I was raised in Cicero, Ill. – at one time the Mafia capital of America. As a boy, I used to deliver papers to the house that, at one time, belonged to Al Capone.

I was born in 1956, well after the time of Capone. By the time I came along, the Mafia big shots lived in the newer, wealthier suburbs. That does not mean that organized crime had pulled out of the community; rumors of “protection money,” corrupted politicians and bookie joints abounded.

Although the Mafia could be traced back to the Italian island of Sicily, it sunk its roots deeply into America’s cities during the Prohibition Era, producing “bootleg hooch.” Growing up, I knew a person or two who claimed to have “cooked” (distilled illegal alcohol) for the Syndicate during the 1920s and early ’30s.

Once alcoholic beverages became legal, organized crime had to do something with its pre-existing network, so it began controlling “legitimate” businesses (you had better buy this brand of hot dogs or else, etc.), intensified its efforts in the realm of illegal gambling, prostitution and the mushrooming drug industry (thus nurturing it).

President Ronald Reagan focused America’s resources against the Mafia and pretty much devastated it. But something worse is brewing in our time. The Mexican drug cartels are becoming more dangerous than the Mafia ever was.

As bad as the Syndicate was, it played by certain rules. Al Capone, the prince of all gangsters, opened a soup kitchen during the Depression and was known for works of charity. The Mafia was undoubtedly violent, but it was concerned about public perception. It knew that – if it pushed the envelope too far -- the public would rise up against it.

In contrast, what is happening in Mexico is so intense that some wonder whether any legitimate government can contain it. The public seems powerless to rise up against this reckless form of organized crime. Although Mexican President Felipe Calderon is properly motivated (and is using the military to fight these cartels), observers are skeptical about his ability to succeed.

Michael Bartlett comments, “Javier Morena, the five-year-old son of Mexican fruit sellers, in Mexico City last November, was playing outside of his mother and father’s fruit stand when he was kidnapped by a local drug cartel … When the parents could not afford a ransom, they turned to the police for help. Shortly after doing so, the kidnappers killed the five-year-old by holding down the struggling boy and stabbing him in the heart with a hypodermic needle filled with battery acid.

“… According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, 5,000 people died in Mexico last year due to the drug trade. What is keeping the violence so regular? The sad reality is that American drug users are.”

You see, it is American demand for marijuana (in particular) that is killing the Mexican people. Thousands are dying because your neighbor wants to smoke a reefer.

Some have proposed legalizing marijuana in an attempt to curb the violence. Their reasoning is something like: “If marijuana were legalized, we could grow crops in the U.S., make money, and devastate the cartels.”

We have well-armed networks of criminals who are bent on becoming rich at all costs. If they cannot prosper on marijuana, they will select worse alternatives: harder drugs, more kidnappings for ransom and human trafficking.

America must do what it can to support legitimate Mexican efforts to put these criminals behind bars. According to Fox News, “… outgoing CIA Director, Michael Hayden, says violence in Mexico will pose the second greatest threat to U.S. security next year, right after [al-Qaida].” What a mess.

Ed Vasicek is pastor of

Highland Park Church and a weekly contributor to the

Kokomo Tribune.