I talked to an FBI agent while down the shore last year (friend of the family) and he said although the mafia will never be what they once were, they are def on the rise because law enforcement is so focused on terrorism.
That's a fair assessment. But I still say the feds will only let them "rise" so high. Eliminating murder is the key. If they start killing each other like they did back in the day, the feds will turn up the heat in a heartbeat. But that's a double-edged sword. If they stop killing people, pretty soon they're not as feared as they once were, and the whole thing starts to break down.
The older guys that are successful and still on the street are happy with the way things are. The younger guys are probably pissed off because they feel they were born too late and they have no money. It's when these younger dopes start to think they can behave like their bosses did thirty years ago that they'll have a problem. And that thinking is inevitable.
