American Mafia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Italian-American Mafia
Founded Late 19th century
Founding location Founded in U.S. in New Orleans, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, and various East Coast cities
Years active Late 19th century–present
Territory United States; active in many parts of the country during its peak, currently active mainly in the Northeast; Midwestern industrial cities such as Chicago; Las Vegas and Florida; offshoot in Canada.
Membership (est.) Around 3000 members and associates[1]
Criminal activities Racketeering, smuggling, fraud, counterfeiting, robbery, bribery, assault, money laundering, illegal gambling, loan sharking, weapons trafficking, drug trafficking, extortion, fencing, murder, prostitution, pornography, theft
Allies Sicilian Mafia, Camorra, 'Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita, various independent Italian-American street gangs and crime groups (such as South Brooklyn Boys), Chaldean Mafia, Jewish Mafia, Greek Mafia, Corsican Mafia and Unione Corse, occasionally the Albanian Mafia and Russian Mafia, various gangs and organized crime groups
Rivals Various gangs and organized crime groups, historically rivals of the Irish Mob

The American Mafia[2][3][4] (commonly referred to as the Mafia or the Mob, though "the Mob" can refer to other organized crime groups) or Italian-American Mafia,[2][3][4] is the highly organized Italian-American criminal society. The organization is often referred to by members as Cosa Nostra (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkɔsa ˈnɔstra], our thing) and by the government as La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The organization's name is derived from the original Mafia or Cosa nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, and it originally emerged as an offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia; however, the organization eventually encompassed or absorbed other Italian-American gangsters and Italian-American crime groups (such as the American Camorra) living in the United States and Canada that are not of Sicilian origin. It is often colloquially referred to as the Italian Mafia or Italian Mob, though these terms may also apply to the separate yet related organized crime groups in Italy.

The Mafia in the United States emerged in impoverished Italian immigrant neighborhoods or ghettos in New York's East Harlem (or Italian Harlem), Lower East Side, and Brooklyn. It also emerged in other areas of the East Coast of the United States and several other major metropolitan areas (such as New Orleans[5] and Chicago) during the late 19th century and early 20th century, following waves of Italian immigration especially from Sicily and other regions of Southern Italy. It has its roots in the Sicilian Mafia but is a separate organization in the United States. Neapolitan, Calabrian, and other Italian criminal groups in the U.S., as well as independent Italian-American criminals, eventually merged with Sicilian Mafiosi to create the modern pan-Italian Mafia in North America. Today, the American Mafia cooperates in various criminal activities with Italian organized crime groups, such as the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra of Naples, and 'Ndrangheta of Calabria. The most important unit of the American Mafia is that of a "family," as the various criminal organizations that make up the Mafia are known. Despite the name of "family" to describe the various units, they are not familial groupings.[6]

The Mafia is currently most active in the northeastern United States, especially in New York City, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Buffalo and New England, in areas such as Boston, Providence and Hartford. It is also heavily active in Chicago and other large Midwestern cities such as Detroit, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City as well as in New Orleans, Florida, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, with smaller families, associates, and crews in other parts of the country.[7] At the Mafia's peak, there were at least 26 cities around the United States with Cosa Nostra families, with many more offshoots and associates in other cities. There are five main New York City Mafia families, known as the Five Families: the Gambino, Lucchese, Genovese, Bonanno, and Colombo families. At its peak, the Mafia dominated organized crime in the United States. Each crime family has its own territory (except for the Five Families) and operates independently, while nationwide coordination is overseen by the Commission, which consists of the bosses of each of the strongest families.

