American Mafia

The American Mafia (commonly referred to as the Mafia or sometimes the Mob, though "the Mafia" can also refer to the original, while "the Mob" can refer to other groups or organized crime in general) or Italian-American Mafia is a highly organized  criminal society. The organization is often referred to by members as Cosa Nostra (, our thing) and by the government as La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The organization's name is derived from the original Mafia or Cosa nostra, the, and it originally emerged as an offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia; however, the organization eventually encompassed or absorbed other Italian-American s and Italian-American crime groups (such as the ) living in the United States and Canada that are not of origin. It 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.

The Mafia in the United States emerged in impoverished  in New York's  (or ),, and. It also emerged in other areas of the and several other major metropolitan areas (such as  and ) during the late 19th century and early 20th century, following waves of Italian immigration especially from  and other regions of. It has its roots in the Sicilian Mafia but is a separate organization in the United States. , n, and other Italian criminal groups in the U.S., as well as independent Italian-American criminals, eventually merged with Sicilian Mafiosi to create the modern pan-Italian Mafia in North America. Today, the American Mafia cooperates in various criminal activities with groups, such as the Sicilian Mafia, the  of, and  of. The most important unit of the American Mafia is that of a "" 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.

The Mafia is currently most active in the, with the heaviest activity in , and with a substantial presence in , , and , in areas such as ,  and. It is also highly active in and other large  cities such as, , , , , and , a smaller presence in places like , , ,  and , and with smaller families, associates, and crews in other parts of the country. 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 : the, , , , and families. At its peak, the American Mafia dominated organized crime in the United States. Each crime family has its own territory (except for the Five Families) and operates independently, while nationwide coordination is overseen by, which consists of the bosses of each of the strongest families.

Today, most of the Mafia's activities are contained to the northeastern United States and Chicago, where they continue to dominate organized crime, despite the increasing numbers of other crime groups.

Usage of the term Mafia
The term Mafia was originally used in Italy by the media and law enforcement to describe criminal groups in Sicily. Mafia was also associated with phrases such as manly, and with standards of protecting one’s family at all necessary costs. The origins of the term are debatable, though most agree the term is derived from the word ma'afir, a term rooted in and meaning 'shelter' or 'place of refuge'. Like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia did not use the term mafia to describe itself. Neither group has a formal name and instead used the term cosa nostra (Italian for 'our thing') when referring to themselves. When Italian immigrants started forming organized crime groups in the United States, the American press borrowed the term mafia from Italy and it became the predominant name used by law enforcement and the public.

"Mafia" properly refers to either the or Italian-American Mafia. In modern usage, when referring to the Mafia, there may be several meanings, including a local area's Italian organized crime element, the Mafia family of a major city, the entire Mafia of the United States, or the original Sicilian Mafia. Widespread recognition of the word has led to its use in the names of other criminal organizations, such as the, , or , as well as non-criminal organizations, such as 's political team, referred to as the "Irish Mafia" (not to be confused with the ).

The press also coined the name "" to refer to the entire network of U.S. organized crime, which includes the elements and the Italian-American Mafia. It was described as a confederation of mainly Italian and organized crime groups throughout the U.S., as revealed by the findings of a U.S. Senate  in the 1950s chaired by.

Origins: The Black Hand
The first published account of what became the Mafia in the United States dates to the spring of 1869. The  reported that the city's Second District had become overrun by "well-known and notorious Sicilian murderers, counterfeiters and burglars, who, in the last month, have formed a sort of general co-partnership or stock company for the plunder and disturbance of the city." Emigration from southern Italy to the Americas was primarily to Brazil and Argentina, and New Orleans had a heavy volume of port traffic to and from both locales.

Mafia groups in the United States first became influential in the New York City area, gradually progressing from small neighborhood operations in poor to citywide and eventually national organizations. The Black Hand was a name given to an method used in Italian neighborhoods at the turn of the 20th century. It has been sometimes mistaken for the Mafia itself, which it is not. The Black Hand was a criminal society, but there were many small Black Hand gangs. Black Hand extortion was often (wrongly) viewed as the activity of a single organization because Black Hand criminals in Italian communities throughout the United States used the same methods of extortion.

