Money, money, money. It's what the mob is all about. But how exactly did they do it? Find out by clicking on one of the racket stories below.
A nuts and bolts layout on both the history and the mechanics of various illegal gambling rackets.
It is said that the gambling business, in all its various forms, is the very lifeblood of organized crime. Nipping at its heels close behind is shylocking.
Narcotics is the most profitable business in the underworld. Although many have dabbled in it, few have done it as well as the Italian Mafia.
Heisting cargo became a multimillion-dollar business for the mob. A racket so lucrative that all mob families dabbled in for decades.
Nearly every single Mafia family in the entire country has profited from stock market scams at one time or another over the years.
While it lasted, cigarette smuggling was one of the greatest rackets the Mafia ever invented! A cash cow that was perfectly tailor-made for wiseguys.
While it lasted, the jukebox and vending-machine racket was one of the biggest money-makers the Mafia ever had.
One of the most important industries to New York’s economy, and to the whole nation, was the garment industry which was deeply infiltrated by the mob.
Airport rackets at JFK International are considered “open territory” and “open season” to all the NYC organized crime families.
Since the early 1900s, and maybe before, Irish and Italian hoodlums gravitated to the various waterfronts and its related industries.
One of the more durable underworld rackets created over the years has been the Mafia’s infiltration of the garbage carting industry.
After Prohibition ended, the mafia skirted the law in order to satisfy a thirsty public and made fortunes with After-Hours clubs.
Starting in the mid-1960s, the mafia quickly realized the tremendous money-making potential of credit cards and took full advantage!
The food industry and the mob go hand in hand. They're part of your everyday life from fine restaurants to your local grocery stores.
Big Apple nightlife and entertainment might just not exist if it wasn't for the mob!
Today, the mob is hurting. The streets are no longer are paved with gold as they had been for the early Italian, Jewish, and Irish hoodlums.
The Mafia loves easy money and when credit cards debuted to the general public, these little plastic cards of cash became an easy target for the mob. But how did they do it? And which mobsters were most prolific in the racket?
Ruby Stein was one of the biggest loansharks in New York City working in tandem with the Colombo Crime Family and Jiggs Forlano. After Ruby ended his partnership with Jiggs, he made the fatal mistake of affiliating with the Irish Mob's Jimmy Coonan.
Jimmy Doyle Plumeri was a top garment racketeer with the Lucchese Family who, with his notorious nephew Johnny Dio, wreaked havoc on New York's garment industry. He was also tied into Lepke Buchalter and others and might have been in line to be boss. But Plumeri's charmed life came to an abrupt end in 1971.
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The Iaconi Regime Leadership chart lists the membership of this regime based in Worcester, Massachusetts headed by Frank Iaconi.
The Patriarca Family Leadership chart lists the membership of this powerful mafia family from New England headed by Raymond Patriarca.
The Cerrito Family Leadership chart lists the membership of this small mafia family from San Jose, California headed by Joseph Cerrito.