Today, most of the Mafia's activities are contained to the northeastern United States and Chicago, where they continue to dominate organized crime, despite the increasing numbers of other crime groups.[8][9]

Usage of the term Mafia

The term Mafia was originally used in Italy by the media and law enforcement to describe criminal groups in Sicily. The origins of the term are debatable though most agree the term is derived from the word "Ma'afir" a term rooted in Arabic and meaning 'shelter' or 'place of refuge'. Like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia did not use the term "Mafia" to describe itself. Neither group has a formal name and instead used the term cosa nostra (Italian for our thing) when referring to themselves. When Italian immigrants started forming organized crime groups in the United States, the American press borrowed the term Mafia from Italy and it became the predominant name used by law enforcement and the public.[citation needed]

"Mafia" properly refers to either the Sicilian or Italian-American Mafia. In modern usage, when referring to the Mafia, there may be several meanings, including a local area's Italian organized crime element, the Mafia family of a major city, the entire Mafia of the United States, or the original Sicilian Mafia. Widespread recognition of the word has led to its use in the names of other criminal organizations, such as the Jewish Mafia, Mexican Mafia, or Russian Mafia,[citation needed] as well as non-criminal organizations, such as John F. Kennedy's political team, referred to as the "Irish Mafia"[10] (not to be confused with the Irish Mob).

The press also coined the name "National Crime Syndicate" to refer to the entire network of U.S. organized crime, which includes the Jewish Mafia elements and the Italian-American Mafia. It was described as a confederation of mainly Italian and Jewish-American organized crime groups throughout the U.S., as revealed by the findings of a U.S. Senate Special Committee in the 1950s chaired by Estes Kefauver.


Origins: The Black Hand


Mafia groups in the United States first became influential in the New York City area, gradually progressing from small neighborhood operations in poor Italian ghettos to citywide and eventually national organizations. The Black Hand was a name given to an extortion method used in Italian neighborhoods at the turn of the 20th century. It has been sometimes mistaken for the Mafia itself, which it is not. The Black Hand was a criminal society, but there were many small Black Hand gangs. Black Hand extortion was often (wrongly) viewed as the activity of a single organization because Black Hand criminals in Italian communities throughout the United States used the same methods of extortion.[11]

Giuseppe Morello was the first known Mafia member to immigrate to the United States.[7] He and six other Sicilians fled to New York after murdering eleven wealthy landowners, and the chancellor and a vice chancellor of a Sicilian province.[7] He was arrested in New Orleans in 1881 and extradited to Italy.[7]

New Orleans was also the site of the first Mafia incident in the United States that received both national and international attention.[7] On October 15, 1890, New Orleans Police Superintendent David Hennessy was murdered execution-style. It is still unclear whether Italian immigrants actually killed him, or whether it was a frame-up by nativists against the reviled underclass immigrants.[7] Hundreds of Sicilians were arrested on mostly baseless charges, and nineteen were eventually indicted for the murder. An acquittal followed, with rumors of bribed and intimidated witnesses.[7] On March 14, 1891, the outraged citizens of New Orleans organized a lynch mob after the acquittal, and proceeded to kill eleven of the nineteen defendants. Two were hanged, nine were shot, and the remaining eight escaped.[12][13][14]

From the 1890s to 1920 in New York City the Five Points Gang, founded by Paul Kelly, were very powerful in the Little Italy of the Lower East Side. They were often in conflict with the Jewish Eastmans of the same area. There was also an influential Mafia family in East Harlem. The Neapolitan Camorra was also very active in Brooklyn. In Chicago, the 19th Ward was an Italian neighborhood that became known as the "Bloody Nineteenth" due to the frequent violence in the ward, mostly as a result of Mafia activity, feuds, and vendettas.

Prohibition era

Al Capone's culturally-publicized violent rise to power in Chicago made him an ever-lasting criminal figure of the prohibition era.

On January 17, 1920, Prohibition began in the United States with the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution making it illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol. Despite these bans, there was still a very high demand for it from the public. This created an atmosphere that tolerated crime as a means to provide liquor to the public, even among the police and city politicians. Not explicitly related to Mafia involvement the murder rate during the Prohibition Era rose from 6.8 per 100,000 individuals to 9.7 and within the first three months proceeding the Eighteenth Amendment, a half million dollars in bonded whiskey was stolen from government warehouses.[15] The profits that could be made from selling and distributing alcohol were worth the risk of punishment from the government, which had a difficult time enforcing prohibition. There were over 900,000 cases of liquor shipped to the borders of U.S. cities.[16] Criminal gangs and politicians saw the opportunity to make fortunes and began shipping larger quantities of alcohol to U.S. cities. The majority of the alcohol was imported from Canada,[17][18] the Caribbean, and the American Midwest where stills manufactured illegal alcohol.

