before the valachi hearings and applachin the mob was just a myth. but if those 2 things never happened how long do you think the mob would've been unknown for?

???

probably not that long. ten years maybe?

People on the street always knew that it was there. Listen to old Gov. Dewey tapes, what do you think he was talking about? Perhaps folks in New Mexico or Iowa weren't aware but then it wasn't touching them personally. And they don't read out there anyway.

Alex is right the only people saying it was a myth was the FBI and that was supposedly because the mob were helping J.Edgar Hoover win alot of money from horse racing .

Camarel ^^^ If you have Netflix and watch the tv series not the movie "American Gangster." They have an episode an abou Hoover they had a picture of him with another man and they weren't playing twister..he was blackmailed for years even though everyone assumed he was a little light in the loafers. Nowadays with TMZ they'd have a picture of the guy or even a video

You actually believe that story?

Come on.

Rumors that Lansky had Hoover "by the balls"...btw in a backstabbin world nothing lasts 4ever and the mob was not a myth,the government always knew about the mob cuz they were in business with em so everything was just placed as a myth for the average citizen

52 years, 10 months, 8 hours, 7 minutes and 4 seconds.

Give or take.

LOL

Re. Hoover being a gambling addict or homosexual: I posted on that subject here:
http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthr...true#Post546917

I think by the time of the Valachi hearings, most Americans were aware that there was such a thing as "organized crime," or "the mob," or "the Syndicate." But I don't think they were aware that Italian gangs across the country were linked by the Commission and had "rules," structures, etc., in common. The busted-up Apalachin meeting and its extensive news coverage pretty much raised awareness before that.

True they didnt know the inside structure of the mob before Apalachin,i mean who could've?!But the turth is every1 knew the mob existed and it was more as a "open secret"

People in big cities knew about "organized crime" before Apalachin because newspapers covered Mob arrests or shootouts. When police told them that so-and-so was "linked to organized crime," or was "part of a gang that controlled the waterfront," the papers printed it, or the radio carried it. But, outside a few big cities, not many people knew about "the Mob," even if Mafia-related gangsters were controlling gambling, prostitution, drugs, etc., in their burgs.