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New Jersey is not representative of America at large. It'd be like someone from Los Angeles complaining that the Armenian mafia controls everything.
They are in Miami, Chicago, las vegas, NJ, NYC, almost anywhere..
for some reason LA never comes to mind...
Sorry yes they do have,
Leader"boss": Peter Milano
All I can say is, in all of my business experience, I have never been hit up for extortion money by anyone in "the mafia." To the extent that they exist today, they seem pretty feeble, and susceptible to FBI infiltration. Haven't several top mafia guys, like John Gotti, suffered the indignity of dying in prison? How come all their vaunted "connections" in the government couldn't spring them out, or arrange a pardon?
All I can say is, in all of my business experience, I have never been hit up for extortion money by anyone in "the mafia." To the extent that they exist today, they seem pretty feeble, and susceptible to FBI infiltration. Haven't several top mafia guys, like John Gotti, suffered the indignity of dying in prison? How come all their vaunted "connections" in the government couldn't spring them out, or arrange a pardon?
All I can say is, in all of my business experience, I have never been hit up for extortion money by anyone in "the mafia." To the extent that they exist today, they seem pretty feeble, and susceptible to FBI infiltration. Haven't several top mafia guys, like John Gotti, suffered the indignity of dying in prison? How come all their vaunted "connections" in the government couldn't spring them out, or arrange a pardon?
Gotta not only died in prison, he got his ass whipped in prison. You don't mess with the black muslim gangs in prison, Gotta learned what power the Mafia had left - not much.
By the way, one of the best "Mafia" movies i've seen is Donnie Brasco. Pretty much what I picture the mob to be in modern days (i've read the book as well, fairly accurate to what was documented except they combined some characters into one) - a loose ill-defined group of connected guys, only a very few are really made, initiated into the mafia, the rest are associates (friends of mine) working odd criminal jobs here and there.
One scene was very accurate - a made guy working on a stolen parking meter of all things, with a sledge hammer, trying to steal quarters. That's about what the mob is down to - stealing quarters.
It made a good third film in a collection of excellent mafia films (actually 4 films) that chronicalize the history of the mob -
1.) The Godfather (both I and II)- a fictional movie but relatively accurate and well made, and represents the mob at it's height of power in the 40's and 50's. Still unrecognized by the feds, still has the identity with the mother country of Italy.
2.) Goodfellas - the mob in the 60s and 70s, after the FBI attention started, after Valachi...starting to loose it's identity, twisted by drugs and paranoia, starting to turn on it's own.
3.) Donnie Brasco - the mob in the definite stages of decline in the 80's and 90's. Resorting to petty crimes. Getting pushed out by other gangs. Getting pushed in by informants and prosecutions.
Even big corporations like NASCAR, pays taxes to the mafia...One way or another,
wcbstv.com - Feds Arrest 62 In Sweeping N.Y. Mafia Bust (http://wcbstv.com/local/massive.mob.arrests.2.648133.html - broken link)
The Mafia has figured very prominently in the news and popular culture but at least in the past couple decades, has the Italian crime families really warranted the attention given to them by law enforcement and the government? Consider myself young and naiive but I don't see the priority that law enforcement places on the Italian Mafia.
At one time the Mafia almost lived up to the hype. They had police officers, judges, DAs, and politicians in their pocket and in some cities like New York and Chicago they controlled almost everything directly and indirectly. They focused on things like trucking and other unions knowing that they can inflict heavy damage on the economy with strikes should someone try to clean out the unions.
In the two major cities closest to me, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. there are serious crime problems but there's no real Mafia presence here. I don't even think the Russian mafia is here. The closest thing we have to organized crime is Hispanic gangs and outfits that smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants. The high murder rate in these two cities is mostly due to street gangs, teenage thugs, and drug related crime. Even New York's crime problem is not really because of the Mafia....its often drug dealers and gang members killing one another in Harlem and the Bronx and muggers, carjackers, etc, small time criminals.
Well, the Mafia in the US pretty much started out like those small gangs. Almost every major mobster born before 1960 was in some street gang in his youth. Some gangs like the Five Points Gang spawned mob bosses (Frank Nitti, Al Capone, Frank Costello, etc.) like Ivy League universities spawn politicians and high-profile lawyers.
Keep in mind that prison gangs like the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, and Aryan Brotherhood recruit from those low level street gangs. Those teenage thugs grow up and they become dangerous adults.
On the national level I think the biggest criminal threat comes from gangs like MS-13, the Bloods and Crips, and from the Colombian and Mexican syndicates like the Tijuana cartel that supply drugs into the U.S. A lot of crystal meth is produced in illegal labs in America. So why is there such a heavy attention to the Italian Mafia?
The Bloods and the Crips aren't as powerful or numberous as they used to be and MS-13 seems a little hyped. Don't get me wron, I'm not brushing these gangs like they don't contain a lot of violent, scary people, but their influence doesn't extend much past their neighborhoods. One exception is the previously mentioned Mexican Mafia which exerts a lot of influence on the streets. Why? Becuase the Mexican Mafia and their Aryan Brotherhood allies basically control the prisons in several states. Why is this a big deal? Because most professional criminals will spend some time in prison and when they go there they need protection (or at least not being on the wrong side of the most powerful people in prison) if they want to survive. So gang members, drug dealers, and even higher level criminals like the Mafia and drug cartels will pay tribute and do favors for these prison gangs for protection and favors if they are ever inside jail. Because of this, many prison gangs are more powerful and have a better intelligence network than any organized crime group and they can have a lot of people willing to kill for them at a moments notice. For instance the Aryan Brotherhood has been known to have working relationships with the Mafia, various outlaw biker gangs, the KKK, a few militia groups, and a lot white supremacist organizations. The Mexican Mafia has working relationships with the mob and virtually ever Hispanic gang in California south of Bakersfield. Yes, you read that right.
My text is in bold.
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