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I was watching the movie "On the waterfront" with my father and sister last night, with Marlon Brando and Eva marie Saint, portraying the the troubles unions had in America in the mid 20th century in dealing with the influence and power of organised crime syndicates back then. Needless to say as most people do I used my iphone to look up the movie online and naturally spiderwebbed my way through other popular culture movies that portray the american mafia, from "Some like it hot" to "Gangs of new york", I am just curious from a non-american's perspective, have any of you american's on here known or felt the influence of the Mob in this day and age? Do you have any stories on what it was like growing up with them?

There is nothing "glamorous" about the mob, whether it's Italian, Jewish or Irish. Their stock-in-trade is murder, violence & extortion.

My father cut off a whole side of his family from us because of their associations with the mob in New Jersey (some cousins of his married into it). He has told stories of walking to school and sometimes seeing a couple of dead guys in a car.

My friend Bruce was a member of his union. In 1981, he ran for president of his local on a reform slate, meaning that he and his running mates wanted to remove the Mob influence on the union.

They murdered him and dumped his body in the open trunk of his car, and left it on the West Side Highway in New York to serve as a warning to others.

Organized crime exists everywhere, in every civilization and in every period in history. When two or more strong people can gain an advantage over a large number of weaker people, then it will happen.

Now, having said that our organized crime is more celebrated than most because of our popular cutlure (Hollywood) glamorizing them... but the reality is that it is crime. It is criminal behavior.

Just Congress.

Also Blackwater, where I once worked.

Well I'm from northern ireland, the IRA was more gangsters in the end than terrorists. They were involved with racketeering and drug and gun smuggling to name a few, most people got them to do their dirty work and put hits on people, irish american's had numerous notorious connections with the IRA over here and it didn't last as long as it did without them, seems like it isn't just an ethic/economic tension creation.