mafia<\/a>, businesses that operate on a cash basis, as well as smaller family owned companies, are falling by the wayside in favor of franchises and digital currency.<\/p>\nIn the digital age, cash businesses are also more transparent, meaning it’s harder for the mob to stiff-arm its competition. The law is also becoming more adept at catching criminals like this, including cases in the 1980s, 1990s, and most recently former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s 2011 roundup of members of New York’s “Five Families.”<\/p>\n
Despite the new challenges that technology provides, the mob has adapted, finding ways to thrive in today’s economy. Their operations are lower profile, but the mob still has sway. Here are the top 10 mafia controlled businesses — or so we’ve been told.<\/p>\n
#1 – Fish<\/h2>\n
![\"Fish\"](\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\")
<\/p>\n
Let’s face it, fish is pretty expensive whether or not it’s connected to the mob. But chances are if you’d had fish on the East Coast, you probably paid a premium to the Genovese family or one of its friends. The Genovese family has had a hand in the Fulton Fish Market since the 1930s. The market is one of the oldest and most important fish wholesalers in the United States.<\/p>\n
The market moved to the Bronx after then New York City District Attorney Rudy Guiliani exposed the mob’s operation in the 1980s and proposed a government takeover of the market the next decade. It’s unclear if anything has changed since the move.<\/p>\n
#2 – Music Recording<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
The mob has been a legitimate force behind some of the best recording artists and records of all time. But even as it profited off of talented artists’ music, the mob would promise to protect them then eventually intimidate them and extort them too. Genovese guy Willie Moretti even had a hand in building the career of Frank Sinatra.<\/p>\n
The Genovese family’s Moishe “Morris” Levy, known by some as the Godfather of Rock and Roll, produced classic hits like “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” He notoriously created one-sided contracts that allowed him to keep anything that could generate long-term money. This included copyrights and publishing royalties.<\/p>\n
#3 – Pornography<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
The Mafia has been connected to the pornography industry since the 1960s and 1970s. The Colombo family reportedly ran coin operated machines during these decades that showed 8mm porn films in New York’s Times Square. The Mafia also allegedly controlled most of the adults-only movie theaters during the same era. The Bonanno family’s “Mickey Z” Zaffarano started nationwide chain Pussycat Cinemas. The chain was successful until the FBI caught up with him in 1979.<\/p>\n
While the connection between the Mafia and porn waned in the 1980s and 1990s, it has made a resurgence in the digital age. Gambino family members were charged with fraud in 2005 for offering free tours of adult websites then billing their customers’ credit cards with extravagant charges. Profits from the scheme helped the family invest in a phone company, a bank, and over 64 shell companies and foreign bank accounts.<\/p>\n
#4 – Bars<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
Mafia-connected bars have a history of catering to the gay community. Their roots date back to the 1930s when homosexuality was illegal into the United States. These establishments provided gay and lesbian customers a place to meet, mingle, drink, and spend money. However, the mobsters didn’t provide their services out of the goodness of their hearts.<\/p>\n
Instead, the mafia knew that the LGBT community was forced to live in the shadows. The mobsters paid the cops to stay away from the bars. In return, customers were treated to overpriced, watered down drinks and less than hygienic conditions. Genovese guy Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianniello had a hand in running over 80 bars, discos, and restaurants in the 1970s. The majority of these establishments catered to the gay community. With the legalism homosexuality and gay activism, the connection between the gay community and the mob weakened. However, the mob still has a hand in the bar business.<\/p>\n
#5 – Restaurants and Pizzerias<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
Restaurants and pizzerias are no stranger to Mafia connections. The connection between eateries and organized crime spans decades and continents. Umberto’s Clam House in lower New York City and Rao’s in the Bronx were famous mob hangouts. In the 1980s, the Sicilian Mafia relied on the “pizza connection” to ship cocaine and heroin to mob-run pizzerias in towns across the United States. They used cans of San Marzano tomatoes to export the drugs.<\/p>\n
Now, mob-run pizzerias and cafes are everywhere. A recent sweep or Rome resulted in the seizure of 27 restaurants and cafes. Authorities also seized about 250 million euros worth of assets. The restaurants include the extremely popular Pizza Ciro, which was in business for more than 10 years. The pizza chain allegedly laundered money from loan sharking, drugs, and extortion. But the number of restaurants seized is barely a dent. An estimated 70 percent of restaurants and bars in downtown Rome have mob connections.<\/p>\n
#6 – Real Estate<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
The Mafia doesn’t really control real estate, but mobsters love to invest in property. It’s easier to find a Mafia connection with a scam if the individuals can make easy money. For example, Dominick DeVito, connected to the Genovese family, found new ways in the run up to the 2008 housing market crash to make bad deals for homeowners. The mobster was sentenced to close to five years in prison for his real estate scheme.<\/p>\n
