Nobody said Detroit "isn't active" or that they "turned their lives around." There are still mob guys in Detroit who are involved in bookmaking and loansharking. But you could also say that about Buffalo or Kansas City.

The dispute is over how big, active, and strong the family still is. For anyone who thinks the family has 50+ members in 2014 and is that hierarchical (as the above chart shows), I have a bridge in Brooklyn AND swampland in Florida I want to sell you.