The Mafia: Big, Bad and Booming

To the Editors:

Waves of revulsion and loathing swept over me while I was reading your article on the Mafia [May 16]. I personally feel guilty patronizing a vending machine while millions of good citizens run to the race tracks, dog tracks, jai alai, etc., with their tongues hanging out for a piece of the action. If only people had enough sense and decency to boycott all Mafia enterprises.

Marianne Morganti Ridgefield, Conn.

Hooray for the Mafia! Only 8% of their illegal money comes from stealing (bootlegging and hijacking); the rest comes from providing services that the Government has no right to control. If the Government would stop protecting us from ourselves through usury, drug and morals laws, there would be no need for the Mafia.

William Rodenkirch Seattle

You failed to mention one of the more glaring reasons the Mob can operate with impunity--and that is that there are too many corrupt officials on the take. They are willing to turn their heads away as long as enough money sticks to their fingers.

Dwight H. Skeels Palmyra, N. Y.

Except for the Battle of Little Bighorn, you and similar publications attribute all murder and violence in this country to the Mafia. Once again you owe Italian Americans an apology.

Thomas A. Petrillo Jr. Ipswich, Mass.

How about a list of names of the non-Mafia members, political leaders, heads of corporations, etc., who have become financially successful because of business negotiations with the Mafia. If you're going to tell--tell it all.

Frances M. Filippone San Diego

"Mafia!" One would almost expect to see "Spies" or "Micks" in a subsequent issue. Is no heritage sacred to you? Must we forever defend our background? Are we doomed to keep listing our contributions to mankind: Michelangelo, Marconi, Fermi, etc.

Joseph Valenti New York City

The biggest "Mafia" operates in Washington, D.C. Lay off the Italians!

Kenneth Schuster Drexel Hill, Pa.

As an 18-year-old young adult I have partaken of many of the pleasures that the Mafia provides. So have millions of others--your readers as well. Relax. Enjoy. It's here to stay.

Tyler Jordan Philadelphia

Your sentence, "Above all, there must be an end to America's tolerance for any kind of organized crime," should have been written in capital letters and red ink. We citizens are responsible for the Mafiosi.

J. Stanley Cook Bradenton, Fla.

The Mafia makes so much money that it ought to rank first in the FORTUNE annual directory of the 500 largest U.S. industrial corporations.

Ernesto B. Villalva Quezon City, Philippines

It seems as if Marabel Morgan's idea of "Total Woman" is alive and well --among the Mafia wives whose "marriages reflect old-country values of silence and obedience."

Mrs. Lance Baber Indianapolis

Clamshell Crusaders

Your article "The Siege of Seabrook" [May 16] made the efforts of the Clamshell Alliance seem puny. They are not. Faced with the powerful pro-nuke combine of Government and Big Business, Clamshell seems to have opted for visibility in order to persuade others to support its cause. Its methods are commendable for orderliness and courtesy. The issues at stake are more serious than the indeed serious threat to marine life that you cite. The Clamshell protesters are crusaders in the vital cause of saving us and the generations to come from the terracide being risked by reckless and shortsighted officialdom.

Alicia R. Walker Weare, N.H.

Hey, right on, Seabrook! If a power company tried to put a nuclear plant on the northern New Jersey coast I would do the same thing.

Mark Brower Leonardo, N.J.

The anti-nuclear power demonstrations in New Hampshire make me sick.

I would like to see the anti-nuclear power forces take a positive approach. If they want to stop nuclear power, they should qualify themselves in physics, engineering and economics, and then form companies to build solar heating systems. Others of them should do research and development on a variety of unusual power systems.

Martin P. Hanson Portsmouth, N.H.

Wearily Hanging On

The Catholic bishops gathered in Chicago [May 16] again dealt with church matters from the lofty heights of the imperial episcopacy. Their reason for most decisions derives from the paternalistic thought of the Vatican.

We in the pews wearily hang on out of love for what the church can be, but we feel so helpless when confronted by the near monolithic power structure that panics at any bold thought or new approach to the many problems we face.

Anthony D. Lutz Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.

They sidestep. They skirt. They make gestures of love. They are sheep in shepherds' clothing.

Maurice V. Moriarty Inglewood, Calif.

Celibacy, women priests, birth control, homosexuality ... How sad that so much time and energy are spent agonizing about the genitals--and so little on the openness of the heart.

Jim Stress Gladstone, Mo.

Why should depraved people be permitted to stand in the pulpits of churches? Why should decent men and women be tolerant of evil?

Norman Lewis Lake George, N. Y.

The Badgers

Surely the gray-and-white-faced miner depicted on the barn mural in "Rural Murals in Dairyland" [May 16] is not an iron miner but a lead miner, --a representative of the men who settled our area of southwestern Wisconsin in the early 1800s. They holed up in their mines in the winters to become known as Badgers and provided much of the lead used by the North in the Civil War. It is truly fitting that his portrait is the center figure of the mural, for he was in the center of the development of the state.

Loren Farrey Mineral Point, Wis.

Super Bowl of News

I can see it all now as ABC'S new news chief, Roone Arledge [May 16]. spans the globe.

Will governments fall? Can the Commies beat the Capitalists? Will the U.S. sweep the Nobel prizes two years in a row? Tune in ABC for the Super Bowl of news and instant replay on the Coup-of-the-Week.

Stuart Roach Portland, Ore.

I enjoy many of the ABC sports programs with the sound turned off.

Can Mr. Arledge make the news that good?

George Ha I Iowa y South Bend, Ind.

Royal Mix-Up

I love you dearly--but I love Chaucer more, and you can't tell "a Canterbury tale" on him. You said, in the review of John Gardner's book [May 16], that Geoffrey C. was "courtier and diplomat under three successive monarchs, Edward II, Edward III and Richard II." Not so. If we accept 1340 as Chaucer's birth date, as most of us do, he couldn't have lived under Edward II, who was murdered in Berkeley Castle in 1327.

I sentence you to three nights --alone--in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Tessa Unthank Williamsburg, Ky.

Nearing 1984

In your article on nuclear power [May 2] there is a reference to a major power crisis in Italy in 1983, and to Europe dependent on foreign sources for 59% of its energy by 1985. The only year avoided by these prophets of doom is the one we're nearing--1984.

Debbi Berkowitz Madrid

Devil's Lawn

Hooray for the Hagars in "Weeds Are Wonderful" [May 16]. I've always believed that God made grass for mankind's contemplation in tranquillity, and the devil invented lawns to settle the score.

Fred C. Adams Jr. Lemont Furnace, Pa.

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