Does the Mafia still exist in America?
Posted by Educational_Farm_471@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 264 comments
As an asian who hasn't gotten much verification I wanted to ask if the stories I've heard about the Mafia in America still hold true to this day. Are they still around? What do they do? Stuff like that.
LastCookie3448@reddit
Indeed.
Wildwilly54@reddit
Yes. Waste management (seriously), school buses, illegal gambling, still big in the unions (especially the docks/ports).
capsaicinintheeyes@reddit
how hard can you squeeze school buses?
Wildwilly54@reddit
Basically they controlled the local 1181, got all the nyc government jobs and gave all the busing and maintenance contracts to themselves. Strange racket, but they’ve been doing it since kids started taking a bus.
lanAstbury@reddit
hasidic school buses in nyc are also mafia, just a different one
BrunesOvrBrauns@reddit
They should just start a union lol
nothinnews@reddit
That's the point. If they don't get what they want they just threaten to not do their jobs.
kenster77@reddit
Gotta get that milk money from the kiddos.
capsaicinintheeyes@reddit
[calvin_moe.jpg]
donny02@reddit
lotta money in that shit
-I-EAT-PEOPLE-@reddit
I worked briefly for a city that ranked about 10th in Massachusetts in population. Their school bus contracts were worth about $25 million total. It's insane how much districts pay for transportation, especially special ed transport.
capsaicinintheeyes@reddit
Would love to get a look at the black-budget books for Ms. Frizzle's district
ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit
Since Moses wore short pants
DosZappos@reddit
I used to work for a very large corporation that does HVAC and fire alarms, and the first time we had a New York project a seasoned coworker told me to add a month to the timetable because of permitting. Still had to grease some wheels here and there to get stuff approved.
PsuedoFred@reddit
Car Dealerships too
MorddSith187@reddit
wtf my neighbor was JUST telling me about the school busses (i'm in nyc)
Theycallmesupa@reddit
There's all kinds of mob activity across many ethnicities. Everyone from the Italians to the Vietnamese has got someone doing something big.
outdatedelementz@reddit
If by Mafia you mean Sicilian Organized Crime Families, yes they still cling to relevance and power in certain areas.
If you mean Organized Crime in general then it’s very much alive in well in the form of many different organizations specializing in different illegal activity.
Groundbreaking_War52@reddit
Exactly, the Latin American cartels completely outclassed the traditional "mob" organizations with their scope, scale, sophistication, and resources.
GarciaWolf@reddit
Definitely in south Philly
GoldenMonkeyRedux@reddit
Yeah. I was going to post that. Remember a bit back there was a daytime hit and the guy just drove his car home and parked it in front of his house? Not exactly the best and brightest that guy.
And Skinny Joey now has a cheesesteak place near the stadiums. I'm sure there's absolutely no money laundering going on there.
But it's got to hard to recruit when so many Italians moved to Jersey.
ashtag_swag@reddit
Isn't skinny Joey banished to Boca Raton, Florida and banned from coming back to Philly by the FBI? That's what I've heard about him
GoldenMonkeyRedux@reddit
He was , but he’s back now. I think anyway. Dude has a hard time keeping out of trouble.
Current_Poster@reddit
Yes, but not like in the old movies. RICO has made it so turning over evidence went from unheard-of due to omerta to a tool in the toolbox for advancement, there is a recruiting problem (so I've heard) because the young prospects dont want to do errand-stuff for years before doing the things they saw in movies, the pool of candidates is smaller, and so on. A lot of mob outfits shifted into legit businesses (hotels, baking-supplies, etc). And small ethnic 'mafias' have specialized gigs. (Like, say, medical fraud.) There's also things like the Russian mob, asian organized crime, streetgangs that border on cartel-stuff, etc., so the landscape is different now. A lot of the senior leadership is in prison or aging out or both.
(There was a mob trial fairly a few years ago in Boston where the acting capo for a family was on a wire recording introducing himself as being in charge, which I thought was kind of funny- all commentators who seemed to know what they were talking about said that even if he somehow got cleared of the charges, the hit to his reputation from having to tell someone who he was in a business context was somehow worse.)
Napalmeon@reddit
I think this is a big problem with how old fashioned values don't align to the desires of modern prospects. Nobody wants to do grunt work with all the risk and very little reward before they can even get in the club, so to speak. Also, RICO might have scared away a lot of younger guys who once thought the lifestyle was cool. It's not so cool when there is a possibility of a decade or more of your life getting taken away just because you're associated with the guy who did the actual crime. People with half a brain just aren't willing to risk it.
Eat_Locals@reddit
Also:
If we assume that the life will only appeal to x% of people, and there are fewer kids, then the pool of potential recruits is smaller.
It’s a much wealthier country, so it’s easier to get rich without doing crime.
2a. A lot of the rackets like gambling and prostitution have legal competition now.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Interesting concept. "Do you know who I am?" If you have to ask it's probably not a good sign for you. You need a reputation to intimidate.
Current_Poster@reddit
True, but even in a strict mechanical sense, he didn't even have a second guy around to walk the person in and say "...and here is the boss." (Or whatever. his actual mob name was "The Cheeseman", so that has its own problems. Having to announce yourself as the Cheeseman, that's hard to come back from. ;) )
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Yeah, not a good start.
The commonly seen nickname for Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo was Big Tuna. You always saw him named in newspapers as Tony ”Big Tuna" Accardo. But apparently he did not actually like that and that's not what they called him inside the mafia, where his nickname was "Joe Batters". Offhand, I don't know where that nickname came from.
SkinyGuniea417@reddit
Yup and will probably exist for longer than many would say. The traditional mobster soldiers "made men" probably have an average age of 80 and moved to the suburbs long ago. But they still run businesses both legal and illegal in their old neighborhoods in the inner city. They still kill people, but it's much rarer and they are more likely to be in the news for fraud and gambling. Obviously nothing like it was in the 50-80's when the American Mafia was pretty much a shadow government that controlled a monopoly on all crime in the country.
