Compared to what they used to do , its dead when it comes to violent crimes..
Thoughts?
The mob has moved on to other things. I don't see them really using violence anymore to conduct business. Unless of course those stories don't make the paper.
I'm speaking of the Italian mob. I think alot of what they deal with are white collar crimes like fraud and stuff like that. Gambling is still a good way to make money along with loan sharking. Cause we all know that not everyone can go to the bank and get a loan. There are many people who's credit is just messed up where they will never be able to get a loan on a car or house.
There is a difference between the Mafia no longer having the position it once did decades ago and it actually being
dead. At least as I understand the term. As a result of mainly attrition and law enforcement, the Mafia certainly is dead in several cities it once inhabited. But it's certainly not dead in New York or, to a lesser extent, in New Jersey, New England, Philadelphia, or Chicago.
Some of the rackets have changed. Others have not. Violence isn't used as widely, often for good reason. But it's not just a result of the mob being weakened but also of it having to adapt to the times. In this day and age, murders cannot be committed as freely as they once were. Once the damage is done, the risk of hunting a rat down may outweigh the reward. If anything, the mob has shown that it can still largely function, even if at a weakened state, despite the rats. Individuals may defect, including high-ranking ones, but the organization goes on.
It's a Mob or Mafia and its controlled, just because a guy takes bets doesn't make him a mobster. Try and make book in NYC twenty or thirty years ago, you would have got your head cut off. Now there's little fear or organization.
Even today, non-connected bookies in New York, and certain other areas of the Northeast, are more the exception than the rule. Especially if they're not just small-timers. If you look at the cases going back more than decade, virtually every major sports betting bust from Boston all the way down to Philadelphia has been mob-connected in one way or another. It's one business the LCN has been rather successful in maintaining it's dominance over.