Giuseppe Morello was the first known Mafia member to immigrate to the United States. He and six other Sicilians fled to New York after murdering eleven wealthy landowners, and the chancellor and a vice chancellor of a Sicilian province. He was arrested in in 1881 and extradited to Italy.

New Orleans was also the site of the first possible Mafia incident in the United States that received both national and international attention. On October 15, 1890, New Orleans Police Superintendent was murdered execution-style. It is still unclear whether Italian immigrants actually killed him, or whether it was a by nativists against the reviled underclass immigrants. Hundreds of Sicilians were arrested on mostly baseless charges, and nineteen were eventually indicted for the murder. An acquittal followed, with rumors of bribed and intimidated witnesses. On, the outraged citizens of New Orleans organized a mob after the acquittal, and proceeded to kill eleven of the nineteen defendants. Two were hanged, nine were shot, and the remaining eight escaped.

From the 1890s to 1920 in the, founded by , were very powerful in the Little Italy of the Lower East Side. Kelly recruited some street hoodlums who later became some of the most famous crime bosses of the century such as, , and. They were often in conflict with the of the same area. There was also an influential Mafia family in East Harlem. The Neapolitan was also very active in Brooklyn. In Chicago, the 19th Ward was an Italian neighborhood that became known as the "Bloody Nineteenth" due to the frequent violence in the ward, mostly as a result of Mafia activity, s, and vendettas.

Prohibition era
On January 17, 1920, began in the United States with the  making it illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol. Despite these bans, there was still a very high demand for it from the public. This created an atmosphere that tolerated crime as a means to provide liquor to the public, even among the police and city politicians. Not explicitly related to Mafia involvement the murder rate during the Prohibition Era rose from 6.8 per 100,000 individuals to 9.7 and within the first three months proceeding the Eighteenth Amendment, a half million dollars in bonded whiskey was stolen from government warehouses. The profits that could be made from selling and distributing alcohol were worth the risk of punishment from the government, which had a difficult time enforcing prohibition. There were over 900,000 cases of liquor shipped to the borders of U.S. cities. Criminal gangs and politicians saw the opportunity to make fortunes and began shipping larger quantities of alcohol to U.S. cities. The majority of the alcohol was imported from Canada, the Caribbean, and the American Midwest where s manufactured illegal alcohol.

In the early 1920s, fascist took control of Italy and waves of Italian immigrants fled to the United States. Sicilian Mafia members also fled to the United States, as Mussolini cracked down on Mafia activities in Italy. Most Italian immigrants resided in buildings. As a way to escape the poor lifestyle, some Italian immigrants chose to join the American Mafia.

The Mafia took advantage of prohibition and began selling illegal alcohol. The profits from bootlegging far exceeded the traditional crimes of protection, extortion, gambling, and prostitution. Prohibition allowed Mafia families to make fortunes. As prohibition continued, victorious factions went on to dominate organized crime in their respective cities, setting up the family structure of each city. The bootlegging industry organized members of these gangs before they were distinguished as today’s known families. The new industry required members at all different employment levels, such as bosses, lawyers, truckers, and even members to eliminate competitors through threat/force. Gangs hijacked each other's alcohol shipments, forcing rivals to pay them for "protection" to leave their operations alone, and armed guards almost invariably accompanied the caravans that delivered the liquor.

