I think that was the one headed by Gatti; because their city of operation is an economic powerhouse, no one was more powerful than the mafia families of New York, not even the ones from their native Italy. Now, while Italian mafia families are powerful, and wield considerable influence in southern Italy, it is an issue of several small time families ruling this town or that. In southern Italy, there can be one crime family "ruling" a town, and as everyone knows they are all over Sicily. For the sake of making money though, they won't bother any tourists, if you're a native Italian though all bets are off, you "better know the rules" and all that.

Now, that was during the "cosa nostra" days, but for all intents and purposes, in the U.S. at least, the cosa nostra is finished; the biggest mafia in the world are the Russians now. Many mafia families sent sons and daughters to college with all their "ill gotten gain;" odds are if you ran into an Italian American who was well educated, that they belonged to a mafia family and you wouldn't know it. As a matter of fact, drug, gambling, and pimping money is how a lot of guidos went to college.

Now if you are talking "largest overall," as in, all groups, gangs and families included, the single largest mafia family ever, I think, though I am not sure, was the one run by Gatti. Gatti was an heir to a mafia legacy where, various bloody turf wars took power away from both Jews, and Irish crime families. Yeah, you read right; Jews. When crime first got started in New York, the most powerful crime bosses were all Jewish, and they remained the most powerful until the 1890's, when power very briefly shifted to the Irish. Part of the reason there is bad blood between Irish and Italians, is because the Italians took away their power in that city (New York). Irish vs Italian families saw some of the bloodiest gang wars in U.S. crime history. Jewish crime bosses remained powerful throughout the east coast however, although, they permanently lost New York. The Columbian drug trade in Florida, much of that was organized by Jews; as a matter of fact southern Florida is still pretty much owned by Jewish crime families. If the eastern seaboard of the U.S. had to be carved up by "territory," during the "golden age" of organized crime (the 20's and 30's) I think Italians ruled all of Boston, and most of New York except certain Irish sections.

The Irish owned pretty much half of Chicago until the infamous Al Capone took over, and, because of the gun crazy red necks there, organized crime never really took a foothold in the south. Part of the reason the KKK had so much support in the American South, was because believe it or not, a lot of them fought the Mafia, regardless of what ethnic group they were. In the southern states, formerly the "confederacy" during the civil war, southerners felt safer in a KKK protected city, rather than a city where they knew there were mafioso there. The reason the mafia never took the south is because, true to some of the stereotypes, they were a bunch of self righteous, ultra moralistic, bible thumping, gun crazy red necks who shot all crooks on sight. There was a time in southern history where, if you drove into any southern state with New York, Boston, or Chicago license plates, assuming you even made it out, your car would be riddled with bullets. The reason for the hostility, was because they were paranoid about the mafia being there.

In terms of size, in the world today I think it goes;

1) The Russian Mafia

2) MS 13, not a mafia, but the gang is so large and so powerful, even the Russians won't move in on some of their drug trade turf. By the same token though most MS 13 won't touch the Russians, in a sick, twisted, "honor among crooks" manner, they keep a "respectful" distance. I use quotes because criminal scumbags don't respect anyone.

3) Third largest is Chinese triads, most of which have their head quarters in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an extremely dangerous city, in fact one of the most dangerous in the world; that is part of how Bruce Lee acquired legendary status. There is nothing exotic about the Triads though okay? They're all scum; I visited the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington D.C. where one of the agents was taking us through a guided tour. I separated myself from the tour group, to read about the Triads, and before I was caught and asked to rejoin the group I managed to read about them; the Triads have this sick thing, where a Tattoo gets started somewhere on your body. To complete the tattoo, you have to kill someone. If you kill someone, you earn 1 inch, if they were just a minor thug. However if you kill someone important, you get 5 inches, up a foot of skin coverage if they were a major crime boss. Above the display was the picture of a man whose entire torso was covered in a tattoo. Ever watch the anime "Crying Freeman?" The reason he had a Dragon Tattoo over his whole entire body, is because he killed THAT many people. Once a tattoo is completed, you are officially a full member of a Triad family.

