The Mafi The Role Of Gangster In American Culture

Gangs were a huge part of the 1920s/30s, and were first formed during the prohibition era. When the 18th amendment was ratified, there was even more crime and violence than intended. People would do anything for alcohol, so these gangs practically took care of that and made huge amounts of money. Even when prohibition was over, gang remained intact. Some famous gangsters, beides Bonnie and Clyde, were Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson, and Machine Gun Kelly.

The gangster genre within films in America has accomplished numerous positive criticisms and constant willing audiences due to containing outstanding spectacles and mind-blowing action. The Godfather, being second on the IMDb Top 250 Movies, has set a new popular concept to life within the Mafia from their point of view. Doing so, creating a positive association. Yet within Italy, the same topic contains a complete different view. Movies such as I Cento Passi demonstrate unenthusiastic view by those whom are outside yet negatively affected by those members. Unlike American films, the gangsters are not as often viewed at the protagonist and are the main causes for the problematic events. But how different is Italian Mafia and American

During the period of prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol was made illegal, through the Volstead act of 1919, leading to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. Throughout this time in American history gangsters were common and were constantly increasing in every city but one in particular stood out from all the others making a significant impact on American history. Scarface, Alphonse Capone or more commonly known as Al Capone; who was the most infamous gangster, taking advantage of the era of Prohibition, ran an organized crime association in Chicago during the 1920s. He was responsible for over 500 murders; he had 700 men under his control and earned $60 million a year for bootlegging. Capone, who was glamorised in media and shown as charitable to the helpless was also controlling and violent and became an iconic figure of the successful American gangster who insisted he was just ‘supplying the public demand’.

The Gangster Disciples are still an active group in the United States (Mallory, 2012). There are members of the group in over 35 states and 70 U.S. cities (Mallory, 2012). Nearly 20,000 members reside in the city of Chicago, where the FBI considers this group a “major organized crime group” (Mallory, 2012, p. 208). The Gangster Disciples were formed after the death of the group’s original leaders, David Barksdale (Mallory, 2012). A young man who was already a member of the group, Larry Hoover become the new leader of the Gangster Disciples because he was a person that Barksdale watched over (Mallory, 2012). After his death, the group split into the Black Disciples and the Gangster Disciples (Mallory, 2012). The group became prone to violence

In addition to the educational facts, I also learned some neat fun facts about gangsters and their traditions. “Old Smoke Morrissey” was the first true Irish Mob Boss, and as such he was the one who established the looks, desires, and attitude that we derive our stereotypes from. He started the tendency of wearing striped suits, hats, big rings, and pocket watches, as well as having a well-kept beard and hoping to be accepted by aristocratic society through money. The famous book The Great Gatsby was actually inspired by the mixture of glamour and danger that

Bootlegging, the distribution and dealing of an illegal substance, was becoming increasingly popular with liquor outlawed. Bootleggers would go to great extents to bring in liquor to their customers, prymarily speakeasy owners, as well as making sure they did not lose their customers to the other vaious gangs in the area. To ensure this threats were made to owners, gang wars began, and many murders occurred. (“Prohibition”) Those who became successful bootleggers became emmensly rich and powerful resulting in the expansion and flourishing of organized crime. Most organized crime leaders, gangsters, were wealthy and lived, at least on the outside, a sophisticated and exuberant life. In fact durning the Prohibition Era many people idolized bootlegging and gangs because it was a fast way to get rich and powerful.This would lead to an increase in the population of gangs. These gangs could be extremely dangerous and would kill many, ultimately causing an increase in homicide rates by 13% ("Organized Crime and Prohibition”). The reasoning behind the homicide rates going up is simple; as different mobs became more powerful in their areas and their range of illegal activities expanded they got more attention and this attention caused for rivalrys between different mobs and a higher police involvement in attempting to end the

Much like G-men, gangsters also became popular characters in the media. Hoover did everything in his power to ensure he “[combated] the glamorous image of the gangsters.” He even went as far as to release FBI files to television and movie directors, just so he

     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,

For the most part main stream America accepted gangsters. It was a necessary evil to get the alcohol they craved (Bergreen 231). Until that is, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929. “ Crime in Chicago has been so psychologically successful, that it takes such a romantically excessive episode as the recent St. Valentine’s Day Massacre to stir the citizens at all “(Bergreen 319). Seven of Bugs Moran’s (a chief rival of Capone) men were slaughtered in warehouse on Clark Street in Chicago. The five killers, two

The American Mafia rose to power during the prohibition. They gained most of their power by entering the bootlegging business, and ended up becoming a huge

First, Hollywood and the media had a negative portrayal of Italian-Americans compared to other ethnic groups. In the article Family, Gang, and Ethnicity in Italian-themed Hollywood Gangster Films, the author Silvia Dibeltulo states that in movies where both Italian-American and Irish-American gangsters were portrayed, Italian-American gangsters were portrayed as more “alien” whereas their Italian-American counterparts were portrayed as more “assimilated” . This led to Italians being negatively associated with the stereotypes from these movies, which led to anxiety across the country. The article goes on to state more differences between the depictions of Italian-American and Irish-American gangs in films. The

“American Gangster” is based on the true story of Frank Lucas’ life. It is the story of how he cut out the middleman in the heroin business and the story of how Ritchie Roberts caught him. Throughout the film we see the parallel between a cop and a criminal as we inch forward to see their lives finally meet.

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.

With leaders like Al Capone, society was full of crooks and criminals looking for trouble. Mafia lifestyle is different than the norm. It typically involves a family hierarchy and when you become a member, it is for life. This fast-paced lifestyle was on the rise because of the prohibition. The prohibition banned alcohol in the United States.

The American Mafia, an Italian-American sorted out wrongdoing system with operations in urban communities over the United States, especially New York and Chicago, rose to control through its accomplishment in the illegal alcohol exchange amid the 1920s Prohibition period. After Prohibition, the Mafia moved into other criminal endeavors, from medication trafficking to illicit betting, while additionally invading worker 's parties and honest to goodness organizations, for example, development and New York 's article of clothing industry. The