How Powerful is Organized Crime in America?

Junior Lollipops, Bobby Glasses —and more than 100 others rounded up by the FBI. We take stock of organized crime.

There was a big mob bust last week, the biggest ever in one day, said Attorney General Eric Holder.

Lots of hoopla. Lots of funny mob names: Jimmy Gooch, Johnny Cash, Tony Bagels, Johnny Pizza. And there was a fair amount of surprise around that the Mafia still merited that kind of FBI muscle.

Mafia, La Cosa Nostra, even the funny street names seem like something out of the way back machine. But there they are.  Not Wall Street bosses or bomb makers, but mob bosses, rounded up.

We look at the big bust, and take a broader look at organized crime in America.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:

Jay Albanese, criminologist and professor of government & public policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has authored and edited 15 books on organized crime including Transnational Crime in the 21st Century and Organized Crime in Our Times.

Howard Abadinsky, professor of criminal justice and legal studies at St. John’s University in New York. He's author of Organized Crime and Law and Justice.

Mark Feldman, former prosecutor who supervised high-profile cases, including prosecutions of the leadership of all five Mafia families operating in New York. He led a multi-agency investigation into the Gambino and Genovese family’s efforts to control the New York waterfront, culminating in the conviction of Peter Gotti. He is currently a Managing Director at BDO Consulting.