In the 1920s, Italian Mafia families began waging wars for absolute control over lucrative bootlegging rackets. As the violence erupted, Italians fought Irish and Jewish ethnic gangs for control of bootlegging in their respective territories. In New York City, waged war with the Irish American. In Chicago, and his  massacred the, another Irish American outfit. In New York City, by the end of the 1920s, two factions of organized crime had emerged to fight for control of the criminal underworld, one led by and the other by. This caused the, which led to Masseria's murder in 1931. Maranzano then divided New York City into. Maranzano, the first leader of the American Mafia, established the code of conduct for the organization, set up the "family" divisions and structure, and established procedures for resolving disputes. In an unprecedented move, Maranzano set himself up as and required all families to pay tribute to him. This new role was received negatively, and Maranzano was murdered within six months on the orders of. Luciano was a former Masseria underling who had switched sides to Maranzano and orchestrated the killing of Masseria. Charles “Lucky” Luciano was a significant figure in the bootlegging business. He held a major stake in the black market, and realized the potential success of taking his leadership and alliances into other industries, such as the garment industry

After prohibition ended in 1933, organized crime groups were confronted with an impasse and needed other ways to maintain the high profits that they had acquired throughout the 1920s. The smarter of the organized crime groups expanded into other ventures, such as unions, construction, sanitation, and drug trafficking. On the other hand, those Mafia families that neglected the need to change eventually lost power and influence and were ultimately absorbed by other groups.

The Commission
As an alternative to the previous despotic Mafia practice of naming a single Mafia boss as , or "boss of all bosses," Luciano set up, where the bosses of the most powerful families would have equal say and vote on important matters and solve disputes between families. This group ruled over the and brought in an era of peace and prosperity for the American Mafia. By mid-century, there were 26 official Commission-sanctioned Mafia crime families, each based in a different city (except for the which were all based in New York). Each family operated independently from the others and generally had exclusive territory it controlled. As opposed to the older generation of "s" such as Maranzano and Masseria, who usually worked only with fellow Italians, the "Young Turks" led by Luciano were more open to working with other groups, most notably the to achieve greater profits. The Mafia thrived by following a strict set of rules that originated in Sicily that called for an organized hierarchical structure and a that forbade its members from cooperating with the police. Failure to follow any of these rules was punishable by death.

The rise of power that the Mafia acquired during Prohibition would continue long after alcohol was made legal again. Criminal empires which had expanded on bootleg money would find other avenues to continue making large sums of money. When alcohol ceased to be prohibited in 1933, the Mafia diversified its money-making criminal activities to include (both old and new): illegal gambling operations, ing,, s, drug trafficking, , and labor racketeering through control of labor unions. In the mid-20th century, the Mafia was reputed to have infiltrated many s in the United States, most notably the and. This allowed crime families to make inroads into very profitable legitimate businesses such as construction, demolition, waste management, trucking, and in the waterfront and garment industry. In addition they could raid the unions' health and pension funds, extort businesses with threats of a workers' strike and participate in. In New York City, most construction projects could not be performed without the ' approval. In the and  industries, the Mafia bribed union members to tip them off to valuable items being brought in. Mobsters would then steal these products and the stolen merchandise.

made inroads into the casino industry in Cuba during the 1930s while the Mafia was already involved in exporting Cuban sugar and rum. When his friend became president of Cuba in 1952, several Mafia bosses were able to make legitimate investments in legalized casinos. One estimate of the number of casinos mobsters owned was no less than 19. However, when Batista was overthrown following the, his successor banned U.S. investment in the country, putting an end to the Mafia's presence in Cuba. Las Vegas was seen as an "open city" where any family can work. Once Nevada legalized gambling, mobsters were quick to take advantage and the casino industry became very popular in Las Vegas. Since the 1940s, Mafia families from New York, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Chicago had interests in Las Vegas casinos. They got loans from the ' pension fund, a union they effectively controlled, and used legitimate front men to build casinos. When money came into the, hired men cash before it was recorded, then delivered it to their respective bosses. This money went unrecorded, but the amount is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Operating in the shadows, the Mafia faced little opposition from law enforcement. Local law enforcement agencies did not have the resources or knowledge to effectively combat organized crime committed by a secret society they were unaware existed. Many people within police forces and courts were simply bribed, while witness intimidation was also common. In 1951, a U.S. Senate committee called the determined that a "sinister criminal organization" known as the Mafia operated in the nation. Many suspected mobsters were subpoenaed for questioning, but few testified and none gave any meaningful information. In 1957, New York State Police uncovered a meeting and arrested major figures from around the country in. The event (dubbed the "") forced the FBI to recognize organized crime as a serious problem in the United States and changed the way law enforcement investigated it. In 1963, became the first Mafia member to, and provided detailed information of its inner workings and secrets. More importantly, he revealed Mafia's existence to the law, which enabled the to begin an aggressive assault on the Mafia's National Crime Syndicate. Following Valachi's testimony, the Mafia could no longer operate completely in the shadows. The FBI put a lot more effort and resources into organized crime actives nationwide and created the in various cities. However, while all this created more pressure on the Mafia, it did little to curb their criminal activities. Success was made by the beginning of the 1980s, when the FBI was able to rid Las Vegas casinos of Mafia control and made a determined effort to loosen the Mafia's strong hold on labor unions.

