Has the Mafia Resurged Post-9/11?
It's been 10 years since Selwyn Raab, now 82, published his seminal work on American organized crime: Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires . And, according to Rolling Stone magazine, he's updating it. But you wouldn't know it based on the title Rolling Stone hid this news nugget under, Is the American Mafia on the Rise? The Mafia's obituary seem to be written every few years.... The fact is, the American Cosa Nostra was organized specifically to perpetuate itself. No matter how many single individuals are knocked out of the box by death or prison, the structured institution itself, currently pegged at about 8,000-strong (including inducted members and associates), continues. And learns. The key factor now is anti-terrorism, which is benefiting the Mafia in New York the same way it was able to hide in Communism's shadow for the greater part of the 20th century.