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Influence Of The Mafia In The 1920's

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“You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.” (Al Capone). The 1920s to the 1940s was a time of destruction and rebirth. It was a time of major advancements and major setbacks. This era although a time of many accomplishments was the time period in which the Mafia developed. The Mafia was a major influence on the public. They were an organized group of individuals that went around committing crimes. They were ruthless, destructive, and complex. A large part of what they did influence gangs and the mafia today. Violence, characters, and influences, all played a role in the Mafia. One way in which the Mafia was a major part of the 1920-1940 time period was the violence they caused. The Mafia was created due to the backlash of the prohibition act. They entered an illegal alcohol business that produced and sold the toxic beverages despite the law. After the Prohibition, the Mafia organized itself into a more …show more content…

This extensive crime group of the 1920s-1940s was run by many robust and authoritative people that were responsible for great changes. Some of these characters were Al Capone, Mickey Cohen, “Mad Sam” DeStefano, etc. These mafia leaders were known for individual reasons, but ultimately they were all perceived as powerful and determined men that ran the crime industry. For example, Al Capone was known for organized crime. He got his start in the illegal alcohol industry during the prohibition, then later grew his network to gambling, prostitution, bootlegging rackets, and even murder when trying to expand his territories and gunning down rivals. “Capone kidnapped opponents' election workers and threatened voters with violence. He eventually won office in Cicero, but not before his brother Frank had been killed in a shootout with Chicago's police force.” (Al Capone Biography). These characters were a large influence on the mafia and gangs

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Al Capone’s crime boss “ Torrio” was the one who had mainly influenced Al Capone into the life of crime in the city of chicago and had “Torrio taught Capone the importance of maintaining a respectable front while running a racketeering business” (History) , After some time Torrio had made Al Capone his second, his “right-hand man”. Al Capone had done many different crimes around the city of chicago with had made his name more popular and notorious around the city, mostly including bootlegging, prostitution and gambling. Al Capone was very much aware of gang war over territories in chicago, so he would often negotiate with rival gangs for territory. Later on one day his boss Torrio was returning back from a shopping trip from the market and was ambushed and had got shot several times.

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Due to prohibition, Organized Crime took off and expanded their “business” tremendously. They became a very important role to society, government, and the legal force due to the influence they held over many people and organizations. With that influence, the organized Crime had control over police departments and certain politicians. Along with their rising power, Organized Crime earned respect from other organizations and the public because they provided alcohol. In the article “Prohibition” under the section”The Windfall for Organized Crime,” the authors report, “Al Capone and Johnny Torrio, heads of the Chicago syndicate, used a combination of money and muscle to effectively take over the government of Cicero, a Chicago suburb, and run it as their own private kingdom” (Anderson, Angel, et al).

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Mobsters were a group of men with real character, and real morals. Al Capone just happened to be the most respected, and notorious mobster of all time. Some people chose to walk on the opposite side of the street when they seen him, on the other hand he would help old women cross the street. Although Capone's family had no ties to the mob, the neighborhood they lived in was mob central. Childhood struggles and young life influences led to his criminal behavior as an adult, which started out as a success but slowly demolished.

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(T pg.228-229) Al Capone controlled the streets of New York. He controlled the communities by tending to their needs in ways of food, security and protection. Gangsters were even having lottery scams in their own personal businesses. (T pg. 228)

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Al Capone was a very powerful leader and an all around mastermind. Capone was raised around gangs in the city when he moved there from Naples and joined one in his teens called Johnny Torrio’s James Street Boys ran by Johnny Torrio. Later, he moved on to the Five Points Gang, which he graduated from. He got into a gang fight and someone cut his face with a razor hence the nickname “Scarface” (Grossman). When Torrio entered a brothel business he sent for Capone to be a bouncer at the saloon.