Mafia involvement in the US economy
By the late 1970s, the Mafia were involved in many industries, including betting on college sports. Several Mafia members associated with the participated in a. Rick Kuhn,, and others associated with the Lucchese crime family, manipulated the results of the games during the 1978–1979 basketball season. Through bribing and intimidating several members of the team, they ensured their bets on the point spread of each game would go in their favor.

One of the most lucrative gains for the Mafia was through gas-tax fraud. They created schemes to keep the money that they owed in taxes after the sale of millions of dollars' worth of wholesale petroleum. This allowed them to sell more gasoline at even lower prices. , also known as the Yuppie Don, ran and organized a gas scandal and stole over $290 million in gasoline taxes by evading the (IRS) and shutting down the gas station before government officials could make him pay what he owed. Franzese was caught in 1985.

Labor racketeering helped the Mafia control many industries from a macroeconomic scale. This tactic helped them grow in power and influence in many cities with big labor unions such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and many others. Many members of the Mafia were enlisted in unions and even became union executives. was a Mafia group that rose to through their heavy involvement in unions. The Mafia has controlled unions all over the U.S. to extort money and resources out of big business, with recent indictments of corruption involving the New Jersey Waterfront Union, the Concrete Workers Union, and the.

Restaurants were yet another powerful means by which the Mafia could gain economic power. A large concentration of Mafia owned restaurants were in New York City. Not only were they the setting of many killings and important meetings, but they were also an effective means of smuggling of drugs and other illegal goods. From 1985 to 1987, Sicilian Mafiosi in the U.S. imported an estimated $1.65 billion worth of heroin through the Al Dente Pizzeria Chain, hiding the cargo in various food products.

Another one of the areas of the economy that the Mafia was most influential was, beginning just after World War II with the opening of the first gambling resort "". Many credit the Mafia with being a big part of the city's development in the mid 20th Century. It was through millions of dollars in capital flowing into new casino resorts that laid the foundation for further economic growth. This capital didn't come from one Mafia family alone, but many throughout the country seeking to gain even more power and wealth. Large profits from casinos, run as legitimate businesses, would help to finance many of the illegal activities of the Mafia from the 1950s into the 1980s. In the 1950s more Mafia-financed casinos were constructed, such as the, , , , and. Tourism in the city greatly increased through the 1960s and strengthened the local economy.

However, the 1960s was also when the Mafia's influence in the Las Vegas economy began to dwindle. The Nevada State government and Federal government had been working to weaken Mafia activity on. In 1969, the Nevada State Legislature passed a law that made it easier for corporations to own casinos. This brought new investors to the local economy to buy casinos from the mafia. The U.S. Congress passed the a year later. This law gave more authority to law enforcement to pursue the mafia for its illegal activities. There was a sharp decline in the mob involvement in Las Vegas in the 1980s. Through the RICO law, many in the Mafia were convicted and imprisoned.

