Why New York’s Mob Mythology Endures
&quot;If some nativist in this country had warned in 1900 that mass Italian immigration would bring us vendetta-obsessed crime clans, capable of getting their tentacles on the public life (and budgets) of major American cities while also corrupting the American labor movement for most of the coming century, he would have been dismissed, correctly, as a bigot.&quot;<p>It&#x27;s an incredible page of history, the amount of power and influence organized crime welded for much of the middle years (1950s-1980s) across the US.<p>With the amount of power they had, the lasting mythology seems, what is that phrase, apropos?  I can&#x27;t speak to the same level as MisterTea (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=25429901" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=25429901</a>) but coming from a city with a history of heavy mob activity, Philadelphia to be specific, you hear the same kinds of stories from family and very infrequently, you still encounter groups of 2-3 guys at a bar or restaurant where you think, let&#x27;s give them a wide berth.<p>I might as well tell my two stories.<p>A relative who works in finance took some clients out to a restaurant in South Philly in the 80s.  The 80s were a violent time in the Philly mob and also the FBI was starting to make major inroads in their fight.  So 4 guys not from the neighborhood, in suits, at a restaurant in South Philly.  And this relative, he noticed a guy at the end of the bar, eyeing them hard and so he asked the bar tender, &quot;hey, is that who I think it is?&quot;  And the bar tender: &quot;I dunno, who do you think it is?&quot;  Relative: &quot;Well, I think I know who it is.  Just tell him we&#x27;re not the feds, we&#x27;re just a bunch of bankers out to dinner.&quot;  The guy at the end of the bar was the leader of the mob at the time (his name escapes me) but he nodded to them and bought them a bottle of wine.  You hear a story like this and you understand the mythology, it&#x27;s almost like it was a pleasant time.  But that was just a veneer.<p>My one personal story on this topic speaks more to the mythology.  A few years back, I was went to a 76ers game with some out-of-town (from the mid-west but not Chicago&#x2F;Detroit&#x2F;Cleveland, like far mid-west) co-workers.  The 76ers play in South Philly and so I took them out down there after the game.  I don&#x27;t know how we got on the subject but one of my co-workers asked, &quot;This is South Philly, you know the show the Sopranos?  how real is that?&quot;  I said something like &quot;First off, that&#x27;s the North Jersey mob, so you don&#x27;t really have to worry about them down here because this is the Philly Mob&#x27;s turf.  That being said, I think they&#x27;re allies because they both work in Atlantic City and...&quot; and then tried to explain how the different crime families interact, and how they have apparently fallen on hard times.  Anyway, there&#x27;s nothing really special about my story however I did take from it that, the American mafia experience can be a very regional thing.  I had never realized that there are parts of the country that didn&#x27;t have this shared history of organized crime.  I just kind of assumed the entire country was under their control for 30-40 years.  That&#x27;s some mythology.<p>Best mob movie: Casino.