In the early 1920s, fascist Benito Mussolini took control of Italy and waves of Italian immigrants fled to the United States. Sicilian Mafia members also fled to the United States, as Mussolini cracked down on Mafia activities in Italy.[19] Most Italian immigrants resided in tenement buildings. As a way to escape the poor lifestyle, some Italian immigrants chose to join the American Mafia.

The Mafia took advantage of prohibition and began selling illegal alcohol. The profits from bootlegging far exceeded the traditional crimes of protection, extortion, gambling, and prostitution. Prohibition allowed Mafia families to make fortunes.[20][21][22] As prohibition continued, victorious factions went on to dominate organized crime in their respective cities, setting up the family structure of each city. Gangs hijacked each other's alcohol shipments, forcing rivals to pay them for "protection" to leave their operations alone, and armed guards almost invariably accompanied the caravans that delivered the liquor.[23][24]

In the 1920s, Italian Mafia families began waging wars for absolute control over lucrative bootlegging rackets. As the violence erupted, Italians fought Irish and Jewish ethnic gangs for control of bootlegging in their respective territories. In New York City, Frankie Yale waged war with the Irish American White Hand Gang. In Chicago, Al Capone and his family massacred the North Side Gang, another Irish American outfit.[21][25] In New York City, by the end of the 1920s, two factions of organized crime had emerged to fight for control of the criminal underworld, one led by Joe Masseria and the other by Salvatore Maranzano.[7] This caused the Castellammarese War, which led to Masseria's murder in 1931. Maranzano then divided New York City into five families.[7] Maranzano, the first leader of the American Mafia, established the code of conduct for the organization, set up the "family" divisions and structure, and established procedures for resolving disputes.[7] In an unprecedented move, Maranzano set himself up as boss of all bosses and required all families to pay tribute to him. This new role was received negatively, and Maranzano was murdered within six months on the orders of Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Luciano was a former Masseria underling who had switched sides to Maranzano and orchestrated the killing of Masseria.

After prohibition ended in 1933, organized crime groups were confronted with an impasse and needed other ways to maintain the high profits that they had acquired throughout the 1920s. The smarter of the organized crime groups expanded into other ventures, such as unions, construction, sanitation, and drug trafficking. On the other hand, those Mafia families that neglected the need to change eventually lost power and influence and were ultimately absorbed by other groups.[26]

The Commission

FBI chart of American Mafia bosses across the country in 1963.

As an alternative to the previous despotic Mafia practice of naming a single Mafia boss as capo di tutti capi, or "boss of all bosses," Luciano set up The Commission,[7] where the bosses of the most powerful families would have equal say and vote on important matters and solve disputes between families. This group ruled over the National Crime Syndicate and brought in an era of peace and prosperity for the American Mafia.[27] By mid-century, there were 26 official Commission-sanctioned Mafia crime families, each based in a different city (except for the Five Families which were all based in New York).[28] Each family operated independently from the others and generally had exclusive territory it controlled.[7] As opposed to the older generation of "Mustache Petes" such as Maranzano and Masseria, who usually worked only with fellow Italians, the "Young Turks" led by Luciano were more open to working with other groups, most notably the Jewish-American criminal syndicates to achieve greater profits. The Mafia thrived by following a strict set of rules that originated in Sicily that called for an organized hierarchical structure and a code of silence that forbade its members from cooperating with the police (Omertà). Failure to follow any of these rules was punishable by death.


