Im currently reading Donnie Brasco and I read something that made me wonder how powerful the mafia actually is.

"A guy had a pizza joint next door to Lefty's social club. Lefty decided he didn't like him anymore, so he beat him up and threw him off the street. The guy was an ordinary citizen, and he now wanted $2,000 for damages. Lefty said if he didn't come up with the money, the guy would press charges."

How would a regular and unconnected guy get away with pressing charges against a made man of one of the five families? I thought the mafia was somewhat untouchable when it came to getting snitched on by outsiders because of the retaliation involved. Am I overestimating the power of LCN?

The mafia wasn't supposed to terrorize civilians. That brings unwanted attention from the authorities. In the old days, the authorities may be willing to not get too involved with mafia skirmishes between each other, but when it came to private citizens there would be more public pressure to intervene.

So Lefty would be in dilemma. He brings heat by whacking a private citizen and if he goes to jail he adds to his record which means he's a greater liability to get a long sentence if he gets pinched in a legitimate LCN racket. Best to pay the guy off

Yeah I know the mafia doesn't go after civilians, "We only kill each other". But surely the mafia doesn't want to seem weak by giving into an unconnected guy's demands?I wouldn't say that they kill him but more along the line of telling him to take a hike.

But what I was getting at in my first post, even if he was a civilian surely the mafia has the power to stop people from snitching on them, so why would Lefty have to cough up $2,000 when he can just send a couple guys round to shut him up?