4) The now famous and glorified Yakuza of Japan; some Yakuza are scum, others descend from Samurai families who simply refuse to live in modern Japan. During the Meiji restoration era, a police group trained in Kenjutsu known as the Shinsen Gumi ruthlessly hunted down all Samurai, their method, was by using the Samurai's own code of honor against them, namely challenging them to duels, the overwhelming majority of which the Shinsen Gumi won. Originally, Japan had well over 500 schools of Kenjutsu, now I think 20 styles survive, the reason that is, is because the Shinsengumi police force anihilated all the others. The Meiji politicians did not want another massacre like the one dramatized in that stupid Tom Cruise movie, as it made for some very bad press with the Japanese public. The solution the Meiji came up with, was by playing by the Samurai's own rules, namely, beating them at their own game. In time though the Shinsengumi got out of control; they became psychotically fanatical about Bushido, and pretty soon they started killing people for the pleasure of killing, not restoring order. If they heard that anyone practiced the sword, they would hunt them down to challenge and kill them, it did not matter, if they accepted Meiji modernization. Finally, the Japanese emperor himself, had to issue an order to stop them, and the man he sent was an elderly gentleman who was the head of the Yagyu family. Legend has it, he shamed the head and best swordsman of the shinsengumi, using only a tea cup to stop his sword. The had of the shinsengumi was shamed, so, he hara kiri'd himself (he comitted ritual suicide), soon there after the Shinsengumi was disbanded. Finding their skills not needed, and unemployed, many Samurai bullied thieves and bandit gangs into making them their bosses. Some Samurai, banded together and with a "keep it in the family" mentality, they formed "bandit" gangs made up exclusively of Samurai and NOTHING BUT Samurai. Hence, some Yakuza clans are made up primarily of scumbags, but with Samurai families at the helm, while the most powerful ones, all the members are descended from Samurai clans. They are so rigidly traditional they still practice arranged marriage; they stubornly refuse to be modern Japanese some, have never even worn western clothes. The Yakuza operate mainly in Japan, or anywhere with a significant Japanese diaspora population. I know for a fact they have a significant pressence in Seattle, of all places, which is not too far from where I live, and of course Los Angeles.

5) If you are really into crime dramas, I hate to tell you but, the Cosa Nostra is finished; their operations are restricted mainly to Italy now. Ever since the mafia shot Kennedy, the feds have been vengeful over the embarassment ever since; an Italian mafia boss can't fart without the FBI knowing about it. Kennedy was shot by the mob; that much is obvious because the "assasination" had all the makings of a mafia hit, even right down to a patsy to distract the authorities (Oswald). It is well known that Oswald in fact VOTED for Kennedy, so, why would he shoot him? Also, everyone who knew Oswald, they complained about how he wouldn't shut up about what a great guy Kennedy was. Point I'm trying to make is that Oswald had "innocent" written all over him, and, the feds just won't admit the embarassing fact, that a U.S. president was the victim of a mob hit, that is why they cracked down on the mafia. At one time the Cosa Nostra was so powerful, they could even shoot a U.S. president and get away with it, that is where a lot of the mystique of the Italian mafia comes from.

It is a pretty embarassing fact for the U.S. that much of the culture unique to this country, a lot of it comes from criminals. For one, the mafia started Las Vegas, headed by the infamous Jew mobster Bugsy Siegel, and, they also started the porn industry. Additionally, the mafia was so heavily entrenched in prize fighting, that, part of the reason the IBO went bankrupt, and eventually tanked by the mid 1980's, had to do with the feds cracking down on the mafia. So much of boxing was mafia funded, that when the mafia went down, boxing went down, and Dana White?

White knows that history, and to gain respectability for MMA he won't have anything to do with crooks; the head of the UFC operation I think conducts background checks on anyone wanting to do business propositions with him, if he finds out you are connected to any sort of gang, you can forget about him returning your phone calls or giving you an audience in his office. No joke; the world of MMA is deadly serious about being "not like boxing." Its kind of messed up though because, the roots of MMA (modern) are in Brazil in the infamous Vale Tudo fights, most of which are funded by drug lords. There a lot of Brazilian fighters, who would mop the floor with most of the guys in Pride, and the UFC, but they never compete, because they have dirty reccords. They're not clean fighters, so, they can't fight in a legit competition.

Part of the reason Marco Ruas was so dominant in his time, as well as the Gracies, has to do with the fac that before fighting ethically and criminally clean athletes, they polished their fighting skills on dangerous thugs. If you are absolutely crazy, or just plain suicidal, the place to have your fighting skills tested, is Russia or Brazil, not the U.S. or Japan. It is very rare, to have someone who never commited major crimes aside from, say, shop lifting, compete in dangerous Vale Tudo, and then somehow transition to the UFC. Its possible to hang out with criminals never having commited a crime yourself; criminal Psychologists, counselors, prison wardens, most of those people have no criminal reccord. However with fighting involved, that is rare; again though there is a reason why many Brazilian fighters, as well as Russian ones tend to be so dominant. Compared to the crooks they fought in their native countries, some former jock from a manicured lawn and white picket fence neighborhood is nothing to them, I don't care how buff he is. The majority of American MMA fighters who give the Russians and Brazilians a "real fight," often come from "bad places" themselves. Its also part of the reason you simply can not compare Boxers from the 30's, 40's,and 50's, and 60's to boxers of today; Boxing back then, was SATURATED with crooks. Some of the men the likes of Louis, Robinson, Patterson, Ali and Marciano toppled were criminals.

I mention the world of prize fighting, MMA or Boxing because, sadly crime is intimately tied to that. The more violent crime a country has, generally speaking, the better the fighters it produces. Part of the reason why Muay Thai fighters are so dangerous, is because they compete not only because they're basically starving, they genuinely need those skills, in the places they live. The city of Bangkok, Thailand, large chunks of it are a veritable hell on earth; it is a stark contrast between some of the most beautiful hotel accomodations you've ever seen, alongside heartbreaking poverty. They say, that no one who trains in Thailand for a while, is ever the same again, that is how bad it is.

Resources

Top Categories

Product

Company