# How Would The Corleone Family (1946) Compare to Today's Crime Families? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 27, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-the-corleone-family-1946-compare-to-todays-crime-families/677317 "2013-12-27T22:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-the-corleone-family-1946-compare-to-todays-crime-families/677317/1 "2013-12-27T22:16:01Z")
Given the nature of crime, I think that a resurrected Don Corleone would be very much at home today. the basic rackets remain: -prostitution -loansharking -gambling -labor union racketeering Notice I omitted drugs-the old Don didn’t want them in 1946-no need for them now. So, given a few updatings, is the Mafia family of 1946 basically the same organization today? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-the-corleone-family-1946-compare-to-todays-crime-families/677317/2 "2013-12-27T22:19:48Z")
The Mexican cartels are much more ruthless. They are killing reporters, cops, mayors anybody that gets in their way. Corleone Family tried to avoid killing civilians. Most of their mob hits were against other criminals. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-the-corleone-family-1946-compare-to-todays-crime-families/677317/3 "2013-12-27T22:28:29Z")
This Mexican Mayor survived two previous assassination attempts before they finally killed her. I can’t ever recall Mob violence on this level except for the St Valentines Day Massacre. The Mob learned quickly that killing on that scale brought too much police heat. > **[Harrowing moment Mexico's fearless woman mayor begged for her little girl's...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238577/Maria-Santos-Gorrostieta-executed-surviving-assassination-attempts.html)** > > Maria Santos Gorrostieta, who had already survived two assassination attempts, was driving the child to school at around 8.30am when she was ambushed by a car in the city of Morelia. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-the-corleone-family-1946-compare-to-todays-crime-families/677317/4 "2013-12-28T20:24:06Z")
A couple things have changed. The code of silence: Omerta, has pretty much vanished. It was extremely hard in the old days to get a top lieutenant or capo to testify against the mob. Now it’s pretty easy. You even have a [boss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Massino) testifying! The midlevel guys today are extremely stupid. Just violent thugs. “Quality” recruits are rare so the mob takes anyone. They get ahead by setting up their opposition, within their own gang even, who get eliminated in the usual way. The amount of double crossing is amazing, even for a criminal organization. Sammy “The Bull” Gravano’s rise is a textbook example of this. I also suspect, but I’m not sure, that taking care of people, e.g., family members of dead/imprisoned people has basically disappeared. The old arrangement shown in \*The Godfather \*of the local mob protecting the neighborhood in exchange for letting them run things is long gone. It continues to amaze me that the mob still can recruit people, given that you are far more likely to be killed than advance to a economically viable level. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-the-corleone-family-1946-compare-to-todays-crime-families/677317/5 "2013-12-28T21:43:39Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Corleone Family tried to avoid killing civilians. Most of their mob hits were against other criminals. I’ve seen detailed arguments that this is a hallmark of the mob from its Sicilian days to the present: they do not kill outsiders. They’ll kill rivals, they’ll kill people who are deeply enmeshed in their operations, they’ll even kill each other, but unlike most criminal enterprises, killing “civilians” is a huge no-no. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-the-corleone-family-1946-compare-to-todays-crime-families/677317/6 "2013-12-29T00:29:14Z")
Does the Don wears shorts?