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From the Streets to the Boardrooms: The American Mafia Organizes

© Ron Lombard

Each of the waves of immigrants that came to America found that crime could pay. The Italians, as one of the later groups to immigrate, were labeled as the group that started gangs and the protection racket. Yet they were only following in the footsteps of the immigrant groups that came before them. The appalling living conditions made the streets appealing to the young immigrants and each in their turn attempted to use violence and crime to move up in their local community.

First the Irish gangs in the nineteenth century fought for control of the streets. Irish gangs like the "Dead Rabbits" controlled some areas to such a degree that even the police and political officials struck bargains to keep them in specific areas and away from the majority of the population in New York. These "street wise" young toughs were feared for the level of violence they would inflict on those that stood in their way. They would do what they must to maintain and expand their protection and extortion rackets.

The Jewish immigrants also produced their brand of gangs that would control the streets. The following large-scale immigration of Italians and Sicilians created a series of agreements between the Jews and the Italians in relation to the territories each would control. Constant warfare raged between the two ethnic groups over control of specific areas and the Irish, as the political leaders in New York, did what they could to limit the violence to small areas.

A pattern referred to as "ethnic succession in crime," was being acted out in the majority of America's major cities. What made the Mafia so well known was the fact that they were the most recent immigrants and the creation of prohibition arrived at a time in which the Italian gangs were at their height of power. The Mafia was not the only organized group to emigrate from Italy. The Camorra, from Naples and the Calaria, known as the "Honored Society" came from southern Italy, and rivaled the Mafia for control in America. All three were often labeled the "Black Hand," which in truth was not a gang but a useful way for all three groups to strike fear in the hearts of their fellow Italians. Merely by dipping the hand in ink and placing its imprint on a threatening note one could strike total fear in the hearts of many of the population. Because each of the groups followed similar codes of honor and placed importance on respect, clashes between them took place. But cooperation also began to grow between the groups as money was quickly replacing honor as a motivating force for many of the young soldiers in the streets.

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