First of all, I want to be 100% honest and straightforward: There is NO Mafia. It doesn’t really exist. Never did.
It’s just a vicious stereotype against hard-working Italian men and women.
In fact, if anyone were to claim that I had ANY knowledge of the Mafia, I’d deny it, change my address, and get the hell outta Dodge. THERE IS NO MAFIA! (Hey, I don’t wanna wake up with a horse’s head on my pillow. Are you crazy?)
“Allegedly” my hometown of Tampa Bay was once a Mafia haven; it’s a port city near Cuba, which made Tampa ideal for all kinds of smuggling operations — especially during the prohibition era. Al Capone had a house nearby. A former client of mine, famous attorney Barry Cohen, told me he used to represent Henry Hill, the character Ray Liotta played in “Goodfellas.” (Coincidentally or not, Cohen always kept a loaded firearm in his office and installed a bulletproof door.)
Charles Ponzi, the namesake of the Ponzi scheme, also had ties to Tampa.
Still, the original conceit of organized crime — i.e. that there are problems so daunting, they can only be solved via secrecy and group manipulation — is as relevant today as…
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