Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was a man unlike any other, a man who strove to be better than what he was, and who grew up with nothing yet died with everything (Carter 179; PBS par. 1; Bugsy Siegel Encyclpaedia par. 3). Unlike many who give up in life because of the many problems they may face, Bugsy Siegel strove to be better than his father was (Carter 179). Eventually, Siegel began forcing peddle cart vendors to give him payments for protection from himself (PBS par. 2; Carter 179). Thus began Siegel’s transformation to a true mafia man running around with “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and the Murder Inc. which Siegel himself created (Southwell 212; PBS par. 4; Carter 180; Bugsy Siegel Encyclopaedia par. 2). Siegel was on top of the world, he was in charge of Murder Inc., had many mistresses, and his dream of a Gambling Oasis in the Desert was starting to take-off ( Carter 187; Southwell 212); however, tragedy struck one summer evening after the suave Siegel was murdered in his mistress’ home on June 20, 1947 (Carter 189). Bugsy Siegel affected millions of lives worldwide, whether through his psychotic acts as a mafia hit man, or his revolutionary idea of the gambling oasis, that is now Las Vegas (Southwell 212; Carter 179; Bugsy Siegel Encyclopaedia par. 3). Siegel’s tragic death, furthermore, shall forever be in the history books as a tragedy that would forever cripple the world’s chance of being something greater than it is.
To understand the mindset of Benjamin Siegel, one must go back to Siegel’s beginning. On February 28, 1906, two Russian Jewish Immigrants gave birth to Benjamin Hymen Siegelbaum (Southwell 212; PBS par. 1; Bugsy Siegel Encyclopaedia par. 1). Born into poverty, Benjamin Siegel’s father worked in a garment fac...
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“Hotel That Bugsy Build Celebrates Its 50th.” Los Angeles Times. 12 Jan. 1997. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.< http://articles.latimes.com/1997-01-12/local/me-17912_1_bugsy-built-celebrates>.
“Mobster Bugsy Siegel Opens The Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas - 1946.” Crime Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. .
“People & Events” PBS. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
“Smith, John L.” Las Vegas Review Journal. 7 Feb. 1999. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
South, David. The History of Organized Crime: Secrets of The World’s Most Notorious Gangs. New York: Metro Books, 2013. Print.
Simon Wiesenthal: The Nazi Hunter. There are many heroic individuals in history that have shown greatness during a time of suffering, as well as remorse when greatness is needed, but one individual stood out to me above them all. He served as a hero among all he knew and all who knew him. This individual, Simon Wiesenthal, deserves praise for his dedication to his heroic work tracking and prosecuting Nazi war criminals that caused thousands of Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other victims of the Holocaust to suffer and perish. The Life of a Holocaust Victim The effect the Holocaust had on Wiesenthal played a major role in the person he made himself to be.
In what ways does Rich Cohen's Tough Jews add to our understanding of the development of organized crime? This book is regarding the obscure stories of Jewish gangsters, who in the '20s and '30s were in association with the Sicilians and in a lot of ways just as influential. But it's much more than merely a story of organized crime; the writer links the legends and thoughts of Jewish kids growing up amongst those gangsters to the value system of his father plus his friends, and how their attitude regarding "Tough Jews" gave them an option to the stereotypical roles permitted them by America at large. In its own strange, violent way it's a luminous, striking explanation of the eastern European Jewish immigrant experience in America. (Kaminsky, Stuart M. "The Individual Film: Little Caesar and the Gangster Film." American Film Genres. Pflaum Publishing, 1974: 13-32.) When organized crime reared its ugly head in the late 1920s in Brooklyn, at the base were men like Meyer Lansky and Ben Siegel, both Jews. Rich Cohen's romantic story of Jewish gangsters, Tough Jews, brings to life the ta...
Pace, Denny F. and Jimmie C. Styles. Organized Crime: Concepts and Controls. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall: 1975.
Surprisingly, little has been written about the historical significance of black gangs in Los Angeles (LA). Literature and firsthand interviews with Los Angeles residents seem to point to three significant periods relevant to the development of the contemporary black gangs. The first period, which followed WWII and significant black migrations from the South, is when the first major black clubs formed. After the Watts rebellion of 1965, the second period gave way to the civil rights period of Los Angeles where blacks, including those who where former club members who became politically active for the remainder of the 1960s. By the early 1970s black street gangs began to reemerge. By 1972, the Crips were firmly established and the Bloods were beginning to organize. This period saw the rise of LA’s newest gangs, which continued to grow during the 1970s, and later formed in several other cities throughout the United States by the 1990s. While black gangs do not make up the largest or most active gang population in Los Angeles today, their influence on street gang culture nationally has been profound.
The criminal underworld has been an essential aspect of crime fiction since the concept emerged in the mid-eighteenth century. While many authors have constructed their own idealistic conceptualizations of the criminal underworld, they have implemented distinct boundaries between the “good” and “evil” features of society. These opposing “worlds” often intertwine when the protagonist, a crusader for good, is thrust into the hellscape of society’s underworld. The novels A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson feature protagonists from differing backgrounds who embark on treacherous journeys through the criminal underworld.