AgapeAnus@reddit
They still exist but they're not like they used to be. Much smaller and less violent and powerful and with a lot less of a public presence. Law enforcement basically crushed them through the 90's and early 2000's.
-Boston-Terrier-@reddit
Modern living is what really crushed them.
That episode of The Soprano’s where they try to shake down the Starbucks stand in is a perfect example. Mom and pop shops have been replaced by big box retailers who are quickly being replaced by online warehouses, nobody carries cash anymore, there are cameras everywhere, GPS is on all modern cars, etc.
AgapeAnus@reddit
They still operate despite all of that. They just aren't as big a deal as they used to be nor anywhere near as brazen.
-Boston-Terrier-@reddit
Crime exists, sure, but the mafia as we knew it is gone.
gottarun215@reddit
It's definitely still a thing in places like Chicago, NYC, and Philly, but definitely not as powerful as it once was. I personally know quite a few people with ties to modern mafia people and have even personally met a member myself.
Napalmeon@reddit
If I remember correctly, this definitely had a big effect on the mafia in New York City when John Gotti was in control of things. Which he of course never should have been, but that's another story altogether. He just couldn't stop running his mouth, unaware that some of his locations were bugged. And he was very explicit in his words, too.
KingDarius89@reddit
The man was an incompetent idiot who should never have been made, let alone become a boss.
capsaicinintheeyes@reddit
A point of remembrance that Rudy Guliani wasn't always a nutjob
PacSan300@reddit
Crazy how he went from drastically lower New York City’s crime rates and being “America’s mayor” after 9/11 to being like this.
sicksadworldsurvivor@reddit
Him and plenty of other "tough on crime" ghouls benefitted from the effects of banning lead gas.
Crime rates dropped across the industrialized world at a similar time. he wasn't special or particularly good even, just in the right place at the right time to replace the Italian Mafia with the Russian one.
Atlas7-k@reddit
Also RICO laws.
Positive-Draft3801@reddit
The same goes for RFK Jr. He is considered the most successful environmental lawyer in US history, bringing companies like Chevron to court and winning. I dont know what happened, possibly his brain worm changed him.
Atlas7-k@reddit
He decided that the root of all illness was environmental.
Ameisen@reddit
Damned illithids.
xxxjessicann00xxx@reddit
Few people have torpedoed their legacy the way Rudy has. It's impressive.
TO_Old@reddit
https://youtu.be/l8GbTZ8v1-w?t=303&si=0NWr7ZXGvCYFuyZ8
MyUsername2459@reddit
If he'd retired into relative obscurity after the end of his time as Mayor of New York City he'd be remembered very fondly as a man who cleaned up New York, broke the Mafia, and was an inspiring leader in the aftermath of 9/11.
. . .instead the next chapter of his life completely and utterly destroyed what could have been a very great legacy, and turned him into a national disgrace and laughingstock.
AngriestManinWestTX@reddit
Truly a generation fumble of personal reputation.
rutherfraud1876@reddit
Not by most people in NYC
Accurate-Witness-446@reddit
I say this all the time. I can’t believe he traded it all for Trump who used him and threw him to the curb.
MyUsername2459@reddit
Look all the folks who lined up to kiss his ring last year. . .who will be losing a lot of money, or their freedom, in the next few years as accountability sets in.
He's really, really good at selling himself as powerful and invincible, even to people who should know better.
Fortunately, going by that approval rating dropping to record lows, breaking through a previously impenetrable floor in the rating, even the recalcitrant are seeming to slowly realize this guy is fucking nuts.
Inside-Try-394@reddit
Haha, he is one and the same person I think. The second spotlight was getting used as a publicity stooge at the direction of Trump. He would get crazy eye and go after a goalpost even if it was a Trump obscenity designed to create chaos.
Inside-Try-394@reddit
The Trump effect.
Mrcoldghost@reddit
yes biographers to public relations specialists will for years study how he singly handily destroyed his public image in a course of a few years.
RemotePossibility399@reddit
It'll be a text book case study. "Here are the steps to take if you want to go from widely respected to complete joke."
SmeeezTreeez@reddit
Rudy tanked the Italian mob to support the Russian mob.
Iamapartofthisworld@reddit
I heard he focused on the Italian mafia to help the Russian Mafia get a foothold, and it sounds like it could be true, seeing how he was in the Trump camp, but I do not know if it is true.
capsaicinintheeyes@reddit
That sounds a lil bit internet-rumor-mill-y, but it is true that he never dedicated the same kind of focus to countering Russian mobsters' parking money over here; other replies on here surmise that this may be to do with the differences in how the two were structured, or the lack thereof.
Wilfried84@reddit
Yes he was. I just that only us unfortunate folks in NYC noticed. He topped my better dead list even then.
capsaicinintheeyes@reddit
Chris Rock once said of him,
smurphy8536@reddit
It is funny that the Russian mob didn’t get targeted as hard. Probably just a coincidence
KaBar42@reddit
No. It's the nature of how the two worked.
The Italian mob was highly centralized. You cut off the head, you destroy the entire organization.
The Russian mob was never as powerful or organized as the Italians were. You cut off a head and all you did was maybe destroy one family but there was dozen others, none of whom answered to anyone above them.
We could also say the same thing about the Irish mob and the Chinese triads in the American West. The reality is, none of them were remotely close to the power the mafia had. It's a lot harder to take down a criminal organization when you're having to play whack-a-mole compared to knocking over a house of cards by flicking the bottom.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Why are you being reasonable? Check your location. You're on Reddit. You should be spouting simplistic conspiracy theories.
KaBar42@reddit
Oh, my bad.
I mean... the Russians were prepping for a Trump run for presidency since June 14, 1946.
capsaicinintheeyes@reddit
He's like a walking mascot for Marx's expoundments on the self-destructive nature of capitalism
Dave_A480@reddit
The Russians didn't have that much of a presence when the Italians were big.....
