The crime families originated out of New York City Sicilian Mafia gangs. They were formally organized in the summer of 1931 by Salvatore Maranzano after the April 15, 1931, murder of Giuseppe Masseria, in what has become known as the Castellammarese War. Maranzano also introduced the now-familiar Mafia hierarchy: boss (capofamiglia), underboss (sotto capo), advisor (consigliere), captain (caporegime), soldier (soldato), and associate; and declared himself capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses). By declaring himself "boss of bosses," Maranzano reneged on the deal he had made with Lucky Luciano. In that deal, it was agreed that after Luciano was to help murder Masseria, the two bosses were to be equals. When Maranzano was murdered just months after
Along with New York, he began to make plans for The Commission, a nation-wide governing body for organized crime. He also became one of the Big Six bootleggers, dealing drugs on a larger scale (“Lucky Luciano Biography.com.” Edited by Biography.com, The Biography.Com website, A&E Television Networks, 17 June 2015, www.biography.com/people/lucky-luciano-9388350). At some point in Luciano’s life, Masseria and Maranzano-- the top bosses-- were engaged in a turf war. After hiring Luciano to take out Masseria, Maranzano launched him to the top alongside him. However, Maranzano soon decided Luciano was a threat and attempted to take him out. Luciano heard of this plan and beat him to it, ensuring his power over the Genovese family of organized crime in New York
In the active years of one of the United States most prominent African-American crime syndicates, some of the most brutal, violent, and heinous crimes would take place, giving weight to not just the organization called the Philadelphia Black Mafia, but also any of the names involved with the syndicate. In the high point of the syndicates tirade over Philadelphia, the group would contribute to organized crime with acts of extortion, insurance fraud, armed burglary, murder, illegal gambling, racketeering, prostitution, loan sharking, and drug trafficking. The Black Mafia would later use the creation of community fronts as a means of creating the image of legitimacy in their community, even though only their final front would be one that had
By 14 years of age, he had a sizable criminal record. In 1916 he had his own gang called the Five Points gang and befriended a Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky and ran bootlegging rackets with him. Luciano became a top Lieutenant in Giuseppe Masseria’s gang in 1927. When the Castellammarese War broke out between the Masseria and Maranzano crime families, Luciano allied with Maranzano and coordinated to have Masseria killed and became the new boss. Maranzano planned to have him killed, but Luciano
The Gambino crime family was considered to be the fiercest Italian Mafia ever. Carlo Gambino was determined to become the Boss of Bosses. It did not take long for Gambino to accomplish his lifelong dream. His determination was proven when his former bosses, if he was asked to kill than he would do it without hesitation. This was just the beginning of his control in the Mafia.
The mafia started moving around the U.S. and started bringing chaos amongst the cities. The first mafia incident happened in New Orleans which got attention both national and international. “On October 25, 1890, New Orleans Police Superintendent David Hennessey was murdered execution-style. It is still unclear whether Italian immigrants actually killed him or whether it was a frame-up against the feated and hated underclass immigrants by racists. Hundreds of Sicilians were arrested on mostly baseless charges, and nineteen were eventually indicted for the murder. An acquittal followed, with rumors of bribed and intimidated witnesses. The outraged citizens of New Orleans organized a lynch mob and proceeded to kill eleven of the nineteen defendants.
In the 1920s and 1930s America saw a large growth in mafias & mobs, drug & Alcohol Trafficking, and the organization of crime were a result of the Prohibition.
Paul Castellano, or “Big Paul” was an eight-grade dropout and boss of the richest, most dangerous, and most powerful crime syndicate in the United States. Born June 26, 1915 in Brooklyn, Big Paul began his life in the mob by running numbers. When he was named successor to the great Carlo Gambino, trouble arose. Many members felt that Aniello Dellacroce, although in prison, deserved the role but instead Gambino had promoted Paul. Some saw this as nepotism which was generally frowned upon on by La Cosa Nostra. To settle tensions Castellano gifted Neil Dellacroce some of the family’s most lucrative operations throughout Manhattan and Queens, but this did not completely satisfy the slighted underboss. Paul, like Gambino, was an unusual type of Mafia boss. Unfortunately, while Don Carlo was revolutionary, Big Paul was unsatisfactory. He was embarrassed that he was categorized as a gangster and preferred to be regarded as a diplomat or businessman. Big Paul was said to look more like a businessman or CEO than a mobster. Paul Castellano was flashy too; he liked elegant clothing, fine dining, and being driven around by chauffeur. He even detested violence which is not a good quality for a mob boss to obtain. “The Pope” as he was referred to, was standoffish. His predecessor had gone to the markets in Little Italy, held court in public places, lived in the city, and interacted with his soldiers and capos. Big Paul on the other hand, generally held court at his private estate, did
Imagine living in a world where crime ruled. A world where gangsters were more powerful than politicians, owned the police, and ran the city in whatever way they felt. They robbed whom they wanted and killed when they didn't get their way. Now stop imagining and realize that this happened here in the United States of America in the 1920's. It was run by an organization made up mainly of Italians called the Mafia.
