Hi, I'm new here. I was hoping someone here could help me out with something.

I'm writing a novel that takes place in modern Cleveland. It's not a true-crime novel, just fiction, but I still want to make it believable. I've only been to Cleveland a few times, so I am not too familiar with it, but chose it because I wanted the story to take place in a rust belt city.

I know that mafia activity in Ohio, if still existent at all, is rather limited, but the (fictional) crime families in my story aren't supposed to be super powerful mega organizations like the Five Families in New York. It's not necessarily going to be the traditional mafia type of story, the last thing I want to write is some knock-off of the Godfather. The first book in the series is rather small scale.

With that said, I was hoping someone here would be knowledgeable enough to give me a feel for Cleveland organized crime today. Clevelandmob.com helped me out a little bit but not very much. Not too much information available after the 1980's. Any information could help: unique slang they might use, differences in family structure compared to the New York families, predominant ethnicities of the mobs (Italian? Irish? Jewish? Russian?), activities, size, culture, whatever.

Also I could use some beta readers when the time comes, if anyone is interested, as well. It will be my first completed novel and will therefore most likely suck, but that doesn't mean I won't do my best to make it as good as on page as it is in my head. I've been developing it in my notes and in my head for about a year now, but have only been seriously working on it for the past four to five months.

Anyways, thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out. I've lurked a few threads here and it seems like at least some of the users are pretty smart and knowledgeable people.