I think minority gangs in NY have a lot more respect for the mob, because the mob still exists there. Older ones remember a time not long ago when the mob controlled everything. In LA, the mob is Joe Pesci movies. If someone came up to them and said, "I'm with the Gambinos", they would literally laugh.

"...the successful annihilation of organized crime's subculture in America would rock the 'legitimate' world's foundation, which would ultimately force fundamental social changes and redistributions of wealth and power in this country. Meyer Lansky's dream was to bond the two worlds together so that one could not survive without the other." - Dan E. Moldea