wow thanks for all the information, i have read many books etc about the mafia. But because english isnt my first language i sometimes have a hard time understanding what it actually means. But thanks for clearing up, its more clear to me now. And what other illegal activities are they in today? So they dont control big unions, but they still have control on the smaller ones? And what about the gas scam with the russians that was going on in the late80s and early 90? With Vic Amuso and Casso?
Labor unions like the Teamsters or the Laborers are nationwide. But in a given area you have specific "locals" for those unions. Like Teamsters Local 560 in New Jersey or Laborers Local 1001 in Chicago. The mob doesn't control the national unions any more but they still control individual locals in certain places.
For all the families, illegal gambling (mainly sports bookmaking) remains the biggest earner. In fact, as certain families dwindle in size, sports betting and loansharking are often really the only thing they have left. The mob is still involved in extortion, whether it be shaking down an independent bookie for a "street tax" or a trucking company to avoid labor problems. The mob is still involved in drug trafficking, though I'd say all of the remaining families involved in narcotics outside of New York are relatively small players in that respect and have limited involvement. Even the New York families are more involved at the mid-to-lower levels of the drug trade now. The mob continues to be involved in fencing stolen goods, whether it be TV's, marble flooring, designer jeans, or whatever. And it continues to be involved in various forms of fraud. Over the last 10 or 15 years there have been several mob-related cases of stock fraud, telecommunications fraud, health care fraud, mortgage fraud, etc.
As I said before, most of the labor racketeering activity left is in the New York/New Jersey area. Labor racketeering by the mob can come in the form of extortion, bid-rigging, sweetheart deals, no show jobs, union fund embezzlement, etc. Also, the mob continues to be involved in a number of legitimate businesses such as bars, nightclubs, restaurants, construction and trucking companies, real estate, etc.
As for the gax tax scam, that involved all the New York families except the Bonannos. For the mob, it lasted from the early stages in the late 1970's to the early 1990's. Russian/Eastern European gangsters were initially the first ones who came up with the scam. Once the Mafia saw how big of a money maker it was, it moved to take control. Each of the four New York families involved formed partnerships with different Russian/Eastern European gangsters. In fact, each family had a certain guy who was designated to oversee the family's stake in the racket. And they would divy up the money much like they did from the concrete racket. Both the Italians and Russians made millions and millions for over a decade until a number of prosecutions and stricter laws put an end to most of it, at least as far as the mob was concerned.
