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Organized crime in America comes in
many forms, but it was the Mafia that emerged with the highest profile and
helped spur numerous acts of Congress to help law enforcers deal with the
threat. At the same time, however, much of the early history of organized
crime is largely inseparable from political corruption. In the first half of
the twentieth century, the law had often been obliged to turn a blind eye to
illegal activity because of personal investment, threat of retaliation, or
political pressure. Though organized crime long predates Prohibition, it was
the illicit manufacture and distribution of alcohol during temperance that
made countless criminals very wealthy and set the stage for many years of
criminal influence and affluence all over America. Gradually, public and
government awareness of the breadth of the threat evolved into political
action. A turning point came in 1951 with high-profile televised hearings on
organized crime in New York City that helped create the now stereotypical
image of the Mafia by introducing major Italian gang personalities into the
average American household. Then, In the 1960s, a vigorous campaign by
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy prompted new acts of Congress that would
become essential tools in combating organized crime—tools that would be the
foundation of the federal government’s new focus on international organized
crime and terrorism in the twenty-first century.
Understanding
Organized Crime and the Origins of the American Mafia
Organized crime is generally defined
as “a continuing, profit-motivated, criminal enterprise that employs the use
of fear, violence, intimidation, and public corruption to achieve
organizational goals and remain immune from law enforcement” (Lyman and
Potter 2004). Meanwhile, exactly what the Mafia is both in the United States
and on an international level remains uncertain, due to its status as a
secret society with roots in Italy. Though older sources have been suggested,
an individual of the “mafia,” the Sicilian mafioso, suggests a “brave
man” acting with hostility in response to the foreign governing body in
nineteenth century Italy (Repetto 2004). Generally, the term “mafia” referred
to the system of organization on the island of Sicily, which involved
individually managed estates and families grouped geographically, but without
an overarching hierarchy.
The tight-knit hierarchical structure
of the American Mafia popularized by books and films such as The Godfather,
Goodfellas and, more recently, the TV series The Sopranos may
have ties closer to other organizations, such as the camorras
(fighters and thieves who wore cloaks from which the word may derive) near
Naples, Italy. The American Mafia, thus, is not simply a transplanted
Sicilian Mafia operating on a new land ripe for corruption and violence. The
abstractness and complexity of the Mafia have been chief causes of legal
issues when attempting to prosecute gangsters under unspecific and undefined
law (Lyman and Potter 2004).
In the early twentieth century, waves
of Italian immigrants filled a void at the bottom rung of the economic ladder
and organized themselves into “families” in the big cities, usually according
to their specific region of birth. Individual gangs maintained fierce loyalty
and a code of silence called “omerta.” The challenge of omerta
left early law enforcers to simply let gangs fight it out among themselves.
However, when a series of violent incidents occurred in New York City in
1903, the police department was provoked into establishing a squad led by Joe
Petrosino to deal with Italian crime, ranging from counterfeiting to murder.
Petrosino even traveled to Italy to seek fugitives wanted in America, only to
be murdered by paid assassins tipped to his reputation (Repetto 2004). In
America, many Italians (among others) gravitated toward labor unions later
championed by national figures such as Jimmy Hoffa, while some took advantage
of the extremely profitable enterprise of bootlegging at the onset of
Prohibition. The unpopular law, however, made for sporadic enforcement and,
in some cases, direct collaboration with criminals.
The Early Battles
James O. Finckenauer uses enterprise
theory of supply and demand to recognize the ease with which criminal
organizations prospered during Prohibition. Americans casually broke the law,
especially in large cities such as Chicago and New York where underground
saloons were operated by gangsters who often had an overt understanding with
the police (2007). Meanwhile, prominent citizens openly patronized these “speakeasies”
and paid a premium for illegal alcohol of varying quality. When police raids
were conducted, they were usually with advance notice and sometimes just part
of the fun of a night out on the town. In these areas, societal sentiment
simply did not align with the law, so extensive action was not taken to
prevent the illegal enterprises from continuing.
However, in instances where the line
was clearly and grossly crossed, public outcry demanded the law to intervene.