RICO Act
When the (RICO Act) became federal law in 1970, it became a highly effective tool in prosecuting mobsters. It provides for extended criminal penalties for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. Violation of the act is punishable by up to 20 years in prison per count, up to $25,000 in fines, and the violator must forfeit all properties attained while violating the RICO Act. The RICO Act has proven to be a very powerful weapon, because it attacks the entire corrupt entity instead of individuals who can easily be replaced with other organized crime members. Between 1981 and 1992, 23 bosses from around the country were convicted under the law while between 1981 and 1988, 13 underbosses and 43 captains were convicted. Over 1000 crime family figures were convicted by 1990. While this significantly crippled many Mafia families around the country, the most powerful families continued to dominate crime in their territories, even if the new laws put more mobsters in jail and made it harder to operate. With agreeing to cooperate with the FBI and turn state's evidence in 1991, he helped the FBI convict top Mafia leaders in New York. Although not the first Mafia member to testify against his peers, such a powerful mobster agreeing to do so set a precedent for waves of mobsters thereafter to break the code of silence to do the same; giving up information and testifying in exchange for for their crimes. Aside from avoiding long prison stretches, the FBI could put mobsters in the, changing their identities and supporting them financially for life. This led to dozens of mobsters testifying and providing information during the 1990s, which led to the imprisonment of hundreds of mobsters. As a result, the Mafia has seen a major decline in its power and influence in organized crime since the 1990s.

In the 21st century, the Mafia has continued to be involved in a broad spectrum of illegal activities. These include murder, extortion, corruption of public officials, gambling, infiltration of legitimate businesses, labor racketeering, loan sharking, schemes and  schemes. Another factor contributing to the Mafia's downfall is the of Italian Americans, which left a shallower recruitment pool of new mobsters. Although the Mafia used to be nationwide, today most of its activities are confined to the Northeast and Chicago. While other criminal organizations such as the, Chinese , Mexican s and others have all grabbed a share of criminal activities, the Mafia continues to be the dominant criminal organization in these regions, partly due to its strict structure. Law enforcement is concerned with the possible resurgence of the Mafia as it regroups from the turmoil of the 1990s, although FBI and local law enforcement agencies now focus more on homeland security and less on organized crime since the. In 2002 the FBI estimated that the Mafia earns $50–$90 billion a year. To avoid FBI attention and prosecution, the modern Mafia also outsources a lot of its work to other criminal groups, such as motorcycle gangs.

Structure
The American Mafia operates on a strict hierarchical structure. While similar to its Sicilian origins, the American Mafia's modern organizational structure was created by Salvatore Maranzano in 1931. All inducted members of the Mafia are called. This signifies that they are untouchable in the criminal underworld and any harm brought to them will be met with retaliation. With the exception of associates, all mobsters are "made" official members of a crime family. The three highest positions make up the administration. Below the administration, there are factions each headed by a caporegime (captain), who lead a crew of soldiers and associates. They report to the administration and can be seen as equivalent to managers in a business. When a boss makes a decision, he rarely issues orders directly to workers who would carry it out, but instead passed instructions down through the. This way, the higher levels of the organization are insulated from law enforcement attention if the lower level members who actually commit the crime should be captured or investigated, providing.

