With so many other organized crime groups and gangs operating in Montreal, it just seems to me that a group of Italian freelancers with no official bond or organizational belonging would get ran over and treated with no respect, yet these guys are treated like royalty in the underworld, with the exception of their rivals and traitors of course. They're still called the Mafia by the media and more than likely recognized as such by other groups in the underworld. In other cities where we've seen Italian criminals pop up running illegal gambling or whatever, the media doesn't refer to them as the mob, unlike in Montreal. That's the main difference here.