I agree its old wine in a new bottle. Russian émigrés do not talk to law enforcement in Brighton Beach Brooklyn; maybe it has gotten better, but I bet the clearance rate on homicides is equal with “stop snitchin” neighborhoods.

South Boston used to have the highest concentration of white poverty in America. Southie was a predominately Irish Catholic neighborhood that had fierce pride and loyalty; everyone was an outsider, even Irish from other neighborhoods – nobody snitched. Southie was systematically strangled, poisoned, and raped by a monster named Whitey Bulger and his gang. But he and ‘the boys’ were heroes; the irony as it turns out was that Whitey was a snitch himself. I have talked to people from Southie that have become successful professionals, about Whitey; there biggest gripe against him was not that he was psychopath who terrorized the neighborhood, but that he was “a f@&king rat”.

This culture of silence towards outsiders is common. The Drug War just magnifies it. That the Stop Snitching has been commercialized is unfortunate; but it may bring opportunity. What if LE went the Capone angle and nailed some big name rappers on tax evasion? Are they willing to keep their street-cred or fortune? Could undercut this culture when these rappers themselves start snitching. Protecting someone from the neighborhood is honorable; protecting your accountant in Greenwich is just stupid.