Such was the case in a Chicago primary election in 1927 when violence erupted
in the attempt to sway the vote. Election workers were assaulted and
kidnapped while bombs exploded at their candidate’s house and political
leaders were murdered. The election carnage made the papers all over the nation.
Not only did the state of Illinois respond with special appointments to
investigate, but President Hoover dispatched marines to Chicago to help
protect the city during the November election. Also, when organized crime
attacked or insulted the police, the police would inevitably retaliate out of
resentment. Most notably was Al Capone’s three-year reign of terror in
Chicago that culminated with his infamous criminal indictment on charges of
tax evasion, the only crime that could be directly linked to him. Colonel
Henry Barrett Chamberlain had not been long acting as director of the newly
established Chicago Crime Commission when he coined the phrase “public enemy”
in reference to Al Capone. In addition to brutally influencing the previously
mentioned election primary, there were well-publicized murders following the
legendary St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and other high-profile violence that
forced Capone and other mob bosses to lay low. Meanwhile, their old political
allies distanced themselves and driven prosecutors pushed vigorously for
indictments and legal reform (Repetto 2004).
Like Capone in Chicago (in mobs in
major cities throughout the nation), the New York mob was equally integrated
into the political arena and exercised a great deal of control in society.
Major figures such as the notorious killer Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel allied
with the financial guidance of Meyer Lanksy not only to run extortion rackets
in New York, but also spread their influence across the United States.
Siegel’s major brainchild was to open a casino/hotel resort in the middle of
the desert, and idea that would eventually become the Flamingo in Las Vegas.
Other major player in the organized crime scene was the politically
influential Frank Costello who ran protected gambling rackets through New
York fruit stands as well as becoming a major liquor distributor during
Prohibition. Costello went to build his own casino in Las Vegas en route to
becoming one of the most powerful mob bosses in the nation.
The bosses had extensive networks
that made it difficult for the police to connect individuals to specific
crimes, places, and dates, making law enforcement a difficult task, but one
that was helped with later legislation. The wealth accumulated from these
various criminal ventures was the foundation of the network of organized
crime that emerged over the course of the next two decades. In the 1930s,
bosses such as financial genius Arnold Rothstein and the politically
connected Johnny Torrio, whom Thomas Repetto (2004) dubs the “the architect
of modern organized crime,” were the models for new generations of gangsters
that they helped tutor. Out of this era began the national syndicate that
would not come fully into public and governmental awareness until late in the
1950s.
Mid-Century Awareness
and the New Legislation
Senator Estes Kefauver’s Special
Committee to Investigate Organized Crime did not outrightly expose the
complete, brutal reality of the Mafia to the American public. Nor did the
Apalachin incident ignite immediate action on the part of the federal
government. However, something changed when dozens of Mafia bosses met one
1957 November day at Joseph Barbara’s estate to select Vito Genovese as the
ultimate “Mr. Big,” the boss of bosses (Lyman and Potter 2004). The response by
law enforcement of the past had been to try to take down the bosses. But what
became evident with the realization of the existence of such a “syndicate”
was that even if Mr. Big were removed, his family would remain intact; it
would simply transfer hands, usually resulting in the family being renamed.
New legislation would have to be of an entirely different mold in order to be
of any use to law enforcement, and such a campaign wouldn’t come into play
until after the death of FBI Director Edgar J. Hoover. Hoover had been
reluctant to pursue the problem of organized crime in large part because of
the overwhelming challenge it posed and the threat to the image of his
bureau. Congress, though, stepped in to address issues of labor racketeering
and extortion, and from the 1930s to the 1970s, it passed a number of laws to
help protect unions from further exploitation by the Mafia (Jacobs 2006).
In Robert F. Kennedy, American found
an outspoken activist in the battle against organized crime. As U.S. Attorney
General, Kennedy vastly broadened the Department of Justice’s focus on
organized crime and required the FBI to enforce certain changes, including
expanding the Top Hoodlums Program and renaming it Criminal Intelligence.
