Originally posted by Turnbull:
As long as "average" people want to break the law by gambling where it's illegal, using drugs, buying stolen goods, cutting corners, etc., there's going to be organized crime. As long as crooked politicians need "dirty money" and fraudulent support to get elected, organized crime will be there to serve them. But the Mafia as we knew it will never be as strong as it was. The socioeconomic conditions that gave rise to the Mafia are long gone.
I agree here with Turnbull. And to add some of my own thoughts to what he has said, I also believe that government and big business have taken over many of the mob's illegitimate money making businesses and "legitimized" them for their own benefit, which has indirectly caused the mob to lose much of it's power over the years.
Take the Italian Lottery aka the daily number. This was one of the mob's biggest businesses throughout the years. It was the poor man's lotto. Now the state and local governments have legalized playing the numbers which in turn phased out the mob's numbers rackets over the years.
Another business that the corporations have taken over with the help of state and federal government is Casino gambling. This was another business that was run by the mob. On the surface the casinos were legitimate businesses run using legitimate names. But underneath the mob had it's hands in every pocket within that business. Big corporations saw how much money was in these types of businesses and using the help of government ( read The Black Book and The Mob ) they squeezed the mob out and slowly moved right in themselves.
Years ago the mob had speakeasys where one could eat, drink and gamble. Today there are legal speakeasys popping up all over the place in the form of Off Track Betting Reataurants. Now one can go to a place where they can drink, have dinner and bet on the horses all in the same place.
The selling of Stolen goods. Well this might be a bit of a stretch, but in it's own way the government has also gotten into the selling stolen goods business. Federal Auctions are usually goods that have been siezed by the feds when arresting criminals and gangsters convicted under the RICO act. The government siezes items found in the possession of these people and in turn auctions them off to the public. In reality how many of these items taken from these criminals and auctioned off by the federal government were aquired legitimately by these criminals in the first place?
So in essences the federal government is reselling many items that they've siezed which were originally stolen by criminals in the first place.
The mob will always be here for exactly the reasons that Turnbull has pointed out, but I don't believe that the Mob will ever be as influential and as strong as it once was.
Don Cardi
