Exactly. The Mafia (LCN) still has this reputation in a lot of people's minds as being this all-powerful and unrivaled criminal group that makes every other criminal group run scared. In many guys minds, a made man can walk on water. I mean, I don't worship criminals or extoll the virtues of any criminal group, but to me, the facts are clear: The American Mafia has not been the top criminal group in the USA for a long time. There's way too much competition. Changing demographics played a huge role. LCN lost its influence in the prisons, too. Lewisburg no longer has a Mafia Row. Nowadays, LCN members in the can have to use other ethnic groups for protection.

yes they are still in new york and a couple of other cities, if you think they are not the top dogs in new york youre talking out of your ass no matter you live there and me not
of course they are much less strong than they used to be in the past but being the biggest priority in some areas it means they are the strongest there i don't think fbi would be so interested in going after them if they were a bunch of nobody like you claim

the mafia are most certainly near the top of the criminal underworld in new york but it depends on your definition of top. in terms of controling territory by force, then definatly not. if you mean connections and behind the scenes controling and extorting companies and corruption at the local level, then yes. its all subjective.

honestly i don't understand your point, lcn is clearly still the strongest organization in new york and probably in the states as a single organization
youre talking like street gangs can do whatever they want lol they control a couple of zones at most they are not able to control even a single city because of too much competition between them...
it's logic that all the street gangs combined have more impact thena mafia but a single street gang is nothing even compared to a small lcn family

point is the mafia still are in control of certain rackets but they dont have anywhere close to a monopoly like they once did. simple/

i'm agree with this i said it is not what it used to be but although weakened is still a big priority in some areas
and i don't see any single street gang even close to mafia even today, although strong in their limited zones they are nothing at national level not even ms13 or latin kings they are involved in street crimes only so how can they be powerful with no political connections?

Yes, in New York LCN is still strong. New York is one of the last areas where LCN is a big force. But they've lost a lot of strength and influence, partly due to law enforcement crackdowns and partly because of the shifting demographics and emergence of other ethnic criminal groups. I never said they were a nobody; I said they are not the top criminal force anymore. If the mob was so big and bad, they would own and run all the major moneymaking rackets and share profits with nobody. But it's not like that. The LCN has to work with other groups; or, on a smaller scale, focus on small gambling and loansharking operations within their own boroughs.

my point is that although much weakened the mob seems to be still the most powerful as a single group among the others (street gangs, bikers, russians etc.) and probably the single richer group
like i said in some areas its still top dogs even in the drug field its works often behind scenes since in the states you got very heavy sentences for drugs its a dangerous field

m2w, was looking for any info you might have on the present day activities of the Sacra Corona Unita such as size influence ect?

The Cosa Nostra will always be around,and they will always earn a lot of money,but their time is over,30-40 years ago there wasnt so much competition like today,and they take most pressure from government.But well:

FBI - Forever Bothering Italians

it's very strong in the province of foggia where there is one of the strongest group at national level according to police,in the rest of apulia is the same, strongly involved in drugs, extortions, gambling etc, strong connections with camorra especially and albanians across the adriatic... the members should be about 15.000 between made members and associates, around 1500 made members i think

This could be a decent topic, if ya know..it was in it's own thread, or the proper thread.

Forgive me for saying, maybe it's the woman in me, maybe I like things organized... but you guys open new threads everytime the slightest thought crosses your minds, except when you should.

How i see street gangs: just a bunch of idi*ts capable of running nothing expect petty crimes etc The real deal are: Russians,Mexicans,Columbians and Italians.The one i mentioned will always have much more money then street gangs, but they will never have man power that street gangs have.

They easily could have more man power than a street gang if they wanted to. more $$$ = more hired help

Small gambling and loansharking? Some families run huge operations, the biggest in the country and the laws are tougher on all syndicates now days, not just the mafia. Look at the gang stats posted by NickyScarfo- Gangs were at there peak in the early-mid 90's and have declined steadily. It much harder for all criminals now day and I don't know why you people are acting as though the cops and prosecutors only use new laws, new forensics and other new technology ect on the mafia and when it comes to other criminals they are only use 1950's technology and procedures.
Also the mafia has always worked with others so your comment that they are now forced to work with other groups because they are so weak is moot. I guess your not up on your mob history or you would know that's exactly why Lucky Luciano killed his boss, because his boss didn't want to work with other ethnics.

