Organized Crime - defining orgainzed crime is accually very difficult. It usually consists of large-scale activities by groups of gangsters or racketeers. Groups are often called crime syndicate or underworld. Activities include gambling, prostitution, illegal sale of drugs, and loan-sharking (lending large amounts of money). These activities are called victimless crimes because both the buyer and the seller wants to take part. Gangsters of the underworld are usually doing illegal business. Because the police are always trying to catch these gangsters, regular people are terrored or blackmailed to not give information about them, and there illegal actions. Even when the illegal activities are discovered, prospectors have difficulty convicting the gangsters because of the lack of reliable witnesses. In addition, gang members frequently tries to bribe witnesses or law enforcers and sometimes succeeds in doing so. Gangsters also furnishes bail money and lawyers for members who are arrested.
IMAGE 2 Venn Diagram
A Venn Diagram is shown of who is organized and who is not. The big blue circle indicates anobody who is considered organized crime and whoever is outside is not. (resouces: http://organizedcrime.about.com)
The Organized Crime group that is most interesting to me is the mafia. They were the main players during the 1920's. I think that the mafia were the inventors of Organized Crime in North America. After that, other ethnic groups started to come together to make there own gangs.
To understand Organized Crime during the 1920's, information before the 1920's needs to be brought up. Organized Crime started way before the 1920's, but in the 1920's was when it was noticed. I'm going to start right after the Civil War.
After the Civil War, a lot of the young men felt unaccepted. They couldn't go back to their regular, everyday life. A lot of the men from the west didn't even bother to go home. Crime was the only way to go. Verterans would usually find other veterans similar to them, and they would do crime together. There would be so many veterans, that gangs would be formed. Such gangs like the Plug Uglies, the Five-Points Gang, or the Dead Rabbits were from New York City. There would be so many gangs, that each major city would somewhat form one big gang. Immigration was another way organized crime was created. Ethnic groups would stick together to help each other out. It wasn't only the Italians who created gangs, but mainly Sicilians because they had a hard life, when living back home.
The two main ethnic groups that fought each other during this tragic struggle were the Italians and the Irish. The Italians were also known as the Black Hand. Now, these guys were not yet known as gangsters, just yet. They were known as a gang, or a Mafia, until later on when people found out they did scams, gambling, or prostitution. Ignazio Saietta was the leader. He didn't have a title of being a leader; everyone was equal, but he was, for sure, the couragest of them all. The Blackhander's rivalry were the Irish, or the White Hand Gang. The Irish were commanded by Dinny Meehan, until he died, which was then taken over by Wild Bill Lovett. Nicholas Morella then came into play. He was the most powerful Italian of all. He created the Mafia, which was the American version of the Sicilian Mafia. He was the Don (boss) for his family (gang) for a couple of years, until he got assacinated. In 1916, Nicholas Morella was gunned down at a crossriver rival peace conference. His followers were Lucky Luciano, Joe Masseria, and Sal Maranzano.
IMAGE 3 men draining beer in the suage
In the beginning of prohibition, gangsters would grab quick money by providing liquor to close-by drinkers. Bootleggers smuggled liquor from oversees and Canada, stole it from government warehouses, and produced their own. Many people hid their liquor in hip flasks, false books, hollow canes, and anything else they could find. There were also illegal speak-easies which replaced saloons after the start of prohibition. By 1925, there were over 100,000 speak-easies in New York City alone. But Arnold Rothstein had a plan, that the money to be made in bootlegging were almost unending and that larger, organized operations could reduce the risks while maximizing the profit. He was the first gangster to take full control of an entire city through bribery of public officials and police personnel. Organized Crime was not only settled in New York City; it also migrated into Chicago. Chicago had it's own huge immigration population and thirsty citizens. The Italians didn't take over Chicago yet. The Irish and the Italians fought for most of the 1920's. The boss in Chicago was Big Jim Colosimo, with help from nephew (underboss)Johnny Torrio from New York, leading the Mafia. The bad thing (towards the Mafia) about Big Jim is that he didn't think the liquor buisiness was a good idea. It was an unwelcome attention brought from the federal government. He did not allow his minions to take part in this act and ordered them to concentrate more on gambling, prostitution, and extortion. Torrio then abruptly asked Frankie Yale to take him out. In May, of 1920, Colosimo got gunned down. The murder was a payback for Torrio, after saving his friend's life. Frankie Yale's friend was Al Capone.
The Irish-Italian battles continued. The Irish, under the leadership of the psychopathic Dion O'Bannion ruled the city's Northside, while the Italians, behind Johnny Torrio ran the Southside. In 1924, Frankie Yale came west once again and with a couple of shooters from Capone's crew, assassinated O'Bannion. Dion's death left the door open for the ascension of Hymie Weiss. O'Bannion's death did not slow down the killing in the Chicago. A year later, some of Weiss's gunmen attacked Johnny Torrio in front of his apartment and nearly killed him. Torrio's near-death experience gave him the opportunity out he was looking for and he turned over his rackets to Al Capone. Torrio took his $30 million and headed to Italy for a few months before retiring in his mid-40's in Brooklyn.
Two incidents happened during the late 1920's. In New York, The Castellemarese War broke out. And in Chicago, Al Capone set out the St. Valentines Day Massacre.
St. Valentines Day Massacre image 4 Men with hands in the air On February 14th, 1929, six men got gunned down and left to die. The Irish and the Italians still had their wars in Chicago and two main figures stood out: George Moran and Al Capone. These two rivalry bosses battled each other until one was gone. Moran always picked on Capone; he always started everything. Moran hijacked Capone�s Canadian booze, burned down his favorite illegal dog track, muscled in on his union rackets and generally badmouthed Al in the Chicago press. After Moran tried to kill McGurn (Capone's main man), Capone decides that he needs to stand up. With a phone call from Florida, Capone told McGurn to set something up to kill him. McGurn quickly put a plan together and assembled a top-notch team of killers. He contacted the Purple Gang in Detroit and Abe Bernstein agreed to send the Keywell brothers. Bernstein, who had done business with Moran in the past, also agreed to set up his former customer. For shooters, McGurn hired Fred "Killer" Burke and his buddy James Ray. Capone gunmen Albert Anselmi and John Scalise would also take part. The plan was simple. Appeal to Moran�s greed, get him to drop his guard, and then take him out. From Detroit, Abe Bernstein called Moran and set up a bootleg whiskey delivery to SMC Cartage on Chicago's North Side. The hijacked hooch would be delivered on Thursday, February 14 at 10:30 a.m. On the morning of the 14th, McGurn and Capone made sure they had the same alibis. When they thought that they saw Moran enter the garage, the gunmen, dressed in police uniforms, stormed in and held everybody against the wall. Shots from .45's and sawed-off �shotgun's blew right into seven men. One man was left to live, but with many shots in him, he barely survived. With his alibi, and him in Florida, Capone was not easily captured, but everybody knew it was him. He soon then became Public Enemy #1, which was a big change considering he was loved by everybody. He then later on was caught and sent to Alcatraz. �Bugs Moran's gang never recovered from the devastating blow Capone's men dealt on that cold February morning. Bugs continued in the rackets, but his heart was never in it. Eventually, the Italians took over the underworld in Chicago, because of Capone's devastating blow towards the Irish.