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The rise of organized crime
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Organized crime can be traced back hundreds of years ago, it wasn’t until more recently that organized crime became organized, stronger, more efficient and often fly under the law enforcement radar. Before, or back in the 1600s, they were more of a small gang, now we have the Mafia, which remains the largest organized crime group in the US (Siegel, 540). Today we also have major gangs such as the Crips and the Bloods. Organized crime has many characteristics such as: they thrive on supplying illegal goods or services for which a lot of people are willing to pay, to make as much money as possible, a pyramid like structure where they have a boss, advisors and those below them, the members are extremely loyal to their group, and punishment
for those who stray from the group, or betray is demotion or even death (law.jrank.org). Fortunately, I have not had any interaction with any organized crime, and I hope I don’t ever have that happen either! However, I do believe that, too often, law enforcement let these organizations go freely with maybe payouts, but they do it because either they are afraid of retaliation, or they feel that as long as they stay out of their way, they are fine. Especially, if they are killing off other criminals, kind of makes their job easier, in some aspects. I do feel that there should be stronger penalties on organized crime members, when they create crimes. If they are just selling goods, who cares, but if its drugs, penalize them, just as they would if any other individual was found selling drugs. Fortunately, the size of the mafia is declining due to the capture of some top bosses of these groups. They were given two life sentences which speaks volumes about how the government is sick and tired of ignoring these groups (Siegel, 540). It is my hope that this trend will continue and we can begin to rid our Country of crimes of blatant stupidity and disrespect.
The Gangster Disciples is a violent gang which began in the Chicago, Illinois area. In the 1970's, the leaders of two different Chicago-based gangs, the Black Disciples and the Supreme Gangsters, aligned their respective groups andcreated the Gangster Disciples. Once united, the Gangster Disciples recruited heavily in Chicago, within Illinois jails and prisons, and throughout the United States. The Gangster Disciples are active in criminal activity in approximately 24 states. The Gangster Disciples employ a highly structured organization. Members are organized into geographic groups; each called a "count" or a “deck." Members in good standing are considered to be ”on-count" or ”plugged in." A meeting of a particular count may be referred to
...larities an accident, or on purpose? No one can really answer that, but what they can answer is how they are a like in some ways. They all in it for the monitory gain, as well as the power. When one group is weakened another makes their move in order to replace them. These groups all still commit similar crimes, such as; money laundering, extortion, drug trafficking, etc. Their operations are also quite similar where they have a chain of command, boss, and soldiers. Organized crime groups are not afraid to turn against one another if a job is not completed as requested, or if they feel they have been betrayed.
The decade of the 1920s was full of deception, corruption, and degeneration. The very embodiment of these qualities was the institution of the Italian-American Mafia. The syndicate began in Sicily and spread to encompass United States politics and the national economy. The post war era left the nation in a recession and vulnerable to organized crime. Changes in the country's attitudes and outlooks on the future paved the way for organized crime on a large scale. People were too preoccupied with bootleg booze, sexual promiscuity, and get-rich-quick schemes to notice the downward spiral of the government's respectability and integrity. The decadence of the decade and the feel good mentality of America's youth provided opportunities the industrious underworld leaders sought in order to gain control of the syndicate. The Mafia supplied America with the vices it longed for and in return America let the Mafia get away with murder. Not only did the syndicate accumulate power but also profited financially through prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging. These activities were the foundations of the Outfit's financial and political empires. Mafia power soon began to eclipse the authority of the law enforcement agencies, and the struggle between responsibility and autonomy began.
As more and more immigrants began to spread throughout the US, more and more gangs of people began to emerge. Gangs were usually made up of people of a common ethnicity, whether it be Irish, Italian, or Hispanic. These gangs were usually victims of anti-immigrant policies and looked for strength in numbers. As gangs became more and more sophisticated they realized they could make profits from the power they were accumulating. One of the most recognizable examples is the bootlegging of alcohol during the Prohibition. When federal officials attempted to enforce legislation such as the Volstead Act, there was a surge of illegal sales and profits. In 1927, Al Capone and his gang racked up over $60 million from bootlegged alcohol. With all of this money came tons of violence, people were getting murdered in broad daylight just so others could have a sum of all of this wealth. Soon Mob families would own clubs or casinos to increase their wealth. The attendees weren’t only made up of rich mob bosses, the alcohol, dancing, and gambling attracted many ordinary
With organized crime came many changes in the lives of all Americans then until this very day, and continues to affect all of us. Mobsters started running very illegal monopolies for a living and hiring common people to do their dirty work. This led to some very serious gang-related violence. Due to all of this occurring at the same time, it changed the way in which police forces were run. Prohibition led to widespread organized crime in the 1920s and 1930s because it opened up an illegal monopoly for gangs, initiated gang related violence, and the change in the way police forces operated, forever changing America as a result.
We can see in Source C, that though the law did try to take down organized crime, it was too well protected by both its own form of government: gang rule, and its protection its money gave it by buying off politicians and powerful officials who in turn made no effort to control the rise in organized crime. Source D tells us that 3300 police officers and prohibition agents could not take Al Capone down due to the protection he had bought for himself. This further shows us how ineffective the American government and police force was in demolishing organized crime and it was this ineffectiveness that was responsible for it becoming such a wealthy
During the nineteen twenties in America, the country had undergone a substantial amount of change throughout the country. These changes included sports, music, fashion, the economy, prohibition, transportation and of course organized crime. Organized crime was a major contributor of the problems of the twenties and a major side effect of the prohibition. Organized crime was at its peak in the nineteen twenties and America hasn’t quite been the same sincense the crime started.
