Al Capone The most notorious gangster of all time, known as Al Capone, was the most powerful mob leader of his era. From the 1920’s until around 1931 Capone was the kingpin of almost all organized crime throughout Chicago. Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York to a pair of Italian immigrants. In his early 20’s, he moved himself to Chicago to reap the benefits of smuggling illegal alcohol into this city. This was done at the time when prohibition was at its highest.
Paul Ricca’s rise to power began in Cuba when Ricca met Joseph “Diamond Joe” Espinoza who was a Chicago bootlegger and restaurant owner. After he arrived in New York, Espinoza brought him to Chicago, and put Ricca to work smuggling whiskey from Cuba and moonshine liquor from Kentucky to Chicago. Sensing potential, Espinoza appointed him as maitred’ at the Bella Napoli, his restaurant. Which was the source of his nickname “The Waiter”. Restaurants were popular to many gangsters, including the leader of the south side Al Capone.
In the 18th Century, gang problem became worse as the new generation of immigrants continue to enter the United States. During this time, Irish gangs like Whyos, Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies and Jewish gangs like the Monk Eastman Gang brought terror in New York City streets (Lou Savelli, 2001). In the 19th Century, the most notorious gang was formed – the Five Points Gang. One of the most notorious members of the Five Points Gang was a young boy of Italian descent in the name of Alphonse Capone also known as Scarface. His whole life was an illustration of the power and influence of organized crime in the United States during the 19th Century (“Al Capone”).
Urban Gangs The word thug dates back to India in the year 1200 AD and it refers to a gang of criminals (Thugs) that roamed the country pillaging towns. These Thugs had their own symbols, hand signs, rituals and slang. By the 1800's, Americans were fascinated with gangs and gangsters such as the James Gang was one of the most notorious gang during this era formed in New York City during the late 1890's and early 1900's. The next era of and the group that started the gangs we like to refer to as urban gangs was formed by mobsters such as Al Capone, flourished during the 1920's and 30's gangs became a symbol of lower income neighborhoods and ethnic ghettos. During the early 1940's, Mexican gangs stated to formed along the west coast of the United States By the late 1960's and early 1970's, the more modern urban gangs we still see today such as the Crips gang in Los Angeles were it is so violent and entrenched in ghetto neighborhoods that a rival gangs formed to challenge the strength of the Crips know today as the Bloods.
The mafia had split the U.S.A. into separate territories, with one gang controlling each territory, but there was always internal conflict going on throughout these territories, with mob bosses being deposed and replaced all the time. The mafia had control over all the speakeasies and bootleg alcohol during the prohibition period and made millions from it, which was used to help them commit horrific attacks on other gangs which any normal person would get a life imprisonment for. One of these crimes is the ‘St .Valentine’s Day Massacre’ committed by Al Capone. The mafia is one of the most famous organisations in the world, due to its infamous activities during the 20th Century. Prohibition was the Eighteenth Amendment to
Similarly, Jesse James has his share of fame as an outlaw. Born on September 5, 1847, Jesse Woodson James was the most famous of all American outlaws. During the Civil War he rode with a lawless band of raiders in Missouri. After the war he led his own outlaw gang which included his brother Frank, and the Youngers (Surge 7). He's been described as one of the most desperate and fearless of outlaws.
20th century saw a rise in the mafia gangs of five families mainly in the city including black spades and supreme teams. Major riots have been occurred since the late 19th century. Its all began when the son of Sam was involved in serial killing and terrorized the whole city. Crime was highest in the 18th century and was peaked in 19th century. Government of New York City operates as one of the biggest law enforcement agencies in the United States and its functions are duplicated by the municipal agencies.
Prohibition and the Birth of Organized Crime If I break the law, my customers, who number hundreds of the best people in Chicago, are as guilty as I am. The only difference between us is that I sell and they buy. Everybody calls me a racketeer. I call myself a businessman. When I sell liquor, it’s bootlegging.
Al Capone was one of the most famous gangster who made a profits during Prohibition, it is estimated that he made $60 million from bootlegging alone, He took control of the whole Chicago liquor industry by killing off all the competition in the area, he had a good talent for avoiding jail. The St Valentine’s Day massacre is a good example of how extreme the organized crime became, on the 14th February 1929, two rival gangs, one led by Al Capone and the other led by Bugs Moran, 7 mob associates were killed out in broad daylight on the
Paolo Borsellino, Italian Magistrate, 1940 – 1992 In a country where political parties, mafia bosses, multinational companies and public work contracts interlace in a dark web of corruption and prevalence of private interests over the public, magistrate Paolo Borsallino set an example of courage, determination, sense of duty and will to make our society a better one, regardless his own safety and well-being. On July 19 1992, Magistrate Paolo Borsellino was killed by a car bomb, together with five policemen, in Palermo, Sicily, near his mother home, only two months after his colleague and childhood friend, anti-mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone, was assasinated, with his wife and three bodyguards, by a bomb planted under a highway in the outskirts of that same town. Magistrate Borsellino knew that the war against the mafia was not going to be neither a short one nor an easy or painless one, and also that he would never see the end of it. The mafia tentacles, which stretch to all areas of Italian life and which have reached international proportions, were going to make it even more difficult. But that did not stop him from fighting for his ideal.