Kennedy further brought together sections of 27 governmental agencies dealing
in organized crime and formed a committee which he oversaw. As a vocal critic
of the Mafia in particular, one of Kennedy's pet projects was to bring down
Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa built empires in securing numerous rights for his unions,
but unfortunately dealt far too frequently with the Mob. An enduring popular
legacy of the era is that the Kennedy’s pursuit of the mob and attempts to
overthrow Communist rule in Cuba were major factors in the assassination of
both John and Robert. But in spite of innumerable conspiracy theories, the
enduring official verdict is that each man’s assassin acted alone.
Out of the tumultuous political
climate of the 1960s there emerged key legislation and expanded powers for
law enforcement, from increased electronic surveillance to the use of
informants, undercover operations, grants of immunity, and witness
protection. Most importantly, the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act (RICO) was passed as part of the Organized Crime Control Act
in 1970. The act was designed to help prosecute patterns of illegal
infiltration of businesses based on “predicate acts,” specifically at least
two instances within ten years. It was designed to link people and crime over
time and included hefty penalties designed to deter further engagement in
organized crime (Finckenauer 2007).
In 1968, the Omnibus Crime Control
and Safe Streets Act attempted to define organized crime in the law by
outlining the disciplined, organized, and continuous engagement in illegal
enterprises “including but not limited to gambling, prostitution, loan
sharking, narcotics, [and] labor racketeering.” It is the only legal
definition on the books, and can only begin to suggest the scope of organized
crime. The complexity of the legal battle is a result of the variety and
diversity that exists among people engaged in organized crime, and their
shifting relationship with the American city and its political leaders
(Finckenauer 2007).
The Recent Decades:
From Organized Crime to Modern Terrorism
While efforts to curb organized crime
have aided police enforcement domestically, the global reach of some
organizations has made controlling illegal activities especially challenging.
International criminal activity is not a recent phenomenon, as evidenced by
long-standing global financial ventures where organizations launder across
borders and among international banks to finance their illegal activities
through legitimate-looking businesses (Lyman and Potter 2004). However, the
globalization of economies in the last quarter of the twentieth century
combined with improvements in transportation and communication to encourage
the movement of goods and services across boundaries at a much greater scale.
Among the most recognized forms of transnational crime is human smuggling and
trafficking. In many cases, legal migrants are voluntarily carrying illegal
goods across boarders because organized criminal activity close to home
provides unparalleled economic opportunity for the lower classes. Indeed, James
O. Finchenauer suggests that “[a]s long as the economic, social and political
conditions that fertilize organized criminality exist, so will organized
crime. Absence of economic opportunity and poverty in too many countries
leads their people to look to criminal organizations as a way out” (2007).
Examples include farmers turning to illegal but more lucrative crops from
poppies in Afghanistan to coca and marijuana in countries south of the United
States border (Finckenauer 2007).
The War on Drugs in the 1980s spurred
major legal initiatives to aid law enforcers in the pursuit of organized
criminals. In 1984, the Crime Control Act expanded asset forfeiture laws
while the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act created stricter sentences for money
laundering as well as defining “mandatory prison sentences for large-scale
distribution of marijuana” (Lyman and Potter 2004). New designer drugs were
also added to the controlled substances list under the 1986 Act. The most
important legislation from that year, however, came with the Money-Laundering
Control Act that specifically targeted financial transactions made to conduct
illegal activities or the concealment of such funds. Indeed, the code of the
Internal Revenue Service has been useful in law enforcement from Al Capone to
the present day. From evasion of income tax to hiding assets, the IRS has
many tools for combating corrupt finances. In 1988 the Chemical and Diversion
and Trafficking Act was passed to deal with the raw materials of drug
manufacture.
Finally, the controversial Uniting
and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to
Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, or the USA Patriot Act, which
followed the attacks of 9/11, provided expanded investigatorial authority for
police agencies at all levels, and not just in relation to terrorism. In
fact, some believe the expanded powers of the Patriot Act have allowed the
violation of a number of American civil liberties, especially those related
to government surveillance through wiretapping. (Lyman and Potter 2004).
Nevertheless, the act has been reauthorized twice by Congress, once in 2005
and again in 2006, though with a number of provisions and additional
oversight.
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