The origin of the Mafia began in Sicily, Italy. The migration to America begun when Don Vito Ferro of the “La Costra Nostra” had to flee to New York from Sicily. Don Vito Ferro was escaping from an angry enemy. Accordingly, Mussolini, the fatal prime minister of Italy, worked to try to exterminate the Mafia in Italy. With a push from Mussolini, many members of the Mafia began to flee to America throughout the 1900’s (History of the Mob). About twenty years later from the root of Italian American Mafia prohibition became a law in January of 1920. Though many Italian American Mafia sanctions had already been existent in major cities in America since the beginning of the 1900’s the Italian American Mafia began to explode during the Prohibition
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However, since the Italian American Mafia had a strong tradition of staying away from the police this took decades to accomplish. Organized crime is when there is a structure of people trying to gain money illegally and people are getting money to do so. In 1970, the US Congress began the Organized Control Act of 1970. The main influence of this act was RICO. RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations. This basically means it is illegal to receive money for doing illegal activities. If there was any proof someone was receiving money this way they were automatically sent to prison. This made it extremely easy to convict mobsters, a once difficult task. States across the country were enacting RICO, but United States was already losing billions of dollars from organized crime activities. Additionally, a single RICO investigation could take years because of the amount of secrecy each family held. Even when someone was found guilty under RICO by the time they were turned into the authorities the money was impossible to obtain. Getting a mobster to testify was nearly impossible because of the Omerta Code and one's family might murder someone before they testify to keep the family secrets. RICO led to the downfall of the Italian American Mafia by putting many family members in prison for long term sentences …show more content…
RICO was an intense blow to organized crime along with the lack of trust that started to develop in families. Christian Cipollini a former soldier of the Gambino family said, “The fact that a loyalty (between family members) is merely a word now, not an oath”. Some major mobster hotbed cities like New York and Chicago are still functioning at high levels. In contrast, once major crime cities like Cleveland and New Orlean’s have virtually no traces of mobster crimes. Another reason there is a decline in the Italian American Mafia today is because there are more options for the poor Italian immigrant. In the 1900’s the once great Mafia bosses had nowhere to turn to but crime. They were raised in poor cities and had the choice of working in a factory for basically nothing or they could join a gang and have security and wealth (What Happened to the American
However, since the Italian American Mafia had a strong tradition of staying away from the police this took decades to accomplish. Organized crime is when there is a structure of people trying to gain money illegally and people are getting money to do so. In 1970, the US Congress began the Organized Control Act of 1970. The main influence of this act was RICO. RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations. This basically means it is illegal to receive money for doing illegal activities. If there was any proof someone was receiving money this way they were automatically sent to prison. This made it extremely easy to convict mobsters, a once difficult task. States across the country were enacting RICO, but United States was already losing billions of dollars from organized crime activities. Additionally, a single RICO investigation could take years because of the amount of secrecy each family held. Even when someone was found guilty under RICO by the time they were turned into the authorities the money was impossible to obtain. Getting a mobster to testify was nearly impossible because of the Omerta Code and one's family might murder someone before they testify to keep the family secrets. RICO led to the downfall of the Italian American Mafia by putting many family members in prison for long term sentences …show more content…
RICO was an intense blow to organized crime along with the lack of trust that started to develop in families. Christian Cipollini a former soldier of the Gambino family said, “The fact that a loyalty (between family members) is merely a word now, not an oath”. Some major mobster hotbed cities like New York and Chicago are still functioning at high levels. In contrast, once major crime cities like Cleveland and New Orlean’s have virtually no traces of mobster crimes. Another reason there is a decline in the Italian American Mafia today is because there are more options for the poor Italian immigrant. In the 1900’s the once great Mafia bosses had nowhere to turn to but crime. They were raised in poor cities and had the choice of working in a factory for basically nothing or they could join a gang and have security and wealth (What Happened to the American