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Used to be big in Chicago and Cicero. They have gotten broken up now - trials going on as we speak... joey lombardo, frank calabrese and all the rest.
In cicero, betty loren-maltese is gone - she got convicted of skimming millions from the town along with her cronies. Though the people of cicero liked her because she did a lot to clean up that town.
You know the old mobs are just going to get replaced with a new regime, sorry to say.
Providence and Cranston are indeed full of wannabe mafioso types but Warwick (where I reside) most certainly is not a hot bed of paesans.. You must have us confused with Johnston and North Providence! Much of the south part of Warwick was farm land until the 1960's, it is said that these undeveloped areas were used by the mafia to dispose of the victims of mob hits that occured during the first half of the 20th century..
The Italian Mafia owned almost everything in Youngstown; the cops, politicians, even the priests! These articles are from a number of years ago, but are quite interesting. I live in the Y-town area and even though i'm sure the mafia is still here, it seems their influence has definitely subsided.
This whole talk of street gangs and uh and uh the mafia is ver very hurtful to me personally. I live in a neighborhood that happens to be the same block here an Italian mobster lives and it is the safest area in Brooklyn. I do work for this individual and he or my friends are nothing of how they portray people like him. I am an obscure young Italian-American man and this whole "cosa nostra'' ist how it is brought about in televison
Location: Uniquely Individual Villages of the Megalopolis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by quijote
Are there any cities in the U.S. where the Italian or any other mafia is said to have significant influence on business or civic affairs?
In NYC we have large amounts of Russian and yes they get involved with community businesses bc they are all about inside networks of families, lawyers, accountants, real estate people, etc. They are untouchable. We also have a big Colombian and South American as well as Mexican cartel, along with a large Chinese mafia. The Sicilian Mafia isn't as big as it used to be since Giuliani but they are still in operation but in different degrees and activities than film portrayals of before. The Russian one is sometimes associated with an Israeli mob, or "Kosher Nostra". Plus there are Nigerian and other African groups, plus a lot of illegal activities among Yemeni, Egyptian, Saudi, Syrian, and other ME groups with suspicious activities involving public safety moreso than old fashioned mafias.
The Irish always have been accused as being a heavy group with organized crime in NYC, think St Tammany Lodge, controlling unions, not just the Italians by themselves and before them.
I think the Irish were pretty active in Chicago too, "Road to Perdition " and in Boston, "The Departed". They haven't just depicted Italians in mafia movies.
Last edited by StuyTownRefugee; 11-19-2007 at 08:26 PM..
For all intents and purposes, the Italian Mafia pretty much extinguished itself awhile back. There's still a low presence in some of their old stomping grounds in certain neighborhoods, but nothing like it used to be where they wield heavy power over the local businesses or are in bed with corrupt politicians (although I'm sure there's still a few with some "questionable" dealings). There are however rising numbers of "other" sorts of mob activity in many cities, notably the Russian mob, particularly in parts of Brooklyn. They don't seem to me however to really be entering into the civic/political mix like the Italian mafia of yore though. They sort of just do their own thing without getting heavily involved in actual community issues.
Re: the old 'Italian' Mob; assimilation is killing them off------most of the capos do not want their children mixed up with that crap.
Read that prejudice against 'goombas' is fading out------fast!
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