The Mafia/organize Crime

Jackey Belony

Ms. Block

English 101

11 March 2005

The Mafia / Organized Crimes

As we all know that America was built on the land of opportunity and the stitching' that binds America's fabric of history have been sown in with illegal threads. The Mafia has been woven into the American society like baseball and American apple pie The only fact about this problem is that it has been swept under the rug and said to be taboo. In this research paper I will attempt to answer this statement, the mafia is a violent and ruthless organization. In order to answer this statement there must be a clear understanding of the definition of The Mafia. Many different have defined the Mafia in many ways law enforcement agencies and researchers. There is no one individual definition, which fully expose how the Mafia does business. This organization seems to give a descriptive understanding of what organized crime actually is as it function in our society

"Drugs, which were once considered just to be for hoodlums and never a mainstream problem, are associated with organized crime, especially La Cosa Nostra, the Italian Mafia. La Cosa Nostra was once a much-revered organization that was comprised of select Italian people who sometimes defied the laws to obtain things for themselves, and other people. La Cosa Nostra, also known as the Mob, the (Secret) Society, Organized Crime, the Confederation, the Outfit, and the Underworld, is comprised of different families with a don, or boss, running each family and a consigliore, advisor, aiding him, and a couple of capos, or captains, who help run the operations with 10 foot soldiers under him. La Cosa Nostra makes its money by getting involved in legitimate operations such as casinos, labor unions, strip clubs, and restaurants as well as illegal rackets like prostitution, loan-sharking, and narcotics."

Capeci, John

Mafia, by definition means, a secret organization that originated in Sicily, employs violent against people who do not cooperate with it. As organized crimebegan to make their mark in society, their guns was the source of their power as they terrorized the streets of New York. Of course, many of them were murderous, brutal thugs that killed with no feelings of remorse while other were bank-robbers, drug dealers, casino owners, hit men and pimps but they were just

men who were trying to survive. As they affected all facet of society, they became celebrities by their evil deeds appearing in the front of newspapers.

Carson states, that the mafia men were the richest men in America because they were also businessmen, but they were used as scapegoats for America problems.

In order to obtain an objective view towards the mafia, one must know a little about its history. The mafia was first started in the ninth century, in Sicily.

At this time, Arab forces were occupying Sicily. The natives were being oppressed, so that took refuge in the surrounding hills and formed a secret society to

protect against the foreign invaders. This secret society was named Mafia, after the Arabic word for refuge. The society's