Organized Crime-The History of the
Mafia
Crime has been around since the
beginning of civilization. The needs for power, money, and the respect
have been the roots of organized crime. Most members of criminal
groups consider themselves hard working businessmen like any other person
out in the corporate world. The only difference is that these so-called
businessmen play by their own rules. One of the most influential
groups of organized criminals in the United States is known as the Italian
Mafia. In order to understand the Mafia, it is important to view
its origins and development, its rise to power in the United States, and
its breakdown by the United States government.
The origins of the Mafia
can be traced back to the 1900’s around the area of Southern Italy and
the small Italian island of Sicily. At this time, a rumor of “The
Honored Society” or Mafia, as it was less often called, was going around
Southern Italy. By the early 1920’s, the vast criminal brotherhood
had come to dominate entirely the social, political and economic life of
Western Sicily. “ The Honored Society’s rapid rise to power was due to
their ability to fulfill the needs of an abominably governed people by
providing services that the state had been unwilling and unable to provide”.
The Sicilians mentality
was predisposed to accept the kind of governance the Mafia offered.
A proverb that expresses the Mafia attitude is, “The law is for the rich,
the gallows for the poor, and justice for the fools”. By the late
1920’s, many Men of Respect (including John Joseph Gotti, Carlo Gambino,
and Giusseppe Masseria) had fled Sicily and migrated to the United States.
These men would found and develop the Mafia in the United States.“New York
in the 1920’s was a city in continual eruption. The United States
had emerged from World War I as a great power, a creditor nation and an
industrial giant”.
It needed hard workers
to fill the service jobs that were in demand. As a result, thousand
of European immigrants migrated to cities like New York, and Chicago.
But the country was unprepared to receive the arrival of the Italian immigrants
all at once. Their inability to speak the language caused them to
cling together so that in every city they formed a ghetto in which they
lived under harsh conditions.
But the Mafiosos quickly
recognized the potential for growth and lucrativity this country possessed.
To the advantage of Joe “the Boss” Masseria had arrived during the prohibition
of liquor. It was a way to make quick illicit profits on a sale never
before seen in America or Sicily. It was not long before a powerful
rival appeared. His name was Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano
was the boss of the Castellamare family. While Joe “the Boss” Masseria
ruled the Sicilian Mafiosos. At the beginning there was a tension
that can be traced back to the history of Southern Italy. But the
tension broke when “Maranzano began encroaching on Joe the Boss’s bootlegging
operations”. Joe the Boss soon retaliated in 1928 by demanding a
tribute from the Castallamares. When they refused to pay, he passed
a death sentence on the entire clan. What was later to be known as
the Castellamare War had begun.
After many months of violent
fighting, Maranzano finally managed to lure two of Masseria’s most trusted
men into plotting against their boss. The two men were Lucky Luciano
and Meyer Lansky. Both of Masseria’s men played an active role in
the planning and the undertaking of Masseria’s brutal death.
“Now that the war was over
Maranzano proclaimed himself the ‘boss of all bosses’ and then laid down
the law for the future organization and functioning of the underworld in
the United States”. He now described the existence of the organization
as “Cosa Nostra”. Literally it meant “our thing”. He declared
that the Cosa Nostra would be divided into well-defined families, each
with jurisdiction over a specific territory or business. The five
families became known as Colombo, Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese, and Lucchese.
“Salvatore Maranzano was
soon hit by Lucky Luciano”. In 1931, Luciano became the defacto boss
of bosses. His only great accomplishment was the Americanizing and
democratizing the old Sicilian Mafia. Basically what he did was replace
its practices of honor with more effective business practices. “His
money making methods were so effective that the Mafia would prove impervious
to the erosions of the Great Depression and would one day do business equal
to that of the Nation’s ten largest industrial corporations combined.
At his death, Carlo Gambino succeeded him.
Carlo Gambino began a business
he called Gambino Incorporated. Gambino Incorporated derived its
sums of money from the waterfront rackets and from loansharking.
Loan sharking was the liaison between the underworld and the legitimate
business world. “Loan Sharking business is based upon the exorbitant
rates of interest charged as the money flows from the top of Mafioso to
the borrower and back to the source. No collateral is needed, even
though the lenders make sure that the borrower was aware that his life
was the collateral. If the borrower did not pay back; his body may
be mutilated or even killed”.
Carlo Gambino’s successor
was Big Paul Castellano. Big Paul Castellano in turn was succeeded
by present day Boss John Gotti, who happens to be incarcerated for the
murder of Big Paul.
The Kennedy brothers represented the new attitude
towards organized crime on the part of the executive branch of the United
States government. Before the Kennedy’s accession to power, presidents
and attorney Generals did not place high priority on fighting organized
crime. Robert Kennedy stated, “If we do not, on a national scale,
attack organized criminals with the weapons and techniques as effective
as their own they will destroy us”.
The Kennedys came out hitting
strong in their battle against organized crime. “In 1962, 350 mob
defendants had been indicted and 138 convicted. By 1963, 615 had
been indicted and 288 convicted”. For the first time in history,
organized crime was being attacked.
The next fighter against
organized crime was Rudolph Giulliani. Rudolph Giulliani became the
United States Attorney for the southern district of New York after the
resignation of John Martin, Jr. Giulliani soon learned that the FBI
office had been assembling “enterprise evidence” against each of the Mafia
families in the city using RICO statute as a guide in their investigations.
Much of their evidence
had been gathered from wire taps and electronic listening devices. “Racketeer-Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations, RICO provided the prosecution of the entire
criminal organization, including its leaders and Cosa Nostra’s ruling body
the commission.”
Soon the FBI would have
enough evidence to take down Big Paul who was at the time the Boss of the
Mafia commission. The FBI had planted a bug in the kitchen of Big
Paul’s luxurious house on Todt Hill in Staten Island. They had recorded
thousand of hours of recordings that incriminated him. Unfortunately
he was murdered before the end of the trial. The FBI would soon have
many recorded conversations in which John Gotti incriminated himself.
John Gotti’s trial ended with him being found guilty on four counts of
murder and one charge of illegal gambling.
He was sentenced to life
in prison without parole. Before going to jail Gotti replied “ and
this is going to be a Cosa Nostra till I die. Be it an hour from
now when I’m in jail. It’s gonna be a Cosa Nostra ……….. It’s gonna
be the way I say it’s gonna be, and a Cosa Nostra. A Cosa Nostra!”.
The Mafia’s origin and
the development, its rise to power in the United States, and finally its
breakdown by the United States government are the key points in understanding
the Mafia legacy. John Gotti, even though incarcerated, still leads
the families and makes most of the important decisions and deals.
The Mafia dynasty will prevail, no matter how much the government tries
to stop them. The Mafia and its evildoings will continue to exist
in the years to come.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blum, Howard. Gangland: How the FBI Broke
the Mob. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty.
New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.
Fresolone, G. and R. Wagman. Blood Oath.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.
Friel, F. and J. Guinther. Breaking
the Mob. New York: McGraw Hill Publishing Company,
1990
Kaplan, L. and D. Kessler. An Economic
Analysis of Crime. Illinois: Charles C. Thomas
Publishers, 1976.
Servadio, Gaia. Mafioso a History of
the Mafia. New York: Stein and Day Publishers, 1976
