Tuesday, November 5, 2013
American Mafia
I know everyone is studying and preparing for Tuesday's exam but I felt it would be interesting to show you a different side of our American story. We have been talking a lot about the Gilded Age and how what was happening in America was not completely legal. Railroad owners would take bribes and many political figures existed in the shadow of illegitimacy. An interesting outgrowth of this all was the American Mafia. This organization has many different names, to the Italians that started it the name is Cosa Nostra. To the government it is known as The National Crime Syndicate. Either way it represents this organized crime organization that flourished during this time period. Before I go further I would like to describe what exactly does Mafia mean. Basically what the Mafia is, is an organization that is usually culture based thats economic enterprises come from organized crime.In America this came from the Sicilians who came during the end of the 1800s. One famous case is the Blackhand which started popping up around Louisiana during the early 1870s. Claims were made that organizations were racketing money and creating counterfeit money. Also people began to disappear and many people accussed people who were oddly all of similar race. This is how the mafia was first exposed. It came to America with the inflow of Europeans but the exact beginning is still unknown. The interesting thing about the Mafia is unlike many people think they are not anarchist that kill people and hurt just for pleasure. They are very family based culturally observant group that makes decisions based on what they want. They to are fighting for the American dream of life liberty and property just in a different way. My question now goes to this. Do you think the American Mafia can be looked at an influential group in our American history like the antimasonic party for example or are they just detail to the greater picture?
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It sounds as if the Mafia just contributed to city crime and the contemporary notion that foreigners degraded American society. I think members of the boss system were more significant as they held influence in politics.
ReplyDeleteI think the American Mafia should not be looked it as an influential group in our study of American history. The anti masonic party is significant because it was the first third party in the U.S. It also introduced important elements of modern day voting, such as nominating conventions. That is why parties like the Anti Masonic party are remembered and important: they are either the first of their kind, or they change society in some impactful way. The Mafia represent a seedy, underbelly of American society and have had not had a significant impact on our societies politics or economics. In fact, their biggest contribution seems to be to the entertainment industry, as thousands of books/movies have been written surrounding the concept of an American Mafia. Therefore, I don't really see the American mafia as an influential group in American history, but rather as a detail to the greater picture.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the American Mafia can be seen as an influential group to American history but their importance is sort of lackluster. In addition, their influence is not really positive either, its much more negative. While you describe the organization of the Mafia to be similar to that of a family and how they strived to fulfill the American dream, its important to realize that their actions ultimately lead to negative effects on the American culture and what it represents. As Annie said, their contributions only consist of crimes and felonies that hurt the American society as a whole. Even if a person strives to be great, it does not make him a good person if he achieves his greatness through all the wrong methods.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting history Ryan. Thanks for explaining all this. While this won't directly answer your question, I would like to bring up another point. A group that I found in our history unit right now that seemed very similar to the mafia is the bosses and their political machines. These "bosses" would work for a particular politician/political group and, through bribery, intimidation, and exploitation, would raise votes for that particular politician. Mr. Stewart showed us a video in class that focused on bosses who would set up entire communities for immigrants in cities. Then, the bosses would make sure these political machines voted the way they wanted them to. It is important to keep in mind that a new immigrant just stepping off a boat into a new world would face many obstacles, and therefore be easy groups to exploit, and use for political power. In this use of fear and bribery, the bosses seem very similar to the mafia. The bosses, just like the mafia, were happy to cause corruption if it meant their wallets got bigger.
ReplyDeleteI hope this was a clear explanation. Please feel free to elaborate or correct me if I am wrong at any point.
Very interesting history Ryan. Thanks for explaining all this. While this won't directly answer your question, I would like to bring up another point. A group that I found in our history unit right now that seemed very similar to the mafia is the bosses and their political machines. These "bosses" would work for a particular politician/political group and, through bribery, intimidation, and exploitation, would raise votes for that particular politician. Mr. Stewart showed us a video in class that focused on bosses who would set up entire communities for immigrants in cities. Then, the bosses would make sure these political machines voted the way they wanted them to. It is important to keep in mind that a new immigrant just stepping off a boat into a new world would face many obstacles, and therefore be easy groups to exploit, and use for political power. In this use of fear and bribery, the bosses seem very similar to the mafia. The bosses, just like the mafia, were happy to cause corruption if it meant their wallets got bigger.
ReplyDeleteI hope this was a clear explanation. Please feel free to elaborate or correct me if I am wrong at any point.
I have to disagree with Annie and Jason. It may be true that the American image was tarnished by the gangster assembly, however that is not the only effect that the Mafia had on American society. Largely because of the Mafia, many Americans became more conservative in that they did not express their views as openly because of this threat. Part of the general behavior of humans is that when they become fearful, they get more fundamental and are less likely to take risks. The reactions that people had to the American Mafia can be compared to the reactions people had to the Freemasons, as evident by the formation of the anti-masonic party. Like citizens who later made up the Anti-masonic party, Americans living during the reign of organized crime felt that they could not openly express their opposing views, for fear of retribution.
ReplyDeleteSource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Masonic_Party
Compared to other groups throughout history, the American Mafia does not seem to be a very influential one. However, this does not mean that they can be excluded if one desires a complete picture of American history. Most of their influence was concentrated in the backdrop of society and the so called "underworld," in the business of crime and the like. Yet there were times when they stepped into light of society, such as Lucky Luciano's decision to work with the U.S. government during World War II. Also, as Sitara mentioned, their influence in the entertainment industry does appear to be quite large. In conclusion, while the American Mafia is not a major player in terms of influential groups, its contributions cannot be ignored completely.
ReplyDeleteSources:
http://americanmafiahistory.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Mafia#Cooperation_with_the_U.S._government