Where is the Mafia Today?
The scary truth about organized crime.
In 1932, Eliot Ness declared that the Mob was dead when Al Capone was convicted. But the fight against organized crime was far from over. After Prohibition, organized crime turned to other rackets, such as gambling, prostitution, and corrupting labor unions. While not nearly as visible as it once once, the Mafia still continues to exist and operate in an attenuated form. With the rise of the Internet and Mexican Drug Wars, the threat of the Mafia has arguably gotten worse over time.
Capone’s Chicago
In the Mafia’s structure, the boss is the leader. Under him is an underboss, who reports directly to the boss and carries out his orders. Below them are the street crews, each run by a capo. Each member of the crew is known as a soldier. The Chicago Outfit, which dominates the city’s underworld, has roots all the way back to 1900. It reached its peak under Al Capone during the Prohibition era. The Eighteenth Amendment was passed in 1920, which outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transport of liquor. While it dramatically cut levels of alcohol consumption, it came at a staggering cost. Organized crime grew to its worst levels. Born in Brooklyn, Capone moved to Chicago in his 20s. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the leader of the Outfit. This also earned him the top spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. The notorious Al Capone was responsible for one of the bloodiest days in Chicago. Despite his documented record of violent crime, it was tax evasion which ultimately landed the Mafia boss in jail. Capone’s legacy is not unambiguously negative, however. Prohibition was a highly unpopular law. Because of this, Capone became something of a folk hero in his own lifetime. “If I am guilty of breaking the law, then my customers are as guilty as I am,” he once said. Capone and his Outfit provided much-desired goods and services. Alcohol was provided for important social functions, such as weddings. When banks refused to give loans, they were instead supplied by the Mafia. Local wiseguys were able to secure those desirable assets for ordinary people.
Honor Code
The Mafia ruled through intimidation and physical violence, using baseball bats to break kneecaps. However, for the most part, they were true to their word. They generally did not target those who left them alone. This is because the Mafia had its own honor code. To enter the Mafia, it began with an initiation ritual, which was regarded as a second baptism. In 1981, LA mob boss Jimmy Fratianno entered the Witness Protection Program. Known as the Weasel, he publicly disclosed the interworking of the Mafia, including its secret initiation ritual, which dated back to Sicily for two centuries. The blood of the initiate would be spilled onto the picture of a Catholic saint. As the picture would be lit on fire, the person recited the words, “As burns this saint, so will burn my soul.” The Mafia lived according to paranoid secrecy. Roses were placed on the doors of secret meetings. There were three sacred vows in the Mafia. The first one was to never target women and children. The second rule was to never mess with drugs and narcotics. The third rule was to never snitch. As Mafia boss, Capone enforced strict rules in his neighborhoods. The sale of PCP and heroin were prohibited. Dealers of those hard drugs who sold to kids were violently removed from the streets of Chicago.
Irish and Italians
Whitey Bulger once ruled over the Winter Hill Gang in Boston. An Irish kid from South Boston, he chose a life of crime. One of his childhood friends was John Connolly, who later became one of the FBI’s most corrupt and bribable officials. The Mafia boss paid off Connolly to shield his clandestine drug operations from law enforcement. Their sordid relationship inspired the movie The Departed starring Jack Nicholson. Whitey spent twelve years on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. The reward for his capture was $2 million, second only to Osama bin Laden. A ruthless criminal mastermind, there was nothing that Whitey would not do to make himself some dishonest money. For example, he rigged the lottery by extorting ticket owners.
Mexican Mafia
Today, most of the traditional Irish and Italian Mobs have been eradicated. But new Mafia organizations have arisen, which lack even the most basic moral rules. The most dangerous crime cartels come from Russia, Colombia, and Mexico. The Russian Mafia has grown rapidly in Russia and even within the United States. It operates in over 270 American cities, supplying 90% or more of drugs consumed by Americans. South American gangs are especially ruthless, brutalizing family members and placing entire neighborhoods under siege. Mexican gangs now possess more money than Italian mobsters would have even dreamed of. Worse still, they lack the restraints seen in their Italian and Russian counterparts. In Mexico, anti-money laundering laws are very weak. This is because much of the country’s revenues come from the illicit drug trade, perhaps up to 10% or 11% of GDP. Mexican cartels have begun to grow millions of dollars of marijuana in America’s National Forests. This has led to deadly confrontations between American campers and Mexican narcotics militias. While the legalization of weed would put a much-needed dent in the income of the Mexican drug lords, these criminals have other ways of generating illicit income. A popular method is the use of kidnapping and ransom. At first, cartels only targeted rivals. But now, they are kidnapping innocent civilians. The Los Zetas syndicate has grown into a domestic threat on American soil. They terrorize civilians through shocking tactics, including bodily mutilation, torture, beheadings, and indiscriminate murder. First founded as the military wing of the Gulf cartel, the Zetas became an independent entity in 2010. This triggered a bloody turf war. After the downfall of cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, Mafia cartels have violently vied for control over the Southwest border region. Illegal cartels cater to the almost insatiable American appetite for weed, cocaine, ecstasy, and crystal meth. They also gain profit through the sale of human beings, in the form of trafficking. Gangsters possess military-grade weaponry, and are highly trained. Better trained, funded, and more vicious than ever before, the Mexican Mafia remains a serious threat to national security.
Cybercrime
More recently, Mexican mobsters have ventured into cybercrime. This includes indiscriminate harm against civilians, such as stealing credit cards and identity theft. Millions of dollars are made through the illicit sale of stolen credit cards on black markets. Victims of cybercrime reach all levels of society, including presidential candidates and governmental organizations, such as NASA and the CIA. There are three ways of hacking. The first is to physically rummage a house, looking for a password. The second way is through the use of dangerous software, which provides illicit access to other people’s computers. The third way is through the use of phony phishing scams, which ask for sensitive banking information. Unlike traditional Mafias, cybercriminals benefit from the anonymity of the Internet. Their organized structure is much more decentralized, which is arguably much more dangerous than the days of Al Capone.
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