Mafia

he learned a lot from working beside Bumpy Johnson, he also changed the way organized crime operated, specifically the part that dealt with drug trafficking. Lucas knew that in order to take over for Johnson he had to break the monopoly the Italian mafia had established in New York. In order to do so, he flew straight to the Golden Triangle in South East Asia, where he had a connection who was serving in the U.S. Army, Master Sergeant Leslie Atkinson. According to Howard Abadinsky, "Atkinson was…

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 income of $500 million, was viewed as the most powerful American mafia family. In his book Underboss, author Sammy Gravano estimated that during his years as boss Gotti himself had an annual income of not less than $5 million and more likely between $10 and $12 million. To protect himself, Gotti maintained a…

Rise of Crime In January of 1919, the 18th amendment was passed which stated “ … The manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors … For beverage purpose is hereby prohibited” (Constitution). Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many counties and some states were already dry. Even though the 18th amendment was to stop drinking all together, it did not even come close. Prohibition created a large number of bootleggers, which are people that sell alcohol illegally.…

committed petty crimes such as stealing, but nothing as serious as what Capone eventually did. He worked in Brooklyn with Yale until he moved to Chicago at Torrio’s request. When Torrio was finally caught, Capone as his protégé inherited the whole mafia in Chicago and became the most powerful and feared man of the…

Purple Gang, the The Purple Gang was a loosely-bound Jewish criminal gang in prohibition-era Detroit, MI. It began as a group of children of Eastern European immigrants from Detroit’s lower east side who were taken under the wing by mobsters. As the children grew up, they progressed from petty crimes to armed robbery and extortion. After The Damon Act of 1916 prohibited the sale of alcohol in Michigan, the burgeoning Purple Gang focused on hijacking shipments of bootlegged Canadian whisky; when…

Born on October 27, 1940, in the South Bronx, New York, John Gotti would face run-ins with the law several times, including a four-year prison term for manslaughter, before becoming head of the Gambino crime family. Nicknamed "Teflon Don" for his ability to remain free, Gotti was eventually convicted on multiple criminal counts and sentenced to life in prison. He died on June 10, 2002. (1940-2002) A major crime was in May of 1973, while Gotti was captain of Fatico's crew. He committed his…

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…

On the surface, the Litchfield Prison system is extremely dysfunctional, does not provide any structure or regimen for the inmates to follow, and does not serve any purpose in reshaping the inmates, much like any other prison system. From the illegal trafficking of contraband, to the unlawful rape that occurs between the inmates and guards, to the disheartening stereotypical slurs constantly heard throughout the prison, Litchfield Penitentiary does not seem like a place for bettering one’s self…

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…

Another widely known fact is that an individual can only join one of the gangs which fit his ethnicity and background. Six of the biggest gangs, in which most inmates belong to, in California 's prisons are, "Nuestra Familia, the Mexican Mafia, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Black Guerrilla Family, the Northern Structure, or the Nazi Lowriders," the last two mentioned are branches of Nuestra Familia and the Aryan Brotherhood, respectively (10). Gang violence is so extreme that prison guards…