Italian mob, they have influence all over the world, and a huge source of soldiers.hillelslovak
That's what the movies would suggest, but my feeling is that the Italian mob is more like #3 when both those categories are considered. Add the triads into the mix, and they are #4.
The yakuza may not be very active internationally, although they have been known to cooperate with e.g. Thai and triad groups where profitable, but in sheer manpower the Italians can't match them. The yakuza are very well established in Japan to the point of existing in a near-symbiotic relationship with the government. It has an insane amount of members, over 100,000 are officially registered as yakuza, compared to around a 1,000 American real mafioso (who mostly hire non-member street thugs to do their dirty work to avoid sullying their hands).
Outside Italy, the Russian mob has far more European influence than the cosa nostra, and are responsible for a massive amount of car thefts, drugs and human trafficking. It would very much surprise me if the Russians didn't have both more manpower and more global reach than the Italians, given the size of Russia's population (almost three times that of Italy) and the sociopolitical situation in Mother Russia, a virtual paradise for the growth of large-scale organised crime groups.
None of them can hold a candle to the triads, however, who are not only the most numerous and the ones with the furthest reach, they are also more heavily involved in global human trafficking, as well as counterfeiting of consumer goods based on the Chinese mainland. These industries are much more profitable than gambling, drugs and weapons, combined with much lower risks since the consequences for getting caught are almost negligible compared to drug or weapons smuggling, money laundering or fraud.
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