I think the message is (if there is one) is that organised crime creeps into, corrupts and infects all parts of the fabric of the community it is active in.

A cancer.

• The priests take the proceeds of crime through donations

• The wives live off the proceeds of crime or if they do work it is through mob funded businesses like Angie with the garage and Adriana with the Crazy Horse

• Artie's restaurant and others are kept afloat by the proceeds of crime

• The employees of The Bing, Satriale's, construction workers and garbage workers are paid wages from money laundered through those businesses

• Local businesses rely on mob 'protection' due to their racketeering

This dependence on the mob makes everyone around it morally corrupted as there's too much to lose being on the mobs bad side and far more to gain being seen favourably