1) The underworld’s ownership of and contributions to local political

machines. The mob has no politics or ideology. It pays liberally to both sides, so it will have a friend in court no matter who wins. Even the former American Labor Party Congressman, Vito Marcantonio, was on intimate terms with Mafia hoodlums, accepted campaign contributions from them, associated with and fronted for their racketeers in New York and in Washington, and welcomed them into his American Labor Party. He appointed the son of the infamous “Three Finger Brown” Luchese to West Point in 1946. Luchese was and is his contact in Tammany Hall.