In the digital age, cash businesses are more transparent, which makes it harder to strong-arm the competition. Waste management, for example, has become so strongly tied to organized crime that in some parts of the country the term 'sanitation crew' might as well be synonymous with 'the Mob.'Įven as Mob types have gained higher profiles on TV and in movies, there's still the perception that the actual Mob is less present or relevant than it was in the past. The Mafia favors unregulated or cash-based businesses that require the strength and stomach to do things members of polite society avoid.
Organized criminals have long invested in legitimate business as both a base of operations and a means of laundering money from illegal activities such as drug trafficking, weapons dealing, prostitution, smuggling, counterfeiting and robbery.