And the Italians being big (and having their fingers in absolutely everything prior to the 1980s - organized labor, construction, casinos, etc) is what drew the associated government attention...
Away-Parsnip-3785@reddit
The Russian mob didn’t have a big presence in New York is recently
SabresBills69@reddit
and a broken clock is sometimes accurate
No_Entertainment1931@reddit
“Even a broken clock is right twice a day”
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Except in the age of digital.
DankItchins@reddit
You just wait until the time actually is 88:88, then you'll see.
jigokubi@reddit
He didn't want the competition.
DannyDanumba@reddit
It’s crazy that he took down the mob and then years later tried to coerce Zelensky to lie about Hilary Clinton on behalf of Trump to get Trump elected.
sceli@reddit
He didn’t do the work, but as DA, he got to take all the credit.
Final-Elderberry9162@reddit
AG not DA.
big_sugi@reddit
US Attorney, not AG or DA.
JayRandom212@reddit
Classic case of "promoted to his level of incompetence". If he had stayed a DA, imagine how many more crooks would be in jail? And imagine how much better NYC and the USA would be without his paws on them?
There's a beautiful alternate universe where DA Guliani convicts Trump for his crimes and throws him into Rikers....
charcoal_kestrel@reddit
Giuliani was US Attorney (federal), not DA (local).
Avery_Thorn@reddit
Yes. That's the point. He sucked as US Attorney. He was not qualified to do that job, at least not when he did it.
My guess is he had some kind of brain damage or dementia or something,like John Fetterman or RFK Jr. I do not believe he could have done the things that he did early in his career of he had the mental state that he had with Trump.
charcoal_kestrel@reddit
Giuliani was US attorney from 1983-1989, before he was mayor, and was widely respected for his work at the time. I think you are confusing his work as a federal prosecutor 40 years ago with his more recent and controversial work as one of Trump's 2020 election lawyers.
Avery_Thorn@reddit
I was thinking US Attorney Gemeral. Which he never was.
Wow, it is amazing how much damage he did without an official position...
Big-Fondant-4419@reddit
Alcoholism.
Personal-Presence-10@reddit
Well that does cause brain damage so it tracks.
JayRandom212@reddit
truth.
OpposumMyPossum@reddit
Really, the crime in the US went down equally, right along with NYC.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
"Crime in the US" and Mafia crime are not really the same thing. Comparing them is sort of like apples and oranges.
Standard crime statistics like murder, rape, robbery, etc don't really relate to Mafia crime. It's a different animal entirely with different factors driving it.
OpposumMyPossum@reddit
One of mafias main $$ maker is sex trafficking. Burglary. Drug trafficking.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
The average murder is not a planned organized crime murder. It's petty drug deals gone bad and family members killing each other and random robberies and personal disputes. The overall crime statistics went down in many places because that's basically the type of crime being measured and there has been a general trend downward from the worst times in the 1970s. But Mafia crime is still in its own category and takes place differently and is prosecuted differently. The only proof you need is that it took the passing of special laws to actually make a dent in it. RICO laws have nothing to do with one neighbor murdering another neighbor over a property line.
OpposumMyPossum@reddit
Yeah. I didn't mention murder. But it's very similar to motorcycle club crime.
I worked for someone in his legit business - I was payroll clerk so got dragged into a couple mafia trials.
Very often it's not prosecuted different lly at all. They just watch guys until they can catch them for anything- and see will will stick.
Because there was a drug murder that was not even associated with my boss (just someone we knew got killed), they got to surveil for a couple years to catch him for some pot trafficking.
recoveringleft@reddit
You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain
persianx6_@reddit
Yup.
What’s the mafia up to though?
Glad you asked, some of them have been popping up in things like Chauncey Billups and Gilbert Arenas’ federal gambling cases.
Not sure if they did so for the case in baseball.
martlet1@reddit
The mafia never went anywhere. They just don’t have idiots all over tv like they did in the 90s with mafia boss’s trying to be celebrities.
They still act and control a lot of things nationwide.
Swimming_Rain_1647@reddit
Not in Boston. They ARE the police here.
mattcmoore@reddit
There are now more mafias operating in America than there have ever been.
Excusemytootie@reddit
Yah, they’re in charge now.
DiggityDanksta@reddit
there is no mafia
it's anti-italian discrimination
KingDarius89@reddit
They still exist. Just not nearly as powerful as they used to be.
Ok-Educator932@reddit
RICO charges crippled them. They’re not 100% gone though
Adorable_Dust3799@reddit
Around here gangs and cartels have a much bigger presence, and it's drugs, some prostitution and trafficking of several sorts.
Relevant_Elevator190@reddit
FUHGETTABOUTIT.
Decent-Bear334@reddit
Of course not. It's just made up stuff for the movies. /s
pawsplay36@reddit
Yes. Mostly they launder money and run gambling operations. They are still heavily involved in shipping and smuggling, although the counterfeit olive oil business isn't what it once was.
I used to go to a certain pizza place. One time I heard once of the waiters complaining about how he lost a $10,000 Super Bowl bet. I'll give you a moment to figure out, first, where does a waiter get $10,000 to place on a Super Bowl bet, and second, who can you place such a bet with?
mustang6172@reddit
There is no mafia.
visitor987@reddit
Rudy Guliani crushed them when he was a US attorney with the help of the witness protection program
ShesGotaChicken2Ride@reddit
Organized crime exists, but that’s mainly from street gangs now like Latin Kings or MS13
DasBoggler@reddit
Definitely still exists. I believe they focus more on white collar crime these days and in shady businesses. For instance, had a neighbor that I am pretty sure was Mafia. He had a smaller car dealership that was similar to pay day loan place. Sell cars on credit to people with bad credit at high interest rates with engine lock in the car, as soon as they miss the first payment, lock the car, re-posess it and they are still on the hook for the loan.
Dai-The-Flu-@reddit
Yes, but these days it’s more like a glorified coalition of local business owners.
