American Mafia Research Paper

This prohibition era led to corruption, stealing, murders, etc. The American Mafia, in conjunction with the Jewish-American mafia, took this opportunity and started to trade in illegal importation and production of alcohol. This made money, and several organised crime groups did come up and established themselves in bootlegging monopoly all over U.S. major cities (Calder, 1992).

At the beginning of the 20’s in the U.S., gangsters ruled neighbourhoods. The bosses of the Prohibition-era mob were Al Capone, Johnny Torrio and Joe Masseria, the principals who flourished off booze and blood. Less recalled, but likewise essential was Frankie Yale, a ruthless front-runner who joined two ganglands and was an important part in the early Mafia (Calder,

These ‘families’ were highly involved in many illegal activities, namely, bookmaking, loan-sharking, drug trafficking, money laundering. The main areas, which they did operate, were New York, Boston, Chicago, Newark, Detroit, Philadelphia and Miami. The LCN has been operating from New York, since the 1920s (The Mafia, n.d.).

To prevent gang wars (also known as ‘Vendetta’), Lucky and Meyer Lansky in Atlantic City, New Jersey set up a commission in 1931. The scale and frequency of the gang wars did reduce considerably. If a family declares war on another family, it meant that the family has war with the Commission. This gave the families incentives to talk rather than to fight. This commission is still in existence, though its current connection is only composed of the bosses of the Five Families, the Chicago Outfit, and the Philadelphia Crime Family leaders. Its events, like much of the Mafia in general, have withdrawn from the community due to impediments by the FBI. The mafia eventually expanded from five families to twenty-six crime families nationwide in the major cities of the U.S. with the central crime, based in New York (The Mafia,

The Irish are alcohol drinkers and they participated in various illegal activities to continue with alcohol tradition. One of the famous bootlegger in the New York underworld was ‘Big’ Bill Dwyer, who was arrested for the violation of the Volstead Act (National Prohibition Act) during 1925 and 1926 (Slavicek, 2009).

The Irish Mob is one of the oldest in the U.S., and now it has appeared in major cities including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, and New Orleans. Irish gangs such as the ‘Dead Rabbits’ and ‘Whyos’ ruled New York’s underworld for a number of years. The Irish mafia has no governing body, so the bosses set out their own rules. All Irish organized crime groups tend to operate in association with each other, but not on a formal basis. The Irish tend to operate in all illegal activities, money laundering, drugs, prostitution, and alcohol contraband. A single Irish mob can have 10-1000 member and this depends on the territory (Abadinsky, 2012).

How is the U.S. Organized to Combat Organized Crime?

Any mafia investigation is handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.), which is divided into three sections:

• One section deals with the ‘La Cosa Nostra’,

• One with Eurasian/Middle Easter Organised Crime