[bert]

How about good Italian catholic mafia types?

[seamas]

No, these were largely Guianese immigrants from S. America. You remember, Jim Jones and all that. There is a huge contingent of them in Brooklyn. Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Miami. Curious, that sounds like a drug trail. Well, I suspect that it is indeed just that. There are , of course, some Virgin Islanders, etc. , in the indictment. They are US citizens, but on the whole the usual story of legal, quasi-legal, and Americans involved in a sordid program of bringing drugs from SA to the US for big money.

[archy]

How about good Italian catholic mafia types?

That was certainly the case in the 1970s and '80s, probably the '90s as well. And after being institutionalized for so long, it becomes a sort of entitlement, a cash cow habit that's awfully hard for the boys to break.

As well as a source of strength and protection via legal and illegal campaign contributions....

-archy-/-