10 Things the Mafia Still Controls

Gambling remains the Mafia's financial base. Lotteries reduced the numbers racket and horse racing. Boxing and baseball lost popularity. Professional and college football and basketball now bring big revenue. The corner bookmaker fades. The Mafia uses new tech and the internet for multi-million dollar sports betting.

In 2012, ahigh-ranking member of the Genovese crime family and several associates faced arrest and racketeering charges over an illegal betting website.A high-ranking member of the Genovese crime family and several associates faced arrest and racketeering charges over an illegal betting website.

Heroin trafficking has been a Mafia profit center as long as any substance was illegal.Some high-level mobstersMobsters first ordered soldiers involved in drug trafficking to die. This order held no code of honor. Fear remained that legal penalties would turn arrested traffickers into informants instead of letting them serve time. Still, powerful mobsters could not ignore the cash flow and entered the drug trade.

Heroin trafficking stays a major part of the Mafia's profit portfolio.Domenico Cefalu,the reputed current head of the Gambino crime family has a long history of narcotics trafficking. He was even convicted of heroin smuggling in the early 1980s. In 2008, nearly80 members of the Gambino crime family were indicted on charges including drug trafficking and murder.Eighty members of the Gambino crime family faced indictment for drug trafficking and murder.

The Mafia controlled the sanitation industry throughout the 20th century. In 1993, when Houston's Browning-Ferris tried to expand to New York City, a company executive's wife found a German Shepherd's severed head on her lawn. A note in the dog's mouth read, "Welcome to New YorkNew York has fixed many problems from crooked garbage hauling, but the Mob is still in the garbage business.

If arrests show activity in a specific industry, then aA 2013 crackdownA 2013 crackdown on the Genovese, Gambino, and Lucchese crime families shows garbage remains a dirty business.

Cigarette tax scamsCigarette tax scams are another sure way for the Mafia to make money. The scheme is simple and pays well. States set different cigarette taxes. Missouri has low taxes; New York has high taxes. Since taxes are usually highest in urban areas where the Mob works, fraud happens.

A small criminal can load a truck with thousands of cheap cigarettes from a state like Virginia. They move them to New York, stamp them with a fake tax stamp, and sell them for a huge profit. Cigarette tax scams are still active inAmerica and even overseas.

One scheme, simple gasoline tax fraud, caught a mobster in the '80s and '90s. It made a lot of money; other criminal groups copied it across the US. Law requires gasoline wholesalers to charge sales tax to retailers first. They send those funds to the US Government.One enterprising mobsterstarted his own group. He sold gas wholesale and kept the tax money.

Sex work remains a core activity for organized crime. The Mafia changed from Al Capone and Lucky Luciano's era. Recent arrests show gang members involved in high-end sex work cases. Customers and staff find work through the internet.

One person, arrested in 2016, controlled overFifty-eight active domain names exist.He ran this for 10 years. EvenCraigslist.Mafia-run sex work exists on Craigslist. Criminals book meetings online, drive women to liaisons, and take half the money.

The Mafia took control of construction by infiltrating labor unions, just like the sanitation business. A mob construction company bids on work, adds union rates to contracts. Afterward, the company pays workers less and threatens complainers. Mob influence still controls cement and building material companies, adding extra costs to projects with inflated prices. Mob-controlled businesses even worked on theThe Mafia controls the rebuilding of the World Trade Center..

With 21st-century money and rising poker popularity, the Mafia made a new illegal market.Hundreds of high-stakes poker clubs opened fast,especially in New York. Mob-connected people ran the clubs or paid protection money to stay open.

These clubs made huge money. When one closed and cash was seized, the owner offered to pay back his customers. Losers at the club, who usually got credit, became customers for another Mafia activity: loansharking.

When organized crime faces public prosecution, loan sharking is a common offense.Loan sharking.Banks rarely lend money to those in serious financial trouble. The Mafia handles cash-generating businesses, so mobsters happily put that money to work. Desperate people agree to terms set by a loan shark.a loan shark?

A loan shark charges two points, or percent, weekly on money lent. Borrow $50,000 over six months. You owe two points, or $1,000 weekly. That is the interest. Miss a payment, and it adds to the loan. The weekly payment changes. After six months, pay all interest plus the original loan.

If you cannot pay, the loan shark seizes your assets. They often do not credit you for these amounts.Loan sharking is on the list '10 Things the Mafia Still Controls'.Loan sharking is most profitable during an economic downturn. The Mafia had aThe Mafia engaged in loan sharking for a great few years.This activity continued in the late '00s.

In 2009, loan sharking occurred.Michael Coppola is involved in labor racketeering.Michael Coppola was convicted of racketeering for his actions with Local 1235 of the International Longshoremen's Association. Such control means employing other criminals to force businesses to pay extra money or face work stoppages and delays. Union leaders control pension funds, so they have been known for taking these assets for personal use.

Though the Teamsters openly lending money to the Mafia has stopped, mob union corruption still happens.Labor racketeering is still occurring..

Italian food and food products are loved globally for their quality. Extra-virgin olive oil is on the list '10 Things the Mafia Still Controls'.Extra-virgin olive oil is a key part of Italian cooking. Some liquids sold as extra-virgin olive oil are not truly extra-virgin; they mix in soybean and canola oils. Organized crime, which infiltrated agricultural production in every part of Italy, is the source of these tainted, expensive products.