29. The Difference Between Old School Mobsters and Modern Ones
A recurring theme throughout The Godfather is “good” Mafiosi, the Corleones, who don’t deal drugs, warring with “bad” mobsters who want to sell narcotics. In real life, all mafia families from day one dealt in drugs. The mafia were never ones to leave money on the table, and illegal narcotics were too lucrative a trade to ignore. Those who did would have soon been eclipsed by the greater wealth of others who did not, and accordingly outcompeted for influence, soldiers, and loyalty.
There is however one difference between real-life mobsters from the era depicted in The Godfather, and today’s Mafiosi. Earlier generations of mobsters tried to be more discrete and circumspect about their involvement in drugs. As seen below, they did not avoid the illegal drug trade – indeed, they went out of their way to corner the market on the stuff. However, they did try to avoid attracting attention to the fact that they were up to their necks in drug trafficking.
