Argumentative Essay: The Mafia In The 1920's

The Mafia are some of America's favorite bad guys. They are the subject of countless television series, movies, and books. When people hear the term Mafia or Mob, they may often think of the violent and ruthless tactics organized crime would use to get what they wanted. What many do not realize is that, from the early to mid-twentieth century, the Mafia’s influence allowed organized crime to have a hand in many aspects of American culture that people still enjoy today. Prohibition arose out of the Progressive Era at the end of the eighteenth century. In an attempt to reach a more virtuous society, it was concluded that alcohol was a major obstacle as it contributed to crime, poverty, as well as mental instability. This war with alcohol was

The Mafia foresaw Prohibition as a potential business opportunity for a black market and bootlegging of illegal alcohol. On January 16, 1920, the day Prohibition went into effect, a group of rum runners who worked for Italian and Jewish mobsters delivered liquor across the coast of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Gulf of Mexico. At the same time, sleds of alcohol were being pulled into the U.S. from Canada by members of the Mob. Prior to Prohibition, there had been around 16,000 saloons in New York. After the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, these were replaced by 32,000 illegal drinking institutions known as speakeasies, with most of these owned and operated by members of the Mafia. It was estimated that, after Prohibition was passed, approximately seventy-five percent of Americans were clients of mafia bootleggers. In addition to offering opportunities for drinking, the Mob operated speakeasies which offered new social opportunities for women. Previously, women had been banned from most bars, but in speakeasies they were welcome. As far as the Mob was concerned, money had no gender. By 1933, it was evident that Prohibition had not done what it had

The end of the nineteenth century saw the New Orleans economy controlled by a large portion of Sicilian mobsters. The early twentieth century introduced a new style of music in the area known as “jass.” Respectable Americans rejected this new sound considering it “black and criminal jungle music.” However, some people displayed a desire to hear this new music, later called jazz, and gangsters were happy to accommodate. Some of the first places to ever play jazz music were buildings owned by Sicilian mobsters in the district of Storyville near the French Quarter. This area was famous in New Orleans for its numerous gambling halls, cabarets, and clubs featuring the new genre of jazz. Many famous artists of the jazz genre got their start in these mafia clubs. Jazz legend Louis Armstrong began his career playing the trumpet in a club known as Matranga’s. The club was owned by powerful criminal Henry Matranga, a member of a Sicilian mafia family. Other pioneers of jazz, such as Buddy Bolden, Freddie Keppard, and Joe Oliver received wages from George Delsa. Delsa was the manager of Anderson’s Rampart Street café, one of the first clubs to play jazz music, and would use his connections to the Mob to protect the establishment from the police. In 1917, the United States Navy requested that the Storyville district be shut down. When the mayor of New Orleans agreed, the jazz