La Cosa Nostra Perhaps one of the most poignant moments in American cinema is the closing scene in the film “The Godfather” when Don Vito Corleone’s son Michael takes over his father’s position... and one of the most unforgettable moments, a severed horses’s head lies bloody in a man’s bed. It is this tradition and brutality that characterizes the Mafia, a secret Sicilian society that lives and functions just as much today on American soil as it did and does still in Italy. To understand this organized crime, one must begin to understand how it came to be organized in the first place. During the medieval times in Sicily, Arabs invaded the land and native Sicilians fled and took refuge in the hills. Some of these refugees formed a
The Italian Mafia in the U.S. can trace its origins all the way back to the Sicilian Mafia which was founded in Sicily during the 1800’s (Italian Organized Crime). After thousands of years of different armies with different nationalities conquering Italy and exploiting its people, the Sicilians became to be more clannish and family focused. Originally they were just resistance fighters that were protecting their friends and family. They were relied on for protection, justice, and survival. Nobody cared if they got money from it because it came from the oppressive authorities. Members of these groups were known as “Men of Honor” and they were well respected and even admired because they looked out for their family and kept silent sometimes even unto death. They didn’t become an organized crime group until the 1920’s however (Italian Organized Crime). It was around this same time that the US began to see what later became La Cosa Nostra or “our thing,” better known as the American Mafia which was aided by the “thousands of Italian organized crime figures, mostly Sicilian Mafiosi” who came to the United States illegally (Italian Organized Crime). The modern American Mafia is credited to Charles “Lucky” Luciano who came over in the 1920’s (Italian Organized Crime). Luciano structured La Cosa Nostra just like their Sicilian
The men abducted Luciano, beat, and stabbed him. The group of people left Lucky Luciano on Staten Island where they say he was left for dead. But Lucky Luciano was discovered by a police officer and then taken to the hospital. No one knows who ordered the attack on Lucky Luciano but some say that it was the police or the top crime boss Masseria. Around this same time, Masseria was in a “turf war” with rival boss Salvatore Maranzano. Lucky Lucian used to work for Masseria, he worked for him for years. But later on he started supporting Marazano. With Marazano’s approval Luciano took over Masseria’s position as the top boss. Luciano was then became the leader of the cities five families. Marazano started looking at Lucky Luciano was a threat and he ordered to take him out, but Luciano got to him first. After Luciano got his rival taken care of he then started focusing on how criminal gangs done their business. Luciano then created a national organized crime network to stop any kind of conflict before it got started. In the 1930s Luciano lived in New York’s luxurious Waldorf Tower. He was using the name Charles Ross then. When he was there he lived the life of a wealthy businessman. He would wear custom-made suits and would always ride around getting chauffeured. But little did Luciano know that Thomas E. Dewey was about to make all of his good times come to an end. (Lucky
His name was on police records for running scams and he quickly rose to power by working with other mafia leaders in the country to build an empire and gain used his ties to other mafia leaders across the country to create a network of connections and to gain control in the American mafia organization. By 1910 D'Aquila was the official ringleader of his own New York–based Sicilian mafia group. In 1928 Salvatore was murdered by Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria murderer’s who was the boss of the Genovese family. Alfred “Al Mineo” Manfredi took over until he killed in the Castellammarese War in 1930. Then Frank Scalise became the new boss and remained in power for three years. Vincent Mangano stayed in power for twenty years until he was murdered and helped the family become more ruthless. Albert Anastasia was rumored to be responsible for Vincent Mangano’s death but denied it. However, he was named the new boss but his reign was short lived due to his murder in 1957. The Commission promoted Carlo Gambino as the new boss of the Anastasia family which turned into the Gambino crime family. Carlo Gambino is believed to have helped organize the hit to take over the
The Russian Mafia, also known as Bratva (Brotherhood) is a collection of various organized crime groups that originated during the former Soviet Union era. It is made up of underworld leadership in which engages in providing illegal goods and services that range anywhere from drugs and weapons smuggling to gambling and human trafficking. As in the U.S, there is no universally accepted definition of organized crime in Russia. However, the Bratva shares many basic characteristics with other well-known criminal organizations such as the Italian Mafia. Therefore, the definition that has been commonly used in the U.S will be fitting for the Bratva as well. The FBI defines organized crime as, "any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities" (FBI). The Bratva falls under this definition with one of its many groups, the 'Vory v Zakone ', which translates to 'Thieves-in-law '. They are bound by a code of honor in which states that one is not to make a living on anything other than thievery, complete submission to the laws of criminal life, including obligations to support the criminal ideal and refusal to participate in all political activities (Omics).
The Mafia was first developed in Sicily in feudal times to protect the estates of landlords who were out of town. The word Mafia, derived from the Sicilian word, Mafioso, means family. Today, Mafia is a name which describes a loose association of criminal groups. These groups can be bound together by blood, oath or sworn secrecy. Many people had considered the Sicilian Mafia as the most ruthless mobsters of the twentieth century.
Exactly what is the Mafia? Mafia, more specifically the Italian-American Mafia, is a group of criminals organized into "families," and operating primarily in North America. Also known as La Cosa Nostra, at one time there were 26 families in the United States - roughly one for each major city. The Mafia composed of bosses of numerous families, mostly New York, was the overseeing authority for all of the other La Cosa Nostra families. New York City is the place of origin for organized crime in the United States. Currently, there are five families in the New York City outfit of the La Cosa Nostra. The five families are, the Gambinos, Genovese, Colombo,