GreenBeanTM@reddit
I potentially know one, who’d be around 27. I had a mini problem with a creepy guy my freshman year of college in a class me and her shared, so she and her friends essentially self appointed themselves my bodyguards the class after it started. While leaving she said “if he tries anything let me know. I’m Italian, I have connections” with a bit more seriousness than that sort of joke usually carries.
DosZappos@reddit
In the early 2000s we would go on spring break with this Greek family that we were close with, and their cousins would come with. The cousins’ dad was a bookie with the Greek mob, and it would always be March Madness while we were in Florida and he’d be on his phone doing god knows what the entire week. It was awesome to me, a 13 year old white kid
QnsConcrete@reddit
I’m sure it was, but was there a reason you mentioned you were white? Were the Greeks not also white?
tktk77@reddit
White, in this context, means fully Americanized. People who are white, monolingual, have little to no ties to their country of origin, and whose identity is completely underpinned by "Americanisms" is a white American. People of British or even German descent who fit the definition above tend to be the people most associated with the term "white American."
Greek-Americans are white too, but they would probably not call themselves "white Americans. "
Identity gets very weird very fast lol
QnsConcrete@reddit
Well, that’s a circular definition. You’re saying white means Americanized people who are white.
I had Greek-American friends in the early 2000s and there was never any concept of them not being “white.” They still retained many concepts of the Greek culture.
It seems like you’re presenting the term “white American” as a separate definition of being “white.” But the original comment didn’t use that term, which is why I clarified in the first place.
tktk77@reddit
You're Greek and German friends would not fit my definition of white American, because they still retain ties to their country of origin.
My BIL is Greek, but he doesn't consider himself white American. Why? Because identity is more complex than skin color.
Many immigrants and their children, even when they come from Caucasian nations, consider themselves distinct from white Americans.
Perhaps in multiple generations, when their progeny have lost any sense of their ancestors country of origin, they would consider themselves white Americans.
These psychological borders are demarcated by so many things, and sometimes those things feel arbitrary. Identity is certainly a strange phenomenon haha.
QnsConcrete@reddit
The original comment didn’t mention “white American” as a term. I think the idea that in 2026 there are people trying to justify the concept of whiteness beyond biological markers is absurd. It’s not helpful because it perpetuates a sectarian mentality and an us-vs-them approach.
There are distinct biological markers that one could use to identify people as “white” but they are mostly useful only in appearances (eg describing a missing person) or for certain medical applications (sickle cell, diabetes, COVID, malaria, etc.) Mostly useless otherwise.
I’d argue your definition also creates an artificial grouping that implies similarities between people in the group vs people outside the group. Eg a “white” person born and raised in Manhattan having a closer identity to a “white” person born and raised in west Texas compared to a Greek-American also born and raised in Manhattan. It’s absurd.
fakesaucisse@reddit
I think this is just a case of thinking too deeply about it. The way I took the original comment is they were using shorthand to refer to themselves (in a tongue in cheek kinda way) as being a generic American with no obvious or meaningful cultural ties to any ancestral origin.
DosZappos@reddit
It’s concerning for society that this isn’t obvious
toastythewiser@reddit
I always feel like white is more wasp than anything. But it's all so relative and circular.
I work with a guy who's dad is from Greece and married a Mexican lady. But like, his FIL is PALE, he just doesn't speak much English. So my coworkers kids are ... what? American citizens ofc. Look white to me. But technically they're Hispanic. Lol. Whatever. It's a waste of time to try and figure this stuff out a Lotta the time.
DosZappos@reddit
Exactly this. If a stranger saw me, they’d say that’s a generic white guy. If they saw anyone in the other family, they’d say “That’s a Greek guy”
DonkeyHotay_@reddit
Jesus do you people ever stop?
QnsConcrete@reddit
10 day old troll account.
DonkeyHotay_@reddit
14 year old troll account.
Your need to be the smartest person in the room is....off putting
RemotePossibility399@reddit
😅🤣😂😅🤣😂🤣🤣😂
QnsConcrete@reddit
The context was the early 2000s, not the 1890s.
I was also a teen in the early 2000s and my school had a pretty significant Greek population. There was never any concept of Greeks being non-white.
RemotePossibility399@reddit
Do try and keep up. Go back, read it again, do some thinking, and see if you can learn the lesson being taught.
QnsConcrete@reddit
If your replies weren’t so condescending I’d continue having a discussion with you.
DosZappos@reddit
Not according to them
Herbie1122@reddit
More like a glorified crew
HammerOvGrendel@reddit
Cunnilingus and Psychiatry brought us to this
putonthespotlight@reddit
Yup. On long island
La_noche_azul@reddit
Yes but organized crime is more crew based, less formal “families”
ToumaKazusa1@reddit
Even the Sopranos were just a glorified crew
No_Entertainment1931@reddit
Umm, that was a tv show
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
Umm, no it wasn’t. Meadow Soprano (yes, she still uses her maiden name) is LITERALLY serving in the Trump administration right now.
Round-Lab73@reddit
I heard they're looking at A.J. for the next FBI director
AngriestManinWestTX@reddit
"You've revealed your ignorance, senator. Epstein actually didn't even have an island at all. There's nothing to cover up here." /s
BoringPrinciple2542@reddit
Looks like you forgot the /s.
If you were not being facetious then I hate to break it to you but it absolutely is a fictional show and Meadow Soprano is a fictional character.
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
No, I don’t use /s purposefully.
It’s not my problem if people are too stupid to figure out what is or isn’t sarcasm, particularly in a case like this where it’s obvious to everyone with an IQ above room temperature.
BoringPrinciple2542@reddit
Then you knowingly misused the term “literally” for the presumable purpose of misleading people.
Maybe you belong with the fridge temperature IQ crowd. You’ll fit in better.
CHICAG0AT@reddit
Dude, he even put his sarcastic literally in big letters. If you couldn’t tell the entire comment was sarcastic from him reusing the word “Umm” in response to the comment above it you might need to evaluate your relationship with both social cues and literacy.
