can anyone tell me facts about the mafia in the 80's?

Not a good era for the Mafia, Beavis. The RICO law was in high gear. Four of the five New York Dons were indicted under RICO (the fifth, Vincent "Chin" Gigante, was still playing his non compos mentis role). Paul Castellano was murdered by John Gotti, who promptly ran the Gambino family into the ground. The other three went to jail for the rest of their lives.

There was James J. "Whitey" Bulger. He was a prominant figure in the Irish Mob, in Boston. I can't quite remember everything, but I do know that he snitched to the FBI, and he was later endicted but fled to Canada. There is a new book about it that I'm trying to find called Black Mass.