The Sopranos made it seem like the Mob still has their fingers in a lot of pies, from the local pork store to port construction to the state senate.
If you live in an area, like North Jersey, where the Mob presumably still has a lot of influence, do you still have to pay some sort of “tribute” to run a landscaping business, get your garbage collected or run for office.
There was a joke about this in one of the later seasons of the Sopranos where a couple of Tony’s soldiers try to shakedown a Starbucks (or some other chain coffee shop) only to have the manager tell them that corporate carefully keeps track of expenses and would quickly catch on to such a scheme.
Like many criminal organizations, the Mafia has gotten more sophisticated…recall Don Corleone’s statement (The Godfather): “A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than 10 men with guns”. I would argue that the mob is still powerful; they control many unions (construction, shipping, transportation), and own many businesses (like gasoline stations and pizza shops). In the 1980’s the NYC mob was running a racket, supplying mozzarella chesse to pizza shops-you either bought from them, or had your store burned down. they also control prostitution and run loansharking operations.
The mafia is still there, only they have learned to stay out of the light-John Gotti was an aberation-his cronies saw what came of his flamboyant behavior (a lot of heat from the cops)-so they maintain a low profile.
Supposedly, the New Orleans mafia is dead. However, given the stories of conspiracies about them (i.e JFK) it’s hard to say. I can say they were involved in some California unions up to the early 80s (people at meetings who never seen a trowel, according to my father). Given the recent scandals with the SEIU (Service Employees International Union )and no mention of mob-involvement, I’d say they left the state.
Are you only talking about the Italian Mafia, or organized crime in general?
I was talking about the Italian Mafia, but I’m also curious as to what other crime organizations are up to.
Go for it. Don’t forget to read the “This Month In Organized Crime” article.
I believe the Chicago mob to be quite active though they do keep a fairly low profile it seems.
I’m betting they’ve been paying their taxes in full since 1931, too.
I was standing outside a local restaurant one day when two cops went by on bikes. One cop said to the other “It’s a shame all the good restaurants in town are (gang) affiliated.” So apparently in my fair city the local organized crime groups get by just fine with legitimate businesses as their cover.
anybody know about this (possible urban legend)?
In Manhatten about 10 years ago, many restaurants had a little sticker on the door, which meant they were paying protection money.
Alongside with the usual 3 or 4 stickers that appear on most businesses, with the usual logos and pictures of credit cards “We accept Visa”, Mastercard, American Express,— I often saw an additional sticker with a logo of a garbage truck and a slogan like “we are proud members of the quality-of-life environmental movement, trash removal provided by the XYZ company”
Now, the average customer might check the stickers on the door to see if the business will accept his Diner’s club or American Express card…But who cares about the garbage removal, and why would a restaurant want to notify me about it?
I was told by locals that the sticker was a signal to organized crime that the business was paying its protection money…(but then,I was just a naive tourist, so they may have been teasing me…)
Street gangs have taken over the drug trade in the US, and have surpassed the Italian-American mafia in terms of their scope (if not their overall power).