Okay, okay. so they're not connected? Not sanctioned or recognized or any sorta thing? Not that its hard to believe they are independant operators, a bloke and his son managing the family built empire (but a little crooked, like)

The Italian thing must be a half blessing for them though; being Southern Italian and in their line of business, they'd be in a position to trade off on the American mob's currency (that being violence or the implied threat of) and credibility. That ethnic linkage comes with a pretty high profile though, true or not. With the ethnic profiling that so many fall victim too, its the first place many would go: he's an elderly Italian organized criminal; how could he not be a mobster?