While I usually agree with Ivy's post I have to disagree with the assumption that because there are not as many arrests as being proof of less criminal activity.
How do we measure mob activity in a certain area? Articles, news stories, government reports, hell, even anecdotal accounts by people on the internet have their place. But for my money, the strongest indicator is indictments. Why? Indictments are a result of law enforcement attention, which in turn is a result of the level of activity of a family. It's pretty simple...
Little activity = Little LE attention = Few Indictments
More activity = More LE attention = More Indictments
And the indictments over the past decade have proven this. The most is in New York, followed by smaller families in New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Then very little elsewhere.
Has Detroit somehow managed to avoid law enforcement scrutiny simply because they're smarter than everyone else? I'd say there's less law enforcement scrutiny because the mob in Detroit isn't as big or operates on the level some believe it still does.
But hey, maybe I'm way off and the Milwaukee family has perfected evasion of law enforcement since there's been no significant activity there since the 1980's.
