Mafia/Gangsters

A gangster is a member of a gang of criminals, such as the mafia. In the 1920's, gangsters really came about because of the Prohibition Movement. It was within liquor smuggling that mafias grew to be such a huge problem in the 1920's. The illegal liquor business became the foundation of a great criminal empire. The most infamous ganster from the Prohibition era was Al Capone from Chicago, Illinois. He violently eliminated any "competition" that he had, then he used the alcohol trade to create a "business" that earned millions of dollars. With Capone's violent behaviors and skyrocketing business, he, along with other gansters, was able to scare the police-figures in the United States and pay them off to leave them and their business alone. The federal government found it increasingly difficult to compete with the gansters, but they still worked diligently to catch the gangsters and put an end to their organized crimes. The 1920's gangster became the American icon of the "self-made" man. Today, the typical gangster is still the number one consumer of everything of luxury and expensive nature.

The Mafia is an organized secret organization said to be engaged in smuggling, racketeering, trafficing in narcotics, and other criminal activities. The Mafia existed mainly in Italy, but in the 1920's, the United States had their problems with Mafias. The American Mafia is barely over a half a century old, but they have still impacted the U.S. with organized crime. The Mafia was into the bootlegging business in the 1920's, but in the 1930 and 1931, which was approximately seven years after heroin was banned from use in the United States, a war began to explode among the Mafias. Out of this "war", a new generation of leaders came out that had very little to no respect for the traditional values. Salvatore "Lucky" Luciano was the leader of the Mafia Youth Movement; he is known to be one of the most brilliant criminals of modern America. He had an idea for the modernization of the American Mafia, and this idea won over the leaders of the 24 Mafias in America. Soon after, the National Commision was functioning "smoothly"; this proves that Luciano practically made the Mafia into the most dominant criminal organization. Luciano's revolutionary idea is still the basis for organized crime today.


Sources:
"The Mafia in America." Home | Drugtext. Web. 17 May 2010. .