When I was a kid, I grew up in a Queens, NY neighborhood where most of the "Goodfellas" lived. During the crack epidemic we had zero crime in my area and they ran the neighborhood better than the local politicians. If you lived in a neighborhood with the mafia, no outsiders dared to mess around with the community. It was the safest I ever felt. After the mafia was taken down, all the good neighborhoods in NYC went to shit. Most neighborhoods in NYC look like a third world country now.
People talk about the influence of la costra nostra...
I only WISH they still had the reach they did! NYC would actually have better protection!
Bullshit urban myth.
When I was a kid, I grew up in a Queens, NY neighborhood where most of the "Goodfellas" lived. During the crack epidemic we had zero crime in my area and they ran the neighborhood better than the local politicians. If you lived in a neighborhood with the mafia, no outsiders dared to mess around with the community. It was the safest I ever felt. After the mafia was taken down, all the good neighborhoods in NYC went to shit. Most neighborhoods in NYC look like a third world country now.