The Mafia and its Loans

The Italian Mafia is an organization that has been depicted as a cruel and evil group due to their high crime, but is the mafia really that bad? One of the many ways the Mafia made there money was through loaning money to businesses in need. The reason the mafia did this was because these businesses could not get a loan from the banks. This seems as if the mafia is only bettering the economy because they are helping to keep many businesses open and running. The only wrong thing the mafia did with this type of work was that they would injure the owners of the business, if the loan was not paid back in the time it was due. S the question that arises, was the mafia good for the economy or did they damgage it by giving out these loans?