Influence Of The Mafia In The 1920's

518 Words3 Pages

The Mafia is a massive organized crime organization hailing from Sicily, Italy. They weren 't big in America until the 1920’s, when they got their start from smuggling alcohol during the prohibition era. The influence of the mafia can be seen across books, television, and movies. The mafia is still an important subject today because of how much power they had in America. There have been many popular movies made such as The Godfather that show what the mafia is like. The mafia had a massive impact on America, affecting cities, crime, politics, and popular culture. In New York there were five families. These families were Colombo, Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese. The Genovese Crime Family was the most powerful and dangerous family in America, (FBI). The crimes committed by all of them included murder, human trafficking, drug trading, espionage, ect. The mafia was not just in New York, but all major cities in America. The city of Las Vegas was basically owned by the mafia during it’s peak. Some of the casinos they owned included …show more content…

Kennedy may have not been elected as president. Although it is not one hundred percent positive that JFK had ties with the mafia, there has been many studies and theories about his shady business. The most popular being that the mob helped him win the West Virginia primary. At the time politicians weren 't required to have open records on who contributed to their campaigns (Nat Geo). That could very easily mean the mafia contributed to his campaign. The Mafia’s biggest and longest lasting impact on America can still be seen today. The mafia was and still is big in popular culture. Countless books, movies, television shows, and much more have been made about mafia life. In these movies they portray the gangsters as being cool people. Things such as that make people feel as if the mafia is harmless and won’t affeict their lives. Movies such as The Godfather have had massive amounts of