That's true, but because they have such influence on the streets La Eme do have a pivotal role to play. I found it interesting when the Mongols were drawn into a confrontation with La Eme about La Eme members having duel membership with both sets.

To La Eme this wasn't acceptable and the Mongols were on the receiving end of some very heavy firepower and in the end the Mongols had no choice but to pay the Mexican Mafia off. If a Mexican street gang deals on Mexican Mafia territory then they has to pay up or face the consequences. Outlaw MC, street thugs or petty crooks.

Now the Mafia in southern California can't really be compared to the North East. But why I said that La Eme were the most efficient organised crime group ona street level is because the co-ordination of alot of street thugs and gangs takes some doing in this day and age and they have achieved this aim on a very impressive level.

However alot of La Eme members are psycopaths and dope fiends but this hasn't prevented them from encroaching into local polictics and having representatives in Government funded programs that have proved lucrative.

What LCN have is connections. This Irish fella from Inwood who worked in the Unions once told me that the political connections the mob has in New York whether on a labour union level or otherwise is what has kept LCN so strong despite the indictments and the heavy hits they keep taking. They've adapted and moved with the times which is something they've been doing since the Outfit moved from bootlegging and Charles 'the Camel' Humphreys got them laundering money into laundromats and other local businesses. With easy flow of capital through the web and catastrphes like the sub-prime mortgage boom the Mafia has been on hand with some ingenius ways to capitalise.

In some ways LCN are overated, sometimes underated but overall they're still a presence but on a street level less powerful. The only place where they retain a powerful street presence is Toronto and Montreal. In my opinon. But as long as they look after their own they don't need to. One of the advantages of having such a long history of connections.