Al Capone

Ciaccio looked over his files, researching his new clients. What he found did not impress him. Hostia Bontade was a young man who was, apparently very active in the black market. Well, at least he had quite a bit of money, as he was an heir to a powerful sicilian familia, and a lack of wits of accompany them, shown by the very obvious tracks he left behind his lawless undertakings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “You can cheat him out of his wits,”…

John Gotti On December 16, 1985, as John Gotti looked on, Paul Castillano and Thomas Bilotti boss and underboss of the Gambino crime family in New York, were ambushed and shot dead by assassins under John Gotti’s command. Nearly all of the family’s capos (chiefs) knew Gotti had been the one behind the hit, and at a meeting of twenty capos on January 15, 1986, Gotti was formally acclaimed the new boss of the Gambino family. At the time of Gotti’s takeover, the Gambino family, with an annual…

Behind the Gun Guns are very prevalent in the film, Miller’s Crossing, and the novel, Legs, by William Kennedy. Both of these works revolve around the prohibition era and the formulation of gangs and gangsters. It is obvious that these weapons symbolize the underworld, but there is more behind the gun itself. Guns can symbolize multiple ideas like power, dominance over someone, tough decisions, etc. They are also seen to be phallic symbols. Guns can be quite deadly when in the wrong hands, but…

Background/ Early Years Louis “Louie” Zamperini, “the son of Italian immigrants, who had come into the world of Olean, New York on January 26, 1917” was “eleven and a half pounds of baby under black hair as coarse as barbed wire” (5 Hillenbrand). The Zamperinis soon decided to move to Torrance, California when Louie was three for his father’s job as a railroad electrician. Louie grew up in Torrance with his parents, older brother, and two younger sisters. Louie was the second of four…

The Winter Hill Gang was an infamous Irish-American gang that ran Boston. It was at its worse when James “Whitey” Bulger was in charge in the 1970’s. James got away with almost everything he did because he had a deal with the FBI. We’ll get into that later though, let’s start with how the gang was formed. The Winter Hill Gang was developed in the 1960’s and the founders were James J. “Buddie” McLean and Howard “Howie” Winter. James McLean was born in 1930 and Howie was born in 1929. They met at…

Finally, Gatsby is known to be a bootlegger which means a person who makes alcoholic liquor unlawfully made, sold, or transported, without registration or payment of taxes. Gatsby makes millions off of selling liquor during the prohibition. The prohibition was to keep alcoholic illegal during the 1920’s although people made it seem that it was a need and they would buy it , and take the risk of going to jail. The Roaring 20’s was a time of risk and change along with illegal booze. In the…

During the Second Great Awakening, many social reforms took place, such as the ones for women’s rights, education, and prisons. The temperance movement, or the social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages, was also one of the many social movements that took place during this time. The temperance movement failed to have a positive lasting effect on the United States because it did not cause significant change, did not effectively stop the societal problems of its time, and…

One of the most well-known and infamous organized crime families in the history of the United States is the Bonanno crime family. The Bonanno Italian mafia crime family’s origins go back to the beginning, in Sicily. In 1908 Salvatore Bonanno moved his family to New York. There he quickly took over the Bonanno-Magaddino-Bonventre clan and ran all business in the neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Later he returned to Sicily and died of a heart attack in 1915. The clan went through several…

The Jungle and The Grapes of Wrath share a common theme of corruption. In The Jungle, you see a version of trickle down corruption. Corruption was found from the top political bosses trickling down to the small businesses. This made it close to impossible for a poor man to have a chance in Packingtown. The Grapes of Wrath was morally corrupt. People, such as the used car salesman, willingly took advantage of the farmers trying to get to California to benefit themselves. In Chapter 25 of The…

The scene is 1920 and prohibition just went into effect, police and protesters are storming the streets searching for every last drop of alcohol, in another town illegal bootleggers, such as the mafia, are gathering up 100 gallons of illegal whiskey to sell to the public at the highest cost its ever been. These were the kind of scenes that played out in towns all over America, in the height of the Prohibition era, the steaks were high, but the payout of illegal booze was higher. Its a far cry…