Ralph J. Marra, Jr., the First Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, testified at the Commission’s public hearing with regard to why organized crime is not on the wane, despite more than 15 years of successful racketeering prosecutions:
… [A]s long as there’s a free market economy, and a very free-wheeling one, and a successful economy, as we have in our tri-state area, we are going to see a lot of organized crime. The structure of organized crime is still there, and there are a lot of opportunities to make a buck, basically. As long as those opportunities exist, the traditional elements of organized crime and the newly emerging groups,  whether they’re from Eastern Europe or Asia-centered organized crime groups will continue to prosper, and [also] will continue to look for vulnerabilities in the economy and in the regulatory structure and exploit those things to make money.

Louie F. Allen, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge in Newark, added, “If there’s a way to make money, [organized crime] is there.”