The Mafia
The Mafia has replaced the
Wild West as the movie industry's great American myth. Re-released two weeks
ago to commemorate its 25 th anniversary, The
Godfather
depicts Mafiosi ruling a sprawling business empire in the 1940s. More recent
films present images of a Mafia in decline: In Donnie Brasco , Al
Pacino's mobster character loots parking meters to earn his keep. Next month
CBS will air The Last Don , an adaptation of Mario Puzo's latest novel.
What is the Mafia's role in real life, and how has it changed over the
years?
The Mafia
(Arabic for "refuge"), also called la cosa nostra ("our thing"), began
as a clandestine partisan band in 9 th century Sicily ,
combating a series of foreign invasions. By the 18 th century, it had
evolved into the island's unofficial government. It retained its paramilitary
tactics and insularity (Mafiosi called their organization a "family," and
members took a blood oath). During the 19 th century, the group
turned criminal. It terrorized businesses and landowners who didn't regularly
pay protection.
At the turn of the century, the Mafia attempted to
replicate its Sicilian operation throughout Western Europe and America. It
initially succeeded only in Southern Italy and America. By 1920, the Mafia had
established "families" (chapters) in most Italian-American enclaves, even in
midsized cities like Rochester, N.Y., and San Jose, Calif. Extorting protection
payments continued to be its primary function. Only during Prohibition
did it branch out of ethnic neighborhoods and into bootlegging, gambling, and
prostitution. However, in New York and Chicago--the largest bastions of
organized crime--Jewish and Italian gangs (not Sicilian Mafiosi) dominated. In
the 1930s, the mobsters Meyer Lansky and "Lucky" Luciano set up a national
crime syndicate--a board of the most powerful organized-crime chiefs to mediate
disputes and plan schemes. The Mafia played only a minor role.
The
Godfather 's depiction of Mafia strength in the late '40s is largely
accurate. Because of its committed, disciplined rank and file and economic base
in extortion, the Mafia emerged as the dominant organized-crime group to
survive Prohibition's repeal. In 1957, Mafia families took control of the
Lansky-Luciano syndicate. During the '40s and '50s, families also firmed up
relationships with urban political machines (New York City politicians openly
sought their support), police departments, and the FBI (J. Edgar Hoover denied
the existence of the Mafia and refused to investigate it). City governments
helped rig government contracts and turned a blind eye to other rackets. Many
of the scams depended on the Mafia's increasing control of unions, especially
the Teamsters and the Longshoremen's .
The Mafia's power has steadily declined
since the late '50s . In New York, the number of "soldiers" or
"wise-guys "--the ones who take the blood oath--has dwindled. According
to the New York City Police Department, there were about 3,000 soldiers in the
city in the early '70s, 1,000 in 1990, and only 750 last year. The Mafia is
said to rely increasingly on "associates"--mobsters who have not taken an oath.
Often this consists of alliances with other ethnic gangs, especially Irish
ones.
In the
last 10 years, Mafia operations have been devastated by arrests . For
instance, last year federal agents busted the bulk of Detroit's family--one of
the most powerful and impenetrable. The FBI describes once-thriving operations
in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, and other major cities as virtually
defunct. The head of the FBI's organized-crime unit estimates that 10 percent
of America's active Mafia soldiers are now locked up.
Only New York and Chicago have substantial Mafia
organizations. The New York Mafia consists of five families (Gambino,
Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, and Colombo) that have sometimes cooperated,
sometimes competed with one another. Until the 1992 arrest of its boss, John
Gotti , New York's Gambino family was the nation's most powerful. However,
it has been replaced by the Genovese family, which has recently suffered fewer
arrests. But the Genoveses, too, are in trouble. The family's leader,
Vincent "Chin" Gigante , was recently indicted and has been said to be
mentally unstable--he used to wander Greenwich Village in his pajamas, mumbling
incoherently. The Lucchese and Bonanno families merged gambling activities last
year to compensate for thinning ranks.
Police estimate that
Chicago's Mafia syndicate the "Outfit" has only 100 members--half its
1990 strength. After a series of convictions in the mid-'80s, the Outfit lost
its control of Las Vegas casino-gambling revenue to legitimate business.
In spite
of declining numbers, the Mafia remains profitable . According to the New
York City Police Department, in 1994 the five families pocketed $2 billion from
gambling alone. Loan-sharking also continues to be lucrative. However, the
Mafia's other activities have radically changed. For instance, its biggest
extortion schemes in the New York area have been broken up: It no longer
controls wholesale food (the City Council broke its hold on Fulton Fish Market)
or Long Island's garbage-removal cartel. According to the New York
Times , it has adapted to the losses by shifting to white-collar
crime . Major new scams include collaboration with small brokerage houses in
stock-tampering schemes, and the manufacturing of faulty prepaid telephone
calling cards sold at convenience stores.
Mafia experts propose five explanations for the
decline:
1) Increased federal
enforcement . Before Hoover's death, the FBI did not aggressively
investigate the Mafia. In addition, starting in the early '80s federal
prosecutors have used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO), passed in 1970, to charge top mob bosses with extortion.
2) The government cleaned
up the unions . As late as 1986, the Justice Department found that the Mafia
controlled the International Longshoremen's Association, the Hotel and
Restaurant Employees union, the Teamsters union, and the Laborers'
International Union. However, subsequent government supervision of these unions
has reduced mob involvement.
3) The rise of black
urban politics destroyed the big city machines the Mafia once depended upon
to carry out its rackets.
4) Assimilation :
Second- and third-generation Sicilians, who now control the Mafia, place less
emphasis on the omertà --the code of silence that precludes snitching.
Turncoats have provided the decisive evidence in recent cases against John
Gotti and other bosses.
5) The Mafia failed to
control the drug trade . Mexican, Colombian, and South Asian mobsters more
efficiently import cheaper drugs and eschew partnerships with the Mafia. In
addition, many predict the Russian mob, operating out of Brooklyn, will soon
replace the Mafia as New York City's largest organized-crime outfit.
