Throughout history, crime has existed in many different forms, and has been committed by not only individuals, but by groups as well. Groups like La Cosa Nosta, the Italian Mafia.
Since the early 1900’s, organized crime has existed in the United States . Many different types of gangs, and crime groups were formed after World War I, with the new uses of “projects”, and ghettos. The Mafia as it was known to many became the most popular, and the most feared among many of the areas that it populated . In the 1900’s, New Orleans was considered to be the largest Mafia site in the United States. It was hard for the law to detect a lot of the illegal activity that was going on in New Orleans because of it’s dense population, and it’s secluded locality. All of the goods that were imported from other areas, and used on the black-market were shipped to spots in New Orleans. This large city also became the home of most of the Don’s, or leaders of the families.
A man by the name of Vito Cascio Ferro, was the first Sicilian Capo (de Tutti Capi).
He came over from Sicily in 1901 to escape arrest in Italy . Vito formed a group called the Black Hand, which is where the original Mafia originated. Vito continued for four more years, ranking as the highest Mafia member until his assassination.
Shortly after the death of Vito, the first Mafia encounters began to occur. A “hit company” called Murder Inc. was formed by a famous gangster, Lucky Luciano . This was ultimately a type of company in which you would pay someone to have someone else killed.
The Essay on The Mafia
The Mafia, a well-known crime organization, is still prevalent in society today. In the past five years the Sicilian Mafia has taken some heavy hits, with the murders of two leading prosecutors in Mafia-related trials (Coming back). The prosecutors were Giovanni Falcone ( see picture), and Paulo Borsellino. Their successors have managed to put behind bars their murderers and an entire Mafia “ ...
Throughout it’s existence, organized crime in the United States has negatively impacted many aspects of the economy. The Mafia tried to take total control of the New York Stock Exchange. They did this by putting in false purchase orders with inside brokers in hopes of offsetting other buyers. Mafia members who were involved in the stock market had various insiders who would give them numerous tips concerning what particular companies in which they should invest. Members of the Mafia would always pay for their trades with cash, so that no one would be able to trace fraudulent transactions back to their members, or crime families.
Charles “Lucky” Luciano became know as the “master pimp”, because he controlled all of the prostitution rings in all of the boroughs of New York. He was said to have made $10,000 a day from pimping alone in the early parts of the 1900’s. After Luciano had been having his fun it was shattered when he was later arrested for racketeering, and sentenced to ten years in federal prison.
The Mafia opened underground gambling arenas all over the country. The first real casino in Las Vegas, was opened by the Mafia. It was a hotel/casino called the Flamingo. It was a success for the first year, and then accumulated huge debts that couldn’t be paid off, and was soon closed. A man named Myer Lansky ran a gambling ring that extended all over the world, from Hong Kong, to South America . The money that was brought in from the gambling operations was split among the members of the “Five Point Gang”
Organized crime was a way of life for many of the people involved in it. All of the members of La Cosa Nostra had to take an oath of Omerta, or secrecy in order to be inducted into a family. Omerta promised total secrecy about anything that happened in the underworld. Included in that were all illegal, and legal activity. Members were absolutely prohibited from dealing any type of drugs, and if any member was caught, or suspected of any type of drug activity, they were often killed. A member could be kicked out of a family for doing anything that a boss didn’t like. Ex-members were referred to as spacones, or rats. A death contract was often times put out on their life as well.
The Essay on Mafia In America Organized Crime
The Mafia In America What began as a crime wave in the late nineteenth century became the most organized system of corruption and violence existing in the U. S. for the last 100 years. This organization became known as the Mafia, a fearsome secret family of criminals rooted in Sicily. The organized group costs the United States economy an estimated one half trillion dollars annually (Ryan 3). ...
Many of the members presently involved in the Mafia are finding that it is harder to get out then it was for them to get in. Many of the current members who have already become “made men” find that they aren’t able to leave the family, for fear of being killed. A lot of current members have also resorted to drug use, and dealing as a way to make quick money. This all goes against Omerta, and they will be killed if they get caught. There are only a handful of families that now remain, and in order to be made into one of the families your father must be a full-blooded Italian.
In New York City, Little Italy is where the New York City branches of the Mafia are based. All operations are planned there, and all meetings of the families are held there as well. Hells Kitchen is one of the few ghettos located in New York City, and is also where most of the New York families first settled. Most, if not all of New York’s government was run, or influenced by the Mafia families in the early part of the century.
Although the Mafia has indeed slowed down a bit over the years, there will always be gangs, and other types of organized crime all over the world. If organized crime rates continue to diminish, as they are, then we can safely say that crime rates will fall, but their will also be better opportunities in business, and schooling for years, and future generations to come.
