Ludovico, did you ever read this book? From the questions you have and the points you make I think you might enjoy it, that is if you haven't already read it. wink



http://www.amazon.com/Black-Brothers-Inc...3066&sr=8-1

It goes into brutal detail about a modern era Black criminal organization that spawned killers as brutal as any in Murder Inc.,had wide ranging rackets such as extortion, numbers, narcotics, loan sharking, gambling, various white collar frauds, government scams, and maintained an ongoing network of political corruption and fraud at the local and state levels. At some times this organization did business with the Bruno Family but at other times it conducted "hostile takeovers" of gambling and numbers routes previously owned by the Bruno Family.

Many of the more farsighted, less personally violent leaders that are still alive are still a force in various Philadelphia and East Coast municipal corruption and businesses such as cable contracts, waste hauling and racetracks, having either been forced out of direct street level action or having turned it over to younger and less risk averse people. One of the organization's fixers, a cleric, Shamsud-din Ali, was on Mayor Street's transition team.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.