Outdated outlaws?

The message on the tapped phone call filled the listening detectives with alarm. "'I'll put him in the ground," declared Vincent "Vinny Unions" Ricciardo furiously. "You can laugh all you like, pal - I'm not afraid to go to jail. Let me tell you something, to prove a point: I would shoot him right in front of his wife and kids."

Ricciardo was one of 13 men arrested in early-morning police raids on Tuesday. Ten of them are believed to belong to the Colombo crime family - including its boss, Andy Russo, and its underboss, Benji "The Claw" Castellazzo. Russo's consigliereIf the boss is the king of the gang, the consigliere is its prime minister. The word means "counsellor" in Italian., Ralph DiMatteo, is on the run.  

Most of the charges relate to a trade union for construction workers based in QueensOne of the five boroughs of New York City.. They describe a plot to divert over $10,000 a month from its health-care fund to the mafiosiMembers of the mafia. The singular is "mafioso"., as well as money from building contracts. Ricciardo's threats allegedly concerned a union official who was forced to hand over part of his salary for two decades.

Another scam involved compulsory safety training for workers. John "Maniac" Ragano is accused of issuing $500 certificates for courses that never took place. 

Further charges concern smuggling large shipments of marijuana from New York to Florida, and handling illegal weapons.

It is generally agreed that the families have been weakened in recent years by successful police operations, competition from other criminals and disputes among themselves. One argument began when a Bonanno family mobster stole a spicy pizza recipe from a restaurant owned by one of the Colombo family.

The mafia has its origins in Sicily: its most feared branch there, the 'Ndrangheta, has been operating since the 18^th Century. It then spread to other parts of Italy, and with emigrants to the USA. As well as carrying out robberies and dealing in illegal goods, it has a long history of extortingObtaining money by force or threats. It comes from a Latin verb meaning to twist. money from shopkeepers and businesses.

Instead of having an overall leadership, the organisation is made up of different gangs - usually family-based - who often fight each other for power. But one thing they share is a code of silence called "omerta". According to this, the biggest crime anyone can commit is to inform on a mafioso to the authorities.

Transatlantic links were strengthened during World War Two, when the US government turned to "Lucky" Luciano for help in keeping its dockyardsThe government was worried that warship production might be disrupted by strikes or sabotage. running and preparing for the invasion of Sicily.

Today, though, there is a growing sense that the Godfather-styleThe Godfather is a bestselling novel about the mafia by Mario Puzo. It was the basis for three highly acclaimed films directed by Francis Ford Coppola. mafia is out of touch with the modern world. On the one hand, sophisticated organisations are concentrating on cyber crime, making huge sums with little personal risk. On the other, South American drug cartels carry out massacres that make mafia killings look tame.  

The police, too, are using ever more advanced technology, as the recent success of Operation Trojan HorseAn operation involving a communications app which criminals believed to be secure but had actually been developed by the CIA. It led to over 800 arrests across the world. demonstrated.

Are gangsters ancient history?

Some say, no. After the latest round of arrests the FBI's assistant director, Michael Driscoll, commented that "The underbelly of the crime families in New York City is alive and well." Criminals can be as clever as they like with computers, but nothing is more guaranteed to produce a result as the old-fashioned approach of putting a gun to someone's head.

Others argue that octogenarians like Russo and Castellazzo with their silly nicknames should have retired years ago. A hacker can make far more from a single ransomware attack than they can by stealing from a union or threatening people with violence. Any gang inevitably contains rivalries and weak links, so the modern criminal is much better off going it alone.