#The making of the mob new york part 7 tv

They also invest in and own companies that provide materials like steel or cement to other construction crews (the cement shoes trope clearly exists for a reason). Inside the union, Mafia cronies get top jobs, shake down the legitimate crews and sell jobs to the highest bidders (rather than the most skilled carpenters), and there are even threats of physical violence. Mafia-run construction companies are known to include union rates in the bids and win the contracts - then pay far less to their workers. Typically, construction companies make bids for jobs that include union crews. Similar to its waste-management strategy, the Mafia made its way into the building business through unions. But aside from in the occasional museum, theme restaurant or run-in with one of the locals, tourists aren't likely to see evidence of the Mafia in Vegas these days. The mob connection helped build Las Vegas into the multi-billion-dollar tourist destination it is today. It makes sense: Odds are designed to be on the side of the house, regulators are paying less attention than they might be in other industries, and the Mafia has the muscle to make the sometimes-volatile gambling business run somewhat smoothly. In life and in lore, Mafia and casinos are inextricably linked. As the other story goes, Lansky and his right-hand man, Bugsy Seigel, looked at a Las Vegas desert and saw its potential as a gambling Mecca.

Specifically, they discussed how the Mafia could profit from the end of prohibition by investing in casinos and nightclubs. The first was in 1929 when, under the guise of celebrating mobster Meyer Lansky's honeymoon, organized crime figures met up in Atlantic City to discuss prohibition. Mob history tells of two famous occurrences in now-famous locales. Let's take a look at some of the business and industries that have historically been controlled by the Mafia - and whether they are still connected today. Here in the U.S., it's easy to get a sense of the Mafia's business activity through its influence in New York City, where it still hauls trash and erects skyscrapers. This is evident in Italy, where La Cosa Nostra controls one in five businesses. It might have a lower profile, but in some industries (and union halls and political back rooms) the Mafia still has sway. While traditional criminal activities have waned, the Mafia has adapted to the times and is finding ways to thrive in today's economy. That impression, it turns out, is a myth. Given this information, it's easy to get the impression that some of the Mafia's power has diminished. The Mafia's murder rate in Italy fell by 80 percent between 19, and law enforcement officials say violent organized crime is down in the U.S., too. Membership in the Italian Mafia, aka La Cosa Nostra, is said to have dropped from 5,000 to 3,500 over the past few years. Attorney General Eric Holder's 2011 historic roundup of members of New York's 'Five Families' (Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Luchese). The law seems more adept at catching these criminals, and a slew of high-profile indictments have made headlines - beginning with the famous cases brought by Manhattan attorneys Rudolph Giuliani in the 1980s and Robert Morgenthau in the 1990s, and leading up to former U.S. In the digital age, cash businesses are more transparent, which makes it harder to strong-arm the competition.

#The making of the mob new york part 7 tv

Waste management, for example, has become so strongly tied to organized crime that in some parts of the country the term 'sanitation crew' might as well be synonymous with 'the mob.'Д®ven as mob types have gained higher profiles on TV and in movies, there's still the perception that the actual mob is less present or relevant than it was in the past. The Mafia favors unregulated or cash-based businesses that require the strength and stomach to do things members of polite society avoid. Organized criminals have long invested in legitimate business as both a base of operations and a means of laundering money from illegal activities such as drug trafficking, weapons dealing, prostitution, smuggling, counterfeiting and robbery.