If Marlon Brando, of Godfather fame, is to be believed the mafia respected women and children. So, new allegations that New York’s Gambino crime family has been involved in underage prostitution may mean the last vestiges of mob reverence are gone.

Fourteen reputed Gambino crime family members and associates including one woman have been indicted on charges including racketeering, murder, sex trafficking of a minor, extortion and drug trafficking. Thirteen pleaded not guilty and all have been released on bail.

The indictment alleges the group was involved in an interstate prostitution ring involving girls as young as 15 years-old.

Ironically an ex-NYC cop says a law enforcement crackdown in the 1970s and 1980s targeting organized crime's leadership left a power vacuum that has been filled by leaders with a greater appetite for sex and drugs.

"The mob, as we see it today, has lost all respect, lost all the historical culture that it was intended to have since 1931, and that's because they're becoming their own best customers within the drug culture."

My personal perspective of the Mafia is as a 9-10 year old boy when I wasn’t stealing flowers from graves for the local florist I spent Saturday morning picking up numbers slips from stores, bars and even a local funeral home delivering them and the cash to the back door of the local VFW in a shopping bag. Later I chased down Mann Act violators for interstate transportation for the purposes of prostitution and liquor and cigarette hijackers all usually Mafia connected.