Thanks, and thanks to all of you for the positive comments. My traffic on a daily basis has DOUBLED in the past week and think this BB is partly the reason. So, thanks for your support.

Now Ivy League, you know your stuff! I had a question maybe you could answer -- does the 1,500 or 1,000 include associates? As we all probably know, each soldier has his own crew of associates ranging from - maybe 5 to 10? The number would be significantly higher. Then you have the crooked businessmen who share or pay mob bosses, some law enforcement-types on the payroll, etc. I think that number is strictly limited to made men, so perhaps you could times that number by 10! Look at all the press coverage the Mafia gets -- and not just in New York. Read any newspaper in any city, chances are, you'll find a mob story somewhere...

I haven't looked into this thread too deeply yet, so sorry if I repeated something someone else may have said.