American Mafia

American Mafia
Founded1861 (1861)[1]
Founding locationNew York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Boston, and various other Northeastern and Midwestern cities in the United States
Years activeSince the mid-19th century
Territory
Ethnicity
  • Full members ("made men") are of Italian descent
  • Other criminals of any ethnicity are employed as "associates"
MembershipOver 3,000 members and associates[2]
ActivitiesArson, assault, auto theft, bribery, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, extortion, fencing, fraud, gambling, gunrunning, labor racketeering, loan sharking, money laundering, murder, prostitution, robbery, smuggling, theft
Allies
Rivals

The American Mafia,[24][25][26] commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob,[24][25][26] is a highly organized Italian American crime related society and organized crime related group.

In North America, the organization is often colloquially referred to as the Italian Mafia or Italian Mob, though these terms may also apply to the separate yet related Sicilian Mafia or other organized crime groups in Italy, or ethnic Italian crime groups in other countries. The organization is often referred to by its members as Cosa Nostra (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkɔːza ˈnɔstra, ˈkɔːsa -], "our thing" or "this thing of ours") and by the American government as La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The organization's name is derived from the original Mafia or Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, with "American Mafia" originally referring simply to Mafia groups from Sicily operating in the United States.

The Mafia in the United States emerged in impoverished Italian immigrant neighborhoods in New York's East Harlem (or "Italian Harlem"), the Lower East Side, and Brooklyn; also emerging in other areas of the Northeastern United States and several other major metropolitan areas (such as New Orleans[27] and Chicago) during the late 19th century and early 20th century, following waves of Italian immigration especially from Sicily and other regions of Southern Italy. Campanian, Calabrian and other Italian criminal groups in the United States, as well as independent Italian American criminals, eventually merged with Sicilian Mafiosi to create the modern pan-Italian Mafia in North America. Today, the Italian-American Mafia cooperates in various criminal activities with Italian organized crime groups, such as the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra of Campania and the 'Ndrangheta of Calabria. The most important unit of the American Mafia is that of a "family", as the various criminal organizations that make up the Mafia are known. Despite the name of "family" to describe the various units, they are not familial groupings.[28]

The Mafia is currently most active in the Northeastern United States, with the heaviest activity in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and New England, in areas such as Boston, Providence, and Hartford. It also remains heavily active in Chicago and has a significant and powerful presence in other Midwestern metropolitan areas such as Kansas City, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and St. Louis. Outside of these areas, the Mafia is also very active in Florida, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Mafia families have previously existed to a greater extent and continue to exist to a lesser extent in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Dallas, Denver, New Orleans, Rochester, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Tampa. While some of the regional crime families in these areas may no longer exist to the same extent as before, descendants have continued to engage in criminal operations, while consolidation has occurred in other areas, with rackets being controlled by more powerful crime families from nearby cities.[29] At the Mafia's peak, there were at least 26 cities around the United States with Cosa Nostra families, with many more offshoots and associates in other cities. There are five main New York City Mafia families, known as the Five Families: the Gambino, Lucchese, Genovese, Bonanno, and Colombo families. The Italian-American Mafia has long dominated organized crime in the United States. Each crime family has its own territory and operates independently, while nationwide coordination is overseen by the Commission, which consists of the bosses of each of the strongest families. Though the majority of the Mafia's activities are contained to the Northeastern United States and Chicago, they continue to dominate organized crime in the United States, despite the increasing numbers of other crime groups.[30][31]

  1. ^ Hunt, Thomas, "Timeline Part 1. 1282-1899," The American Mafia, https://mafiahistory.us/maf-chr1.html, accessed September 23, 2022
  2. ^ "Organized Crime". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  3. ^ Roots of the Armenian Power Gang Richard Valdemar, policemag.com (March 1, 2011) Archived March 27, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ The French Connection—In Real Life Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, The New York Times (February 6, 1972) Archived October 19, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ The World: The Milieu of the Corsican Godfathers Time (September 4, 1972) Archived July 11, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Dixie Mafia Russell McDermott, Texarkana Gazette (December 12, 2013) Archived April 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Man Tied to Mafia Guilty on 10 Counts The New York Times (January 20, 1992) Archived April 9, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ The Man New York Daily News (October 12, 1994) Archived August 14, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Greek Mob: Brotherly Mafia Love in Philly Nick Christophers, Greek Reporter (July 23, 2009) Archived March 8, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ The Cleveland Mafia: The end of an era and demise of a Don John Petkovic, The Plain Dealer (November 23, 2015) Archived August 7, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Was There Anything Redeemable About Jewish Gangsters? Tabby Refael, Jewish Journal (June 30, 2022) Archived June 30, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Thibault, Eric (April 11, 2017). "La pègre libanaise alimentait les Hells Angels et la mafia". www.journaldemontreal.com. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  13. ^ Former Lucchese Crime Boss Is to Testify on Russian Mob Selwyn Raab, The New York Times (May 15, 1996) Archived May 23, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Who is Mileta Miljanić? The Serbian-American Drug Lord and Leader of ‘Group America’ occrp.org (March 15, 2021) Archived March 15, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs USA Overview p. 13 United States Department of Justice (May 1991) Archived May 26, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Barret, Devlin; Gardiner, Sean (January 21, 2011). "Structure Keeps Mafia Atop Crime Heap". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  17. ^ Capeci, Jerry (April 5, 2020). "Mafia scion John Gotti has ties to Latin Kings". NY Daily News. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  18. ^ Barry, Stephanie (December 28, 2019). "In our world, killing is easy': Latin Kings part of a web of organized crime alliances, say former gangsters and law enforcement officials". MassLive. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  19. ^ 6 Convicted of Racketeering After Muscling In on Mob Julie Preston, The New York Times (January 5, 2006) Archived March 24, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Sheehan, Kevin; Feuerherd, Ben (October 19, 2022). "Anthony Zottola convicted of plotting mob-associate dad Sylvester's murder, turns white as wife bursts into tears". Archived October 21, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ On the trail of ‘Mad Dog’ Sullivan, Mafia hit man Ed Gold, The Villager (September 5, 2006) Archived August 10, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ The Life and Hard Times Of Cleveland's Mafia: How Danny Greene's Murder Exploded The Godfather Myth Cleveland Magazine (February 15, 2011) Archived July 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Beyond the 'Whitey' Bulger lore: 19 murder victims Ann O'Neill, CNN (June 27, 2011) Archived February 25, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ a b Albanese, Jay S. (2014). Paoli, Letizia (ed.). The Italian-American Mafia. Oxford University. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199730445.001.0001. ISBN 9780199730445.
  25. ^ a b Finckenauer, James O. "La Cosa Nostra in the United States" (PDF). ncjrs.gov. United Nations Archives. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 29, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  26. ^ a b Dickie, John (2015). Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia. Macmillan. p. 5. ISBN 9781466893054. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  27. ^ Mike Dash (2009). First Family. Random House. ISBN 9781400067220.
  28. ^ Roberto M. Dainotto (2015) The Mafia: A Cultural History pp.7-44 ISBN 9781780234434
  29. ^ "Italian Organized Crime". Organized Crime. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Archived from the original on October 10, 2010. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  30. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Gardiner, Sean (January 22, 2011). "Structure Keeps Mafia Atop Crime Heap". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  31. ^ Gardiner, Sean; Shallwani, Parvaiz (February 24, 2014). "Mafia Is Down—but Not Out". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2017.