American Mafia Essay Research Paper

The Mafia has been around for a long time. It started in Sicily and was carried over to America. Since it’s beginning organized crime has been doing nothing but growing to this day.I. Early Mafia A. Sicily B. AmericaII. Families A. Gambino B. Genovese C. Colombo D. Bonanno E. LucheseIII. Mob Information A. Rank of the Mafia B. The oath C. Origins of the name

Organized Crime Organized Crime is one of the oldest and longest running businesses in the world. But did it start out as a business and is it really a business like everyone thinks? The Mafia has a lot more history than most people think. When people hear the word Mafia they think of clam bars and Tommy guns, when in fact the Mafia had nothing to do with crime and gangsters when it was first formed. The Mafia has been around for a long time. It started in Sicily and was carried over to America. Since it’s beginning organized crime has been doing nothing but growing to this day. The Mafia started in ninth century Sicily as a rebel force fighting invading Arab forces. After they defeated the Arabs, The Mafia stayed in power in order to preserve their Sicilian heritage (Omerta 1). During World War II, Mussolini wanted to get the Mafia out of Italy, so the families went over to America. New Orleans started out to be the biggest Mafia site in the United States. The Italians who went to America knew that there were money opportunities through organized crime. So, the Mafia in the United States did nothing but increase in size and power during World War II (Omerta 2). New York City is the base of operations for organized crime. Their

are five major mob families in New York. Salvatore D’Aquila was the first boss of the Gambino Family. He was murdered on October, 1928 in Brooklyn New York. Eventually Albert Anastasia took control of the Gambino family. Albert Anastasia formed a group called Murder Inc. Murder Inc. killed at least 400 people. Everyone in the Gambino family started to question Anastasia’s sanity. Anastasia was murdered by the Galo brothers, they were sent by the family. Carlo Gambino then took over the family, after Anastasia was killed. Carlo Gambino was the best boss of the family. He had never served a day of jail time throughout all the years he was boss. Gambino gave his title to his cousin/brother-in-law Paul Castellano. Castellano was assainated by John Gotti who then took over the Gambino family. John Gotti’s son is now believed to be running the Gambino’s while his father is in jail (New York/New Jersey 1). The Genovese first boss was Giuseppe “Joe the boss” Massoria. Charlie “Lucky” Luciano took over as boss in 1931. Luciano was forced to go to Sicily because of some criminal charges. Frank Costelo took over when Luciano left. Costello was then murdered by the next person to take over the family, Vito Genovese. After Genovese, the family had a three man ruling council, which was one of the first in Mafia History. Thecurrent boss of the family is Dominick “Quiet Dom” Grillo. He is one of if not the most expieranced man in the family and the family is doing very well under him. (New York/New Jersey 2). Joe Profaci was the first boss of the Colombo family. He was in the papers a lot and really liked all the attention. He ruled from 1930 to 1962. After Joeseph Magliocco took over for Joe Profaci, Joe Colombo took over shortly after but was killed by Carlo Gambino. Gambino didnt like all the attention Colombo was bringing to the Mafia so he shot him at a Italian American Rally that Colombo planned. The Colombo family has been through a lot during the 80’s to this day (New York/New Jersey 2). The first boss of the Bonanno family was Cola Schiro. He ruled until 1930. Salvatore Maranzano took over after Schiro. He was not very populare with the rest of the mob and almost everyone conspired to kill him. Joe Bonanno then took over for Marzano and was the first boss to break Omerta. He wrote a book about his life as a crime boss. Eventually Phillip “Rusty” Rastelli took over the family. Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano and Benjamin “Lefty Guns” Ruggiero were top aides to Rastelli (New York/New Jersey 2). They were also involved in Joesph D. Pistone’scase. Joe Pistone worked top secret undercover for the FBI as a Jewel thief “Donnie Brasco” (New York/New Jersey 3). Gaetano Reina ruled the Luchese family until 1930. Gaetano Gagliano led the family from 1930 to 1953. After Gagliano, Gaetano “Thomas” Luchese led the family, his main racket was the garment industry which he had help from Carlo Gambino. Anthony “TonyDucks” Corallo eventually became boss after Luchese’s death. Corallo stabilized the family and headed it for twelve years. The acting boss of the family today is Joe De Fede. The Luchese family has become very chaotic, many family members have become “rats” which is the worse thing you can be in the Mafia (New York/New Jersey 2). To this day Joe De Fede is trying to bring order to the family (New York/New Jersey 3). The Mafia has ranks for its members. Capo Crimini- Super Boss, Capo di Tutti Capi- Boss of Bosses, Cupola- Commission, Don- Boss, Consigliere- Trusted Advisor, Consiglieri- Trusted Advisors,

Sotto Capo- Under Boss, Capo Bastone- Same as under boss, Cantabile- Financial advisor, Capodecina- Captain of ten, Capo- Same as Caporegime, Capi- Plural of Capo, Sgarrista- High soldier, Picciotto- Low soldier, Giovane D’Honre- Non-made members (Ranks of the mafia 1). The induction ceremony is preformed with top ranking family members there. The person that is being “made” goes through a few initiations. The initiates finger is cut and his blood is dropped on a card that has the family’s patron saint on it. The card is then burned to the persons hand. The FBI has tapes from a few induction oaths. In the recordings this is what is said….” I (name given) want to enter into this organization to protect my family and to protect my friends. I swear not to divulge this secret and to obey with love and omerta. As burns this saint so will burn my soul. I enter this organization and leave it dead.” (The Mafia InductionOath). No one really knows where the name “Mafia” came from. Maffia- was formed to stop Arab invaders and later fought French invaders in Sicily. Ma-Fia, Ma-Fia, is a myth about a young girl being raped by French occupiers, her mother ran to her screaming “Ma-Fia, Ma-Fia!”. Squadri della Maffia- was a group of peasants that supported Giuseppe Garibadi. I mafisusi della Vicaria, was a play that described life in a Palermo jail. Any one of these could be the origin of the name, Mafia.

Works Cited Italian Mafia. Origins of the name,”Mafia”. http://members.tripod .com/~qmcs22/index.html March 30th 1998. Italian Mafia. Ranks of the Mafia. http://members.tripod.com/ ~qmcs22/index.html March 30th 1998. Italian Mafia. The Oath. http://members.tripod.com/~qmcs22/ index.html March 30th 1998. New York/New Jersey. http://www.naxs.com/people/mmachi/ mafia.html March 30th 1998. Omerta? The history of the American Mafia. http://users.aol .com/whizkido1/hist.html March 30th 1998.