The Colombo Crime Family was led by Joseph Colombo, who founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League to counter the portrayal of Italians as Mafia in entertainment. ¹⁾

The FBI hired Mafia Capo Gregory Scarpa in 1964 to obtain information on the extrajudicial executions of three civil rights activists by the KKK. He discovered the bodies by pistol-whipping a Klansman and putting a gun in his mouth. ²⁾

To pay off their gambling/drug debts, the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) has been sending debtors to work in the exceedingly dangerous cleanup at Fukushima. Most do not even have the necessary training to conduct the job correctly. ³⁾

During the 1960s, Frank Sinatra served as a liaison between the leader of Chicago's mafia and the Kennedy family, mostly to get Union support. When Kennedy broke his promises after being elected, Sinatra was punished by being forced to perform at the crime boss' club for 8 nights in a row. ⁴⁾

Vincent Gigante was a Mafia boss who walked Greenwich Village in New York in his pajamas for 30 years, babbling incoherently to himself in an elaborate ruse to avoid punishment. He was dubbed “The Oddfather” and “The Enigma in the Bathrobe”. ⁵⁾

Yubitsume is a Yakuza ritual that involves chopping off a portion of one's pinky as either punishment or an apology. The reason for this is that amputation of the little finger makes a proper grip on a samurai sword impossible, weakening the person in battle and forcing him to rely more on his boss for protection. ⁶⁾

For more than 30 years, pinball was illegal in America, and it even had its own criminal boss who specialized in the illegal pinball machine industry. ⁷⁾

In 2006, mob lord James “Whitey” Bulger (played by Jack Nicholson in “The Departed”) went to see the film in San Diego. ⁸⁾

Joe Colombo, an actual Mafia member, disrupted the making of The Godfather (head of Colombo Crime Family). Producer Al Ruddy met with him and went over the script, removing the word “Mafia” entirely from the film. Colombo and his pals also managed to elbow their way into casting and ended up as extras in the film.⁹⁾

When Viggo Mortensen was filming “Eastern Promises,” he wore his fake tattoos to supper at a Russian restaurant one day. When people saw the tattoos, they assumed he was a true member of the Russian mafia, according to the actor. ¹⁰⁾

Richard Kuklinski, a Mafia hitman, recalled his most “sadistic murder,” but also regretted the manner in which it was carried out. He gave his beseeching victim “half an hour to pray to God… God never showed up…and that was the end of it.” ¹¹⁾

Two cops from the NYPD's organized crime unit were secret Mafia hitmen, carrying out extortion, kidnapping, and murder on Mafia leaders' orders. ¹²⁾

In an early 1990s attempt to dismantle the MS13 gang, illegal members were deported to their home countries. Instead of disbanding, deportees expanded their area upon their return, and MS13 currently has over 100,000 members worldwide, making it one of the largest and deadliest gangs. ¹³⁾

In 2011, a California Gang member was detained for driving with an expired license after police discovered his chest tattoos portraying an unsolved liquor store robbery and murder. He confessed after being questioned and was convicted of the crime. ¹⁴⁾

Prospective members of the Aryan Brotherhood must complete a reading list. It comprises Sun Tzu's “The Art of War,” Machiavelli's “The Prince,” and Nietzsche's “Beyond Good and Evil” and “The Will to Power.” ¹⁵⁾

In the United States, there is an organization that provides inexpensive tattoo removal to former gang members. ¹⁶⁾

The Pink Panthers are a band of Serbian criminals who have pulled off Mission Impossible-style heists netting over 300 million euros in jewels. Dragan Mikic, the Pink Panthers' leader, once escaped from prison by scaling a wall as other Pink Panthers members fired machine guns at guards.¹⁷⁾

The military is a haven for the most powerful gangs in the United States. Graffiti from the Gangster Disciples, Crips, Bloods, 18th Street, Nortenos, Black Disciples, Surenos, Latin Kings, Vice Lords, African Nations, Aryan Nations, Aryan Brotherhood, and the Ku Klux Klan has been reported in Iraq. ¹⁸⁾

Many think that the fierce animosity that exists today between the Mexican Mafia and the Nortenos in California began in 1968, when a Mexican Mafia member stole a Northerner's shoes in San Quentin jail. ¹⁹⁾

In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel spent $2,500 per month on rubber bands only to keep all their cash together. ²⁰⁾

Los Zetas, probably Mexico's most ruthless gang, began as a group of Mexican Special Forces enticed away from their postings by the Gulf Cartel to serve as their “killing squad.” They immediately became uncontrollable and broke into independence. ²¹⁾

Pablo Escobar burned almost a million dollars in cash to keep his daughter warm when they were fleeing. ²²⁾

In the 1970s, the Errol Flynns were a deadly Detroit gang renowned for their colorful manner of dress and a particular dance for their gang sign. ²³⁾

To give the film “Training Day” a real feel, it was shot on-location in some of Los Angeles' most hazardous neighborhoods. Almost all of the gang members in the film are real-life gang members.²⁴⁾

Between 2000 and 2012, the United States established an agreement with Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel that permitted the group to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs into the United States in exchange for information about rival organizations. ²⁵⁾

Arnold Rothstein, the Jewish mafia mastermind behind the Black Sox scandal, refused to identify his assailant to police, saying, “You stick to your trade.” I'll stick to my guns.” ²⁶⁾

The Los Zetas drug gang kidnapped hundreds of innocent bus passengers in Mexico in 2011 and forced them to fight to the death as gladiators. Following that, the winners were sent on suicide missions. ²⁷⁾

During the 1930s prohibition era, a little Mexican boy sneaked alcohol from Mexico to Texas. That child grew up to become Juan Guerra, the founder of The Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's oldest and most powerful cartels. ²⁸⁾

Drug cartels in Mexico have been kidnapping technicians and forcing them to establish their own secret cell phone network. ²⁹⁾

Gregory Scarpa, Sr., of the Colombo crime family, detested African-Americans so much that he refused to get blood from a blood bank after suffering from an ulcer. He contracted HIV from another Italian gangster who donated blood to Scarpa. ³⁰⁾