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The Depression era was the time of the greatest crime wave the nation ever saw. Mafia and assorted gangs and criminal families and empires took over the cities and the streets of America, and bank robbers roamed the Midwest. That gave rise to the FBI, major crackdowns on crime and crime bosses, and the repeal of Prohibition to cut the power out from under the criminals.
However, that wasn't the end of organized crime. It persisted, and found special strength in the West, and in its prize desert jewel of Las Vegas. Hoover and the FBI under him continued to deny its existence, which only allowed it to grow and prosper, and it was not until after his death that things started to get done as much as they should have been years before.
Even today, after mob bosses like Gotti have been arrested, crime rings shut down, soldiers arrested and ratting out their bosses and capos, organized crime still exists. And we continue to be fascinated by it.

That leads me to this question: just how bad can the mafia and organized crime get in the United States? I don't mean that as how violent it can get, but how pervasive and strong and encompassing can it get? There are quite a few nations which have problems of this nature with organized crime. Certainly under developed nations whose governments are already corrupt. Russia has a major organized crime issue. I believe Italy does as well, and I have heard Japan does too. How bad can it get in the United States?
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