TS: The Mafia, the Yakuza, or the Russian Mob

we moved in above an italian restaurant in lic, and our landlord scared the shit out of us cause he said 'i think of you two as my daughters. you ever have any trouble, with boys or anything, you come and talk to us..." but we were too scared to. how great would that have been, i can think of some exes of mine who i'd LOVE to have wake up with a horse's head in their bed...

(Then again, the Mafia have better movies about them, and the Russians have infinitely cooler tattoos...)

The Russian mob would have to use Tchaikovsky or Prokoviev or some such - good enough for the concert hall, perhaops, but dud stuff when the bullets fly.

I hate to think what the Yakuza would sing. Something from Noh?

"Brother"
"Sonatine"
"Boiling Point"

Here in Detroit, we mainly have the Lithuanian mob to worry about. Lots of guys in grey suits with guns, bad hair and black SUVs, all named "Neeck".

Ah, but someone apparently hasn't heard either of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite or October Cantata (the sixth Movement of the latter being a sonic re-enactment the storming of the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks, complete w/ screaming sirens and Lenin screaming in a megaphone!) Either would be good for a gangland showdown-type scene. And a really good director (or really sick, sadistic mobster) could have fun with The Fiery Angel.

Then there's Stravinsky's Rites of Spring, which also might be quite nice in a Russian mobster film!

(because there were russian mobsters selling stolen watches in front of my office today!)

Search: Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifer and Branded to Kill

anyone seen tycoon: a new russian??

Just saw Branded to Kill last week and I have Tokyo Drifter on my desk right now. I'm psyched.

Chechen Mafia busts all y'all's gangsters' balls.

chechen mafia excel at kidnappings, most of all. dont hang out within a 100 mile radius of chechnya. or try and climb mount elbrus, as this american girl we knew did. the rest of the caucasus'and central asia is seemingly under-represented in the mafia stakes.

My sentiments ezatly! Also, fewer fingers and more attitude. Not as many rooster haircuts as in days gone by but the blatant anti-gaijin postering on the streets and in front of the pink salons certainly is something to write to your mother.

a good russian mob movie, sommermute, is brother.

i'm sure i heard that it was going to be released on video with subtitles. or has it been already? anyway, i read something about it recently=.

Indeed it is. I think I like the Russian mob best now.

-
Alan

what, exactly, does the chicago mob run anymore? like travel agencies on milwaukee avenue?

what about the taiwanese mob?

is there an indian mob? an iranian mob? is it safe to assume that all countries have a kind of mafia in one form or another? (except perennial exceptions like north korea.)

uh... riiiiight

Yeah, really. This story is pretty fascinating. Anyway, I don't know about other 'mobs', lots of ethnic groups joke about having their own 'mafia'. The only ones I know about are Vietnamese gangs on the north side.

I don't know if what they're calling 'the Outfit' today has much to do with the 'Outfit' of days past.

revive

There was an episode of Deadliest Warrior that had Mafia vs Yakuza. The Mafia won iirc.

*checks wiki*

yes, the mafia won it by having a tommy gun.

Worth clicking on just for the clothes:

http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2015/09/18/police-on-alert-after-yamaguchi-gumi-meeting-in-tokyo/

Meet the woman who makes fake fingers for Japan's reformed gangsters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ECEWShKAoM

Sammy the Bull interview w Patrick Bet-David

the mafia, of course. they run the subway, you know. and they own all the bridges in and out of brooklyn, hence why they've been rebuilding the polaski bridge since before my housemate in nyc was born.

― kate, Sunday, December 1, 2002 3:24 PM (sixteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I guess this woukd explain why the subway in NYC is always fucking shit.

"Try the ketchup with the relish"

What’s a Japanese Mobster to Do in Retirement? Join a Softball Team.

As late as the 1990s, yakuza numbered around 100,000. Their businesses — scams, gambling and prostitution rackets — were illegal, but the groups themselves were not. Fan magazines chronicled their exploits, sandwiching interviews with top bosses between organizational charts and brothel reviews. The groups had business cards and listed addresses. They gave Halloween candy to children and distributed relief supplies after disasters.

But today’s yakuza are a shell of what they once were. The same demographic forces wearing down other Japanese industries have also hit organized crime. An aging population has made it hard to find young recruits — more Japanese gangsters are in their 70s than in their 20s — and has diminished the once-thriving demand for the yakuza’s services.

Society, too, has become less tolerant of them. The authorities have carried out a relentless legal assault on the criminal underworld. Crime is both less profitable and riskier: In 2021, a court sentenced the head of the most violent syndicate to death, a first that sent shock waves through the mob’s executive class.

100k really? Seems high

they run a lot of shit, or did

the redefinition of the groups and the beginning of the end came in 1991 with the act on prevention of unjust acts by organized crime group members, which made it much easier to build cases against or harass members, and tarred them as "violence organizations." this paved the way for the local exclusion laws, which make it illegal to carry out business with a member of a recognized organized crime group—and that has the effect of completely marginalizing groups and their members, since they are cut off from all legitimate business, and it's difficult even to go straight, since membership in a group and even if you leave the official and unofficial stigma dooms most career prospects, makes it hard to open a bank account, or rent a house. this has led to the rise of the hangure groups, which are loose bands of criminals that don't bother with officially designated groups, and so are also not under their underworld rules.

the legal attack on organized crime is secondary, though, i think, to a society that has changed... like, you don't need them around to break strikes anymore, since the power of the unions has been diminished, and their militancy completely tamed. there used to be wars in east tokyo with labor organizers and day laborers on one side and police and organized crime on the other, but the bubble popping ended that. when the politics of japan ran on pouring concrete, distributing state contracts to various people, there was a role for organized crime in construction, but electoral system reform and the neoliberal turn changed things. you don't need underworld goons to crack skulls at street rallies, since the students don't demonstrate anymore. policing the world of the legal and semi-legal sex and entertainment industries used to be important, especially at street level, but now real estate developers run the city: you can't turn kabukicho into disneyland if organized crime are still earning off it; better to sideline them, so it's easier to stage crackdowns and cleanups. the sex industry in particular has moved from brick and mortar soaplands or pink salons to dispatch services, which take place online. they have no place in society.

but i'm partial to taiwanese triads if i had to pick one organized crime tradition. i like the history.

Yakuza should look to the best selling video game series of the same name and branch out into other activities - rescuing lost cats, helping foreigners around town, subbing for regional mascots, etc.

Tbf they also run a baseball team in 6?

Nice to hear from you Dylan

Yes, great post.

The Sicilian Mafia has inspired twice as much good literature as the Yakuza and Russian mobsters combined, so I vote for them.

Assume you’re only counting what’s been translated to English

good assumption. what's the count for other langauges?