What sort of brain trust exists in the Cosa Nostra of the past 3-4 decades that would know how to find people that the government didn't want to be found?
Even if they could do things like that in order for it to be a deterrent, it would have to be very loud and very public so that everyone would know who got taken out and why they got taken out.
That would embarass the government and make them that much more aggressive in going after the Mob. The short term gain wouldn't be worth the long term cost. Not to mention that personal self-interest dictates that the people who took over when some boss or captain went down might not want to risk their own liberty to make a point-especially if as is quite possible they didn't even like the guy whose job they now have.
RICO and Witness Protection make it a losing game for the people at the top. The smart folks would have gone corporate-legitimate-much like the theme repeated in Puzo's books. Less hassle and probably more money.
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming
Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
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