Italian here. My roots are in Sicily and Calabria. I want to start by complimenting the effort you put in this work. I want to give you all an update on the situation about the italian most powerful mafia in the present. Now in Sicily there is less presence of the old mafia but, in Calabria (another region in the south italy), we see the presence of the "n'drangheta", one of the most powerful criminal organization in Europe. The scary fact about this organization is that they don't call themselves " families ", they are families, and the new generations of these crime families are now being raised to be lawyers, accountants or bankers, in short, what scares us about the n'drangheta is that it is evolving, adapting and it is extremely difficult to stop an organization with so many branches in contexts ranging from criminal to legitimate business. There is no good mafia. The true Italians will always raise against the oppressors.
The n’drangheta is working with Latin American syndicates and Chinese drug labs to flood America with fentanyl. It’s destroying the country and fuels a lot of the illegal immigration. It’s as rich and powerful as a country.
Been to sicily myself, travelled around, met people who were "in a family", and I am not denying that there are full on "professional" families there, I know that most of them are just small groups of little street gangs, doing anything from small time extortions and racketeering to big time kidnapping and political assassinations. But they frequently go to jail. The italian mafia never was as untouchable as the cosa nostra in america (at least for a few short decades of "glory")
i used to watch these kinds of vids and documentaries and such on youtube and on netflix often while doing high school home work and what i like to do or if i am bored asf . those old time mafiosos were badass and wild . very interesting indeeed though
It's a rare talent to not only getting away with an offhand Jimmy Savile joke, but also with not bothering to explain to the non-British audience. Well done!
@@Shecksballin I'm not saying he's always used it. I assure you most RU-vidrs are using ChatGPT at the very least for video brainstorming and concepts... you would be stupid not too
My family came from Sicily in 1909. I asked my dad in my teens about the mafia and he just said that's something you don't talk about. Never asked again.
Man, Rudy Juliani continues to surprise me more and more. I honestly wondered why that guy was such a big name in politics. But hearing for the first time that he was helping to fight the Mafia back in the day, is quite the surprise for me.
@@cidfacetious3722 The media in a nutshell, they show and tell you about stuff that is only serves to paint people in a negative light. Definitely need to do more research on people before saying anything.
He also was mayor of New York when 9/11 happened and as I remember was pretty unanimously agreed to have handled that situation about as well as anyone could be expected to. I think that was a big part of what made him so well known for a while
@@themonkeyman2790 makes sense... Wasn't alliteration for chaps that side of the pond like the linguistic & literary zest, the joie de vivre of English tongues at one time? At least until it was supplanted by rhyme?
My ex wife's grand mother in the 1930's bumped into a man on a country road while driving her horse and wagon. She described the man driving a large black sedan that he was a sharp dresser with very good looks. They chatted for a bit and she said the man was quite polite and respectful. It was later learned that the man was Al Capone who had built a small cabin in the local area. Grandma passed at 98 but she had never forgotten that charming man on a country road. LOL. Supposedly his cabin still stand and not sure who owns it and it is a very eery place, the cabin is abandoned so anyone can take a quick tour if you can find it. Cheers!
Mafia history is absolutely interesting. In Minnesota, the Twin Cities area has an absolutely interesting history as being both a haven, and a crack down area. Mobsters who fled there from Chicago had a hell of a hay day there. It is often overlooked, but is an incredibly important area to the over arching story.
I've seen a lot of videos on this topic, but this managed to present a new perspective and explained some details, that all the other videos missed! I loved it!🥰
My brother was a groomsman for a college roommate who had a lot of Italian mafia men in his family. They rented out the most expensive venue in town, ordered one single long table for everyone, and catered in the city's most expensive restaurant's food for the party. Earlier in the day they went to a baseball game, and one the uncles bought the entire roll of tickets for a raffle. Funny thing was that the bride was from China, and her whole family was like stereotypical tourists who are oblivious to American culture. Half of the crowd was gaunt-faced mobsters, the other half was foreigners with no idea how an American wedding works lolol. One time the groom told my brother that he'd mentioned off-hand to one his uncles that he'd like a Northface jacket. His uncle just said "What size?", cause apparently he'd literally just hijacked a whole truckload full of them. This was 10 years ago in the midwest, so they're still definitely active.
@ansonthomas5804 one mafia family in the Midwest was supposedly died out in 1990. My friend traveled to their city and had checked in a brand new expensive set golf clubs on his flight. The gold clubs never arrived at his destination. Upon hearing of the theft, I called a bookie I know that works the "inactive family" and he went to boss, told him about airport theft, the boss said "give me $150 and come back tomorrow afternoon." The next day he had the clubs and I was told that the inactive family controls everything that happens at the airport plus illegal gambling. Around 15 years ago, the FBI reopened investigations into the family the family after hearing the family was still active, but couldn't find anything to charge them with. Another southern family was declared inactive about the same time and they went into legitimate businesses becoming billionaires in the wine distributing and owning vast amounts of virgin timberlands that they lease out to hunting clubs. This family has maintained their structure of Don's, under bosses and capos and such but their illegal activities were turned over to one of the NY families.
