One would think that the Mafia, or organized crime, in general, could not conceivably exist in America, because this is a country that claims to have a robust rule of law, of which by that law, all parties and entities are subject to those laws, without favoritism, and so thereby equally applied. This would thus signified that the Mafia, could not exist, because by those laws, and by the material fact that the United States seems to have an overabundance of prosecutors and prisons, and does not seemingly hesitate to incarcerate whomever they so desire to imprison, all of this combined would seem to make it improbable for any crime family or families to exist, in perpetuity. Yet, the Mafia is certainly not an urban myth, and it exists right now, and has been in existence and of power, for a considerable period of time, of which, the obvious conclusion would seem to be that whatever rule of law that so exists in this country, that this is clearly unequally applied and is equally ineffective or, at best, that the law in America as exercised is purposely selective in its enforcement against organized crime.
The fact of the matter is, that all sorts of illicit activity takes place in America, such as illicit drug sales, both of pharmaceuticals as well as recreational drugs, stolen goods of all types, smuggling of various goods and even of people, prostitution, gambling, and fraud of all types. There probably isn't a limit to what activities are susceptible to organized crime, especially in consideration, that because of the great wealth of America, and the creativity of those that wish to operate outside the law, that such is limited only by the imagination of the perpetrators. The fact that all of this organized crime exists and persists, clearly signifies that the powers-to-be are either explicitly or implicitly involved with organized crime, as beneficiaries to it.
So then, the Mafia exists, because those that have the power to do something about it, are compromised or are participants with the Mafia, because there is no way that the Mafia would exist in America without the active assistance of those that have the power to terminate it, by utilizing their power to do exactly that. It so follows, that the fact that the Mafia exists and persists is indicative that equal justice in America does not actually exist, but rather a meaningful percentage of the justice system as well as the policing arm of the state are part and parcel of the problem and not of the solution to the Mafia being put out of business.
Pretty much all of the above really says, that in this material country, those that have money, influence, power, and intimidation in their arsenal but are not part of the admitted orthodoxy in America are still able to ply their trade, because the people and principalities that they need to have on their side, are on their side, more times than not; which reflects what the people of this country pretty much already know, that in America, everything is for sale, legal or not, and as much as America prides itself on having a vibrant rule of law, it really does not, because if it did, the Mafia would not exist, and until organized crime and its ilk, are eradicated, it won't.