The Mafia might not have the high profile that it once had, but don’t let that fool you. It still is a major presence in the world of crime. Americans were reminded of the mob’s influence late last week when officials arrested more than 120 organized crime suspects in several states and one foreign country. The Federal Bureau of Investigation called it the largest single-day operation against the Mafia in agency history. The event is a reminder that the decades-long effort to eliminate the Mafia is a work in progress.
The raids and subsequent arrests were an outgrowth of 16 grand jury indictments that charged 127 suspects with a laundry list of crimes. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., in Brooklyn, N.Y., to announce the operation, said the crimes involved extortion, arson, gambling, drug dealing, racketeering and murder – including “classic mob hits” to do away with rivals. Clearly, the Mafia remains a major threat to law and order.
The FBI’s widespread operation used wiretaps, other surveillance methods and informants to build cases for the indictments. It targeted the Gambino, Colombo, Genovese, Bonanno, Decavalcante and Luchese and other major crime families. It was inordinately successful. FBI officials said most of those arrested were surprised while at home and offered no resistance.
Janice Fedarcyk, head of the New York office, said the arrests had made a “serious dent” in mob activity, but added that the job was unfinished. Eradicating organized crime is still an unachieved goal, Holder said, adding that “how much time that is going to take, I can’t predict.”
There is one prediction that can be made with certainty. The job will be difficult.
Even a series of raids as massive as those last week can’t reach everyone involved in organized crime. The Mafia roots go deep. Fedarcyk says that even as the FBI and other agencies identify and arrest bosses and underbosses, there are always others coming up through the ranks. “Just as the retirement of or resignation of a corporate CEO does not spell the end of the company, neither does the incarceration of a mob boss or other key executive mean the dissolution of their family.”
In other words, the power and influence of the Mafia remain intact, despite the raids. Both might be diminished for a time, but in the long run, organized crime likely will remain a threat to society.
Many officials fear that is a fact not fully understood by a public conditioned by cultural influences to think of the Mafia and its sometimes colorfully named members – Vinny Carwash, Jack the Whack, Tony Bagels, Bobby Glasses, Junior Lollipops were among those picked up last week — in a different way. Readers of the many novels about the Mafia, viewers of popular TV shows like “The Sopranos” and the tens of millions whose understanding of the Mafia has been tinted by repeated viewing of “The Godfather” movies might have trouble in separating the truth about the Mafia from fiction.
The truth is that the Mafia and, to be fair, other crime groups with ties to places like Russia and Albania, are as violent and dangerous now as they were in the past. Cultural influences should not alter that view, or derail the effort to bring those who engage in crime to justice.