Meyer Lansky made inroads into the casino industry in Cuba during the 1930s while the Mafia was already involved in exporting Cuban sugar and rum.[30] When his friend Fulgencio Batista became president of Cuba in 1952, several Mafia bosses were able to make legitimate investments in legalized casinos. One estimate of the number of casinos mobsters owned was no less than 19.[30] However, when Batista was overthrown following the Cuban Revolution, his successor Fidel Castro banned U.S. investment in the country, putting an end to the Mafia's presence in Cuba.[30] Las Vegas was seen as an "open city" where any family can work. Once Nevada legalized gambling, mobsters were quick to take advantage and the casino industry became very popular in Las Vegas. Since the 1940s, Mafia families from New York, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Chicago had interests in Las Vegas casinos. They got loans from the Teamsters' pension fund, a union they effectively controlled, and used legitimate front men to build casinos.[31] When money came into the counting room, hired men skimmed cash before it was recorded, then delivered it to their respective bosses.[31] This money went unrecorded, but the amount is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Operating in the shadows, the Mafia faced little opposition from law enforcement. Local law enforcement agencies did not have the resources or knowledge to effectively combat organized crime committed by a secret society they were unaware existed.[29] Many people within police forces and courts were simply bribed, while witness intimidation was also common.[29] In 1951, a U.S. Senate committee called the Kefauver Hearings determined that a "sinister criminal organization" known as the Mafia operated in the nation.[7] Many suspected mobsters were subpoenaed for questioning, but few testified and none gave any meaningful information. In 1957, New York State Police uncovered a meeting and arrested major figures from around the country in Apalachin, New York. The event (dubbed the "Apalachin Meeting") forced the FBI to recognize organized crime as a serious problem in the United States and changed the way law enforcement investigated it.[7] In 1963, Joe Valachi became the first Mafia member to turn state's evidence, and provided detailed information of its inner workings and secrets. More importantly, he revealed Mafia's existence to the law, which enabled the Federal Bureau of Investigations to begin an aggressive assault on the Mafia's National Crime Syndicate.[32] Following Valachi's testimony, the Mafia could no longer operate completely in the shadows. The FBI put a lot more effort and resources into organized crime actives nationwide and created the Organized Crime Strike Force in various cities. However, while all this created more pressure on the Mafia, it did little to curb their criminal activities. Success was made by the beginning of the 1980s, when the FBI was able to rid Las Vegas casinos of Mafia control and made a determined effort to loosen the Mafia's strong hold on labor unions.

Mafia Involvement in the US economy

Carlo Gambino, head of the Gambino crime family.

By the late 1970s, the Mafia were involved in many industries,[7] including betting on college sports. Several Mafia members associated with the Lucchese crime family participated in a point shaving scandal involving Boston College basketball team. Rick Kuhn, Henry Hill, and others associated with the Lucchese crime family, manipulated the results of the games during the 1978–1979 basketball season. Through bribing and intimidating several members of the team, they ensured their bets on the point spread of each game would go in their favor.[33]

One of the most lucrative gains for the Mafia was through gas-tax fraud. They created schemes to keep the money that they owed in taxes after the sale of millions of dollars worth of wholesale petroleum. This allowed them to sell more gasoline at even lower prices. Michael Franzese, also known as the Yuppie Don, ran and organized a gas scandal and stole over $290 million in gasoline taxes by evading the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and shutting down the gas station before government officials could make him pay what he owed. Franzese was caught in 1985.[34][35]

Labor racketeering helped the Mafia control many industries from a macroeconomic scale. This tactic helped them grow in power and influence in many cities with big labor unions such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and many others. Many members of the Mafia were enlisted in unions and even became union executives. La Cosa Nostra was a Mafia group that rose to economic power through their heavy involvement in unions. The Mafia has controlled unions all over the U.S. to extort money and resources out of big business, with recent indictments of corruption involving the New Jersey Waterfront Union, the Concrete Workers Union, and the teamster union.[36]

Restaurants were yet another powerful means by which the Mafia could gain economic power. A large concentration of Mafia owned restaurants were in New York City. Not only were they the setting of many killings and important meetings, but they were also an effective means of smuggling of drugs and other illegal goods. From 1985 to 1987, Sicilian Mafiosi in the U.S. imported an estimated $1.65 billion worth of heroin through the Al Dente Pizzeria Chain, hiding the cargo in various food products.[37]

