Of how the mafia is in the decline what do you think mafia's future will be like with it's ethnicity, the mafia uses albanians mostly for muscle work cause their fearless, tough, and ruthless, also there are alot of them over here and still coming to America not many zips. So if one day if the mafia has to, do you think they'll make albanians in any families if they have to if it comes to the point.

No. Hypothetically, you could possibly see a guy that is part Italian/part Albanian get made. But you'll never seen anyone get made that doesn't at least have some Italian blood. In recent years they've tightened up on the full Italian requirement anyway.

Despite constant indictments and informants, la cosa nostra will remain Italian oriented members. They been for over 100 years and will continue to exist for the next century.

How many Albanians are they actually using besides Zef Mustafa?

Zef is the most well known but there are others. Angelo Prisco's crew was using Albanians for robberies and other things. In a Colombo case a while back, there was one Albanian guy who was charged with dealing marijuana.

Exactly, from what I've gathered, in the more recent years of La Cosa Nostra (post 1990's onwards) the Italian mob use Albanians as enforcers or hit men.

Albanians come from a very mob-orientated background so they gel well with Italian-American mobsters and La Cosa Nosta. An example is alleged Albanian mob boss Alex Rudaj, who was initially the first Gambino associate to develop a functioning crew of Albanians to work for John Gotti before turning against the Gambino's and the Italian mob for territory in the late 1990's/2001.

Is the mafia really in decline? Or are they just more involved with legit businesses these days? I mean, im sure they can make lots of money as banksters and on wall street.

i think is just weaker than it used to be at its peak thats coz they say is in decline but its very far from the end its seem still much active in new york and other areas



thats impossibile only italians can be made there are albanians associates like they had jews irish russians and so on its the same thing

But in America will there be an end to the Italian ethnicity itself? Some related culture would have run the mafia, would they?

Yeah, well i think chinese, russians, bulgarians, mexicans and albanians will fill in the holes.
The mafia is like a secret state within the state. And just like a state it is mainly motivated by money and power. I think organised crime is increasingly a part of legit businesses. For example a lot of the cloths sold in America comes via the camorra in Naples.
The whole russian economy is supposed to be run by gangsters. The owner of Chelsea, one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world, Roman Abramovitch, consolidated his power in the 90ies amidst 100s of assasinations. The assasinations stopped once he had gained controll.
It is usually a sign of weakness when the mafia commit violence. The violence is usually an attempt to consolidate power. Or its vendetta, retaliation against people who are trying to reduce your power by violence.

like has been stated before, there will come a time in the future (not sure when) where the mafia in the us will only be around in nyc.

As long as there are profit to be made outside the state system, organised crime will persist. Just avoiding taxation is an enough incentive to stay on the outside and be an outlaw.
And to do trade illegally, you cant rely on the police for protection of your goods and market share.

Trade is the keyword. The mafia is making profit by either providing illegal goods or by "taxing" legal goods.

For example the armenian mafia in Glensdale, California is making money by "protecting" the businesses. this protection fee is in reality a mafia taxation. Instead of the state taxing you and giving you police protection in return, the mafia is doing it.

It might be helpful to draw a distinction between "Mafia" and "LCN." At one point, the terms were more or less interchangeable. These days, though, "Mafia" is almost a generic term meaning any kind of organization, frequently ethnically-based, that makes a living through illegal activity.

Asking whether LCN is going away is one thing. Asking whether organized crime will ever go away is another thing entirely.

I didn't know that LCN had been tightening up on the 100% Italian requirement.

That is probably one of the reasons why the mafia is in the decline people are mixed with the different ethnicities these days, and it is probably rare to find a full blooded Italian from the younger generation of today. Most of the younger generations Italians maybe part Irish something like that but keep the Italian surname.

At this point in time the mafia in its true since will no longer exist. But organized crime will never stop operating.

At the last known Commission meeting back in 2000 (the one chaired by Massino) they supposedly went back to the requirement a guy had to be 100% Italian. But it wouldn't surprise me if certain well-connected guys who are only partially Italian still get in. A guy just Italian on his father's side was no longer the institutionalized minimum.

Selwyn Raab, at the conclusion of his outstanding "The Five Families," makes the point that the success of the Commission case incented US Attorneys around the country to make a name for themselves busting Mafia in their territories. But, since 9/11, a great deal of the resources that were used against the Mob have been diverted to combatting terrorism. And, as others have stated, as long as people want things that are prohibited to them or that they don't deserve or can't get legitimately, there'll always be organizations to serve their needs.

Probably the biggest factor working against the Mafia is the full assimilation and success of Italian-Americans. When they were a scorned and despised minority--living in the American equivalent of small Southern Italian and Sicilian villages and distrusting all outsiders, including government and schools--the Mafia was able to exploit their own people and troll for members who had no other way to succeed. Some of them--Tony Accardo, Charlie Luciano, Frank Costello, Carlo Gambino, to name a few--could have been successful in business, the professions or the arts if they'd had the chance. Now college, not the Mob, is the preferred destination for capable young Italian-Americans. The Mafia is left with the John and Junior Gotti's of the world.

Turnbull, you make an amazing point when it comes to why there isnt the overall quality of member as there was 100years ago, only a select few that should be in th board room are on the streets now but more likely in jail. Just look at how quickly the Jewish gangster really disappeared from the equation, they left the ghetto and made it up town to better schools and opportunities. The Italians have had a long run and are no where near gone, but they are not on top of organized crime in America as a whole anymore.