What's the state on them now ? Are they still as powerful as they used to be ?

And another thing I always wondered about the Mexican Mafia : are a lot of the members actually mixed-race ( mixed Anglo and Mexican )? I know Pegleg Morgan was fully white ( Anglo-Slavic) but how about Benjamin Topo Peters, Michael Mulhern, Jesse Chenero Gordon, Raymond Huero Shyrock,...and countless other members who had Anglo-Saxon names but looked pretty Hispanic.

There still probably powerful. Alot of their street activity has been getting busted recently though.

There was even an internal war with in the orange county faction.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/moreno-311699-mafia-county.html

There is nothing LE could do to these guys because their whole power structure is in prison so what can they do??99% are mexi only 1% are anglo

Yeah I only know of one real Anglo member ( Morgan ), but Peters, Mulhern, Gordon, Shyrock,...all had Anglo surnames but they still looked Hispanic. So maybe there are a lot of members in La Eme who are of mixed descent.

The main distrubution of drugs to the US goes through Mexico and they've also seized control of the methamphetamine market as recently highlighted by the big Outlaws MC bust in Philly.

They're the most powerful force in organised crime in America today on a street level and they do have members in and outside the prisons. They exert their influence because the criminal fraternity at one point or other will have to negotiate jail at some point and to do so they will feel the wrath of the Mexcian Mafia if they do not do there bidding on the street.

The Mongols MC as well as all the Mexican street gangs in the California area are under the sphere of influence of La Eme. They are top of the food chain and the only organised crime syndicate seriously capable of going to war if need be.

La Cosa Nostra barely even carry out hits anymore, if at all and are into semi-legitimate fraudulent ventures where they keep a low profile. They scare no-one and Le Eme barked them out of LA years ago like the Mickey Mouse Mafia they were.

The only thing that keeps the wiseguys going is politcial connections. on the street they are a laughing stock.

Until this day the American Mafia is still the only gang competent enough to pull off the Labor Union racketeering. That's really their main money-making machine.
In the drug trade La Eme is much more powerful than the Mafia. But then, even some Crip sets are far more powerful in the drug business than Cosa Nostra

I think the mexican mafia is like the mercedes of prison gangs and also a very powerful force on the streets of southern california.But i think you have to differentiate between them and the mexican cartels, some people seem to think they are the same thing, although theres probably cooperation between the two i dont think that every drug cartel cell deals soley with just la eme in california. They have had dealings with black gangs, asians and even iraqis. They dont really care about racial loyalty they just want to sell drugs to whoever can take it off their hands.

That's true, but because they have such influence on the streets La Eme do have a pivotal role to play. I found it interesting when the Mongols were drawn into a confrontation with La Eme about La Eme members having duel membership with both sets.

To La Eme this wasn't acceptable and the Mongols were on the receiving end of some very heavy firepower and in the end the Mongols had no choice but to pay the Mexican Mafia off. If a Mexican street gang deals on Mexican Mafia territory then they has to pay up or face the consequences. Outlaw MC, street thugs or petty crooks.

Now the Mafia in southern California can't really be compared to the North East. But why I said that La Eme were the most efficient organised crime group ona street level is because the co-ordination of alot of street thugs and gangs takes some doing in this day and age and they have achieved this aim on a very impressive level.

However alot of La Eme members are psycopaths and dope fiends but this hasn't prevented them from encroaching into local polictics and having representatives in Government funded programs that have proved lucrative.

What LCN have is connections. This Irish fella from Inwood who worked in the Unions once told me that the political connections the mob has in New York whether on a labour union level or otherwise is what has kept LCN so strong despite the indictments and the heavy hits they keep taking. They've adapted and moved with the times which is something they've been doing since the Outfit moved from bootlegging and Charles 'the Camel' Humphreys got them laundering money into laundromats and other local businesses. With easy flow of capital through the web and catastrphes like the sub-prime mortgage boom the Mafia has been on hand with some ingenius ways to capitalise.

In some ways LCN are overated, sometimes underated but overall they're still a presence but on a street level less powerful. The only place where they retain a powerful street presence is Toronto and Montreal. In my opinon. But as long as they look after their own they don't need to. One of the advantages of having such a long history of connections.

i definitely wouldnt call the mob a laughing stock. They're still the #1 criminal organization in the us. just because they dont deal in drugs which most families didnt do until the 70s/80s doesnt mean they are not powerful

La Eme was just starting as the Los Angeles La Cosa Nostra was fading out. It's not accurate to say La Eme "barked" the LA family out; I doubt they ever had any contact or any dealings. I think it was changing demographics and increased law enforcement heat that rendered the Los Angeles family null and void. And don't forget: the LA family was never a large organization; it was more like a satellite group affiliated with several families in the North and Northeast.

In LA the mob is/was definitely a laughing stock. But on the other hand, while the power of street and prison gangs is increasing, they still are very territorial. Prison and street gangs ( the more organized sets. 90% of their sets are worth shit, but there's 10% that's really hardcore) are often very powerful within their own territory, but on a national level they have far less influence. LCN's influence still spans across a couple of states. The Sicilian and American mafias are also the only gangs that have succesfully blended with the everyday civilians. You often wouldn't tell the difference between an everyday civilian or a Cosa Nostra-member. Camorra, Albanians, Street gangs, Prison gangs, Russians,...the practising members of these organizations often still look like dangerous gangsters.
But yeah I agree that it's the politics that keeps LCN going and that still makes them the major crime syndicate on a NATIONAL level. Because in terms of violence they would be toast in comparison to other groups ( and especially LA Eme).