Moe Dalitz (third from the right) has gone down in history as a legendary mobster, a business genius, a city builder and a philanthropist.[38]

Another one of the areas of the economy that the Mafia was most influential was Las Vegas, Nevada, beginning just after World War II with the opening of the first gambling resort "The Flamingo".[39] Many credit the Mafia with being a big part of the city's development in the mid 20th Century.[40] It was through millions of dollars in capital flowing into new casino resorts that laid the foundation for further economic growth. This capital didn't come from one Mafia family alone, but many throughout the country seeking to gain even more power and wealth. Large profits from casinos, run as legitimate businesses, would help to finance many of the illegal activities of the Mafia from the 1950s into the 1980s.[39] In the 1950s more Mafia-financed casinos were constructed, such as the Stardust, Sahara, Tropicana, Desert Inn, and Riviera. Tourism in the city greatly increased through the 1960s and strengthened the local economy.

However, the 1960s was also when the Mafia's influence in the Las Vegas economy began to dwindle.[39] The Nevada State government and Federal government had been working to weaken Mafia activity on the Strip. In 1969, the Nevada State Legislature passed a law that made it easier for corporations to own casinos. This brought new investors to the local economy to buy casinos from the mafia. The U.S. Congress passed the RICO Act a year later. This law gave more authority to law enforcement to pursue the mafia for its illegal activities. There was a sharp decline in the mob involvement in Las Vegas in the 1980s. Through the RICO law, many in the Mafia were convicted and imprisoned.[41]


When the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) became federal law in 1970, it became a highly effective tool in prosecuting mobsters. It provides for extended criminal penalties for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. Violation of the act is punishable by up to 20 years in prison per count, up to $25,000 in fines, and the violator must forfeit all properties attained while violating the RICO Act.[42] The RICO Act has proven to be a very powerful weapon, because it attacks the entire corrupt entity instead of individuals who can easily be replaced with other organized crime members.[7] Between 1981 and 1992, 23 bosses from around the country were convicted under the law while between 1981 and 1988, 13 underbosses and 43 captains were convicted.[29] Over 1000 crime family figures were convicted by 1990.[42] While this significantly crippled many Mafia families around the country, the most powerful families continued to dominate crime in their territories, even if the new laws put more mobsters in jail and made it harder to operate. With Sammy Gravano agreeing to cooperate with the FBI and turn state's evidence in 1991, he helped the FBI convict top Mafia leaders in New York. Although not the first Mafia member to testify against his peers, such a powerful mobster agreeing to do so set a precedent for waves of mobsters thereafter to break the code of silence to do the same; giving up information and testifying in exchange for immunity from prosecution for their crimes.[19][43] Aside from avoiding long prison stretches, the FBI could put mobsters in the United States Federal Witness Protection Program, changing their identities and supporting them financially for life. This led to dozens of mobsters testifying and providing information during the 1990s, which led to the imprisonment of hundreds of mobsters. As a result, the Mafia has seen a major decline in its power and influence in organized crime since the 1990s.

In the 21st century, the Mafia has continued to be involved in a broad spectrum of illegal activities. These include murder, extortion, corruption of public officials, gambling, infiltration of legitimate businesses, labor racketeering, loan sharking, tax fraud schemes and stock manipulation schemes.[44] Another factor contributing to the Mafia's downfall is the assimilation of Italian Americans, which left a shallower recruitment pool of new mobsters. Although the Mafia used to be nationwide, today most of its activities are confined to the Northeast and Chicago.[45] While other criminal organizations such as Russian Mafia, Chinese Triad, Mexican drug cartels and others have all grabbed a share of criminal activities, the Mafia continues to be the dominant criminal organization in these regions, partly due to its strict hierarchical structure.[45] Law enforcement is concerned with the possible resurgence of the Mafia as it regroups from the turmoil of the 1990s, although FBI and local law enforcement agencies now focus more on homeland security and less on organized crime since the September 11 attacks.[46][47] In 2002 the FBI estimated that the Mafia earns $50–$90 billion a year.[48] To avoid FBI attention and prosecution, the modern Mafia also outsources a lot of its work to other criminal groups, such as motorcycle gangs.[45]


