The Mafia's Money Laundering

Organized crime in America comes in many structures, yet it was the Mafia that developed with the most elevated profile and aided in various demonstrations of Congress to enable law authorities to deal with the threat. In the meantime, a significant part of the early history of organized crime is generally indistinguishable from political corruption. In the first half of the twentieth century, the law had regularly been known to choose not to see to illegal activity in light of personal involvement, the risk of striking back, or political weight. In spite of the fact that organized crime long originates before Prohibition, it was the illegal production and distribution of alcohol that made endless offenders extremely wealthy and started the

card fraud. In reference to money Laundering we will the complex process of how criminals

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

When criminals reach this stage, it becomes arduous for investigators to distinguish if the funds are licit or not ( Grosse, 4 ). One of the most famous money laundering scandals in America was the Bank of New York money laundering scandal with Russia. In the summer of 1999, The Bank of New York found themselves in a predicament when they were found as suspects of an international money laundering scandal. The bank laundered billions of dollars to the Russian mafia and Russian politics. In august later that year, the New York Times published their calculations that the bank laundered nearly $14.2 billion dollars to $10 billion dollars that was laundered from Russia passed through the Bank of New York (Block, 3).

When one thinks about organized crime in the United States, an infamous group always comes to mind, the American Mafia. What many people are unaware of is the official name for one of the major organized criminal syndicates in the United States is La Cosa Nostra, “Our Thing” being its literal translation ("History of La Cosa Nostra"). Originating from Sicily, Mafia-like factions emerged in places such as Harlem and Brooklyn in New York and even in Chicago; these neighborhoods were impoverished with a high Italian population. In other areas across the East Coast of United States, such as in New Orleans, Mafia factions emerged with the immigration of Italians in the late 19th century, mainly from Sicily and Southern Italy ("Mafia in the United States." History.com). According to the FBI, despite having Sicilian Mafia roots, the American Mafia is its own independent organization in the United States, thus the dubbed name “La Cosa Nostra”. In the 1920s, the Mafia took advantage of Prohibition and focused on the bootleg liquor business and became “sophisticated criminal enterprises” ("Mafia in the United States.").

Organized crime is often committed by highly controlled criminal groups that participate in illegal activities for financial benefits. Indeed, organized crimes terrorize multiple facets of the American nation, which include the US’ economy as well as national security. The FBI assigns the costs of organized crime globally at one trillion dollars per year.

Although the Mafia is most associated with the Prohibition era of the 1920’s when it dominated crime in all major US cities, the true beginnings of the most infamous criminal organization started quite earlier. Beginning in the late 1800s, many Italians immigrated to New York City due to continued rumors of success in the area. This trend continued out of the 19th century and into the 20th as over 500,000 Italians immigrated to the United States (Sifakis). As Italian citizens migrated to the cities of the US, they brought along organized Italian criminals, who formed an organization known as Costra Nosa, translating to ‘our thing’, today we call it the Mafia.

Money laundering is close to one of the oldest crime in the book. An author named Sterling Seagrave is a politician who has written that more than 2000 years ago, the Chinese that were really wealthy laundered their money because the government banned most forms of commercial trading. Also, a great amount of income came from black marketing, extortion and bribe. Those people who stayed invisible were able to keep all their profits safe from the government. Therefore they used money hiding techniques to avoid the government from finding their profits. According to the legend, the term of money laundering was originated in the 1920’s during the period of the prohibition. Later on in the 1980’s, money laundering begin gaining lots more

In order to successfully launder money three processes are needed: placement, layering, and integration. In the first state, placement, the illegal proceeding are disengaged from direct association with the crime or criminal. In the second stage, layering, the money is used in some legal financial transaction in order to “camouflage” the cash. In the third stage, integration, the apparently legal money is available to the money launder (Kelly, Maghan and Joseph). For better understanding, the fig 1 gives a real life example on how money laundering is done.

Madinger (2011) Argued that Civil asset forfeiture is the driving force behind money-laundering today is forfeiture.

When deemed appropriate, engaging in intricate financial manipulations accordingly, the perpetrators of organized crime may include corrupt business executives members of the professions, public offices, or

Although the term money laundering is relatively new, the concept goes back to around 67 AD. It is thought that the pirates smuggled and hid gold throughout the oceans. The pirates’ targets were European commercial vessels and were accomplished with the help of the British, French, and Dutch governments. This form of gold laundering went through the 16th and 18th centuries, until England offered pardons. These pardons allowed the pirates to keep their earnings, if they return to England and leave their pirate-like lifestyles (IMF). Similarly, on the other side of the world, Chinese merchants were too wealthy and needed to hide their profits. Commercial trading was prohibited, so this forced the bureaucrats to keep their funds safe through threats

The Mafia really gained a large majority of its power in the 1920’s when prohibition was a law in the U.S.(Powell). As the Mafia evolved over time, so did its criminal activities, which included gambling, extortion, smuggling, drug trafficking and

46. This strategy by and large includes the utilization of genuine organizations with high money turnover, as fronts for lawbreakers to launder the returns of wrongdoing. The sorts of organizations utilized are by and large eateries, bars, correspondence focuses and different sorts of retail shops. The unregulated casual part likewise gives culprits the chance to procure little organizations, for example, second-hand auto dealerships, bars, eateries, gaming houses or land organizations, all of which give secrecy or chances to cover unlawful increases from their criminal birthplace.

The American Mafia, an Italian-American organized crime network with operations in cities across the United States, particularly New York and Chicago, rose to power and control through its success in the illegal liquor trade during the 1920s Prohibition era. After Prohibition, the Mafia moved into other criminal missions, from drug trafficking to illegal gambling, while also intruding with labor unions and legal businesses such as construction, and New York’s garment industry. The Mafia’s violent crimes, secret rituals and notorious characters such as Al Capone and John Gotti have captivated the public’s attention and became a part of popular culture. During the final part of the 20th century, the government used anti-racketeering laws to convict high-ranking mobsters and weaken the Mafia. However, it remains in business today (Mafia in the United States).