Sure, the narcotics business as well as loansharking, truck hijacking, labor racketeering, and many other rackets were also extremely lucrative. But each of those particular racket activities was only engaged in by smaller segments of hoodlums. The majority of underworld members never collectively engaged in any one of those other rackets the way they did with organized gambling.
In fact, of all other rackets ever engaged in, shylocking or loansharking was and still is without a doubt the closest runner-up to gambling itself. The two rackets complement one another.
For the sheer staggering profits involved, hands down, the narcotics racket has always been the most lucrative of all rackets. But the tremendous law enforcement scrutiny brought on by this activity as well as the draconian penalties meted out upon conviction for trafficking in drugs has always been a major deterrent for the majority of organized crime hoodlums, especially the Italian Mafia.
Certainly, many hoodlums did get their toes wet. There are enough instances of top mafiosi knee-deep in heroin and cocaine traffic documented through the years to prove that out. But as a whole, these men were still in the minority as far as operating rackets go.
But gambling in all its various forms has been, and to a great degree still is, an illegal activity that the vast majority of mafiosi and their mob associates as well as many independents alike have engaged in at one time or another. Most have made it their life work and their underworld “specialty” to engage in gambling.
There are several very good reasons for this.
