American Mafia

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American Mafia
“Wherever there’s opportunity, the mafia will be there” (Johnny Kelly). The identity of organized crime has changed through history due to the power of the Mafia. The American Mafia have impacted and influenced America’s culture and how they see crime today. The Mafia have mainly affected culture, films, books, crime, and politics. The Mafia is one of the most ruthless, influential, and dangerous organized crime groups to ever be in America.
Throughout history, crime has existed in many different parts of the world and in different forms and has been committed by not only individuals, but by powerful groups such as the Mafia. Carlo Gambino ruled the most powerful Mafia family in the United States (“Carlo” 1). To have power in the Mafia was greatly needed and very important. In order to be respected by other groups of the Mafia, they had to be very ruthless. In America, the Mafia would come to be seen as a vast and organized group whose power reached across the ocean from the old world to the new (Cottrell 1). The Mafia was a union aimed at entrepreneurial success around the world than the more common notion that they were a malicious group of thug’s just stealing money whenever they could find it. For the Mafia to have more success in their business they had to stretch as far as they could reach. The Mafia’s power was unmatched and no one dared to mess with it.

The Mafia was heavily favored with Italians in the groups. Between 1880 and 1900, the number of Italians in New York City leaped from 20,000 to 250,000 (Reppetto 18). The Mafia was controlled mainly by Italian immigrants looking for easy money. Mafia’s were mostly big Italian families headed by a dominant male. In 1930, Masseria and S...

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...not Let Go." Romanticizing the Mafia: The Effects on the America That Cannot Let Go. Megan Sharp, 2002. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

"Carlo Gambino." UXL Biographies. Detroit: U*X*L, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.

Cottrell, Robert C. "Mafia/Organized Crime." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 3. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 237-240. Student Resources in Context. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.

Jent, Sarah. "American Mafia: A History Of Its Rise To Power (Book)."Library Journal 128.20 (2003): 140-141. Literary Reference Center. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.

Reppetto, Thomas A. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: H. Holt, 2004. Print.

"Wiseguys Influence American Culture & Politics-Martin Scorsese Influenced by Italian Mafia, Godfather, Sopranos." HubPages. Hub Pages, 23 July 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

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