The Everything Mafia Book (2 page)

I want to thank UTC for setting me up with this project. I also want to thank Gina Panettieri for getting the ball rolling and making things happen. Thanks to Lisa Laing at Adams Media for all the guidance. I want to also give a blanket thanks to all the researchers, writers, law enforcement personnel, wise guys, librarians, mob historians, and Mafia forum members who have given me information and material over the years. It all came in handy on this project.

Organization of a Mafia Family

*There may be as many as ten soldiers under one capo.

**There can be any number of associates under a soldier.

Top Ten Gangsters You Will Get to Know After Reading This Book

1. Sam Giancana—the boss of the Chicago Outfit who was recruited by the CIA to help assassinate Fidel Castro.

2. Al Capone—who rose to fame as a bootlegger during Prohibition and became the most recognizable mobster ever.

3. Salvatore “Lucky” Luciano—the visionary mobster who turned the old Mustache Pete–led crime syndicate into the American Mafia.

4. Carlos Marcello—the mob boss who ruled New Orleans for decades and may have been involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.

5. John Gotti—the mob boss turned pop culture icon who ascended to the top spot after a spectacular Christmas time hit on his boss.

6. Joe Bonanno—the 1920s era don who lived longer than any of his contemporaries.

7. Henry Hill—a mob stoolie who was made famous in the movies, but still got into trouble after testifying against his old mob brethren.

8. Albert “Mad Hatter” Anastasia—a mobster who ruled his crime family with an iron fist, until a haircut and shave ended his life.

9. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel—a mobster who transformed Las Vegas from a small-time gambling town to a world-class high-roller paradise.

10. Carlo Caputo—the mob boss of Madison, Wisconsin. Never heard of him? You will, along with dozens of other lesser-known wise guys who lived in the shadows and stayed out of the papers.

Introduction

AMERICA HAS BEEN OBSESSED with the Mafia since anti-hero gangsters first appeared onscreen during Hollywood’s early years. The tales of crime and corruption were anchored by electric performances by larger-than-life actors like James Cagney and Edgar G. Robinson. From there, movies, television, and books cemented the popular iconic image of the mobster in America’s collective psyche. But for all the fiction and myths that have emerged about wise guys, nothing can compare to the truth.

Much to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of Italian Americans, the Mafia dominated organized crime throughout most of the twentieth century by clawing their way up from the crowded slums of ethnic enclaves in cities across America. They fought and partnered with Jewish, Irish, Cuban, and Polish gangs. They enveloped different Italian crime groups in turn-of-the-century America. They brought in other ethnic mobsters and set up strategic alliances with global transnational crime groups at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

The gangsters got their leg up by corrupting the police, judges, and politicians. They had a ready army of lawyers for court cases, doctors who didn’t ask too many questions when you brought in a bullet-riddled body for an operation, and accountants to make sure their ill-gotten gains stayed as far away form Uncle Sam’s hands as possible.

The Mafia had their hands in narcotics trafficking, prostitution, loan-sharking, bookmaking, policy rackets, stolen property, chop shops, pornography, unions, construction, waste management, stocks scams, bank fraud, mail fraud, murder-for-hire, calling cards, counterfeit merchandise, securities thefts, hijacking, safe crackings, bank robberies, and about every other crime—both big and small—that you can think of.

Of course, there was the money and all the trappings that came with it— power, glory, women, and excess. Some mobsters flaunted their wealth, being chauffeured around in fancy new cars, wearing $3,000 suits with Rolex watches. Others took a different route, driving beat-up clunkers and wearing T-shirts to weddings. But all the money and power brought threats. Murder was a way to keep soldiers in line, settle personal vendettas, clean house, rise through the ranks, deflect blame, get rid of witnesses, and settle intragang wars.

The Mafia’s dominance of organized crime also brought increased scrutiny from law enforcement. In the beginning few cops looked at the Mafia as an enterprise. It wasn’t until after the infamous Apalachin incident that the FBI finally started viewing the mob as a national-level syndicate with outposts in over twenty-five cities across the country. The 1960s brought about a sea of change in law enforcement’s efforts against the Mafia. And the general population was tiring of the increased crime, political corruption, theft of their tax dollars, and the mob wars that left many innocent bystanders the victims of violence. Wiretapping came into vogue, as did the increased use of informants and turncoats. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act gave officials new power to prosecute the mob at a federal level.

But even with forty-plus years of intense law enforcement pressure the Mafia still exists. The smaller families in cities like Dallas, Denver, and St. Louis have for the most part died out. Midlevel gangs like those in Philly, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City still have active crews, though much smaller now than during their heydays. The big families like the five families in New York City and the Chicago Outfit are on weaker legs, but still exert influence over a variety of criminal enterprises.

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