The Birth of Organized Crime

Immigration and Prohibition: 1920’s• 18th Amendment gave

organized crime an opportunity to make a name for themselves by making, selling and transporting liquor

• Sicilian Mafia in Italy was under attack by Benito Mussolini– Some escaped to the U.S.

• Sicilian Mafia / U.S. Mafia: 2 separate entities– U.S. mob families did adopt

old-country practices: Omerta

American Mafia Gets Organized

• Late 1920’s: Castellammarse War, NY– Won by Sicilian born

Salvatore Maranzano: “capo di tutti capi” (boss of all bosses)

– Murdered by Lucky Luciano• Established the

Commission

Hierarchy • At the top of “family”

was The Boss• 2nd in command:

Underboss• Capos or Captains– Each controlled a crew

of 10 or more soldiers– Each soldier had to be a

“made” man• Inducted into the family

• Bottom were Associates– Not full members

Rituals

• Becoming a “made man:”– Ritual of cutting the hand

and holding it over a burning picture of a Saint

• Must be Italian– Some crime families only

required lineage from the father’s side.

• Lifetime commitment• Obey Omerta

Mafia’s 20th Century Dominance

• Prohibition repealed in 1933– Mafia moved beyond

bootlegging to illegal gambling, loan-sharking, prostitution rings, and drug trafficking

• Mid 20th Century: 24 crime families w/5,000 members

• FBI was naive to the Mob: very little government intrusion

Taking Down the Mafia

• 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act– Allowed prosecutors to go

after crime families and their sources of revenue

• 80’s & 90’s: Mafiosi who faced life prison sentences broke Omerta and testified against fellow mobsters in exchange for placement in the FBI Witness Protection Program

• Italian neighborhoods shifted demographically.