# Whose "Mafia" Is the Strongest Now?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [April 7, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664 "2006-04-07T02:03:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/1 "2006-04-07T02:03:55Z")
Currently, (in the USA for example), whose organised crime organisation is the most dominant, (the strongest or most pervasive?) (For our purposes, let’s exclude government for the time being.)
Does the Italian Mafia still “rule the roost”, or have they been pushed out by organisations from Russia, the Ukraine, Colombia or other nations or ethnic groups?
Have any “vigilante organisations” ever dispensed any “frontier justice” to any organised crime figures (from the very powerful to the lowest-ranking goon?)
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### Author:  [@hellotherepoodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellotherepoodle)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/2 "2006-04-07T14:15:58Z")
I have no idea what the answer to your question is, and no doubt it’d be hard for anyone to give you a definitive answer for obvious reasons. I have heard that organized crime flourishes in immigrant communities because there’s little trust of the authority of law enforcement - if you’re in this country illegally, are you gonna call the cops to report attempted exhtortion? There’s also some huge prision gangs that have a lot of influence not only within the prison’s walls but also on the outside among members now free.
Of course, the very phrase “organized crime” is pretty hard to pin down. For instance, if Lay and Skilling are found guility of conspiracy, I think it could be argued that Enron was a hotbed of organized crime, though white collar crime is obviously not what people think of when they think of organized crime.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/3 "2006-04-07T15:09:34Z")
> [@hellotherepoodle](#):
>
> I have heard that organized crime flourishes in immigrant communities because there’s little trust of the authority of law enforcement - if you’re in this country illegally, are you gonna call the cops to report attempted exhtortion?
I’ve also heard that people from quite a few countries are afraid to call the cops even if they are here legally, because they are from countries where the cops are basically thugs with a uniform. People from a dictatorship will likely have the ingrained attitude that the law = oppression, so it likely won’t even occur to them to approach a cop for any reason.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/4 "2006-04-07T15:23:56Z")
Back in 1995, _Mother Jones_ magazine ran a story about how the different international crime organizations were not fighting each other, but cooperating, even merging to some extent. [http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1995/05/viviano.html](http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1995/05/viviano.html)
According to this book – _The Merger_ by Jeffrey Robinson – the process continues apace: [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585670308/ref=pd\_sim\_b\_1/002-6905602-3394450?\_encoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585670308/ref=pd_sim_b_1/002-6905602-3394450?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155)
The World Crime League! Where’s Buckaroo Banzai now that we need him?!
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### Author:  [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/5 "2006-04-08T12:49:52Z")
I’ve heard from a few local cops that ethnic gangs in my area (not that it’s an area with a big ethnic gang problem) are nothing at all compared the the Hells Angels and Pagans biker gangs.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/6 "2006-04-09T18:58:06Z")
> [@riker1384](#):
>
> I’ve heard from a few local cops that ethnic gangs in my area (not that it’s an area with a big ethnic gang problem) are nothing at all compared the the Hells Angels and Pagans biker gangs.
What crimes are the biker gangs involved in?
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### Author:  [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/7 "2006-04-09T21:02:03Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> What crimes are the biker gangs involved in?
Drug trafficking, guns, maybe an occasional murder-for-hire
Don’t have the cites handy, but out in California and other western states, biker gangs are heavily involved in meth production and distribution.
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### Author:  [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/8 "2006-04-09T21:07:17Z")
I think the Columbian, El Salvadorian and Mexican gangs have been growing along with the immigrant population.
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/9 "2006-04-09T22:50:37Z")
I think “it depends.” Mostly which organization exercises the most regional control, involving what crimes, as well as how much working capital they have. It’s interesting to note that organized crime has gone the way of big business in that ethnic rivalries are meaningless when partnership can earn such huge rewards.
[This link](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/dying/handbook2.html) looks at various ethnic organized crime groups from the perspective of their involvement in the international human sex trade. Based on this criteria, the Japanese yakuza seem to be real contendors. The article, written in 2003, states “the yakuza are known to be highly involved in the Japanese sex trade; in particular, the procurement of prostitutes from countries such as China, Thailand, and Colombia. Reportedly, they work in coordination with Chinese and Russian gangs.” Also, “Their criminal enterprises extend into gambling, real estate, the stock market, and gun smuggling.”
Of course the same link states flat out that 5 families in the Italian mafia have approximately 800 million in combined capital.
For insidious control over the fashion, entertainment, health/fitness and interior decorating industries, nobody’s as awe-defying as… the gay mafia.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-mafia-is-the-strongest-now/351664/10 "2006-04-10T00:28:30Z")
> [@Askia](#):
>
> For insidious control over the fashion, entertainment, health/fitness and interior decorating industries, nobody’s as awe-defying as… the gay mafia.
And oh, boy, can they make you an offer you can’t refuse! 😉