such as Goodfellas.

[Peter Edwards, Don Corleone, Michael Corleone, The Godfather, Don, Mafia, gangster, crime boss ]

Real life mobsters apparently copy the way on-screen gangsters talk and conduct business (Image: CBS via Getty Images)

He said: It's sort of an odd one because a lot of gangsters imitate movie gangsters but then the people making the movies are trying to imitate them. It's like a dog chasing its tail. There's kind of a copying thing.

And there's a lot of people who start imitating accents, like Robert de Niro's probably changed the cadences of how people talk, or Joe Pesci.

A whole bunch of guys just dined out on these films - they know all the parts."

He added: "There, there was one weird group where they would watch The Godfather and they get to speak different parts.

Like, 'you'd be Michael and I'd be someone else' and yet nobody wanted to be Fredo.

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