In the, very quickly expanding, city of Woodbridge, Virginia, there is a resurging issue of gang activity. The predominant gang found in Woodbridge is known as MS-13, whose activist’s extend through several towns and city’s including portions of Washington DC. This gang was thought to be “decimated” (Jouvenal, Zapotosky, 2014), in the last few years, through prosecutions against both high and low ranking members, leaving the gang scattered and unorganized. However, since then, they have quietly reconstituted and are beginning to resurface, appearing stranger and more violent than ever (Jouvenal, Zapotosky, 2014).
The National Gang Intelligence Center emphasizes that gang activity is on the rise, and is expanding and evolving to adapt to new cultural contexts and technological advances. Some of these groups have reached a surprising level of sophistication and can be involved in transnational sale and purchase of wholesale quantities of drugs as well as weapons and even human trafficking (National Gang Intelligence Center, 2011). Many people in law enforcement and the public have worried that gangs may start contracting and cooperating with terrorist groups to make domestic US terrorism a greater threat than it already is. However, most experts concur that there is little evidence of such cooperation as of yet, and that gangs are typically not willing
Venkatesh, S. A. (2008). Gang leader for a day: a rogue sociologist takes to the streets. New York: Penguin Press.
During the 1700's, Mafia leaders began to force their way to the head positions in the Sicilian government and used government funds for their own private endeavours. In the early 1900's, when Mussolini and the Fascists came to power, he vowed to rid the country of all the Mafia. Keeping this in mind, and the fact that there was money to be made through extortion, prostitution, gambling and bootlegging in the United States, many Mafioso's decided to come west to America. Charles "Lucky" Luciano, the eventual organizer of the New York Mafia, was born in Sicily in 1897, and came to New York. Luciano climbed the "criminal ladder" and by 1935, he was known ...
George “Bugs” Moran was one of the most famous gangsters of all time due to his fame during the prohibition era, and constant fighting with Al Capone (“Bugs Moran” National Crimes…par. 3). He was also one of the very few gangsters who was actually street smart because of his crime starting at such a young age (“Bugs Moran” par. 2). He got the nickname of “Bugs; because he was a rather violent criminal, so everyone thought he was “buggy” (Bardsley par. 1). His “buggy” attitude showed by him driving his rival gangs absolutely nuts making most of them, especially Capone, regret that they ever left New York and stepped foot in Chicago (Keefe 6). One of Moran’s rival gangsters once stated, “If I’d known what I was getting into, I’d never have left the Five-Point outfit in New York” (Keefe 6). Although Moran has been rather a mystery until now, his legacy of being the powerful leader of the north side gang will last forever (Keefe 9).
The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America, can be analyzed through three works: “Modern Theories of Criminality” by C.B. de Quirόs, “Broken Windows” by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling and “Social Structure and Anomie” by Robert K. Merton.
The fourth period began in 1958 with Stardust. By using the sign and hotel logo as huge part of its design. This established an unconventional but very effective response to the strip site. The style spread and Fremont Street signs were growing in size and amount of lights. Some of the casinos created whole facades of glowing strips of neon.
The decade of the 1920s was full of deception, corruption, and degeneration. The very embodiment of these qualities was the institution of the Italian-American Mafia. The syndicate began in Sicily and spread to encompass United States politics and the national economy. The post war era left the nation in a recession and vulnerable to organized crime. Changes in the country's attitudes and outlooks on the future paved the way for organized crime on a large scale. People were too preoccupied with bootleg booze, sexual promiscuity, and get-rich-quick schemes to notice the downward spiral of the government's respectability and integrity. The decadence of the decade and the feel good mentality of America's youth provided opportunities the industrious underworld leaders sought in order to gain control of the syndicate. The Mafia supplied America with the vices it longed for and in return America let the Mafia get away with murder. Not only did the syndicate accumulate power but also profited financially through prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging. These activities were the foundations of the Outfit's financial and political empires. Mafia power soon began to eclipse the authority of the law enforcement agencies, and the struggle between responsibility and autonomy began.
Gangs are surrounding the world and they consist of some of the most violent, ignorant, and prejudicial people in existence. Gangs started to emerge their power around the 1800’s; as time went on, the intensity and violence drastically increased. Today, some of the most popular gangs in the world include MS-13, The Bloods, The Crips, Latin Kings, Yakuza, and Barrio 18. In some prisons in America, more than half of the inmates are gang members. Although gangs are still slightly out of control, law enforcement has done an excellent job at figuring out the complex signs of gang activity.
Marriott International, Inc is founded in 1927 and in 1983 it became the first hotel chain designed for business travellers. Up till now, Marriott has grown to a chain with 18 different brands and broad segment groups, with 3,900 properties over 72 countries all over the world and with around 42 million members in their loyalty program.