Mafia In America Essay, Research Paper

Throughout history, crime has existed in many different forms and has been

committed by not only individuals, but by groups as well. Crime is something

that knows no boundaries; it exists in all cultures, is committed by all races,

and has existed in all time periods. Crime exists as a part of the economic

institution and is a lifestyle for many people. Crime also exists in both

organized and un organized forms. Since the early 1900’s, "organized"

crime has existed in the United States. The following will show where, when, and

why the Mafia came to the United States, who organized it in the United States,

and how it differed from its origins in the European mafia. In the ninth

century, Arab forces occupied Sicily. The native Sicilians were oppressed and

took refuge in the surrounding hills. The Sicilians formed a secret society to

unite the natives against the Arab and Norman invaders. This secret society was

called Mafia after the Arabic word for refuge. The society’s intentions were to

create a sense of family based on ancestry and Sicilian heritage. In the 1700’s,

pictures of a black hand were distributed to the wealthy. This was an unspoken

request for an amount of money in return for protection. If the money was not

paid, the recipients could expect violence such as kidnappings, bombings, and

murder. By the nineteenth century, this society grew larger and more criminally

oriented. In 1876, Mafia Don Rafael Palizzolo, ran for political office in

Sicily. He forced the voters to vote for him under gunpoint. After being elected

into office, he promoted Mafia Don Crispi as Prime Minister. Together the two

put Sicily under government control and funneled government funds to the society

known as the Mafia. In the 1800’s, New Orleans was the largest Mafia site in the

United States. It was while investigating the murder of an Italian immigrant

that the current Police Chief, David Hennessey discovered the existence of this

secret society. Police Chief Hennessey was assassinated before this murder case

could go to trial. Twelve men were charged with this assassination but were

lynched by a newly formed vigilante group. The Italian Ambassador demanded that

the vigilantes be tried. President Harrison who disproved of the vigilantes and

gave a large cash settlement to the families of the lynched men. This was a

widely publicized case because of its’ foreign ramifications and the involvement

of the President of the United States. Don Vito, Vito Cascio Ferro, was the

first Sicilian Capo de Tutti Capi. He fled to the United States in 1901 to

escape arrest and formed a group of the Black Hand. Its’ members were hardened

criminals currently fugitives from Sicily. He is known as the Father of the

American Mafia. In 1924, Mussolini was determined to rid Italy of the Mafia so

many members fled to the United States to avoid persecution. This increased the

numbers of members in the organization. These fleeing Italians were well aware

there was money to be made in the United States through extortion, prostitution,

gambling and bootlegging. Every large city soon had its own Mafia chapter.

Prohibition which was a legal ban on the manufacturer and sale of intoxicating

drinks generated a wave of illegal activity since there was big money to be

made. During this time, gangsters openly flaunted their wealth and power. This

period established many young men as leaders in the New Age American Mafia.

Charles

Luciano, born in 1897 in Sicily, came to New York in 1906. He trained in the

Five Points Gang, a Mafia crew, under John Torrio. In this gang, he became

friends with Al Capone and other prominent gangsters. Luciano started his own

prostitution racket in the early 1920’s and was in total control of prostitution

in Manhattan by 1925. In 1929 he was kidnapped, beaten and stabbed severally

with an icepick. He miraculously survived but maintained "omerta",

which is a vow never to reveal any Mafia secrets or members under penalty of

death or torture. By 1935, Luciano was known as The Boss of Bosses. He had

previously established Murder Inc. with Bugsy Siegel and Myer Lansky, two other

well known gangsters. Luciano’s wide spread criminal activities led to his being

investigated by District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. He was eventually sentenced

to thirty to fifty years for extortion and prostitution. Luciano was considered

to be a powerful Mafia member with strong ties to Sicily. After his conviction,

the United States government approached him with a deal. In exchange for his

assistance in the Allied invasion of Sicily, he was offered deportation to Rome.

Luciano contacted his Mafia associates in Italy and the deal was made. Luciano

died of a heart attack in 1962 while meeting an American movie producer to do

his life story.

Myer

Lansky was never an initiated member of the Mafia since he was not Italian.

Lansky became a close associate of Luciano after his rise to power and influence

among the Jewish gangsters, known as Myer’s mob. His speciality was gambling. He

formed Murder Inc. which was a group of specialized contract killers which was

hired out to other mobs. Lansky was instrumental in working out the deal with

the government for Luciano in the Allied invasion. While Luciano was in jail and

later deported to Italy, he entrusted the running of the crime syndicate to

Lansky. By the 1960’s, Lansky’s gambling operations extended half way around the

globe with departments all over South America and as far as Hong Kong. In 1970,

the federal government was planning to charge Lansky with tax evasion , so he

fled to Israel. In Tel Aviv, the Israeli government under pressure by the U.S.

revoked his visa and Lansky was forced to stand trial. He avoided conviction

because of his high level government contacts and retired to Miami, Florida and

died in 1983. At the time of his death, his estate was valued at 4 million

dollars.

Dutch

Schultz, was another major player in organized crime. He opened a saloon in the

Bronx, New York during prohibition and organized a group of thugs to expand his

bootlegging operations. His empire soon grew to large proportions with many

illegal establishments in the Bronx and Manhattan. During his trial for tax

evasion, many of his rackets were taken over by Luciano, who expected Schultz to

be convicted. Although this prompted him to move his operation to New Jersey,

Schultz was still considered so influential Luciano asked him to be a member of

the Board of Directors of the crime syndicate. The District Attorney of New

York, Thomas E. Dewey was not finished with Schultz though and continued

investigating his activities. Schultz decided it was in his best interest to

eliminate Dewey but the crime syndicate disagreed. They feared the killing of a

District Attorney would only add to their problems but Schultz would not drop

his plan. On the evening of October 23, 1935, while Schultz was informing his

New Jersey associates of his plan, a Murder Inc. hit man assassinated all of

them, Schultz included. He died later that evening in a Newark City hospital.

Alphonse

"Scarface" Capone was another organizer of the early American Mafia.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1899. His involvement with organized crime

began when he was eleven years old. As he got older, he graduated to the more

powerful "Five Pointers Gang" where he became acquainted with Luciano.

When Johnny Torrio, the original leader of the "Five Pointers Gang"

moved to Chicago, he invited Capone to be his sidekick. Torrio’s uncle,

"Big Jim" Colisimo was the crime boss in Chicago. Trouble between

uncle and nephew started and Capone was hired to kill the uncle leaving Torrio

in charge of all Chicago. In 1925 when Torrio was severally wounded in a shoot

out, he gave Capone his vast business empire, valued at fifty million dollars a

year. During this time, Capone fell out of favor with other Mafia gangsters and

several attempts were made on his life. Capone took revenge by staging the

infamous St. Valentine’s Day massacre in which he killed several of his enemies

ending resistance to his continuing business dealings. He was finally sentenced

for tax evasion and spent most of his eleven-year sentence in Alcatraz. In 1939

he was released from prison because he was in the advanced stages of syphilis.

He died of this disease in 1947.

The

above research has shown that the Mafia has become a wide spread problem. The

Mafia has continued to grow and infest our society from the early 1900’s. It

continues to exploit and destroy the honest citizens of our country. Now, these

criminal organizations not only control the adults of our communities but also

have begun, through the sale and distribution of narcotics, to control our

children. Crime organizations must be stopped however this is a difficult task.

They have infiltrated members of our government and law enforcement agencies

with the lure of money. Unfortunately, crime does pay in many instances. It is

up to each of us to not look the other way, but be aware that there are really

no victimless crimes. One way or another, we all pay either by higher taxes or

by a more violent society.

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