re: What does the mafia look like in this day and age?

Unions and certain longshoremen.

RICO decimated the Five Families. The notorious hit men like Roy DeMeo, Tommy “Karate” Pitera and Anthony Casso are a thing of the past. DeMeo and his crew were responsible for over 200 murders.

The mafia migrated into the federal government.

They're in the olive oil business. Seriously.

Gotta break some eggs.

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Joey Merlino

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Seems like a straight shooter in the videos I have seen. The worst is that John Alite guy. Most people say he’s full of shite and a few people vouch for him. Dude loves to talk about how he took baseball bats to people and describes the technique

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His fuel tax scheme was a thing of genius.

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It absolutely was.

Overall I think the mafia era was a good time. They policed their own and kept New York civil in a way. It’s a weird dichotomy.

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A shell of its former self.

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Pretty much nails it. With RICO being used by the Feds and long prison terms, it's easy to turn mob underlings into informants and the information they give is enough to reach all the way to the top and put the bosses away for life.

Who in their right mind wants to chance that kind of potential???

I have seen tons of true mob related shows on TV over the years and the amount of former mobsters in Witness Protection is unreal. And the sentences they receive for the crimes they admitted to is usually nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Look at Sammy Gravano who was the main witness against John Gotti. He admitted to something like 19 murders he personally had a hand in and only got 5 years in jail before being paroled.

Or Frank Calibrese Jr. who testified against his own father and sent him away for life while he got a slap on the wrist for his testimony. He was tired of the life and trying to go legit and his own dad was shaking him and his partner down for protection money and the old man trying to take over the business. With dads like that, you don't need enemies.

Personally, I can't understand what attracts people to that lifestyle. They talk about being "Men of Honor" but in truth, they are ruthless cutthroats who will kill their own over money and power.

Mikey Scars Di Leonardo is probably the best straight shooting former gangster on youtube. Former Gambino captain who turned informant. He is one of the few guys who doesn't spew self agrandizing bullahit and will not make shite up if he doesnt now 1st hand.

A pathetic small-time remnant. Probably not much more than a few hoodrat grandsons of old mob names, dealing drugs and waiting to get caught and sent to prison.

The mid 20th century was their peak. Their start was in ethnic neighborhood street crime; Prohibition gave them a golden opportunity to engage in a business that makes more sense at scale (distribution of booze); from there as the country got richer, they were able to infiltrate labor unions and get control of hundreds of millions of dollars. They used stolen union money to finance Vegas.

They never would have gotten so big without J. Edgar Hoover looking the other way. He always claimed the Mafia did not exist, and loved to travel with his bachelor top assistant to field offices with nice weather or horse races- he loved to gamble. Make of that what you will.

But as Hoover faded away, and federal sentencing laws got tougher, the government got serious with the Mob. Government regulation of pensions and other big funds made it very hard to steal without detection, Mob prosecution or not. And the changing economy made it harder to extort. It's one thing to shake down half a dozen corner stores. Try that with Walgreens or Target and you won't get very far.