This is Shadowrun

Organized crime is big in New York City. As one of the major mega-cities in the world all of the major organized crime syndicate’s have some sort of presence in the city, though obviously some are more powerful than others. Organized crime in NYC also presents itself in a number of different ways. Some syndicates are close allied with a mega corp, others act as fronts for gangs, while some stand on their own merit. Knowing which ones are which can be crucial for a Shadowrunner.

The Big 3

Mafia “La Cosa Nostra” - NYC was one of the first homes of the Sicilian Mafia in the US, so it should come as no surprise that they remain the dominate power today. Currently the NYC Mafia is a sleeping giant. Content with its place on the top of the heap, the Mafia seeks to keep things from rocking the boat to much. Its power-base is distributed throughout the city, but is biggest in the industrial sectors of Staten Island, the commercial sectors in the Bronx, and the residential sectors of Long Island. The mafia has been in New York City for a long time, and so has deep ties with the NYPD and City government, and vast ‘legitimate business’ interest. It is also loosely allied with Ares (with whom it gets most of its weapons), and currently has a peace treaty with the Russian Mafia. The Mafia is ruled by a council of 5 families, each of which control business in a separate borough, though these ‘boroughs’ have been expanded to include NYCs new additions. Its structure is byzantine, but slow moving so rarely comes into conflict with itself.

The Mafia mostly deals with traditional criminal operations. Their biggest income sources come from racketeering, legitimate (or semi-legitimate business), BTL and Drug sales, and the fencing of stolen goods. The Mafia is also a major backing of gangs in NYC. Indeed if the gang is primarily native-born its a good bet that the Mafia is its supplier for drugs, weapons, and fixing services. Unlike other syndicates however, the Mafia doesn’t use these gangs to control its turf, preferring a more-hands off business like attitude. The Mafia is least present in matrix crimes, which is primarily handled by Manhattan based Matrix gangs, and smuggling, which they gave up via treaty with the Russian Mob.

In terms of muscle the Mafia is also probably the most powerful syndicate in the city as well. It has many varied sources of muscle, from its own enforces, to corrupt cops, and gangs. It also has a vast array of markers it can call in for more strength if the need arises, ranging from oversees magical groups, shadowruners, hacker groups, and even reportedly even a mercenary company. The Mafia also has very deep pockets and is capable of outspending and outlasting its competitors easily. However these markers can take time to call in, so the Mafia can be slow to react to threats, and the other syndicates may have more and better muscle on hand.

The Mafia is not a big sponsor of Shadowruns. Content with the status quo, they have little need for deniable assets to shake things up. They prefer a light tough in most matters, and with the power behind them, a quite word from them is often more effective than a more violent message from someone else. Being the kings of the city they can generally take actions themselves if something upsets them, unafraid of potential retaliation. This means shadowruners are most likely to encounter them either as a provider of services (fencing goods, supplying goods) or if they have somehow earned the Mafias ire and an enforcer wants to have a little ‘chat’ about their actions and the status quo.

Russian Mafia “Vori v Zakone” - The Russian Mafia has risen from humble origins to be the number two power in NYC.  This has less to do with their inherent advantages and more to do with their sheer ruthlessness.  Of all the syndicates the Russians are the ones most feared for their willingness to do anything to archive their objectives.  Their is literally no limit to the levels of brutality they will commit in the name of their cause.  The Vor’s power base is also widely distributed through out the City, with major concentrations in the industrial/port facilities in Newark and to a lesser extent Staten Island.  They also have the largest presence of all the syndicates in the ultra secure neighborhoods of Manhattan. Aside from the Port authorities the Vor does not have that large a penetration into any of NYC government apparatus, but is well insulated within some of the corporations that hold NYC various maintenance (sewer, water, trash) contracts.  It also has a large number of oversee suppliers of the various goods it distributes.  The Vor is lead by Victor Putin, a kingpin like figure who rules the Vor with an iron fist from the top.  The entire organization is loyal to him out of an unusual combination of fear, ambition, and loyalty. The name of the Vor’s game is smuggling.  Their treaty with the Mafia gives them exclusive control of this business in return for wholesale rates on their smuggled goods.  If you have need of some illegal good, chances are the Vor at some point had it smuggled into the city.  They also handle inter-borough smuggling which can also be lucrative for isolated boroughs like Manhattan.  While the Vor has its hand in other criminal operations, the are not major players in these areas.  Indeed the Mafia distributes more of their smuggled goods then they do.  Still NYC vast size and huge demand for illegal goods easily stand as number one on the strength of this business alone.

The Vor’s muscle is almost entirely in-house.  They have a large stable of goons, most of which are themselves Russian imports and cybered up to the gills with a huge variety of illegal cyberwear.  While their ground forces may not be as large as those employed by the Triad, they are all individually much more skilled and augmented.  And all far more willing to do what needs be done to accomplish their objectives.  The Vor also employs a number of gangs to protect the neighborhoods around its more sensitive operations.  If the Vor was week in any area it was magical operations, they have relatively few mages they can trust on payroll.  A large part of its Matrix operations are handled by overseas hackers, but these operatives are very formidable non the less.

The Vor is a large employer of  Shadowrunners.  There always seems to be more dirty deeds that the Vor needs done then their in-house muscle can handle.  Putin sees himself as an equal opportunity employer and will contract shadowrunners for any of the jobs he needs done, showing little discrimination between thugs he has on staff and those he contracts.  However he also holds those runners to the same steep standards he holds his own employees, meaning failing a Vor job can have some nasty consequences.