The last two Outfit related "busts" were loan sharking/extortion-related.
There isn't much big money in small time sports betting anymore. Nor with poker machines. There's still money & the Outfit still capitalizes, but those ventures are dying out.
The outfit's primary source of income these days is extortion/sharking, primarily obscure start up businesses & strip clubs/smut related establishments, with a fair amount of these endeavours taking place cross country, as was we saw in the Carparelli indictment. Bogus real estate scams & drug dealing are also probably a big source of income for them, and the usual stuff like fencing & small time burglary.
The reality is that the Outfit owns all the midwest manufacturing companies for poker machines. So they stand to make a lot of money by IL legalizing gambling and not having to hide things.
The sports books are also huge still - not to the extent they once were, but there are bookies all over Chicago sitting in bars taking action and kicking up to Tony Dote.
Bogus real estate and bid rigging are also huge. I'm not so sure many of these guys are into drugs anymore or street level shit - I would bet the guys on Grand Avenue and a few in Cicero will still dabble, but the real players today are guys like Panzarella or Chris Giuliano that own or operate legitimate businesses that already make good money. Pudgy's son just opened a major bar in Melrose Park that's actually a great place to hang out: Taverna on Division. The kid went to West Point and still comes back to Chicago and runs businesses with Outfit money.
There are very few real "street" gangsters left in Chicago - guys like Albie or Inendino or Bobby Pannozzo are the rarity in my opinion.