BoringPrinciple2542@reddit
Standard internet protocol is that all caps indicates yelling or adding emphasis to a particular word not to indicate sarcasm.
Dude was intentionally being misleading and I called him out. The original intent behind his message was clear as day and he deleted it when called out.
CHICAG0AT@reddit
Yeah man, nobody EVER uses caps to indicate sarcasm.
BoringPrinciple2542@reddit
Not when they say “X is LITERALLY true”.
In your attempt at an example you placed the emphasis on EVER which is intended to stress the word much like if you were speaking and place emphasis on the word to indicate sarcasm. That is very different from emphasizing LITERALLY wherein emphasizing the word is stresses the factual truth of the claim.
Regardless of that, the guy stated that it was true metaphorically in one of his now deleted follow-up posts which confirmed that he wasn’t being sarcastic but rather attempting to mislead people.
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
This guy has definitely almost drown in 3 inches of water.
Herbie1122@reddit
Sorry but you're the idiot here
No_Entertainment1931@reddit
Well Texas, y’all are one of the few states propping up the “crew” at 1600 penn ave. You know what to do about your own capo “hot wheels” and then his boss, the tangerine don in November
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
I’m sorry, but I have to laugh at the fact that someone can be pedantic enough to feel the need to point out that The Sopranos is a TV show (while ignoring the obvious real life parallels within said work of fiction) while also seeming to believe there is a presidential election this November…
Acceptable-Risk7424@reddit
Sharp as a cue ball that one…
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
Wherever he works, they must give him the important jobs.
adamsandleryabish@reddit
Its a tv progrum, a movie
TrigDaLibs@reddit
It’s a tv show specifically about mobsters living in a world where they’re largely irrelevant.
Daddysheremyluv@reddit
A great show
recoveringleft@reddit
I would never forget the one scene when they tried to extort Starbucks only to see that corporations are more ruthless than them
MyUsername2459@reddit
That was a wonderful illustration of part of the reason why organized crime isn't like it was generations past.
ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit
Five fuckin' families and then we got this other pygmy thing over in Jersey
Any-Board-6631@reddit
Mafia, Japan mob aka yakuza, South America mon aka street gang, Chiness mob aka Triad , Biker like the Hell's Angels, east europeans Mob... Certainly others that I forgot , Everyone getting a part of the pie.
94grampaw@reddit
Those are mobs, this is about mafia's
Italians or Mexicans
Any-Board-6631@reddit
Mafia is only italian not mexicans.
94grampaw@reddit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Mafia
Any-Board-6631@reddit
It's a gang that give themselves this name. I can call myself Rockefeller or Rothschild, that won'ta billion appering in my bank account.
emmc47@reddit
TIL
RaineMist@reddit
Yes, my boyfriend was somewhat of an associate for years.
MarketEconomist@reddit
Organized crime have moved to more subtle roles. They now run corrupt city councils. Pay-to-play nonsense. Bribes to start a business, or stop a competitor from getting a building permit. Bribes to hire your construction company, your waste services, your bar license. Bribes to let your "adult arcade" to operate in the gray area. Kick-backs for big grants to shady non-profits with no oversight.
To a casual observer, there's no crime on the streets. You only notice when your taxes go up, and then discover the new mega project was a no-bid contract to a politically well connected company. Or you try to start a business and your application for a bar license gets ignored for 3 years meanwhile the mayor's cousin runs the biggest bar in the area.
2Asparagus1Chicken@reddit
Mafia is just a movies thing.
HeyPurityItsMeAgain@reddit
Alright this thread is going to be locked for rampant TDS but the answer is no, not really.
PBRStreetgang1979@reddit
It feels like you're asking about the mafia related to Americans of Italian descent. But the Asian mafia, for example, absolutely exists and does a billion dollar annual business in the US, with money laundering, sex trafficking, massage parlors, etc. And the reach of Mexican cartels, especially in the Southern and coastal regions of the US, is extensive.
Patient_Duck123@reddit
If the Italian Mafia doesn't exist anymore who's controlling the huge amounts of drugs that enter the US?
GraceJamaicanKetchup@reddit
There is no mafia. It's a stereotype and it's offensive .
sfocolleen@reddit
Who’s that speaking here? Is somebody speaking?
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
Said the mafia boss who was gunned down in the middle of his "There ain't no Mafia" rally because he was a threat to the Mafia by being so public. Too much attention is not a good thing.
He had founded his Italian-American civil rights group as a blatant imitation of the legitimate civil rights groups that were common at that time, addressing issues with discrimination against black people. He was trying to free ride off of that. He was basically trying to gaslight the country and make the claim that there was no Mafia and that it was just discrimination against Italian-Americans. But he was too out there and presumably his own people give him down to get him out of the spotlight. Guess how long the Italian-American Civil Rights League lasted after that? It was purely a front group for the Mafia, or at least his part of the Mafia. After seven years in a coma / paralyzed he finally died.
Holobalobaloo@reddit
Many of us would argue that a Mafia is currently in control of our government.
1029394756abc@reddit
Bills mafia.
jokeefe72@reddit
There it is. Go Bills!
RoyalWabwy0430@reddit
Yes, they do, but much reduced. At their peak they had a presence in most big cities, now theyre really just confined to Detroit, Chicago, Boston/Providence, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and NYC. NYC is really the only place where they are still somewhat powrful, and ven there they are much less influential than they used to be
DenseAstronomer3631@reddit
A few of my Italian uncles and cousins were deep into the las vegas casino scene but most were old and "retired" by the time I was a teenager (90s baby). They were such cool guys though, had big houses, pet duck, lots of tattoos, and gave me $20s every time I saw them. Always had the best stories to tell too. I think street gangs and cartels have largely replaces the old mobster stuff though
sean8877@reddit
My father's cousin lived in Teanek, NJ and went to jail for mafia related activities like 10-15 years ago (don't know too many details because they stopped talking to that branch of the family after that). So apparently still a thing.