There are occasionally other positions in the family leadership. Frequently, ruling panels have been set up when a boss goes to jail to divide the responsibility of the family (these usually consist of three or five members). This also helps divert police attention from any one member. The family messenger and street boss were positions created by former Genovese family leader.
 * Boss – The is the head of the family, usually reigning as a dictator, sometimes called the Don or "Godfather". The boss receives a cut of every operation taken on by every member of his family and the region's occupying family. Depending on the family, the boss may be chosen by a vote from the caporegimes of the family. In the event of a tie, the underboss must vote. In the past, all the members of a family voted on the boss, but by the late 1950s, any gathering such as that usually attracted too much attention. In practice, many of these elections are seen as having an inevitable result, such as that of  in 1986. According to, a meeting was held in a basement during which all capos were searched and Gotti's men stood ominously behind them. Gotti was then proclaimed boss.
 * Underboss – The, usually appointed by the boss, is the second in command of the family. The underboss often runs the day-to-day responsibilities of the family or oversees its most lucrative rackets. He usually gets a percentage of the family's income from the boss's cut. The underboss is usually first in line to become acting boss if the boss is imprisoned, and is also frequently seen as a logical successor.
 * Consigliere – The is an advisor to the family and sometimes seen as the boss's "right-hand man". He is used as a mediator of disputes and often acts as a representative or aide for the family in meetings with other families, rival criminal organizations, and important business associates. In practice, the consigliere is normally the third ranking member of the administration of a family and was traditionally a senior member carrying the utmost respect of the family and deeply familiar with the inner-workings of the organization. A boss will often appoint a trusted close friend or personal advisor as his official consigliere.
 * Caporegime (or capo) – A (also captain or skipper) is in charge of a crew, a group of soldiers who report directly to him. Each crew usually contains 10–20 soldiers and many more associates. A capo is appointed by the boss and reports to him or the underboss. A captain gives a percentage of his (and his underlings') earnings to the boss and is also responsible for any tasks assigned, including murder. In labor racketeering, it is usually a capo who controls the infiltration of union locals. If a capo becomes powerful enough, he can sometimes wield more power than some of his superiors. In cases like  they might even bypass the normal Mafia structure and lead the family when the boss dies.
 * Soldier (Soldato in Italian) – A is a member of the family, and traditionally can only be of full Italian background (although today many families require men to be of only half Italian descent, on their father's side). Once a member is made he is untouchable, meaning permission from a soldier's boss must be given before he is murdered. When the books are open, meaning that a family is accepting new members, a made man may recommend an up-and-coming associate to be a new soldier. Soldiers are the main workers of the family, usually committing crimes like assault, murder, extortion, intimidation, etc. In return, they are given profitable rackets to run by their superiors and have full access to their family's connections and power.


 * Associate – An associate is not a member of the Mafia, but works for a crime family nonetheless. Associates can include a wide range of people who work for the family. An associate can have a wide range of duties from virtually carrying out the same duties as a soldier to being a simple errand boy. This is where prospective mobsters ("connected guys") start out to prove their worth. Once a crime family is accepting new members, the best associates are evaluated and picked to become soldiers. An associate can also be a criminal who serves as a go-between or sometimes deals in drugs to keep police attention off the actual members, or they can be people the family does business with (restaurant owners, etc.) In other cases, an associate might be a corrupt delegate or businessman. Non-Italians will never go any further than this, although many non-Italians like, , , , , , , ,  and  wielded extreme power within their respective crime families and carried the respect of actual Mafia members.

Rituals
The emerged from various sources, such as  confraternities and  in mid-19th century Sicily and has hardly changed to this day. The Chief of Police of Palermo in 1875 reported that the man of honor to be initiated would be led into the presence of a group of bosses and underbosses. One of these men would prick the initiate's arm or hand and tell him to smear the blood onto a sacred image, usually a saint. The oath of loyalty would be taken as the image was burned and scattered, thus symbolizing the annihilation of traitors. This was confirmed by the first,.

A hit, or murder, of a "made" man had to be approved by the leadership of his family, or retaliatory hits would be made, possibly inciting a war. In a state of war, families would "go to the mattresses"—an Italian phrase which roughly meant to go into battle.

Mafia rules and customs
When the boss decides to let a member into the family one will be part of a ceremony, involving the drawing of blood, swearing an oath over a gun or holy picture, and obeying the rules of the organization. In, the Mafia created customs and traditions which the members have to follow. If one breaks any of the rules they can be killed by another member of the family and usually the murder is committed by the people closest to that person.


