American Mafia

The basis of the American Dream is that every United States citizen has the equal opportunity to become anything they want, through hard work, determination and initiative. Becoming “American” has been a constant topic brought up in mafia films such as Scarface, The codfather part I and II. The Corleone is a family run and operated business, founded on trust, support and protection. The Godfather displays the dark side of how the American Dream can affect who you become. Michael let the idea of…

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F Scott Fitzgerald that is set in the 1920’s. The main character, Jay Gatsby, was involved in numerous illegal activities, which allowed him to gain the mass wealth that he used to try and get back the girl of his dreams, Daisy. Gatsby was involved in numerous of the illegal activities of the Prohibition era. Gatsby was involved in corruption, bootlegging, and organized crime. The Great Gatsby is an accurate portrayal of the 1920’s because of, the main…

James “Whitey” Bulger could just be considered another troubled soul caught up in the wrong things, but he is one of America's most notorious and ruthless mob bosses. Hailing from South Boston, Whitey entered a lifetime of crime a young age and had become a prominent figure in Boston's organized crime scene by the late 1970s. From 1975 to 1990, he served as an informant, tipping off the police and giving information about the Patriarca Crime Family while building his own crime network. After…

Maranzano’s death, Charles Luciano became the new leader of the Italian Mob, and set up the code of conduct and established procedures for resolving disputes between families (“Italian Organized Crime”). He also set up the “Commission,” in which each mafia family from…

Influence of racism on rise of New York Mafia Racism was a clear issue in United States, as seen through organizations like the KKK in the south and the new restrictions on immigration policies. It impacted situations and economic lifestyle of immigrant individuals and families. LaGuimina and Cavaioli explain that this way of thinking stemmed from The Dillingham Commission Report of 1910 and the Report of the House Immigration Committee in 1922. He stated that it was instrumental in fostering…

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…

I will comparing the way that Arthur Miller looks at the themes of crime, justice and honour in both American and Italian society. I am looking at how characters’ views of the main themes change throughout the play and the ways in which these change effect the direction that the play takes. One of the main themes that Miller looks at is the view of crime and what consists of a crime in American and Italian culture. An example of this is the story of Vinny Balzano where a young boy ‘snitched’ to…

Bryan Stevenson is not only an author but a human rights lawyer who founded and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative located in Montgomery, Alabama. The non-profit organization fights against the racial and poverty discrimination that occurs in the United States justice system. Bryan Stevenson has done multiple interviews including one with 60 Minutes with Walter McMillian and made an appearance on TED to talk about the injustice that occurs. Through reading…

quite a change in things like acting, graphics, special effects, and the way gangsters are demonstrated. These qualities have change extremely over time. The Gangster genre contains films with mafia related crime, and violence due to drug wars, money and other personal additions. According to New American Crime Film, “Crime films have existed since the very beginning of cinema” (Gordon 1). The first crime film ever made is The Great Train Robbery. This film dated all the way back to 1903. This…

allows for the Sicilian Mafia to gain control over small towns throughout Sicily giving the local people and local government no chance to exterminate the Mafia. Although the government has tried to intervene before to exterminate the Mafia from Sicily, it has never been fully effective. The Mafia thrives off of filling the gaps that the government does not which is why the most effective attempt to rid Sicily of the Mafia was during Mussolini’s ruling during World War II. The Mafia does not…