the vodka case at the end, the mob wasn't stealing it.  they were buying it, transporting it and selling it without paying the import duties.  the reason it was so profitable to the mob was because of the oppressive taxation of a popular consumer good.  if the taxes were low the mob would never have even bothered because it is more expensive to ship grain alcohol across the atlantic than it is to distill and produce it not far from where the ingredients are grown.  

the mob became a profitable enterprise because of the restrictions imposed by the state, and the mobsters were the only ones countering it.