 * 1) "" – is the oath or "code of silence", never talk to the authorities.
 * 2) "Ethnicity" – only men of Italian descent through their fathers' lineage are allowed to become full members (). Associates, partners, allies etc. have no ethnic limits.
 * 3) "Family secrets" – members are not allowed to talk about family business to non-members.
 * 4) "Blood for blood" – if a family member is killed by another member, no one can commit murder in revenge unless the boss gives permission.
 * 5) "No fighting among members" – from fist fights to knife fights.
 * 6) "Tribute" – every month, members must pay the boss, also giving the boss a cut on any side deals.
 * 7) "Adultery" – members are not allowed to commit adultery with another family member's wife.
 * 8) "No facial hair" – members were not allowed to grow mustaches; part of the  way.

is reportedly incompatible with the American Mafia code of conduct. In 1992,, acting boss of the DeCavalcante family, was killed when the family learned of his sexual relationships with other men.

Symbolism in murders

 * On April 18, 1980,   had  killed without 's approval. Caponigro and his brother-in-law Alfred Salerno were taken to an isolated house in upstate New York and tortured before being killed. Salerno had been shot three times behind the right ear and once behind the left ear. The autopsy showed that a rope had been tied around his neck, wrists, and ankles, and most of his neck and face bones shattered. Caponigro had been suffocated, beaten, repeatedly stabbed and shot, and was found in a garbage bag. Around $300 was stuffed up Caponigro's rectum as a sign that he had become greedy.
 * In 1981, for allowing undercover FBI agent (alias Donnie Brasco) to infiltrate the, caporegime , also known as Sonny Black, had his hands severed after he was killed. This was because he had Pistone shake hands and introduced to others as a "friend of ours" or a  when he was not.
 * In the 1990 murder of soldier, a dead  was stuffed into his mouth after he was shot to death. This signifies that the Mafia thought he was an informer. He had also been stabbed and shot in both eyes.

List of Mafia families
The following is a list of Mafia families that have been active in the U.S. Note that some families have members and associates working in other regions as well. The organization is not limited to these regions.


 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The
 * The

During World War II
U.S. Naval Intelligence entered into an agreement with to gain his assistance in keeping the New York waterfront free from saboteurs after the destruction of the . This spectacular disaster convinced both sides to talk seriously about protecting the United States' East Coast on the afternoon of February 9, 1942. While it was in the process of being converted into a troopship, the luxury ocean liner, Normandie, mysteriously burst into flames with 1,500 sailors and civilians on board. All but one escaped, but 128 were injured and by the next day the ship was a smoking hulk. In his report, twelve years later, William B. Herlands, Commissioner of Investigation, made the case for the US government talking to top criminals, stating "The Intelligence authorities were greatly concerned with the problems of sabotage and espionage ... Suspicions were rife with respect to the leaking of information about convoy movements. The Normandie, which was being converted to war use as the Navy auxiliary Lafayette, had burned at the pier in the North River, New York City. Sabotage was suspected."

Plots to assassinate Fidel Castro
In August 1960, Colonel Sheffield Edwards, director of the Office of Security of the (CIA), proposed the assassination of n head of state  by Mafia assassins. Between August 1960 and April 1961, the CIA, with the help of the Mafia, pursued a series of plots to poison or shoot Castro. Those allegedly involved included, , , and.

Recovery of murdered Mississippi civil rights workers
In 2007, Linda Schiro testified in an unrelated court case that her late boyfriend,, a capo in the Colombo family, had been recruited by the FBI to help find the bodies of three civil rights workers who had been in 1964 by the Ku Klux Klan. She said that she had been with Scarpa in Mississippi at the time and had witnessed him being given a gun, and later a cash payment, by FBI agents. She testified that Scarpa had threatened a by placing a gun in the Klansman's mouth, forcing the Klansman to reveal the location of the bodies. Similar stories of Mafia involvement in recovering the bodies had been circulating for years, and had been previously published in the New York , but had never before been introduced in court.

