Re: ...The Mafia, as you call it, may exist in Italy, but here it's a shadow of its former self. Our most famous mobster, John Gotti Jr., is reduced to selling steroids at his gym and shaking down local grocers.
Yours really is a self-delusive opinion on the Mafia's stake in the U.S. --the largest drug-consumer market in the world.
....yet another claim of the Mafia as the highest stage of capitalism:
washingtonpost.com
Excerpt:
Tucson, AZ: With the vasts amount of money these global drug cartels earn, is it fair to say that they not only threaten democratic institutions, but skew the free market flow of capital?
Frank Cilluffo: I think that that very well is a fact and that by any standards the criminal narcotics industry ranks among the wealthiest and powerful multinational businesses in the world. And that's the way to think of it--as a business-- perhaps the fastest growing since the end of the Cold War. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan estimated the industry at $500 billion/year. While those estimates are questioned, according to those accounts, it's still bigger than the world's auto industry. And it certainly does undermine the confidence of our financial system. These are the true multinationals. I call it the darkside of globalization. They enjoy the same advantages as the wealthiest and most powerful countries of the world. They have abundant capital and can afford anything they need to succeed, people, materials, etc. It also makes it impossible for legitimate companies to compete when they will take a loss to launder their money and make it appear legitimate. [the laundering premium]
[snip]
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Indeed, the mafia is here to stay... after all, as more and more legitimate businesses fall into its clutches, the mafia is on the point of becoming one of the world's largest employers, outperforming (temp supplier) Manpower!
How much luxury liners (in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean,...) with casinos on board are operated by drug barons? How much luxury resorts and hotels? How much real estate projects? |
