The Mafia originated in Sicily, Italy, but started in America when Don Vito Ferro of the “La Costra Nostra” fled to New York from Sicily. Mussolini, the fatal prime minister of Italy, worked to try to exterminate the Mafia in Italy. This then caused many members of the Mafia to flee to America throughout the 1920’s (History of the Mob). Prohibition became a law in January of 1920. Though many Italian American Mafia sanctions had already been existent in major cities in America since the beginning of the 1900’s the Italian American Mafia exploded during the Prohibition Era. The United States dramatically changed from this point on. Prohibition banned the selling, manufacturing, and distribution of alcohol in the United States. Italian immigrants …show more content…
By 1910, one tenth of New York’s population were Italian immigrants. Despite what the movies say not all 500,000 immigrants were part of the organized crime associated mostly with Italians. A typical Italian American Mafia crime family had a main boss. This boss was the supreme leader. No one questioned his authority and he received a cut of every operation. The next in command was the underboss and then there were the capos. Each capo or captain controlled a small crew of about ten men. Each of these men had been inducted into the family. It was not uncommon for each family to have an advisor. There were also the people who did business with the family and helped with their crime but were not considered to belong to a particular family. There was always an initiation ceremony and each family had its own tradition of rituals to induct someone. This induction meant a life long commitment and a swear to obey the Omerta. The Omerta originated from the Sicilian Mafia tradition (Mafia in the US). The first rule was to never tell a Mafia secret even if that meant death. The second was absolute obedience to obey the boss’s commands. The third was to always assist an ally Mafia faction when necessary. The fourth principle of Omerta was vengeance on any attack to one’s family. If one family killed another it was expected for them to kill back. The fifth and final principle, and the reason why the Italian American Mafia was so successful was to avoid any and all contact with authorities (History of the