Mafia family structure tree.en.svg



  • Boss – The boss is the head of the family, usually reigning as a dictator, sometimes called the Don or "Godfather". The boss receives a cut of every operation taken on by every member of his family and the region's occupying family.[49] Depending on the family, the boss may be chosen by a vote from the caporegimes of the family. In the event of a tie, the underboss must vote. In the past, all the members of a family voted on the boss, but by the late 1950s, any gathering such as that usually attracted too much attention.[50] In practice, many of these elections are seen as having an inevitable result, such as that of John Gotti in 1986. According to Sammy Gravano, a meeting was held in a basement during which all capos were searched and Gotti's men stood ominously behind them. Gotti was then proclaimed boss.
Jewish associate Meyer Lansky's (right) work with Lucky Luciano made him an important figure in developing the American Mafia.




Mafia rules and customs


  2. "Ethnicity" – only men of Italian descent through their father's lineage are allowed to become full members (made men). Associates, partners, allies etc. have no ethnic limits.
  4. "Blood for blood" – if a family member is killed by another member, no one can commit murder in revenge unless the boss gives permission.
  8. "No facial hair" – members were not allowed to grow mustaches; part of the Mustache Pete way.[55][56]


Symbolism in murders

  • In the 1990 murder of Lucchese crime family soldier Bruno Facciolo, a dead canary was stuffed into his mouth after he was shot to death. This signifies that the Mafia thought he was an informer. He had also been stabbed and shot in both eyes.[59][60][61]

List of Mafia families

The following is a list of Mafia families that have been active in the U.S. Note that some families have members and associates working in other regions as well. The organization is not limited to these regions.


Cooperation with the U.S. government

During World War II


Plots to assassinate Fidel Castro

In August 1960, Colonel Sheffield Edwards, director of the Office of Security of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), proposed the assassination of Cuban head of state Fidel Castro by Mafia assassins. Between August 1960 and April 1961, the CIA, with the help of the Mafia, pursued a series of plots to poison or shoot Castro.[65] Those allegedly involved included Sam Giancana, Carlos Marcello, Santo Trafficante Jr., and John Roselli.[66]

Recovery of murdered Mississippi civil rights workers


Law enforcement and the Mafia

In several Mafia families, killing a state authority is forbidden due to the possibility of extreme police retaliation. In some rare strict cases, conspiring to commit such a murder is punishable by death. Jewish mobster and Mafia associate Dutch Schultz was reportedly killed by his Italian peers out of fear that he would carry out a plan to kill New York City prosecutor Thomas Dewey and thus bring unprecedented police attention to the Mafia. However, the Mafia has carried out hits on law enforcement, especially in its earlier history. New York police officer Joe Petrosino was shot by Sicilian mobsters while on duty in Sicily. A statue of him was later erected across the street from a Lucchese hangout.[69]

Kefauver Committee


Apalachin Meeting

In the Fall of 1957 two New York State troopers by chance stumbled upon a meeting of over 60 high ranking members of different families in the New York City Mafia. Sergent Edgar Croswell was a veteran of the New York State Police, he devoted himself to the force and because of this was very familiar with the coming and going of cars and people in and around NYC. Apalachin became the groundbreaking news that America now knew about, up until this point J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI refused to investigate the Mafia because he insisted that they did not even exist. But at Apalachin Sgt. Croswell was dutiful enough to call for backup and arrest 60 men, while in interrogation because all of this was by chance, no one knew what to say and not to say. It is important to understand that up until this point many Americans did not know even what the Mafia was or what they did for that matter, because of the events that took place November 15, 1957 the Mafia was finally front-page news. This single point in history has had an outstanding effect not only for the Mafia, but the way the FBI investigates, the way the media portrays crime, and even how Hollywood idolized crime the way they did. The Apalachin bust, though it did not directly lead to any convictions, opened the door for future investigations and convictions.[71]