Law enforcement and the Mafia
In several Mafia families, killing a state authority is forbidden due to the possibility of extreme police retaliation. In some rare strict cases, conspiring to commit such a murder is punishable by death. Jewish mobster and Mafia associate was reportedly killed by his Italian peers out of fear that he would carry out a plan to kill  prosecutor  and thus bring unprecedented police attention to the Mafia. However, the Mafia has carried out hits on law enforcement, especially in its earlier history. New York police officer was shot by Sicilian mobsters while on duty in Sicily. A statue of him was later erected across the street from a Lucchese hangout.

Kefauver Committee
In 1951, a U.S. Senate, chaired by Democratic Tennessee Senator , determined that a "sinister criminal organization" known as the Mafia operated around the United States. The (known as the "Kefauver Hearings"), televised nationwide, captured the attention of the American people and forced the FBI to recognize the existence of organized crime. In 1953, the FBI initiated the "Top Hoodlum Program". The purpose of the program was to have agents collect information on the mobsters in their territories and report it regularly to Washington to maintain a centralized collection of intelligence on racketeers.

Apalachin meeting
The Apalachin meeting was a historic of the American Mafia held at the home of mobster, in , on November 14, 1957. Allegedly, the meeting was held to discuss various topics including loansharking, narcotics trafficking, and gambling, along with dividing the illegal operations controlled by the late. An estimated 100 from the United States, Italy, and Cuba are thought to have attended this meeting. , then head of the renamed, initially called the meeting as a way to recognize his new power as .

Local and state law enforcement became suspicious when numerous expensive cars bearing license plates from around the country arrived in what was described as "the sleepy hamlet of Apalachin". After setting up roadblocks, the police raided the meeting, causing many of the participants to flee into the woods and area surrounding the Barbara estate. More than 60 underworld bosses were detained and indicted following the raid. One of the most direct and significant outcomes of the Apalachin Meeting was that it helped to confirm the existence of a nationwide criminal conspiracy, a fact that some, including Director, had long refused to acknowledge.

Valachi hearings
In 1963, became the first American Cosa Nostra member to provide a detailed look at the inside of the organization. Having been recruited by FBI special agents, and testifying before the of the, Valachi exposed the name, structure, power bases, codes, swearing-in ceremony, and members of this organization. All of this had been secret up to this point.

RICO Act
The (RICO Act), passed as part of the  of 1970, made it a crime to belong to an organization that performed illegal acts. The was also enhanced by the same legislation. Frequent use of the act began during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Charges of were successfully pressed against scores of mobsters, including three of New York's Godfathers,,  and  during the  in 1985. Others like, was thought of as the Godfather but was only a front-boss while Gambino boss  was murdered before the trial began. The act continues to be used to great effect today and has hurt the Mob severely.

2011 indictments
On January 20, 2011, the issued 16 indictments against Northeast American Mafia families resulting in 127 charged defendants and more than 110 arrests. The charges included murder, murder conspiracy, loansharking, arson, robbery, narcotics trafficking, extortion, illegal gambling and labor racketeering. It has been described as the largest operation against the Mafia in U.S. history. Families that have been affected included the of New York as well as the  of New Jersey and  of New England.

In popular culture
The film  (1932) is loosely based on the story of.

In 1968, released the film  starring  as a mafia don, which was a financial flop. Nevertheless, Paramount's production chief subsidized the completion of a  novel with similar themes and plot elements, and bought the screen rights before completion. Directed by,  became a huge success, both critically and financially (it won the and for a year was the ). It immediately inspired other mafia-related films, including a direct sequel, ' (1974), also (partly) based on, and yet another big winner at the , as well as films based on real Mafiosi like ' and ' (both in 1973) and ' and  (both in 1975). An ambitious 13-part miniseries by called  based on the rise of many major crime bosses of the 1920s and 1930s, aired in 1981.  was an award-winning HBO television show that depicted modern day American-Italian mob culture in New Jersey. Although the show is fictional, the general storyline is based on its creator experiences growing up and interacting with New Jersey crime families. Ex-members of the Mafia came together in  documentary where they spoke about the different rules of the five families, and how they remained virtually untouchable for quite some time. The documentary also features the Mob's decline over time due to infiltration by the FBI.