Think the Mafia Is Gone? Then Think Again

THINK THE MAFIA IS GONE? THEN THINK AGAIN.

Exactly what is the Mafia? Mafia, more specifically the Italian-American Mafia, is a group of criminals organized into "families," and operating primarily in North America. Also known as La Cosa Nostra, at one time there were 26 families in the United States - roughly one for each major city. The Mafia composed of bosses of numerous families, mostly New York, was the overseeing authority for all of the other La Cosa Nostra families. New York City is the place of origin for organized crime in the United States. Currently, there are five families in the New York City outfit of the La Cosa Nostra. The five families are, the Gambinos, Genovese, Colombo, Bonanno, and Lucchese crime families. There is even a family in Denver who had its last known whereabouts in January 1999, Clarence Smaldone is still alive and considered the underboss of a two-member mob family. The most important day in most mobsters life, the day they get made and become a full member La Cosa Nostra. To become a member of the family one would have to be recommended by a Mafia member. After that they go through a ceremony this ceremony is usually done in the basement of a fellow mobsters house. The mobster is told that this is a secret society and there is one way in and one way out. You come in on your feet and you go out in a coffin. Then their is the final initiation where everybody holds hands and the boss (in Italian) says, "In honor of our brotherhood, I untie the knot," and everybody lets go. The the new made guy stands and joins hands in the circle and again the boss says, "In honor of our brotherhood, I tie the knot." Then one is at full loyalty to the Mafia. If they asked one to leave their mother while on a death bed would one come? Or if they asked one to kill your own brother, would you? One would have to or die them selves. If so which finger would you use to pull the trigger with.

The Mafia has no mercy for any one just look at what happened to Joe Iannuzzi. Joe Dogs, as he was known in The Family for his love of greyhound racing, he was broken. His head was battered until its flesh puffed up around his skull, his nose was split open and crushed. His teeth were cracked. An ear dangled. His ribs were broken and his genitals swollen. This guy got burned AKA-break an egg, clip, do a piece of work, hit, ice, pop, put out a contract on, whack, broke. The Mafia is involved with more crime then one can think. Back when there was prohibition who do you think was the booze smuggler, the Mafia. this is just a few crimes the Mafia commits. Mafia hitman Salvatore ''Sammy the Bull'' Gravano pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he helped operate and finance a multimillion dollar, statewide criminal drug deal in Arizona. A federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicted 19 individuals, including six with suspected ties to organized crime, on charges of stock fraud and money laundering. Sex probably rates higher than whiskey in desirability, and so organized crime moved into illegal prostitution. these are just a spoonful or what the Mafia does. Racketeering; fraud; car theft; robbery; armed assault; drug dealing; trafficking in weapons and radioactive material; trafficking in human beings and exploitation through prostitution; alien smuggling; smuggling of precious and antique goods; extortion for protection money; gambling; embezzling from industries and financial institutions up to infiltration and control of private and commercial banks; controlling of black markets. The Mafia is dangerous group of people and they should be put in jail.

By the late 20th century the Mafia's role in U.S. organized crime seemed to be diminishing. Convictions of top officials, defections by members who became government witnesses, and murderous internal disputes thinned the ranks. In addition, the gradual breakup of insulated Italian-Sicilian communities and their assimilation into the larger American society effectively reduced the traditional breeding ground