Gangsterisum Essay, Research Paper

GANGSTERISUM

In 1919 congress passed the eighteenth amendment. Which abolished alcohol and legally prohibited the manufacturing or sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Thus bringing the rise and increase of organized crime and criminal activity. This amendment would be a huge mistake for the country and the United States would suffer severely.

If there is a demand for something, no mater what it is, there will always be somebody there to partake in the process of fulfilling those needs of the consumer. Many people indulged themselves in many different kinds of alcohol, in many different ways. It was a way of life. Then the government steps in and puts a band on this way of life. State and federal agents immediately closed down the bars and saloons. Only to reopen as underground “speakeasies.” So people started having to buy their cherished alcoholic beverages illegally. Hidden places where people could knock and speak softly at a securely locked door, a secret establishment for entrance into the underworld of illegal liquor consumption. These secret places were first created by soon to be powerful mob bosses. These bootlegging merchants that ran the speakeasies found riches and power in the illegal operations. Thus bringing the introduction into organized crime.

Organized crime was soon on the rise, especially in large cities. The large bootlegging operations blossomed into many other illegal activities. These organized crime leaders had the police on their payroll working for them. They would tell them to look the other way and the crooked police were paid very generously for their injustice abuse of authority. They also had their hands in other corrupt businesses such as prostitution, illegal gambling, and the smuggling of many different kinds of narcotic drugs. Gang violence also became stronger between the rival mobs of organized crime. Street wars broke out and many demonstrations of these crime leader’s powers were expressed. The increase of murders of low ranking, average citizens were becoming more and more common. With most of the police on the “take”, there were a lot fewer arrest and those criminals who were arrested usually got off on all their charges, depending on whom they knew or whom they worked for. Most of the mob bosses were so ruthless that they would bully honest, hard working merchants into paying, so called “protection money”, to the under lords in their block or that ran the racket they worked in. If these simple shop workers refused to pay them their protection money sometimes they would rough up their employees, destroy their stores, and often hospitalize the shop keepers themselves. Large corporations were not safe either. They were also affected. These racketeers would push around the large businesses promoters, organizers, and even the strong labor unions.

Today the story is not so well known. It’s not as bad today because people have more trust in the police to protect them. The mobsters tend to leave normal average people alone because they really have no business with them and they don’t want to take the risk of getting caught by show boating their names and powers. The racketeers of today are not as publicly known even thought they still have many different holds on large corporations and large parts of the cities. Also the law is more forceful today than eighty years ago against organized crime. Today you wont find many crooked authority officials that you could just pay off to get yourself out of trouble. Not to say that these payoffs don’t still occur today they are just kept quiet and people have learned many ways to not get caught. There are still many illegal casinos, prostitution rings, and racketeering run by these large secret society’s., but drugs are still probably the number one money making business for organized crime units in the United States today.

There is too much money to be made out there illegally, that organized crime is here to stay. If it’s Mafia, Columbian, or Street based, in some form or another it will be organized by somebody in one way or another.