The Mafia: A 21st-century Cosa Nostra

U.S. News and World Report reports:

There's good reason to think the Mafia is down and out. At its height, the American mob wielded influence from labor unions to presidential elections, with big interests in longshoring, trucking, gambling, construction, waste disposal, and garment making. But the wiseguys have been reeling since the 1980s, with one set of indictments after another. Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. And in recent years, every top boss of those five New York families--the heads of the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese gangs--has been indicted or imprisoned or has passed away. So scarce are the godfathers that the Commission, the Mafia's ruling council, hasn't met for a decade, investigators say. And, though far from the front pages, the arrests go on. Since 2004, more than 70 members and associates of just the Bonanno family have been prosecuted in New York.

The story that will not go away.