Entire_Dog_5874@reddit
Lifelong New Yorker here. All five families still exist in NY, just smaller and quieter.
They profit off extortion, loan sharking, illegal gambling, labor racketeering, and drug trafficking.
Dekutr33@reddit
Chaldean mafia owns a lot of dispensaries here in SE Michigan
ScrambledNoggin@reddit
Who are the Chaldeans? Are thy Iraqi?
Dekutr33@reddit
Yeah. Iraqi Catholics. Distinct group.
WokeUpIAmStillAlive@reddit
I mean anyone who really knows isn't gonna say... its the mafia they don't like people talking
Changeurblinkerfluid@reddit
When I lived in Chicago about 15-20 years ago, I had some friends that ran numbers or collected for some local bookies. Others friends and acquaintances who bartended were part of some rackets to pay out illegal gambling machines in the bars, and still others people knew “the guy” when you wanted adult entertainment for your bachelor party.
I got the impression that these were more independent rackets than some top down criminal enterprise, but all the same I’m sure there was some group of people who made sure everything ran smoothly and nobody was getting ripped off.
RingGiver@reddit
Yes. However, they're less violent and less powerful than they used to be. Their biggest thing is often organized fraud.
The most capable and dangerous organized crime is the cartels.
FilthyMindz69@reddit
Yes. It’s just less visible/smaller.
Also you have the Mexican/russian and biker gangs as well, and others.
ssinff@reddit
White house
ShortRasp@reddit
The mafia as you may know it depicted in movies and news was pretty much knocked off in the early 2000s. The mafia of today is more so HOAs, business owner coalitions, boards of schools, some other organizations, or governments, and trade unions.
benhur217@reddit
Yes but not as prolific as before
Plus a lot of that criminal space has been taken by foreign criminal organizations like drug cartels.
latin220@reddit
Yes 🙌 especially in Vegas, NY, NJ, FL, CT and MA. Most clubs in my area are owned by certain families as does construction companies and sanitation. They simply changed their business model also a lot of the Italian products shipped in like olive oil goes thru southern Italy and they purposefully dilute it cause Americans can’t taste the difference. 😂
Responsible-View-804@reddit
I feel like I came in at the end of
redmeansdistortion@reddit
Some families are still alive and active. I've always had a lot of interest in my local family, the Detroit Partnership. They keep their hands clean most of the time, and if they have dirty work to do, they hire it out to another ethnic family, like the Chaldean mafia, biker gangs, or Albanian gangs. The made guys in Detroit are all legit business owners. If you go to a community like St. Clair Shores, Clinton Township, or Grosse Pointe in Michigan, they have a big presence by way of restaurants and bakeries for the most part. The boss owns a mortgage company and his underboss used to own a big insurance company. They make most of their money on gambling, food, and recreational pot now. The strong arm tactics largely ended in the early 2000s. Other families are different and partake more in what they call blue collar work.
Extension_Group_6022@reddit
The Chaldeans are elbow deep in the weed trade in Detroit.
My “uncle” (grandpa’s business associate) was an enforcer for the Detroit (Italian) mafia in the 70s. Grandpa’s involvement was minimal if at all AFAIK. There’s no one I can ask about it because everyone from that time period is 40+ years gone.
redmeansdistortion@reddit
Oh yeah Chaldeans own just about all of the weed shops and many grow ops. I used to work in finance for a number of years, and Chaldeans used to use semi trucks as collateral under assumed business names for loans to build out their grow ops. A lot of credit unions were busted during state audits and were forced to recover the collateral and get the loan off the books or be penalized. The ones I saw first hand, the loans were simply paid in full by the debtor and that was it.
The state is very strict with marijuana banking regulations. Just a handful actually do because of all of the red tape involved. Weed industry funds, be they from loans or deposits need to be kept separately from other money. Even at the cash level a separate vault is required for cash deposits coming from pot shops.
OkDecision1612@reddit
I think there’s more like cartel
-wholden@reddit
There is no mafia!
Chicago_Avocado@reddit
Yeah, but its not like the movies. A mafia place might be a cappuccino place where the windows are all covered up with posters so that no one can see in. It can also be a European style cafe thats open late and always has a card game in back. Real tame places, but they have an atmosphere that you’re not that welcome.
No-Profession422@reddit
The Five Families still exist. They're just more low key and lean more towards white collar crime now. RICO prosecutions hit them hard.
dopefiendeddie@reddit
Yes, but they’re underground now. I couldn’t tell you what businesses are fronts for the Detroit Partnership, for example.
RektInTheHed@reddit
Bigger now than they have been in years. The FBI is run by incompetents interrogating people about social media posts, they don't have the brain power or bandwidth to stop This Thing of Ours anymore. Plus half of them probably wish they were in it.
voltairesalias@reddit
It's actually pretty prevalent still it just isn't as obvious as it was in the 1920s/1930s, and instead of having several mafias it's more or less restricted to the 'Ndrangheta and a few other family based groups that are more or less allied with one another.
The popularity of the 1920s - 1950s mafia personalities were owing to some pretty visible mob wars taking place in Chicago, NY, and Havana; and the rather visible role they had with illegally selling liquor during prohibition. The early 90s saw a wave of really popular mob films as well that sort of etched that era into the American imagination. But the mafia is still definitely present in the US. They've just gotten smarter basically, and don't really engage much in low level street crime like they did once upon a time.
OldRaj@reddit
Organized crime is doing well in some parts of the country.
ShipComprehensive543@reddit
washington DC for example.
Bro_Pesci@reddit
TDS, can’t help yourself
SummitSloth@reddit
Is she wrong though? Both the Republican and Democrat parties are the biggest mobs controlling this country
theHAREST@reddit
Trump derangement syndrome: being so fucking deranged that you still support Trump
BlazerFS231@reddit
TDS doesn’t discriminate. It affects both.
