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Cheese -

Mobs have even had their hands on the dairy industry! The Milwaukee crime family owned Grande Cheese, a national cheese producer and distributor, which was used for laundering money.

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Cheese -

In the '50s through the '80s, the business was strongly suspected of helping to import heroin, though nobody was ever charged.

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Restaurants and pizzerias -

Anyone who has eaten at Umberto's Clam House in lower New York City, or Rao's in the Bronx, highly suspects, to say the least, that the Mafia is connected to some delicious restaurants.

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Restaurants and pizzerias -

In the '80s, the Sicilian Mafia relied on their "pizza connection" to ship cocaine and heroin to Mob-run pizzerias across the US. They used cans of San Marzano tomatoes to export the drugs.

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Jukeboxes -

Infamous mobster Meyer Lansky had some unlikely businesses in his day. One of them were jukeboxes, which he dabbled with in the '40s.

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Jukeboxes -

Lansky (pictured) ran a Wurlitzer distributing business in New York City. And for a year, he would distribute all over different neighborhoods.

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Records -

Lansky also found himself in the record business, as they supplied the LPs for the machines.

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Records -

However, Lansky wasn’t the only mafioso involved in the biz. In the '80s, a group of Mafia members were found purchasing record-pressing plants. They would then use them to make copies of recordings and sell them at cheap prices.

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Pornography -

Since the '60s and '70s, the Mafia has been connected to the porn industry. The Colombo family reportedly ran coin-operated machines during these decades, which showed 8mm adult films in New York’s Times Square.

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Pornography -

The Bonanno crime family’s Michael "Mickey Z" Zaffarano started a nationwide chain, Pussycat Cinemas. The chain was successful until the FBI caught him in 1979.

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Chemicals -

The Milwaukee gang owned Del Chemical, which sold chemicals to various municipalities across the US. However, it was a simple scam.

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Chemicals -

The mobsters overcharged by 10%, and then Del paid this 10% back to the mayor as a kickback. Not only illegal, but it encouraged mayors to buy more chemicals than a city needed.

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Hollywood -

Chicago’s Mafia, best known as the Outfit, had a lot of power in Hollywood. They became partial owners of movie studios and even got into motion picture labor unions.

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Hollywood -

In 1943, the Outfit was caught trying to extort the movie industry, and several of its members, including boss Paul "The Waiter" Ricca (pictured), were sent to jail. However, he was released after serving just three years.

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Gay bars and clubs -

In the '60s, the Mafia had a lock on New York City’s gay bars. At the time, an establishment serving LGBTQ+ guests was deemed a "disorderly house," and the State Liquor Authority refused licenses to gay bars and revoked those of any place that served gay customers.

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Gay bars and clubs -

The Genovese crime family seized the opportunity to make money, bribing law enforcement to ignore the happenings in their establishments, such as at the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village.

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Garbage and waste management -

This was one of the first businesses that the Mafia got involved with in the US, in the '50s. They found themselves in the industry thanks to the Teamsters Union, by gaining influence and keeping competition away.

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Garbage and waste management -

Jimmy Hoffa played a major role in helping the Mob infiltrate this sector, and in 1957 he eventually became president of the union.

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Fishing -

In probably one of the most innovative moves in organized crime, the Milwaukee Mafia once owned the fishing boat Margaret L.

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Fishing -

Margaret L was the world’s largest tuna fishing boat in the 1970s, which was purchased with stolen union money from the Teamsters Union.

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Wind energy -

In some countries in Europe, the Mafia are investing in wind farms and other types of green energy as a way to launder dirty money.

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Wind energy -

In 2010, Italy seized Mafia-linked assets of US$1.9 billion in an operation that revealed the crime group was trying to launder money through alternative energy companies.

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Music industry -

The Mob has been a legitimate force behind some of the best recording artists. The Genovese crime family’s Moishe "Morris" Levy (pictured) was known as the Godfather of Rock and Roll, and produced classic hits like 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love?'. He was convicted for extortion in 1990.

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Music industry -

Another man connected to the Genovese crime family was Willie Moretti. He had a hand in building the career of Frank Sinatra.

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Construction -

Similar to its waste-management strategy, the Mafia made its way into the building business through unions. Typically, construction companies would make bids for jobs that include union crews. Mafia-run construction would then include union rates in the bids, win the contracts, and then pay far less to their workers.

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Construction -

In 1990, the five Mafia families in New York were up on federal charges for receiving kickbacks and fixing bids on a US$150 million job with the New York City Housing Authority. And even if times have changed, they still have a strong hold over the industry.

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Gambling -

One of the first major casinos was the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, which opened in Las Vegas in 1946. It was the perfect place for mobsters to make a major profit.

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Gambling -

Some of the mobsters behind the casino were Bugsy Siegel (pictured), Meyer Lansky, and Lucky Luciano. You could say that Las Vegas is what it is today because of the Mafia.

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Real estate -

One thing is for sure, the Mafia loves to get involved in real estate. A 2015 study of Italian mobs, published in the British Journal of Criminology, highlighted that it was an attractive Mafia venture for a number of reasons.

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Real estate -

Real estate provided a base for activities such as gambling and prostitution. Plus, there was no regulatory authority overseeing it, and properties could be rented out or used for legal businesses.

Sources: (Mental Floss) (HowStuffWorks)

See also: History's most celebrated crime fighters

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