Organized Crime

Research Project: Organized Crime

Organized crime is defined as including criminal activities that are organized and coordinated on a national level, often with international connections (Biscay). Organized crime firmly placed its roots in the social structure of the place that it dominates. Protection from corrupt government officials, law enforcement officers, politicians, among others; helps insure the profits flowing in from activities including gambling, prostitution, and the use of narcotics (Biscay). Organized crime is not limited to just western countries of civilization. In fact, there are Japanese mafias. Also, the famous Russian Mafia, who used their connections throughout the Communist party to create a vast black market network during the Cold War (Biscay). Throughout the tests of time, organized crime continued to gain wealth, members of different ethnicities, influence, and success among the nations.

The "Honored Society" or "Mafia" became a vast criminal brotherhood that dated back to Palermo and much of western Sicily (Biscay). The "Sicilian Vespers" became what was traditionally viewed as the birth of the Sicilian Mafia. Century after century of misrule in Sicily, lead to a revolution. This revolution took place in 1282 in Palermo, Sicily when the Italians constructed an underground movement to undermine the French. Never was this movement called the "Mafia", but later on became viewed as such. The main idea that set what is now called the Mafia apart from any other small group of its kind, was the pace at which it progressed, prospered, and later dominated Sicilian society.

By 1900, the Mafia controlled basically the entire island of Sicily. The members of this elite group took control of the local governments and wound up managing all of the factories and land estates on the island. After time, many Sicilians began to migrate from Sicily to the United States in the hope for a new start. This migration brought many members of the Honored Society to settle in New York and its surrounding states. They slowly took over New York, Chicago, and much more of the U.S.

As time progressed on the powers of the Mafia grew and grew. When Wall Street crashed in 1929 and prohibition set in, it was prime time for the Mafioso to make its move (Columbia). Taking the country by storm and raking in unimaginable revenue, organized crime was at its all time high. When prohibition was repealed in 1933, organized crime became less and less of a necessity (Columbia). People could get their alcohol from somewhere legal, so it was assumed that there'd be no more need for the underground trade. The idea with dropping prohibition essentially was that once a person had been into illegal activities, he can take the money he made and invest it into legal activities. It was believed by the government that now the all American vision of the "gangster" quickly became a thing of the past. The problem was thought to be solved.

The organized crime syndicate was the major product of the prohibition era of the early twentieth century (Columbia). Although loose alliances were formed between the most renowned mob bosses and gangs themselves, gang wars and gangland assassinations were the definitive features of the 1029s (Columbia). Local law enforcement became more and more corrupt during this time period. The most powerful gangs began to gain access to high ranking officials such as judges and politicians in order to buy them out (namely mayors Frank Hague of N.J. and James J. Walker of New York). Public disgust ultimately led to a crackdown on political corruption. Businesses started to pop up in order to mask the gambling and prostitution. Casinos, a major commodity in the gangster business, began to open up all over the country, mainly in Las Vegas, which were controlled by the mob. After the repeal of prohibition, the organized crime leaders, who survived, turned to new ways to make money through crime such as labor racketeering, gambling and narcotics trafficking.

It wasn't until the late 1930s that Lucky Luciano created an extremely tight interstate criminal organization called The Syndicate (K.Fisher). The Syndicate included many high ranking crime figures as well as the lower ones too. These men came from all over the country to form what ultimately is considered to be an "invisible government" (K.Fisher). This group was set up in order to keep the peace between gangs through setting territorial boundaries, allocating the profits of crime, and punishing those who violated their command.

As time went on, and the country began got deeper and deeper into World War II, the structure of organized crime did not change, its power just grew and grew. The only main difference at this period in time was that the Mafia now had the American government on its side. American's feared the attack of the Germans so greatly that they began to turn to the organized crime circuit for protection. With the looming fear of German submarines launching an attack on the U.S. coast, organized crime gained power by insuring the waterfront worker's liability to the government.

During the Cold War, specifically in 1951, the Kefauver Commission arose in order to investigate crime. The commission, headed by Senator Kefauver (of Tennessee), studied all interstate racketeering and gambling and the use of interstate facilities from organized crime (railroads, etc.). This commission led to the revelation of the government that organized crime was still operating. The most alarming realization that the committee brought to light was the fact that the top racketeers had insured themselves freedom from criminal prosecutions. They removed themselves from direct contact with criminal activities and maintained legitimate business fronts as their way of accomplishing this security.

In 1957, during a routine police check in New York, a convention of gang leaders from all over the U.S. and foreign countries was discovered. The resulting investigations revealed the power and extensive operations of organized crime. Ten years from then, it was estimated by the government that twice the money was made by organized crime than by all other criminal activities combined. With the forces growing, no way to be stopped in sight, all the respect of the world, and an unlimited source of revenue, there was no where for organized crime to go except upwards.

There were three very famous, well known men who made all the advancements in the business possible: Alfonse "Scarface Al" Capone, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, and Meyer "The Brain" Lansky. During the years of prohibition and after, plenty of feuds took place, not just over territory but over hierarchy as well. The two major