How did the Americans lose their political contacts? At one time it appeared like they were the most powerful entity in the country and one of the most powerful entities in the world based on how people talk about them throughout most of the 20th century. They were on pace to be the most powerful criminal enterprise in the world but somewhere they unraveled. Now it is laughable to even compare their success and wealth to that of the Italians.
anyway italian mafia groups in italy (aside ndrangheta) are not powerful how used to be by the late '70 -
to early '90 when they were at their peak, the pressure of law is by far greater today, everybody knows the mafia exists as a criminal group, the mafia-related murders diminished heavily, in 1991 about 700, in 1992 about 400, today 50 at most