Valachi hearings




2011 indictments

On January 20, 2011, the United States Justice Department issued 16 indictments against Northeast American Mafia families resulting in 127 charged defendants[72] and more than 110 arrests.[73] The charges included murder, murder conspiracy, loansharking, arson, robbery, narcotics trafficking, extortion, illegal gambling and labor racketeering. It has been described as the largest operation against the Mafia in U.S. history.[74] Families that have been affected included the Five Families of New York as well as the DeCavalcante crime family of New Jersey and Patriarca crime family of New England.[75]

In popular culture

The film Scarface (1932) is loosely based on the story of Al Capone.[76]

In 1968, Paramount Pictures released the film The Brotherhood starring Kirk Douglas as a mafia don, which was a financial flop. Nevertheless, Paramount's production chief Robert Evans subsidized the completion of a Mario Puzo novel with similar themes and plot elements, and bought the screen rights before completion.[77] Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather became a huge success, both critically and financially (it won the Best Picture Oscar and for a year was the highest-grossing film ever made). It immediately inspired other mafia-related films, including a direct sequel, The Godfather Part II (1974), also (partly) based on Puzo's novel, and yet another big winner at the Academy Awards, as well as films based on real Mafiosi like Honor Thy Father and Lucky Luciano (both in 1973) and Lepke and Capone (both in 1975). An ambitious 13-part miniseries by NBC called The Gangster Chronicles based on the rise of many major crime bosses of the 1920s and 1930s, aired in 1981.[78]

See also


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  2. ^ a b Albanese, Jay S. "The Italian-American Mafia". Oxford Handbooks Online. Oxford University. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199730445.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199730445-e-026 (inactive 2017-11-24). Retrieved 5 August 2016. 
  3. ^ a b Finckenauer, James O. "LA COSA NOSTRA IN THE UNITED STATES" (PDF). United Nations Archives. Retrieved 5 August 2016. 
  4. ^ a b Dickie, John (2015). Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia. Macmillan. p. 5. ISBN 9781466893054. Retrieved 5 August 2016. 
  5. ^ Mike Dash (2009). First Family. 
  6. ^ Roberto M. Dainotto(2015) The Mafia: A Cultural History pp.7-44 ISBN 9781780234434
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Italian Organized Crime". Organized Crime. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Archived from the original on October 10, 2010. Retrieved August 7, 2011. 
  8. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Gardiner, Sean (22 January 2011). "Structure Keeps Mafia Atop Crime Heap". The Wall Street Journal. 
  9. ^ Gardiner, Sean; Shallwani, Parvaiz (24 February 2014). "Mafia Is Down—but Not Out". Wall Street Journal. 
  10. ^ Bart Barnes (March 28, 1998). "JFK Aide David Francis Powers Dies at 85". The Washington Post. p. B05. 
  11. ^ "" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-11-21. 
  15. ^ Abadinsky, Howard. Organized Crime. 7th ed. Belmont, California: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003. pg. 67
  22. ^ Hallowell, Prohibition In Ontario, 1919-1923.1972. Ottawa: Love Printing Service. Pg ix
  33. ^ "ESPN Looks at How Boston College Helped Take Down 'Goodfellas'". 2014-10-07. Retrieved 2016-06-14. 
  34. ^ "Gas-tax Fraud Tied To Mob Families". tribunedigital-sunsentinel. Retrieved 2016-06-14. 
  35. ^ Raab, Selwyn (February 6, 1989), "Mafia-Aided Scheme Evades Millions in Gas Taxes", The New York Times, retrieved June 23, 2016 
  36. ^ Levin, Benjamin (2013). "American Gangsters: RICO, Criminal Syndicates, and Conspiracy Law as Market Control". periodical. SSRN 2002404Freely accessible. 
  37. ^ Finckenauer, James O. (December 6, 2007). "United Nations Activities: La Cosa Nostra in the United States" (PDF). International Center National Institute of Justice. Retrieved May 31, 2016. 
  38. ^ "The Mob in Vegas: City Father". Retrieved 2016-06-23. 
  39. ^ a b c "Mafia in Las Vegas - The Mafia". Retrieved 2016-06-23. 
  40. ^ "Nevada's 20th century economy a tale of water, mining, casinos". 2000-01-03. Retrieved 2016-06-23. 
  41. ^ REVIEW-JOURNAL, JEFF GERMAN LAS VEGAS (2014-03-09). "From Siegel to Spilotro, Mafia influenced gambling, regulation in Las Vegas". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2016-06-23. 
  42. ^ a b Abadinsky, Howard. Organized Crime. 7th ed. Belmont, California: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2003. pg. 319
  43. ^ Sammy "The Bull" Gravano By Allan May. TruTV
  45. ^ a b c Barret, Devlin; Gardiner, Sean (January 21, 2011). "Structure Keeps Mafia Atop Crime Heap". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 22, 2011. 
  52. ^ Martin, Gary. "'Go to the mattresses' - the meaning and origin of this phrase". Phrasefinder. Retrieved 8 November 2017. 
  53. ^ Mafia: A history of its rise to power. Thomas Reppetto. Macmillan. 2005-01-28. ISBN 9780805077988. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 
  58. ^ "History". The Nevada Observer. August 22, 2006. 
  59. ^ "The Case of the Stuffed Canary (471 F. 3d 371 – United States v. Daidone); Louie Bagels Sentenced to Life for Racketeering and Murder". Open Jurist: Federal Bureau of Investigation website. Archived from the original on 2010-06-16. 
  65. ^ Michael Evans. "Bay of Pigs Chronology, The National Security Archive (at The George Washington University)". Archived from the original on 8 February 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 
  70. ^ "FBI — Using Intel to Stop the Mob, Pt. 2". 1963-10-01. Archived from the original on 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 
  71. ^ Kelly, Jack. "How America Met the Mob." American Heritage, July 2000, 76+.
  74. ^ "US & Canada – FBI arrests 127 mafia suspects". 2011-01-20. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 
  76. ^ "Scarface". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013-11-21. 
  77. ^ "The Story Behind The Godfather". 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2017. 
  78. ^ Roberto M. Dainotto (2015) The Mafia: A Cultural History pp. 55–60 ISBN 9781780234434