DuelJ@reddit
If we found out a fella had somehow accumulate 100 dui's, they'd probably be made of highway safety in a week.
Lets not be coy and self delayed, we all saw what was advertised and what pathetic fellas it was advertised to.
ShipComprehensive543@reddit
Hope you are wearing knee pads b/c I know they must be sore from all the sucking you do.
Bro_Pesci@reddit
Lol the tolerant left always with the insults get over it he won and stop making it always about trump it’s embarrassing
ShipComprehensive543@reddit
No, you are embarrassing that you voted and still support someone who has 34 felony convictions, 2 impeachments and a fuck long list of other things I dont even feel like typing out. Now take your red pill and run along little boy.
ediblefalconheavy@reddit
In like 2017 My older brother got kidnapped below Seattle for a little while because he was mistaken for someone else. Once they realized it they gave him some cigarettes and a couple hundred dollars and dumped him out kinda far away.
forestinpark@reddit
They exist, not below radar as it used to be. Currently they are in the White House.
Jacknboxx@reddit
They still exist in parts of the Northeast and Midwest, but are nowhere near as powerful as they once were.
notthegoatseguy@reddit
"There is no mafia" - Tony Soprano
wangus_angus@reddit
Dis little ting of ours
BoringPrinciple2542@reddit
Standard internet protocol is that all caps indicates yelling or adding emphasis to a particular word not to indicate sarcasm.
Dude was intentionally being misleading and I called him out. The original intent behind his message was clear as day and he deleted it when called out.
94grampaw@reddit
The Italian one or the Mexican one?
Away-Parsnip-3785@reddit
Yes.
But there’s barely 1,000 Made Men left in America. In a country of over 350 million. RICO absolutely devastated them. And the decline of anti-Italian discrimination in American society meant fewer people were driven into the mafia.
Most of them are geriatric real estate and crypto scammers nowadays. Much safer and less likely to bring down the ire of the FBI. Killings and assaults virtually unheard of now
ihatecarswithpassion@reddit
Yes. In midwest unions to florida waste management to nyc school busses. They had a scandal with covid vaccines being sold to rich people early on in the pandemic, before the first big roll-outs. They're just more quiet since RICO charges became common place and nearly impossible to shake
cozybear3636@reddit
No they don’t really exsist
dildozer10@reddit
Yes it still exists, there are places in my state that I avoid and refuse to associate with due to corruption stemming from organized crime. Several incidents have been well documented by our news affiliates.
StOnEy333@reddit
Hey, fuggettaboutit.
peabody_soul109@reddit
Very much so. Italian. Russian. Mexican. Ukrainian. Chinese.
fullofspiders@reddit
Nice try copper, I ain't squeelin'.
helikophis@reddit
Yep still around. They've gotten into "legitimate" businesses like real estate development and operating restaurants, bars, and strip clubs, but still use violence, intimidation, bribery, etc. See for instance the ongoing trials surrounding Peter Gerace, a mafia-linked strip club owner here in Western New York.
meestah_meelah@reddit
I had an ex-girlfriend from Long Island that claimed she went to High School with the children of Mafia members. I thought she was full of shit but she showed me a bunch of newspaper articles about police raids on the Mafia in her town.
Sea-Bill78@reddit
I never met or heard of somebody who belongs to the mafia. However we have lots of gangs now. Especially in California.
rebelopie@reddit
Yes, very much so but in tighter regional areas across the country. I am from Las Vegas and that city became what it is because of the mob families backing businesses. Those families are still very much involved in the city and it isn't hard to find the "old Vegas money" families. There is even an odd side group of the Mormon Mob, who got their footing in Las Vegas by teaming up with Howard Hughes. They are a lot scarier to deal with because they don't play by the rules like the old money families do. Plus, they are literally everywhere and have their hands in everything.
I used to work for a few of the old Vegas money families. They are the nicest people and truly care about the future of Vegas. All the new money folks trying to get a foothold in the city suck to work for. They don't care about the city and are just there for clout.
Aware-Owl4346@reddit
"You don't ever admit the existence of this thing!"
-I-EAT-PEOPLE-@reddit
Yes, but mostly as old men without much actual organization under them. Law enforcement and RICO has destroyed most organized crime outside of small street gangs since the 1970s. In Massachusetts (where I am living right now) there used to be a huge amount of organized crime and mob activity. In Boston, Providence, RI, and the other smaller cities in the area from \~1920-1980 it wasn't uncommon to see mob activity or read about it in the paper on a regular basis. Nowadays, if there are still any mobsters they are 70+ year old men talking about the things they used to do. In Massachusetts specifically the mob was heavily involved in public works projects and public construction contracts, most of their money came from things like that by the 80s. Massachusetts changed their procurement laws to combat it after a few huge scandals broke about bad quality construction and bribes being paid to public officials. Nowadays, that kind of corruption is extremely rare in Massachusetts and the underhanded things that happen are more concentrated in grants awards. By the 90s most of the big figures had been caught, and those that hadn't were no longer making enough money to keep up recruitment for the bottom of the organization. Different types of gangs took over the drug market and basically put them out of business. The last mob killing I remember was in Staten Island and it was already years ago, in 10 years all of the old mobsters will be gone. Probably for the best.
Electrical-Speed-836@reddit
The mafia is still prevalent in a lot of midwestern and east coast cities. Where I live they’ve essentially mastered being completely out of the public consciousness but there’s probably 50-100ish made guys with plenty of associates. A lot of the business is legit or semi-legit but you can still buy swag for cheap that “fell off a truck” and get a loan with them. Just gotta know I’ll say one thing I think the next serious downtown we will see a resurgence because it is always right below the surface
SmoovCatto@reddit
the mafia's gone corporate -- they realized running legitimate business as organized crime is easy if you own government
real estate and banking is basically license to enslave the world
HardcoreHope@reddit
I’d consider the circus in the White House to qualify for the answer
Bro_Pesci@reddit
TDS rahhhh
ShipComprehensive543@reddit
your knees, sir, they gotta be bruised by now - lol
Bro_Pesci@reddit
Haha the tolerant left going for the insults. Trump won get over it basement dweller.
