Organized Crime In Chicago

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Prior to Prohibition, the majority of organized crime in Chicago was centered on the markets of prostitution and gambling because these were both illegal practices with high demand that could easily be exploited for large profits (Sullivan). Gambling appealed to impoverished men who dreamed of changing their lives by winning big bets against all odds and therefore were willing to spend their paychecks on a game of chance. Prostitution, on the other hand, was lucrative due to the amount of adolescents who thought it was cool and the market of married men who were experiencing marital troubles. Both of these illegal practices provided gangsters with a living but had notable limitations and did not allow for them to rise from utter poverty to …show more content…

The customers of the many previous saloons in Chicago were essentially transferred to the organized crime ring, which boasted an absolute monopoly over all the liquor being sold in that district. All enemies were promptly eliminated through assassination or detained by police who were afraid of losing their bribes from Capone if competition were to expand past his liking. Overall, “Prohibition allowed for the innovation of organized crime syndicates in regards to the number of people involved, the sophistication of government alliances, and the blending of illegal activities with daily life” (U.S. Department of Justice). The great profits earned from bootlegging provoked gangsters to heighten their political power by fixing elections, and develop their street presences through the reinvestment of revenue into prostitution and gambling schemes. In Chicago, specifically, a majority of criminal activity was closely linked to many of the ethnic neighborhoods, according to Mark H. Haler's journal on “Urban Crime and Criminal Injustice the Chicago …show more content…

Yet still, even in early 1961, the Crime and Rackets Section of the Justice Department contained only seventeen employees who appeared to show no interest in the matter (U.S. Department of Justice). President John F. Kennedy insisted that organized crime was a severe problem in the country through the publication of books and many public speeches. He urged all federal law enforcement agencies to begin investigating mobster activity more closely and soon had a team of 60 employees working for the Crime and Rackets Section (U.S. Department of Justice). The Kennedy Administration first set its sights upon the illegal activities of gambling and prostitution because they were easier to bust and would eventually starve the gangsters into desperation. In merely the first half of 1963 there is recorded to have been 147 more indicted racketeers than there were in all of 1960 (U.S. Department of Justice). The Attorney General reassured the public by announcing that he knew the names of all the organized crime syndicate leaders and in October 1963 they found a gangster willing to testify in exchange for government protection. Joseph Valachi was charged with second-degree murder and facing prison for life when he agreed to reveal the illegal activities of the Cosa

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