I tuned into the Dan Abrams show friday on MSNBC hosted by a woman whose name I can't recall who was subbing for Joe. She stated that Mafia familes are only operative in New York and Chicago these days due to relentless federal prosecution. I though "how naive". Your thoughts.

The Mob has been deeply damaged by relentless federal prosecution via double-digit drug and RICO sentences. Also, greater opportunities in the legitimate world, coupled with greater assimilation of Italian-Americans of Southern Italian descent, have diminished the pool of top-notch operators--compare Gotti pere et fils with Carlo Gambino.
Selwyn Raab, in his outstanding Mob book, "The Five Families," acknowledges, on the one hand, that federal prosecution and assimilation have weakened the Mob. But Raab also notes that, since 9/11, many of the resources that had been directed at busting organized crime have been redirected toward anti-terrorism. He sees this as a vacuum in which the Mob can renew itself.
My view: As long as people want to do things that are prohibited by law--gamble at places other than racetracks or casinos; buy and use drugs; borrow money they're not entitled to; receive stolen goods; patronize prostitutes, etc.--there'll always be criminals and criminal organizations to satisfy their needs. But I doubt that the Mafia will ever be as big or powerful as it once was.

I think the mafia will seize any oppurtunity that appears in order to increase their power again; but IMHO, there will always be a group of "old-boys", so to speak- a group that will always stick to the traditional values of the cosa nostra; traditional values that some of the others might regard as being a bit aged and old-school by now. But I do truly think that the mafia has such strong roots and generates such an appeal, shall we say, to new potential "recruits", that it will be impossible for anyone or any organisation to stamp it out completely. And no matter how hard the feds or whoever crack down on the mob, the public will directly and indirectly feed it supply lines in order to keep it from going under forever; in the demand for all the illegal things that turnbull listed. As Anthrax once said, you cannot kill what doesn't die. There will always be some corruption in the world.

Turnbull, can we say Cosa Nostra is dead? You know Mafia had been living more than 500 years. Can we say Mafia is not dangerous anymore and it is definitly dead or do you think there will be Mafia until the end of the world?

The mafia is far from death both in the US and Italy. Espacially in Italy they are still very powerfull.

I think they will never be as powerfull as they once were but because the terrorism less attention is payed to the mafia..

You mean Mafia is powerful just for the attention payed? I mean, I guess Mafia is more powerful if they keep a low profile and the law enforcement taking care about terrorism.

Turnbull, can we say Cosa Nostra is dead? You know Mafia had been living more than 500 years. Can we say Mafia is not dangerous anymore and it is definitly dead or do you think there will be Mafia until the end of the world? [/b][/quote]No, the Mafia is not dead, nor did I say it was dead. And yes, it's still dangerous. But I'll stay with what I did say: I doubt that the Mafia will ever be as big or powerful as it once was.

Yes, it still has appeal to some young people, and they will keep it going in some form or another. But the quality of the recruits is really poor today. Generations ago, when opportunities for Italian Americans were very constricted, the Mafia was the "employer of last resort" in some neighborhoods (just as the phone company was for WASPs in small towns). A handful of Mafiosi--Charlie Luciano, Frank Costello, Tony Accardo, Carlo Gambino--could hve been successful in business, the professions or the arts if they'd had the chance. Today, bright young men of Italian descent have vastly more opportunities in the legitimate world. The Mafia gets the Junior Gotti's and Sammy Gravano's of thw world. :rolleyes:

You mean Mafia is powerful just for the attention payed? I mean, I guess Mafia is more powerful if they keep a low profile and the law enforcement taking care about terrorism. [/b][/quote]No, I mean that the FBI is busy fighting terrorism and because of that putting less pressure on the mafia. Of course, for the mafia that's a positive fact.

And as Turnbull said: the mafia will never become as powerfull as the once were.

I believe also that Mob will never be as powerful as it was, probaly not even close to it. For the reason of, they couldnt get away with half the stuff that they did back in the golden days. There'll never be another Gambino, or Castellano, or Gotti again. Maybe there will be some big shots in todays world, but back then when the "buisness" wasnt so legitimate is long gone. I dont think the Mob will return to its full power, all we have now is the past.

Its my opinion and to my understanding that alot of the bigger mafia families have legitimized most of their operations, which had been the next logical step to avoid federal prosecution.

"But the quality of the recruits is really poor today."

I read about this somewhere; and in a way, I feel almost sorry for the mafia about their recruitment processes, and how the majority of their recruits nowadays are "really poor quality". I love the way you put it, Turnbull. That's smoother than smooth talking, if I ever I heard it!

Anyway, as one of my favourite t-shirts reads; "There are some things you can buy legally. For everything else, there's the mafia."

Where there are people living in civilisation there will be crime.
Where there is crime there will be "organised" crime....

The book Five Families by Selwyn Raab makes a point that the Mafia in America is far from dead and that it has plenty of recruits. It even sttaes that the Dons have gone back to requiring two Italian parents instead of just the father and the FBI's emphasis on terrorism has significantly sapped manpower and financial strength formerly devoted to Mafia investigations.