It would have been also worth mentioning that Charles Luciano actually played a role in helping the allies win WWII by helping the US gather intelligence through his ties with the Italian mafia.
Thoughty2 I really hope you see this I only found your videos around 3 weeks ago there so so sooo well done and ur humour is spot on I’ve watched so many and u have saved me In some very very cold mornings in Iceland (sorry if this didn’t make sense my English isn’t great and this was from Google translate)
Hi man, I've been watching your channel for years and I wantwd to say that your content is amazing, I can spend hours back to back watcjing your videos and it is fire 🔥 keep up the good work
Two of my distant relatives were associated with Carlos Marcelo in New Orleans. One ran a book making operation that brought in a lot of gambling revenue. The other had a chain of record stores as well as record manufacturing company. The stores didn’t seem to have much business but sure were profitable. Obviously a money laundering operation that existed for a long time. Uncle Stan offered me a job at one of the stores as a teenager. My mother absolutely put a stop to any notion I’d work for him. She didn’t explain until I got older why I couldn’t work for him. Family lore also held that both relatives confirmed indirectly that Marcelo masterminded the assassination of JFK though they had no direct involvement.
@VP Editz they were everywhere really, Missouri moonshiners sold their wares in all the surrounding states, a good portion of it to the mob,a lot to the Native Americans too! Their influence is everywhere, we should totally revive the Mob, I was surprised to hear they still have 3,000 operating members, probably went into government, now they're the land owners and it's our turn!
@VP Editz yeah I'm talking 1920s-late 40s just mentioning it because it's an obscure part of the story that a lot of people aren't aware of and it still influences the culture today.
It was called The commission case...but all around you made great video with many important stuff included...we have dozens of documentaries on the mib but the facts are all mixed, half truts, mythsy etc,... But you really got your facts together and made a video worth watching with facts on point... bravo !!
Going for lunch break. Thoughty2 new video. I'm having pizza. It's about the Italian mafia. Boy I love this channel. The best in the Tube (by far) . Thx man, have a good1
I’m italian and this video is great. I’m sorry in the name of italians for all of this things around the world, this happen today in Italy in a different way but we are not only the spaghetti mafia bosses or all the stereotypes around
I'm not sorry at all. They discriminated and lynched us, we didn't have nobody protecting us and so we reacted and the WASPs got what was coming to them. Hope they learned their lesson not to fuck with us
I have been following this Channing since it had only 5k subscribers. So I just want to say how proud and beyond elated to see you now at over 5 MILLION! It’s an incredible achievement and you absolutely deserve it!!
My grandfather was the director of finance at Columbia St. Mary's hospital on Milwaukee's upper East side in the 1970s. In that position, he once helped one of the older members of the Balistreri family pay cash, in full in one lump sum, for a surgery he needed. Generally, that was not how the hospital did business, and initially, there was a lot of balking at this, I'm told. So it was a big deal that my grandfather stepped in and personally took care of the transaction. It was all above board on my grandfather's part, btw; He was a good German Catholic farm boy who was very loyal to the nuns who ran the hospital. But there after, whenever that Balistreri family member saw my grandfather, which was moderately often as my grandfather often had lunch at a Balistreri owned restaurant (They still own restaurants in Milwaukee) near the hospital, he called my grandfather "Kenny," with great affection, and bought him lunch. My grandfather was in his mid forties at the time and hadn't gone by "Kenny" since he was a small child, but he didn't dare correct the man! Haha!
@Muhammad the Prophet first, the story was about how my grandfather, a good, honest man who was just doing his job, unintentionally became friends with a member of the crime family, and not how he saved a life, criminal or otherwise. Second, hospitals and doctors exist to save lives without judgment. Third, then and now, the Balistreri's had legitimate businesses that provided legitimate services to the people of the city. This man was not a crime boss, he was related through blood, not marriage, or simply a member of the family, organization, but blood, but otherwise we do not know that he himself ever committed any crime or murder, even indirectly. Are we to assume he is guilty just because he is related? Was Hitler's sister guilty of murder just because she was related to a murderer? But finally, to reiterate, the mission of the Catholic nuns, and therefore the hospital, was to provide treatment and care without judgement for sins; judgment was for God. My grandfather, who spent his entire career working for CHARITABLE Catholic hospitals, never for-profit hospitals, was just doing his job by handling a legitimate, albeit abnormal, transaction. He was not the doctor who performed the surgery, but even if he were, how dare you compare him to Hitler's doctor! It is not the same at all. And you're a self-righteous idiot for misunderstanding the point of the story in the first place.
