I'm sorry to ask this question but what makes the mafia so powerful and different from other large American gangs like the Latin Kings, Texas Syndicate or Tangos Blast etc? Is the mafia really the most powerful gangs or other gangs like the Texas Syndicate that have sophisticated structures and deal in drug trafficking and drug sales is equally or more powerful than some mafia families? Or is the Mafia's past is somewhat clouding or misleading the actual power of the Mafia in 2014. I know the mafia is not organization but a plural name for Italian-American sophisticated gangs and sophisticated structure. But I have to ask,how much money the largest family is making a year(Genovese)?
Sorry for my ignorance but I simply don't know much about the mob but I simply can not believe the mob is as powerful as it's potrayed. I like to think that there are some gangs that make much more money than the mob like American drug organizations like the Black Mafia family.
The Mafia at it's peak here in the U.S. was national in scope (approx 2 dozen families), controlled the lion's share of criminal enterprises in several U.S. cities, the "big four" national labor unions and countless locals in the northeast and midwest, whole industries in New York, and had unrivaled clout with politicians, judges, cops, etc. No criminal organization before or since, including the modern day Mafia, has, does have, or will have that kind of influence in this country.
That said, fast forward to today and what remains of the modern day Mafia is basically the 5 New York families and a handful of small ones in New Jersey, New England, Philadelphia, and Chicago. While a good argument can be made that the Mafia is still the strongest criminal organization in the Tri-State area, if not the northeast where about 90% of it's membership remains, in terms of an overall organized crime threat to this country, the Mexican DTO's are now #1 with their dominance of the drug trade across most of the nation. I'd look at these groups first before the drug/prison gangs you mentioned above.