  • Dainotto, Roberto.M (2015). The Mafia: A Cultural History. Princeton University Press. p. 239. ISBN 9781780234434. ASIN 1780234430. 

Further reading

  • Gambetta, Diego (1996). The Sicilian Mafia : The Business of Private Protection (1st ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674807426. OCLC 34911262. 
  • Varese, Federico (2001). The Russian Mafia : Private Protection in a New Market Economy. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198297369. OCLC 45715859. 
  • Wang, Peng (2017). The Chinese Mafia: Organized Crime, Corruption, and Extra-Legal Protection (First ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom. ISBN 9780198758402. OCLC 969637061. 
  • Hill, Peter B. (2003). The Japanese mafia : Yakuza, law, and the state. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199291618. OCLC 52486010. 
  • Chu, Yiu Kong (2002). The Triads in Business. London. ISBN 9780415757249. OCLC 890163346. 
  • Capeci, Jerry (2002). The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha. ISBN 0028642252. OCLC 48978297. 
  • Dainotto, Roberto M. (2015). The Mafia: A Cultural History. Princeton University Press. p. 239. ISBN 9781780234434. ASIN 1780234430. 
  • Reuter, Peter. "The decline of the American Mafia." (Archive, Info page, Archive) National Affairs. Issue No. 120, Summer (Northern Hemisphere) 1995, pp. 89–99.
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field Publication. 1959. Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor Or Management Field. 1957. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Commerce. 1972. Effects of organized criminal activity on interstate and foreign commerce. 1972. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1980. Organized Crime and Use of Violence: hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1980. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Organized crime: 25 years after Valachi : hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. 1988. Retrieved 2011-01-26.  For sale by the Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, U.S. G.P.O., 1988.

External links

  • Gangrule, American Mafia history
  • Italian Mafia Terms Defined
  • The 26 Original American Mafia Families –
  • Mafia Today daily updated mafia news site and Mafia resource
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