Was Vito Corleone Right about Narcotics?

[Queequeg]

Watching The Godfather again.  I've always wondered if Vito wasn't in some sense right about the influence of narcotics on organized crime-Vito and his generation were able to court politicians fairly openly, and the Mafia, for all it's brutality, was more often interested in gambling, extortion and loansharking rather than ruining entire neighborhoods with narcotics.  There does seem to be a shift in the nature of the business from grey-area mobsters such as Bugsy Siegel to the heroin and cocaine based gangs that rise to prominence in the 60s and 70s. 

With that said, most of what I know is from movies.  Were the gangs already moving to narcotics at the end of prohibition?  Was it inevitable that the profits narcotics would bring would make narcotics gangs  dominant? 

[Razgovory]

They were already in narcotics long before 1960's.  There were Mob prosecutions for Heroin in the 1920's.

[jimmy olsen]

Didn't you ask this exact question a couple of years ago.

[Razgovory]

Didn't you ask this exact question a couple of years ago.

I thought it was only a few months ago.

[Tonitrus]

If they didn't, someone else would have, and that someone else would roll in enough cash to destroy them.

[The Brain]

Watching The Godfather again.  I've always wondered if Vito wasn't in some sense right about the influence of narcotics on organized crime-Vito and his generation were able to court politicians fairly openly, and the Mafia, for all it's brutality, was more often interested in gambling, extortion and loansharking rather than ruining entire neighborhoods with narcotics.  There does seem to be a shift in the nature of the business from grey-area mobsters such as Bugsy Siegel to the heroin and cocaine based gangs that rise to prominence in the 60s and 70s. 

With that said, most of what I know is from movies.  Were the gangs already moving to narcotics at the end of prohibition?  Was it inevitable that the profits narcotics would bring would make narcotics gangs  dominant?

What exactly was Vito's thesis again?

[CountDeMoney]

Yes, he was right the negro.
And so was Henry Hill in Goodfellas, about why they get caught.

[Queequeg]

Didn't you ask this exact question a couple of years ago.

I think I did. I end up watching The Godfather every Thanksgiving or Christmas, and the question always comes to mind.

[Queequeg]

They were already in narcotics long before 1960's.  There were Mob prosecutions for Heroin in the 1920's.

Hmm. Will have to look up the % of income.

[jimmy olsen]

Didn't you ask this exact question a couple of years ago.

I think I did. I end up watching The Godfather every Thanksgiving or Christmas, and the question always comes to mind.

Quite the holiday movie!

[Admiral Yi]

Quite the holiday movie!

Family was very important to the Corleones. 

Who else thinks Talia Shire looks yummy in the "give me some money so this gigolo can marry me" scene?

[CountDeMoney]

Who else thinks Talia Shire looks yummy in the "give me some money so this gigolo can marry me" scene?

Just you.  But we expect that, and no longer question your weirdo taste in women.

[Admiral Yi]

Is that the grumbler "we," or did you conduct a lighting survey by pm on the question?

[CountDeMoney]

I've been tracking your metrics since 2003.

[Eddie Teach]

I always thought she was pretty cute.