ShipComprehensive543@reddit
still on your knees I see. Time to spit.
Bro_Pesci@reddit
Is that all you can say?? Wahh blue haired people told me trump bad so trump bad
Ok_Gas5386@reddit
Not like you see in movies, guys getting garroted stuff like that. They’re mostly in local politics and public contracting.
thatsaSagittarius@reddit
Racketeering is alive and well, especially in professional sports.
No_Entertainment_748@reddit
The Sopranos humanized the mob and potrayed them as mortal and human which hurt them big time
old_Spivey@reddit
No. No it doesn't...now stop talking about it before someone gifts you a pair of cement shoes.
knight1096@reddit
The Balistreri Family in Milwaukee was the top Cosa Nostra family in Milwaukee in the 1920s-1970s and was responsible for a mafia-related car bombing in Vegas. Now they just own a lot of nice restaurants and grocery stores. Although…I’m not so sure the organization has entirely disappeared but has just popped up differently. A very dapper gentleman in his 70s who was from Sicily originally (I’m in my 30s) approached me once when I was at DJ hang out because he thought I was pretty. I will entertain a conversation from anyone because why not. When he found out that I also speak Italian, he gave me his number and told me, in a suddenly very serious tone, that if I’m ever in trouble, I call Gino and there won’t ever be a problem again. Now, I generally don’t get into the level of trouble that needs a Gino fix but I’m happy to use it as a threat if I ever need to.
lisasimpsonfan@reddit
They exist but not like they used to be. They don't have the power like they did in the 60-90's. If you are interested in what the mob was really like back then there is a great podcast called Crooked City: Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown was dubbed Crimetown USA in the 70's because of how much the mafia was in control. It is half way between Chicago and NYC on a major interstate so it became a hub of criminal activity.
TheLeopardMedium@reddit
I grew up in North Jersey, the same town where The Sopranos was based on and filmed in. I know a small handful of mafia guys. One of them owns a garbage disposal company. I have no idea what they do or how violent their lives are but I know they exist.
KiaraNarayan1997@reddit
They exist but not like how they did during Mufasa’s reign, when he didn’t even realize his brother was the one leading the mafia. Then, they rubbed out Mufasa and the Pride Lands was under mafia control for years, because Scar also gaslit Simba into running away. Fortunately, Simba came back and took care of the mafia problem for the most part. They were still around, now led by Zira, but Simba had it a lot more under control now that he knows exactly what is going on. Now that Zira is gone too, the mafia might not even be a threat anymore.
ProjectNo864@reddit
They’re in politics, local governments, coalition La of businesses, construction companies, garbage companies, that get awarded city or county jobs because of “connections” and “favors”
CheeseMongoNJ@reddit
As a nearly lifelong resident of Essex County NJ, I will tell you the Mafia doesn't exist. I will also say that they put Tony Soprano in North Caldwell for a reason. Growing up in West Caldwell, I have a pretty good idea what that reason was......
IrukandjiPirate@reddit
I used to eat at the diner they frequented. Good salads!
CheeseMongoNJ@reddit
Holsten's in Bloomfield was mobbed for months after the last episode aired. We just avoided it for a while.
sabatpatriot@reddit
Yes... I had my entire family killed by Tony Soprano 😭😭😭😭
Very sad
Mafia rules the streets here. I have no control.
Lower_Neck_1432@reddit
Whatever happened there...
kofunopochi@reddit
Paulie couldnt take anymore betrayal.
Appropriate_Ad9157@reddit
The Russian mob has grown to rival the best_ of the worst..
Douglasqqq@reddit
Who wants to know? My memory’s a little fuzzy, if you catch my meaning.
SabresBills69@reddit
yes it does. RICO laws has hurt them. you have other ethnic groups creating their own “ mob”s of organized crime thst are involved in smuggling. you have groups from larin America, Asia, Eastern Europe ( Albania, former Yugoslavian countries, Russia)
ShipComprehensive543@reddit
Yes. I know a few families that are in the mafia and they own businesses like large commercial landscaping companies & nightclubs, do shady things like money laundering, involved in politics, etc. Although I am not 100% certain, but I doubt the crazy violent stuff like you see on the Soprano TV shows, happen.
capsaicinintheeyes@reddit
How'd you end up with a foot in both those underworlds?
ShipComprehensive543@reddit
They were/are neighbors. Grew up with them. One of their uncles (who was higher up in the family) went to prison in RICO charges. Crazy shit.
MajesticBread9147@reddit
Italians have more opportunities now than they did a long time ago, so each generation has more and more people leaving/not joining "the mob".
RICO laws have made centralization a liability, so most organized crime is smaller groups vying for power with each other.
Also in New York specifically, from what I hear the Albanian mafia has overtaken what was traditionally the place of the Italian Mafia, although they work together sometimes.
showerbabies1@reddit
There is some organized crime, but it’s nothing like the movies like The Godfather etc. The federal government crushed them in the 80s and 90s with RICO. The last of the mafia bosses like in the movies was John Gotti.
Jernbek35@reddit
Yes, the Genovese Crime Family alone has 250+ made members and 1000+ associates. Recent arrests and cases including the arrest of an NBA head coach shows they are very very much alive and still run NY/NJ.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5569573-rozier-billups-jones-arrested-fraud/amp/
Anyway, four dollars a pound.
sideburniusmaximus@reddit
Yes, but not the way you think. They just went "legit" and became the NYS government.
P00PooKitty@reddit
There have been a bunch of different new mobs from different ethnic backgrounds, mostly Eastern Europeans. The Italians mostly went straight, I think they realized that corporate America is basically the same thing as the mon
seifd@reddit
Hard to say. I would guess they're still around.
captainjohn_redbeard@reddit
They still exist. The RICO act severely weakened them though.