I think without murder you cannot have a mafia, or an underworld. Killing is the only way to enforce rules in the underworld. It also happens to be the way power is consolidated and wealth accumulated.

Sonny Franzese said that the days when you could leave a guy in the street were over. You had to make him disappear.

I am of the personal belief that one of the ways the mafia enriches itself, how brokesters become big earners, is by killing their associates and stealing their wealth. You look at the hierarchy of a mafia family and the ranks are filled with guys who have killed scores (10, 20, 30, and 50 hits apiece). They are not killing made men. If they were, there'd be no mafia left.

That's my opinion.

It seems like the mafia doesn't kill people anymore, but I think they do. I think today they either make the person disappear or they make the hit look like something else happened. Only their methods have changed. The target might be a pop star. So they can't shoot the guy and leave him in the street. So they force him to take a doctor different from the one he normally uses and then poison him with anesthesia. No one thinks violent crime. They think..."druggie killed himself".