In the 1920s, Prohibition caused organized crime to be at an all time high, and so gangsters were at their prime, dealing in bootlegging and the illegal distillation and distribution of alcohol. The big gangsters and their crimes had a big impact on the society and the economy of the 1920s.
During 1869-2014 the Sicilian mafia in America evolved in a number of ways such as: the change in rules, leaders, how it is run, the change in code and power over American society. These topics will be covered throughout this essay and will give you a detailed explanation of the history of the evolution that took place. The Sicilian Mafia started in poor Sicilian ghettos in America and spread into the cities, striking fear into the American society. With around 2,500 members, it is seen as the most powerful and the most active Italian organized criminal group in the United States of America. The Sicilian mafia is more commonly known as La Cosa Nostra.
Research for this assignment will be done to see if get tough policies have any effect on organized crime. Will organized crime through lucrative deals prevail? Will also be researched and answered within the context of this paper. By analyzing to see why get tough policies being put in place to stop organized crime, doesn’t work, then how organized crime can be stopped, will be explained and researched within this paper. The author of this paper will implement a point of view on how to stop organized crime, within the context of this paper. Lastly answer what effect does the war on crime against organized, will be researched and explained, if it works or not.
La Cosa Nostra Perhaps one of the most poignant moments in American cinema is the closing scene in the film “The Godfather” when Don Vito Corleone’s son Michael takes over his father’s position... and one of the most unforgettable moments, a severed horses’s head lies bloody in a man’s bed. It is this tradition and brutality that characterizes the Mafia, a secret Sicilian society that lives and functions just as much today on American soil as it did and does still in Italy. To understand this organized crime, one must begin to understand how it came to be organized in the first place. During the medieval times in Sicily, Arabs invaded the land and native Sicilians fled and took refuge in the hills. Some of these refugees formed a secret society that gave protection to the people in exchange for money. This group took their name, “Mafia” based on the Arabic word for refuge. In America today, one can hear it also be called “La Cosa Nostra”, or “This Thing of Ours.” In the 1700s,Wealthy people would receive a card with a black hand drawn on and if they did not pay the money, they could expect murder, theft, and violence. During the time Mussolini was ruling Italy, this secret society was under heavy persecution and many fled to the United States. “Don (term for the boss or head of a Mafia family) Vito Cascio Ferro fled to the United States in 1901 to escape arrest. He is known as the Father of American Mafia.” (La Cosa Nostra) Many Italian immigrants came to the United States through Ellis Island in New York, which is today the most important center of organized Mafia crime in the United States. The new American Mafia came to power during the Prohibition by organizing the sale of outlawed alcohol, but after Prohibition was revoked, the Mafia needed a new “racket.” During the war, the Mafia got government issued ration stamps and sold them on the black market. These days the Mafia is involved in running prostitution, unions, construction, and gambling. New York, also called the “City that never sleeps,” houses the Five Families of New York. These Families are highly influential and powerful crime families and each holds claim to certain “rackets.” The Five Families are: Gambino, Bonano, Lucchese, Colombo, and Genovese. While all people in the Mafia are required to maintain certain silence about the workings of the Family, a code of silence called “Omerta,” d...
Peter Maas declares organized crime the “biggest business in the country” (Maas). “The largest and best known organized crime group is the nationwide organization variously known as the ‘syndicate’, the ‘mob’, the ‘Mafia’, and the ‘Cosa Nostra’” (Nash, Jason O-155). Some activities of the Mafia include gambling, loan sharking, pornography, illicit drugs, and racketeering. The Mafia began in Sicily, but did not retain to just that one location. In fact, in the late nineteenth century many of the Sicilian members immigrated to the United States (Nash O-155). The Mafia in the United States contains members that are Americans with Sicilian ancestry (“Mafia” M-48). There are several Mafia groups in the United States. Law enforcement authorities agree that there are around twenty-five groups that operate in large cities across the nation (Nash O-155).
Organized crime is a collective result of the commitment, knowledge, and actions of three components: (1) Criminal groups, who are core persons tied by racial, linguistic, ethnic or other bonds; (2) Protectors, who are persons who protect the group’s interests; and (3) Specialist support, which are persons who knowingly render services on an side-job basis to enhance the group’s interests. In order to thrive, an organized crime group needs many different elements. First, it needs an ensured continuity of members, clients, supporters, funds, etc. Additionally, it needs structure, criminality, violence, memberships based on common grounds, and a willingness to corrupt a power and profit goal. Generally, mafia organized crime groups disguise themselves behind the ownership of a legitimate business to avoid questioning from the Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.) regarding any financial sources. The ille...
When I think of Organized Crime, I think of the mafia like you see on television. That’s probably what most people think of if you don’t know much about it. In the recent years, organized crime has changed, and the threat is more complex than it has been in the past.
Being a member of an organized crime group, you would think might not have its advantages, but for some the advantages outweigh the significantly more disadvantages. Some of the advantages of being a member of an organized group is of course the financial aspect. Being a member of organized crime gives some people more wealth and power they would not have if were outside of their organization. Another advantage being more of a personal one as opposed to a financial one, is the feeling of belonging to a group and having the respect and “brotherhood” of others. Although these may seem like great attributes of being in an organized crime group they do not come without consequences. The disadvantages of being associated to these groups can come