The Mafia made a name for themselves due to all of the criminal activities they engaged in around New York in the 1920s onward. As time went on, the gang stayed active, but got far more clever about their dealings. Blatant rackets and using muscle as a means to get the job done is not something that could be used.
The classic Mafia style usually involves men who are well dressed in black suits with hats, set in a time period that most of us look back at as being “black and white”.