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During the the Mafia including Torrio and Capone got stupid rich. Once Torrio had crazy money he eventually retired from the mafia in 1925 giving Prostitution, gambling, bootlegging and other illegal activities to the one and only Al Capone aka (scarface). This was the start of organized crime in the

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In the article “Capone, Al” by Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine it states, “Prohibition gave rise to organized crime in America. Prior to the 1920s, gangsters operated independently, often in ethnic enclaves, but Prohibition created a national market for illegal liquor. By the mid-1920s, organized crime was a highly structured, well-organized enterprise, and gangsters had become national figures. Gangsters such as Al Capone in Chicago and Lucky Luciano in New York City became powerful kingpins of organized crime, with vast empires built on bootlegging, gambling, and other illegal activities.” Prior to Prohibition, gangsters operated independently, but during the 1920s, they became highly structured and well-organized enterprises.

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Dan Bryan stated that “The Mafia also did many other tactics loan sharking, robbery, and drug trafficking” (Dan Bryan) which is true they led the crime during the 19th century. The prohibition gave mobsters their power and wealth. Business took a great blow from the Mafia due to extortion and theft. The Mafia would exert business and be land sharks, they did this by sending men to trash the business and Mafia bosses would ask business owners to pay for protection. If the business didn’t pay or if the Mafia men wanted to charge more for protection the men would threaten employee’s lives and continue to trash and damage the business.

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The amount of people in the government and police force that were being bribed by the mafia was hard to wrap the mind around. The men who did terrible things only got off with little punishments. They also destroyed lots of cities and cost America lots of money (Rucker). They left America financially hurting by all the damages they caused. The mafia scared lots and lots people but certain men from the group like Al Capone were publicized by the media.

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Before the Prohibition era came into the picture, the mafia was a much smaller player in American life, but after the sale of alcohol was outlawed, the mafia, already known to act deviously, quickly began making and selling their own drinks, making them wealthier and more powerful in American life. The more power given to these crime syndicates through alcohol sales made them all the more powerful and dangerous, leading to violence in the streets of America’s big cities, one such incident being the infamous Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. Aside from the obvious violence and such, many common people revered these mafia men as heroes for bringing them alcohol and jobs, “…such as the American mobsters and European crime syndicates thrived, most common people looked upon these organizations as heroes.” (Nash. Paragraph 2).

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In the 1920’s the American mafia rose to power. They are a separate entity from the mafia in Italy, although they share such traditions as a code of conduct and loyalty. The influence of the mafia grew in Sicily until the 1920’s, when Prime minister Benito Mussolini came to power. He lead a brutal crackdown on mobsters who he viewed as a threat to his fascist regime.

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Organized crime became a big issue in this period due to huge new sources of income, like bootlegging, and this led to the legacy of many famous gangsters and criminal figures we know today. One of these well-known gangsters is Al Capone who was born in 1899, to two Italian immigrants in Brooklyn. Early in his life, he got involved in organized crime, gained the nickname “Scarface” and eventually brought in $60 million a year through his illegal activities. Capone thought of himself as a sort of Robin Hood who provided for the poor and believed that through his illegal actions, he was only giving the people what they wanted. He stated, “They say I violate the Prohibition law, who doesn’t?”

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The mafia was present in many cities across the United States but primarily they operated in Chicago and New York. They made their rise to fame in the 1920’s due to their success in illegal alcohol trading during the prohibition of the alcohol in the 1920’s. The mafia then grew to participate in illegal drug trafficking, illegal gambling and other criminal ventures. The mafia also infiltrated labor unions and other businesses such as New York’s garment industry. The mafia quickly grew to become infamous due to the well known people involved such as Al Capone and Salvatore “Lucky” Luciano.

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Not only did the number of serious crimes increase, but crime during Prohibition became organized. Criminal groups became organized around the “steady source of income provided by laws against victimless crimes such as consuming alcohol or drugs, gambling, and prostitution.” These criminal groups and organizations became known as mafias, which were organized groups that used extortions and other criminal methods to become affluent. The mafia was the first real criminal element that surfaced during Prohibition. As a result of the mafia’s involvement in illegal activities, crime spiked, and crime associates, such as the infamous Chicago crime boss Al Capone, grew stronger and wealthier.

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