I for one found this an interesting story, your grandfather sounds like an interesting and inherently good guy. No need to justify such a wild comparison, even mentioning the name of such a murderous dictator is a bit disrespectful to the OP and their family. Thank you for sharing 😊
@@alexislaisney3404 he was with all the Drugs he supplied to the dude , I can’t get my doctor to subscribe anything as good , speed , cocaine , morphine , what a Doctor
What about Lew Wasserman, the mob boss that started Hollywood post prohibition, thus all the Italian gangsters movies. Would love see see a part 2 about this!
This entry made on 1/30/'23. I remember reading about this historical backbround in 1960, when I was twelve years old. You might ask why a twelve year old would be reading about organized crime. I just wanted to see what I was up against at the time when I would be coming into my adolescence. It turned out that I read enough about gangs and criminals that I was able to avoid all the pitfalls of being suckered into a gang.
There was 1 family pizza chain in my hometown until early 2000's. It was not very good pizza, so we ended up just eating pizza hut, but they definitely were doing something shady.
I hope you are, unlike so many channels, getting your full payment from RU-vid. I want you to be well rewarded for your contribution to expanding the intelligence of the masses AND… on a personal note… making me burst out in laughter at unexpected times. One video made me come off “strange” when I watched in a restaurant. A heartfelt thanks to you. I’m an activist on the urgent issue of climate change and I seek your videos out when I need an escape from this burden. To use the vernacular of my age… YOU’RE THE BOMB❣️ Also… interesting choice of fonts in this video😁
Surely Lucky's betrayal of his boss and subsequent switching of sides made him the most untrustworthy person on the planet in the eyes of his new boss??
I think it'd be really cool to get a Thoughty2 styled deep dive into the Golden Era of the sport of Boxing. Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sonny Liston, Larry Holmes, Leon Spinks, Mike Tyson - the days when legends fought in that arena.
Sad but true. Those who think the Rothschilds are at the top forget they are the face for the Orsini family. Mafia goes soo much deeper then some realise
I think there was another branch, so to speak, 'La Mano Nera' The Black Hand....I think they were the precursors of the Mafia per se. BTW the horse's head in that directors bed...'refers' to the way Frank 'Ol Blue eyes' Sinatra got that Oscar winning part in 'From Here to Eternity'. That's kind of an 'open secret' and if you didn't know it, you know it now 😂
They were not the precursor of the Mafia. “La Mano Nera” was the name of a specific extortion racket back then, law enforcement just mislabeled the Mob by using that name when it was only one of their many schemes.
One of my friend's Uncle was responsible for tapping the parking meters on the street that helped catch John Gotti, and was part of Escobars down fall. That man has some stories to tell.
The idea of the mafia even still being a thing in the 21st century after the case of cases is fascinating to me. The only thing I ever think of when it comes to modern gangs are the local street gangs and the south-central American cartels. Tangentially related to this that would be really interesting to look deeper into is the friendlier connections between the mob, the FBI, and the intel agencies. Whitney Webb actually has an interesting new book on it. It partially ties back to the military and intel agencies working with elements of the mob to fight the Nazis on American shores during WW2. Eventually it just became "good business," and the coalition of crime and government factions working together literally got called, I kid you not, the Crime Syndicate. It ties heavily into the drug trade and human trafficking, even to this day, even tangentially related to guys like Epstein.
We have an Italian restaurant in our town, whose family came from NYC in the late 80s. It was Sicily Pizza for 15 years. 2010 they changed their name to Lil Capones. The owner was a son of an Italian money laundering op. Neat for Florence, Al
Actually you aren't that far off. After Alcohol became legalized many went into the Drug Market. Today there are still crime organizations with ties to the Opiod epidemic.
Ironic how Bobby Kennedy was such a great crime fighter but never bothered to investigate his father. Quite a story when one looks into the Kennedy "family."
It's quite frightening how much power these people had and still have over people, be it the average person, in businesses, to politics. And so many different types of " mafia " too all over the world. 🙁
Like it or not Mafia mythology is murderously melded with history of modern America. I challenge people to say that 5 times fast! Dude I watched that 3 times how many takes did that take you? Keep up the good work! And thank you for what you do!
He was also a very competent mayor, he did however assassinate his legacy on a level we only seen Kanye West do since. Sometimes you really should stay retired.
@@loke6664 yeah that was interesting as well as the fact he mentioned Elliot Ness who destroyed not only his legacy but his entire career over one case.