There certainly was a documented confrontation between the two factions and the Los Angeles family certainly backed down from that confrontation.

They didn't really have much choice.

the mob in LA was never that big anyway

I think the Mongols and La Eme still have a falling out.

http://www.mongolsmc.com/press_post/let-the-light-shine-in

dam mexicans had 200 yards of grass growing down the street of from the white soxs play, good for them.theres got to be plantanions evey city in the north east.

Yeah and one of the Westies kids had a pretty smooth operation going flying those fresh green leaves to the North East to evade road-blacks and police traffic stops and to preserve the freshness.

Pretty good operation Bokun had going in California.

Asians vs Mexicans at folsom prison. Was in september so pretty recent.

la eme is nothing compared to lcn to me even today anyway
it's just a prison gang with some crews in los angeles and a couple other cities dealing drugs
make some people scared in a couple of neighborhood? yeah
do you really think the mafia makes nobody scared in new york? i doubt it youre talking out of your ass
but they are not the strongest group at all, maybe in california but not at national level
even today the mafia is present in more states and cities than la eme in the states
they are not the mexican cartels, just a prison gang

How the Hell are Asians able to punk the Mexicans in a CALIFORNIA prison?!?! That's embarrassing for that gang.

Cambodians/Laotians/Hmong are pretty trigger-happy, but that still doesn't explain why they kicked the Mexican's asses with their fists in a California prison

The reporter then went on to say at the end of the interview why he would go on to explain why an attack on such a target was very rare given who the target was. And that is because it is well known that the Mexicans are the most organised prison gang in the system.

Shit happens in prison and Asians are pretty dangerous with a knife. Who said being tough in prison had anything to do with brute physical force? Equipping yourself and organisation in a fight is the key.

The Mexicans have the numbers and they have organisational skills that the other prison gangs don't have to the same extent. I'm no fan of La Eme believe me I don't think very highly of them but the reality is they are top of the food chain in not all but the majority of prisons. Good luck to anyone standing uo to them, in prison you have to stand your ground. If you think the Asians are punks then you need to do your research.

And what does that make the black thug who opened a can of whoopass on Gotti? King of the underworld? He had to pay the AB for protection. And he was actually a LCN member who was tough.

LCN is still very powerful on a sophisticated level and in the neighborhoods were they work ( and they work in quite a lot of neighborhoods in the northeast ) they're still number 1.
But in the prison system and in other regions they are really outnumbered by blacks, hispanics, asians and rednecks. That's why they have to pay another big prison gang for protection.

I wouldn't argue with that. You see, on the outside world you could be a major player with a lot of connections but once you go behind the walls you either become a taget or buy yourself protection.

The guy your paying for protection might be some dime bag pusher, jewellery thief or a stick up guy who got high on meth one day and decided to blow away his best friend just for the fun of it.

Just the way life is in the joint. It's what you do inside that counts or who you can pay to make life easier. Alot of these criminals have been nobodies their whole life. The only time they are somebody is when they pick up a shiv and inflict wounds on a fellow gang member. They ain't gonna make no-one's life easy for free. Especially some big shot mob guy who wears dapper suits and finds himself on the front cover of Men's magazines.

No way, pay your way or go your own way and see how far you get. Simple.

It seems that the asians struck first before the mexicans did, the element of surprise probably brought them a bit of time so that they can organise themselves a bit better against the mexicans in the long run. Mexicans are definatley still gonna get payback though and the asians are probably expecting it.

On the other hand I really believe that prison gangs are becoming a major force in organized crime. They have extended their reach to their communities. La Eme has influence in the Mexican and Central American communities throughout California. Black Guerilla Family has spread its tentacles from the California prisons to the African-American communities in San Francisco, Oakland,...even as far as Baltimore. While I don't think the California Aryan Brotherhood is nearly as powerful as they once were, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas on the other hand has influence not only in Texan communities, but also in Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Indiana,...and other Southern communities.
What the Cosa Nostra does for the Northeast and parts of the Midwest, prison-and street gangs are doing for the (South)west and the deep South.
It will only be a matter of time before the Southeast Asians will form a prison gang...

you're right in some way, but it's depend on the prisons in new york, jersey and other north-eastern prison where they have influence outside i doubt gangs hurt them
in other prisons it's different, but i also doubt theyre forced to pay if they pay it's coz they want some bodyguards like merlino had
who pay protection are the most vulnerable inmates and mafiosi sure are not among them

A lot of the hispanic gangs in Southern California have to pay a extortion tax to La Eme if they want to deal drugs or any other type of activity. Though they do not directly control all of the hispanic gangs in Southern California but they do have a lot of influence on the streets. There is no other gang in the U.S that is able to do this to their level at least to my knowledge. It is amazing how the 1% can control the 99%, La Eme are true 1%ers.

ms-13 in south california pay la eme to operate? i don't think so, they sure control some neighbourhoods and some small gang pay them but not so many as you claim

I dont think the mob hold much influence in new york prisons either, rykers island for instance is basically dominated by bloods, latin kings, netas and trinitarios, and unless there cliquing up with hispanics i doubt any mob guys are gonna be holding any weight in there unless theyve got a good drug connect. MS-13 is actually a mexican mafia affiliated gang and they are considered as part of the surenos so is 18th street. The 13 in their name signifies the letter m in the alphabet.

Yes they do, the reason La Eme is able to do this is because they are highly organized and centralized unlike the majority of the gangs in California and because they have control of the prisons. There is no other gang in the U.S that do this or at least to their level.