Gangsters on the Water: The Rise and Fall of California’s Floating Casinos 

My grandmother hitchhiked from Minnesota to LA at the tender age of 18 in the 1930’s. She told a few stories about fun times on these very boats! Thank you for the background - I never would have thought I could have access to this really cool information (in my slippers). :)))

To be a mob boss is more than serving people with activities that are illegal. That's merely a black market activity. But to be a mob boss you try to maintain a monopoly in that industry. Unlike monopoly efforts in the free market where emphasis is on better serving the customer, threat of violence is how it’s done. Competitors would be threatened with violence to go away, or to be part of the mob boss's activity. Notice that those threatened would be unable to find redress in the courts. Why? because it would expose themselves as law breakers. Remember their line of work is illegal. To eliminate mobs in our society, don't make that which a large number of law-abiding people want illegal. That should be the case even if it is harmful to themselves. Notice that if the activity is harmful and not what people want... only then can it be made illegal and enforceable.