I think it's apples and oranges and it's aimless to compare a homegrown syndicate to a government backed cartel.
Mexicans involved in OC have actively shown themselves to be part and parcel govermnet and criminal.........not one and the other but both at the same time. For instance take a group of renegade army soldiers/deserters like the ZETAS. Would you consider them criminal organization? They took an oath saying they would hunt down drug dealers before becoming drug dealers themselves....they changed up because it was beneficial and the money was good. These arent gangsters these are corrupt soldiers/cops/politicians its why Mexico and most other 3rd world countries are in the whole they are in.......corruption.


Italian crime syndicate started in direct defense against the state...not with the state. Their oaths although violated recently withstood 200 plus years without anyone ever even acknowledging they existed. Mexico is a small fry and will go the way of the overhyped----Afghanistan Herion traders/ Russian cybercriminals ( note their no no Russian Mafia) Colombian FARC guerrillas-PLO who were the biggest gun runners of the world and the IRA who trained the most fighters by engaging in organized crime.

Certainly the Mexican government drug cartels are the bigger threat than LCN, even at the height of their power. A more Equal comparison would be Mexican cartels and the Sicilian Mafia under Toto Riina. North Korea should be considered too and 20-30 years ago the biggest threat would have been the Red Army.
Be that as it may, as far as home grown syndicates go like biker gangs, Bloods, Crips, M13, ect I do not doubt LCN to be the biggest threat.

the mafia is not the most powerful in new york only but other parts like new jersey rhode island boston etc...

And as strong as the NY families may be, I simply cannot believe that they are more of an OC threat when compared with the cartels. Just look at the figures. The cartels are bringing in billions. LCN, millions at best.

Ivy, How much money do you think the NY 5 families generate? I have read that in the 80's it was in the billions and Castellano was ranting that "its better to make 2 billion with less attention than 5 billion and have LE breathing down our backs" or something to that effect when explaining why he had a "no drug dealing rule" to the commission. I think the figures he spoke of were in reference to the entire mafia, not just the Gambino's We now know Paul only enforced the no drug dealing rule on people he didn't like.

I know they probably don't make as much now as they did in the 80's and they certainly don't make the kind of money the drug cartels make but what would you estimate they bring in in a year?

Ivy, How much money do you think the NY 5 families generate? I have read that in the 80's it was in the billions and Castellano was ranting that "its better to make 2 billion with less attention than 5 billion and have LE breathing down our backs" or something to that effect when explaining why he had a "no drug dealing rule" to the commission. I think the figures he spoke of were in reference to the entire mafia, not just the Gambino's We now know Paul only enforced the no drug dealing rule on people he didn't like.

I know they probably don't make as much now as they did in the 80's and they certainly don't make the kind of money the drug cartels make but what would you estimate they bring in in a year?

That's virtually impossible to say. Even official estimates are all over the place. For the Genovese family, I've seen figures ranging from $100 million to $2 billion a year. Also, it depends on whether people are talking gross income or net profits. So I don't know how much stock I put in them. It's the same thing for the cartels and much of it depends on how you do the math. Most law enforcement and press sources use retail street value figures for narcotics, which are several times higher than the figures at the production or wholesale levels. That's why you may see one figure for $3 billion and another for $30 billion.

Mexican criminal organizations are not backed up by the government and certainly not one and the same, sure cartels buy off politicians/municipal police/state police/federal police and sometimes army officials but they are not one and the same. There are police officers than join into their ranks but the police and politicians they buy off don't know their whereabouts or activities. Now it's a myth the original Zetas were part of Mexico's elite anti-terror/trafficking unit, most of the deserters were normal Mexican soldiers and were originally hired to be the private bodyguards of Osiel Cardenes in the 90s and from there they grew into their armed wing.