30 most powerful mafias and criminal organizations

A criminal gang is an organized enterprise that performs criminal activity.

The first criminal gang was thought to have manifested in 1820 called the "40 Thievs" and today thousands of crime gangs of all sizes exist world wide.

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Cosa Nostra - Sicilian Mafia

• The Sicilian Mafia first manifested in the 1940's
• Cosa Nostra translates to "Our thing"
• The FBI coined the term La Cosa Nostra

Above: Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino. Born August 24, 1902 Died of a heart attack on October 15, 1976.

• Carlo Gambino was the mafia boss of the Gambino crime family and after 1957 seized control of the commission of la Cosa Nostra in the U.S.

Above: Joseph 'Joey Bananas' Bonanno. One of the most famous Sicilian Mafioso's that fled from Sicily to New york were he built an empire for himself

Above: Salvatore Riina was the most powerful Sicilian Mafia boss during the 1980's who worked his way up to a deputy of the boss and eventually the main boss

Above: Giovanni Falcone (left) and Paolo Borsellino. Two magistrates who led a campaign against the Mafia and were murdered for their efforts.

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Russian Mafia - Russkaya Mafiya (Russian)

• Russian Mafia claims territory in the former Soviet states and has major crime strongholds in Israel and the United States
• Criminal activity includes extortion, arms trafficking, cyber crimes, human sex trades, fraud and much more
• Bratva - Братва, is Russian street slang meaning Brotherhood. All russian mafia groups and syndicates are referred to as Bratva
• The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 forced the Russian Mafia to step up and become a super power that governs and exists in every aspect of Russian Society

Above 2 pictures: Vyacheslav Ivankov. Godfather of the Russian mafia. Currently serving 9 and a half year prison sentence for extortion and other charges.

• Law officials say that in the past 30 years the russian mafia and russian crime families have grown so large and their criminal endeavors so vast that they may now be larger than the Cosa Nostra
• The Russian mafia will kill any one. A New york police officer was quoted as saying "They will shoot you just to see if there gun works" Unlike the Cosa Nostra who has a rule that they do not go after cops because it causes to many problems.

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Serbian Mafia

• The Serbian Mafia worked with the Italian Mafia to dominate the illegal cigarette smuggling operations and made billions doing so
• Serbian criminal enterprises are most active in the European Union (EU) Countries
• The Serbs offered affordable contract killing and rarely discriminated where the contracts came from
• Serbian criminals were often recruited to a state security force called "Red Berets".

Above: Ljuba Zemunac, Godfather and crime boss of the Serbian Mafia from 1970 to the mid 1980's when he was killed by a rival gang leader Goran Vuković "Majmun".

Above: Kristijan Golubović operated Serbian Mafia territory in Greece before being arrested for stealing expensive sports cars and being involved in serious armed robberies.

Above: Slobodan Milosevic, Serbian president who protected the Serb Mafia and reaped massive rewards and favors from the crime family. Smuggling cigarettes and oil was there main business.

In 2000 he was arrested and charged with 66 counts of genocide and crimes against humanity for his evil involvement in the Bosnian genocide incident.

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Israeli Mafia

• Israeli Mafia is one of the few criminal organizations that has NOT succeeded in corrupting law officials, judges and the police force. Al Capone on the other hand was famous for his corrupting abilities and having everyone in his pocket so to speak.
• The Israeli mafia is directly responsible for the largest gold/jewelry robbery in Manhattan's history after getting away with well over 4 million dollars worth.
• Ecstasy pills trafficking was on the top money grossing projects this mafia undertook and its rumored they even supplied the Gambino crime families under boss Sammy Gravano. U.S. customs states the Israeli Mafia is on top of the multi billion dollar ecstasy ring and the 7 million pills they have confiscated didn't even dent the flow of pills.
• Ex Soviet Crime organizations in Israel flourished when massive amounts of Russian Jews immigrated to Israel in 1989.
• Abergil Crime Family was the most notable in the Israeli Mafia

Above: Israeli Mafioso Ron Gonen

Below: Surveillance photos of Israeli Mafia members collected by the FBI in the ongoing fight against criminal organizations and crime

Above: Ran Efraim and Shumka. Members of the Israeli Mafia. Largest importers of heroin into New York City in the 1980’s. Both men were ruthless and would kill for nothing.

Above: Ran Efraim. Ron Gonen’s best friend and second in command. Israeli mafia

Above: Josi “Joe” Reisch (with glasses) seen with lower level mafia members

Above: Elio Hana and Ran Ephraim were responsible for the hit that would cause the downfall of theIsraeli Mafia

Above: Ran Efrains wife above was not an innocent victim of the mafia. She played an important roll and lied to authorities to the very end to protect her husband

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Albanian Mafia

• Albania has 15-30 different organized crime families or clans from the same mafia enterprise. Around 20 members per family that means the Albanian Mafia in Albania alone consists of around 300-600 members.
• The Rudaj Organizationi s the largest and most famous Albanian mafia named after the crime boss Alex Rudaj
• The Albanian mafia functions like a military organization. They attack with short precise strikes to avoid police presence.
• In 2004 the FBI arrested 22 members of the Albanian mafia including the boss Alex Rudaj which crippled if not extinguished the clan.

Above: FBI footage of Alex Rudaj on 15 April 2003 Albanian Mafia boss

Above: More FBI surveillance of Albanian Mafia members outside headquarters
Above left: Miri Patani, high on the fbi's most wanted list for an enormous list of criminal activities. Right: Gjelosh Lelcaj albanian mafia soldier arrested during a robbery

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Indian Mafia

Above: Rama Naik Don of the indian mafia underworld mumbai territory. Not much info on him and almost no pictures. He prefers to remain secret and underground.

Above 3 pictures: Dawood Ibrahim Current Indian Mafia boss

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Corsican Mafia

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Turkish Mafia

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Mexican Drug Cartel

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Columbian Drug Cartel

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Chinese Triads

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Irish Mob

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Japanese Yakuza

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Jamaican-British Yardies

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Malaysian Mamak Gang

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Turkish Mafia

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British Crime Families

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Sureños

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Norteños

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Crips

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Bloods

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Nazi Low riders

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Latin Kings

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Vice Lords

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Gangster Disciples

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Hell's Angels

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Mara Salvatrucha - MS13

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Napolitan Camorra

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Calabrian Ndrangheta

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Sardinian kidnappers

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