DeVito and his associates purchased large houses in Westchester County, then sold them for outrageous profits. The mobsters lied to get the mortgages and used the new homes as collateral for more mortgages. Those eventually went into foreclosure, but not before they cashed in on insurance money for things like broken pipes (which they deliberately broke).<\/p>\n
#7 – Wind Energy<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
Wind energy is attractive to criminals for a few reasons — mainly a lack of regulation in the industry. The product is also priced highly and includes complicated financing. Another bonus just happens to be government subsidies. In Europe, criminals are investing in wind farms and other types of green energy. They use the complex financing, high pricing, and lack of regulation to their benefit. Specifically, a growing “eco Mafia” in Italy is taking advantage of environmental grants the Italian government and the European Union are offering.<\/p>\n
Because of the mob influence, legitimate wind providers are getting muscled out of licenses to build working wind farms. They are also sold licenses by the Mafia without knowing what kind of businesspeople they are dealing with.<\/p>\n
#8 – Carpentry and Construction<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
The Mafia got its roots into the building industry through unions. Construction crews typically make bids for jobs that include union crews. Mafia-run companies have been known to include union rates in the bids. But once they win the contracts, they pay far less to their workers. Mafia members have also allegedly gotten top jobs inside the union where they shake down legitimate crews and sell jobs to the highest bidder instead of the most skilled carpenters.<\/p>\n
The five families of New York were tried by Guiliani’s office in 1986. They were charged with controlling concrete labor unions and demanding kickbacks that set the city back millions of dollars. The families were also up on federal charges in Brooklyn in 1990 for kickbacks. They were also charged with fixing bids on a $150 million job with the New York City Housing Authority.<\/p>\n
#9 – Gambling<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
In the past, mobsters fancied gambling halls. They famously met in 1929, allegedly under the guise of celebrating mobster Meyer Lansky’s honeymoon. The meeting took place in Atlantic City, where the Mafia apparently discussed how they could profit from the end of prohibition. The consensus was that they should invest in casinos and nightclubs.<\/p>\n
These days, however, Mafia members are more likely to get caught for online sports gambling than a Las Vegas casino. A Queens district attorney charged the Gambino family in 2008 with illegal sports and casino-style gambling operations. More recently, New York’s Genovese family were indicted in New Jersey for making millions per year through illegal gambling operations.<\/p>\n
#10 – Garbage Hauling\/Waste Management<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
The alleged connection between the garbage industry and the mob goes back decades. La Cosa Nostra has been part of New York’s commercial sanitation system since the 1950s. According to How Stuff Works, the mob entered the sanitation industry through the Teamsters union. The organized criminals gained influence over certain routes through New York. They also apparently used unsavory tactics to keep the competition at bay. For example, national waste-industry leader Browning-Ferris Industries entered the market in 1992. In response, an executive’s wife discovered the decapitated head of a German shepherd on her lawn with a note saying, “Welcome to New York,” in its mouth.<\/p>\n
The cleaning up of New York’s sanitation industry was a top priority for Rudy Guiliani as mayor of the city. He and attorney Robert Morgenthau oversaw the indictments of the Genovese and Gambino crime families in the 1990s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Organized criminals have a history of investing in legitimate businesses as a base of operations, as well as a means of laundering money from their illegal activities. Unfortunately for the mafia, businesses that operate on a cash basis, as well as smaller family owned companies, are falling by the wayside in favor of franchises and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":66020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[5883,10724,2889,10726,10725,10727],"class_list":{"0":"post-65969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-gambino","9":"tag-genovese","10":"tag-mafia","11":"tag-mafia-business","12":"tag-mafia-businesses","13":"tag-mafia-in-business"},"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65969"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79909,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65969\/revisions\/79909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Garbage](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Garbage-Hauling-Waste-Management.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Fish\"](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Fish.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Music](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Music-Recording.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pornography\"](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Pornography.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Bars\"](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Bars.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Restaurants](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Restaurants-and-Pizzerias.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Real](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Real-Estate.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Wind](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Wind-Energy.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Construction](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Construction-and-Carpentry.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Gambling\"](\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Gambling.png\")
<\/p>\n