Actually more like it took the small Albanian crew 3-4 years to even get on the Gambino's radar. You are completely wrong if you think any domestic American syndicate is above the mafia.

people can agree to disagree about the albanians. When it comes to things like gambling and labour rackets and their history then yeah they are a cut above the rest. But what im saying is on the street in this day and age when it comes down to it they are on the same level as most other groups. No one needs to really go to them for anything and no one needs to work with them.

Mussolini, the five families are a domestic american syndicate. Very few of them are connected to sicilian gangsters in sicily.

True,i know that Frank Cali and a lot of guys from gambino have connections to Sicilian Mafia,Their boss is Sicilian and a reputed soldier Lorenzo Mannino is italian born too.Today they work with other groups and they always worked,like 3-4 months ago some Russians and Gambinos,Bonannos were arrested for bringing womens from Eastern Europe to NY.Better to work with each other and earn money together,than to be in war with each other.

This is one of the truest statements I've read on here.

Sicilian mafioso that are here in the US (and by Sicilian, I mean born and raised in Sicily) have little to do with Italo-American mafia anymore. They don't care that your father's mother is from Sicily, blah blah blah. To them, you're American and that means they don't trust you and in fact, they make jokes about american mafia (you understand why).
They come to the US and seek out their own, to do business with their own, from their very own town in Sicily ideally, and they are the only ones they trust and will do business with anymore. The American mob are pretty much flying solo these days with little to no connection to homeland in Sicily.

There are a few still around, Frank Cali is one, but he's born in the US, anyhow.

Yeah there are probably a handful of guys with connections, but most of your average mob soldiers are not that wide in scope of criminal activities and cannot make use of connections like that.

In that case the russians were a separate group that were specialising in people trafficking and the italians were customers who could supply strip clubs with women. Shows they still got their hands in alot of vice activity in ny.

your right

Back when the pizza connection was up the sicilians needed to allign themselves with a crime family for protection and also the connections on the street or else how were they gonna distribute their heroin otherwise. If they didnt they would be opening themselves up to getting robbed and shot at cause they had no real backup in the country. These days the sicilians that are left from back then are more closer to their american counterparts than italian ones because america is where theyve made their money and leaving the family leaves them vunerable. Its all about protection within mafia, its just an extortion racket on criminals within certain areas.

The worship of Italian-American mobsters is alive and well I see......

I think Chin Gigante had a giant "S" painted on his undershirt and exchanged his bathrobe for a cape when he went home at night!

i dont think so, they are still above the others since more sophisticated and entrenched
on the contrary of other groups that are involved in petty crimes only they have still deals (although much less than the past) in unions, waste disposal, buildings,transports, ports, fruit and fishes markets, politics etc.
i think they are still above the others by far, they were not reduced at the same level of eurasian, balkan groups or street gangs

unions, waste disposal and the others you listed dont for most part bring them into any contact with other groups, the only people that go after them in those rackets are law enforcement. Im talking in terms of their relations with other gangs and also their place in the drug trade.

the fact they are involved in these fields show they are above the other groups by far... they are also involved in drugs, gambling, extortions etc. in the areas where they are still strong they are above even in these fields

in drugs and extortion they arent above anyone. theres about a dozen different other groups that do the same thing some even to a greater extent than the mob. They have an edge when it comes to gambling ill give you that. Ill say that there more expansive in terms of the variety activity but to say that their still a dominant group is just untrue.

they are not big in drugs like they used to be at national level but in certain areas are still the top dogs of course the underworld is much more fractured today but if i would say the strongest group as a whole in the states i still say the cosa nostra since other groups are not so strong like you claim... i think the mafia is above others in general coz it's involved in more and more important fields than others thats what i mean when i say its above

The New York Mob is slowly going the way of the Mickey Mouse Mafia (Los Angeles family): bye-bye. Law enforcement success combined with stoolies in their own ranks have severely decimated the once-powerful Cosa Nostra.