by Tom Hays

In a recent conversation with an undercover FBI agent wearing a wire, a reputed mobster from Connecticut named Eugene "Rooster" O'Norfio proclaimed himself the new boss of the "Mulberry Street Crew" in Manhattan's Little Italy. New Yorkers could be forgiven for responding: Rooster who? "I didn't even know he existed," said Joseph Scelsa, who has run the Italian American Museum out of a storefront on Mulberry Street for the past eight years.

The obscurity of O'Norfio, the vagueness of the allegations against him contained in a new federal mob indictment and an absence of fear in Little Italy reflect how a tourist destination with its shrinking cluster of Italian restaurants and gift shops has changed since the days when it was the turf of marquee Mafia bosses like John "Dapper Don" Gotti and Vincent "Chin" Gigante.

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Source: http://bigstory.ap.org/