Comments Elsewhere

My understanding is that there are some aboveground markets in which organized crime outfits have historically been successful — for example, in vending machines, and in the financing and distribution of pornography.

Pornography is a special case, given that during the period of substantial Mafia involvement, it was constantly under legal threat, and social pressures contributed to a lot of economic features that made the market similar to black markets even when it wasn’t formally one. As for vending machines, I’m not sure where exactly the organized crime element came from — although I’ve heard plausible suggestions that coercive control over restaurants and bars (through various forms of racketeering) played a role, and also that getting into businesses oriented around large amounts of cash in small denominations aided in money laundering.