Immigration and Prohibition 1920s 18 th 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 ID: 579393
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Slide1
The Birth of Organized CrimeSlide2
Immigration and Prohibition: 1920’s
18
th
Amendment gave organized crime an opportunity to make a name for themselves by making, selling and transporting liquorSicilian Mafia in Italy was under attack by Benito MussoliniSome escaped to the U.S.Sicilian Mafia / U.S. Mafia: 2 separate entitiesU.S. mob families did adopt old-country practices: OmertaSlide3
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 LucianoEstablished the CommissionSlide4
Hierarchy
At the top of “family” was The Boss
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nd in command: UnderbossCapos or CaptainsEach controlled a crew of 10 or more soldiersEach soldier had to be a “made” manInducted into the family
Bottom were Associates Not full membersSlide5
Rituals
Becoming a “made man:”
Ritual of cutting the hand and holding it over a burning picture of a Saint
Must be ItalianSome crime families only required lineage from the father’s side.Lifetime commitmentObey OmertaSlide6
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Prohibition repealed in 1933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 membersFBI was naive to the Mob: very little government intrusionSlide7
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 ProgramItalian neighborhoods shifted demographically.