Even the older, longer established black and hispanic gang members fall woefully short of what the mafia was, and is. None of them, NONE, have the deep penetration, sophistication, or ability to transcend themselves into anything but what they have always been. Street urchins.
They have no deeper "well" of understanding of what's what. Only their extremely limited knowledge of selling drugs, violence, and hurting one another. Period! And thats a well worn fact. How can you elevate yourself to become something more, when you don't have the "tools" to do it? You don't even know what it is you should be searching for to achieve.
With the Italian underworld, we are talking next level shit here. Not riding motorcycles by guys who haven't bathed or shaved in weeks. Or blacks and hispanic "kids" for all intents and purposes (regardless of how old they may be), who don't have a "clue" ?
The ONLY place I've seen them become a 'bit' elevated has been in Canada. An anomaly for sure. But even up there they are still "lost in space" in the larger scheme of things.
I think one reason that the Italian Mafia reached the upper more sophisticated echalons of crime and able to blend in with a higher status of society stems from the Italian immigration experience itself . Like the song "I want to be be Americano". While respecting and keeping their Italian and Roman Castholic traditions,most of them strived to assimilate and be part of American society at the same time. Starting with learning to speak English and getting formally educated or at least educating their children, if not the immgrants themselves.So eventually they could blend in and be accepted among more influential or successful Americans who often were powerful and /or wealthy people.
On the other hand whether its bikers or street gangs of several other ethnicities,they seem to often reject or rebel against that idea in the way they often won't speak English, or refuse to speak what is considered good English rather than their own slang, Or the way they dress or participate in what may be considered more polite American society.Also,it seems like early on some of these other ethnic groups were headed in the same direction as the one the Italians took,but maybe by the 1960s many of their number,those more inclined to crime did an about face or a 180 from the earlier gangsters of their ethnicities. Today some of these gangs seem to totally reject being part of the American culture by assimilating that the Italians strived to be part of even while not abandoning their own culture.
I'd say that in that regard that the Irish and Jews including their organized crime groups followed that same path as the Italians in assimilating
