Regardless of how much more brutal the drug cartels are and how much more money they and others like street gangs make from the drug trade, it's very obvious that when it comes to organized crime, Italians reign supreme in popularity. And I'm not buying the claim that it's because of Hollywood, because there are plenty of popular movies/shows on other groups, yet it's still obvious from following this blog and other pages that Italian organized crime still captures the imagination like no others.

Maybe in the 90s, but not now.
Sure the italian organized crime groups are really popular.
But many other crime groups are as popular.

Don’t get me wrong, the italians are still popular because of there history. No other crime group as a more fascinating history. We are talking about history in america and europe.
But in 2023, many blog and youtbe pages etc are very popular and are more about other crime groups.

I follow many pages, and as far as the ones I follow, the Italians are still the main topic of discussion. Maybe it's different with other pages I don't know about, I don't know.

I heard that the Yakuza has/had their own magazine, and I'm sure in places like Colombia and Mexico cartel leaders are regarded as folk heroes, and I'm sure that within black communities gang leaders and drug lords are looked upon as some sort of Gods. I'm just speaking in general.

Yeah thats for sure.
Like the italians, specially the italo-american made the criminal world popular.
So in the 90s they were the one that most people talk about.
But since, the people are fascinated by criminals, and we are seing more and more things related to other organized crime.

Now we have many books, tv shows about the cartels, specially the mexican cartels.
You got many tv shows, books and youtube pages about black or latino gangs.

And since about two or three years, you see more and more videos about the Biker MCs world and Asian gangs.
Sons of anarchy made people fascinated by the 1% clubs.

But one thing for sure.
When we think about organized crime, the number one group that will come to mind, is the cosa nostra.

The Yakuza is really interesting. They're like semi-legitimate or definitely have less secrecy than the mob does. They have headquarters you can google and don't hide them. I even found on youtube a ceremony where they were announcing the new boss, there's a few great documentaries out there too. But, like the mob the government has been going after them hard over there and it's a lot different now

The Italian Mafia was and will always be most popular. On second place are the Russians or Latin Cartels, followed by the African-American gangs and the Albanians. I personally would place the Yakuza on 5th place, before the Serbian and Montenegrin clans.

In the U.S. I think you're right. But I also think it depends upon what country we're discussing.

Agree with NYM.. I would think it depends on the country. Doesnt Mexico have that whole “narco-corridors” where singers song basically drug ballads about drug traffickers and their crimes?

Even in Mexico cartel leaders have been known to be on the Mafia’s nuts. I remember reading one article where they said that El Chapo or one of those cartel bosses had a strong admiration for Toto Riina.

El Chapo was talking about 'ndrangheta one of his guys said they were just like them.
I believe that is true the Family is everything to them very Roman Catholic.

I presume this informal polling was done east of the Mississippi.

If this wasn't true, to put it another way, all those iconic hit movies and shows like The Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, The Sopranos, Gomorrah, etc would be about all those other groups and not the Italian mob.

Exactly.Its because of their history that th, ey are popular,they have been portrayed to be heroes and part of Italian culture and values.
The Godfather movie exaggerated a lot of whatever positive contributionsthey made to the Italian community.It was never completely like the Godfather and other movies made it out o be
And now its probably nothing close to resembling that depiction.

My only point was that people are generally more interested in Italian organised crime vs other groups. Not everyone, of course, but generally speaking. Just look at this forum for instance, of course we discuss other groups here but who do we mostly talk about? Exactly. I don't know how we arrived at the subject of how virtuous or honorable they are or aren't, or how realistic The Godfather portrayal is, but here we are.

Also the theme of this site is based around The Godfather.

Italians will always be the OG.s of Organized Crime even though the Irish came to America First they were Illiterates and didint have Brains to know how to Structure and the Westies are a Example and before that Bill Lovett and Joseph (Peg Leg) Lonergan I think you see the Point