Introduction
The American Mafia, also known as the Italian -American Mafia, is actually a term coined to represent the Italian-American criminal society that actually evolved from the Sicilian mafia and formed the first cartel of organized crime in America in the early 20th century. Although, the actual inception for the Italian Mafia had already been at the end of 19th century in Sicily when Italians migrated from their native land to Sicily in order to manage a living and started practicing unlawful acts to sustain on the American land. In spite of the criminal tendencies of the Italian immigrants, there were some specific social and political causes that led to the development of the organized crime in America. This essay aims at exploring the social causes that led to the development of Mafia in the American society.
Background to the emergence of Mafia
The Prohibition act of 1920 gave the first socio-political catalyst for the rise of organized crime in America (Sandbrook, 2012). The federal government banded the sale of alcoholic beverages and there was a huge demand of liquor in the country when the Italian criminals took advantage of the prevalent political lobbying and corruption for selling liquor illegally (Sandbrook, 2012). The rise of the Mafia was actually supported by the society’s insatiable urge for liquor and presence of loopholes in the government control and law enforcement activities which ignored the initial actions of the Italian mob, in spite of their Sicilian history. Under Al Capone, the Mafia started raising enormous wealth from illegal liquor sales and bribed the government officials to ignore their operations amidst the normal society and common American neighborhood. By 1940s, they developed a very strong cartel that practiced extortion, corrupted government officials, trafficked drug trade, killed non supporters, etc(Sandbrook, 2012).
Analyzing facts that entail the emergence of Mafia
Italian Mafia grew rapidly under the leadership of Al Capone who rose to power from 1921 to 1931 in Chicago, an era in which he not only amassed wealth from illegal liquor trade but also gained public confidence by doing charity and aiding social development of the slums(Allerfeldt, 2011). He also massacred his rivals in 1929 in a massive shootout and this event led to his conviction in 1931. After Capone, the covert aid of corrupt government officials to the Mafia operations of illegal liquor sales was exposed in 1933 and the Prohibition act was gradually set on a downward by President Roosevelt (Allerfeldt, 2011). The social aid to the Mafia was a reaction to the government’s ban on the liquor sales but the society retracted from the Mafia when they saw the underlying brutality and violence behind their claim to power.
Practicing crime similar to the business style of Al Capone, the earlier 20th century saw the rise of Robber Barons who tweaked the ethical business practices to gain immense capital benefits (Allerfeldt, 2011). J.P. Morgan, John Rockfeller, and Andrew Carnegie were found guilty of selling overpriced and faulty railroad steel components and they also exploited their workers to maximize their profits. The pressure of working in low wages further led to the violent strikes in 1937 which were dealt with heavy oppression. However, the violence used by the Robber Barons was termed to be an entrepreneurial act of business preservation in those times when the society was open on industrial capitalism. The only difference in the violence used by Robber Barons and the Mafia was that the latter never exploited the weak and poor people and their focus was on amassing wealth from the filthy rich(Allerfeldt, 2011).
Conclusion
The essay aimed at exploring various social factors that led to the rise of the American Mafia. The rise of the Mafia and the prevalent organized crime in American society actually embarked because the society lost its faith on the government policies and the work responsibilities of the government officials. Also, the Mafia used the loopholes in the government structure and the society’s fury over the ban imposed on liquor to gain a strong foothold in the society. The hidden support of corrupt politicians was a crucial factor which led to the development of organized crime and the Robber Barons who used the prevailing situations to maximize their gains.
References
Allerfeldt, K. (2011). Crime and the Rise of Modern America: A History from 1865–1941. 1st ed. New York: Taylor & Francis group, 124-220. Print.
Sandbrook, D.(2012). How Prohibition backfired and gave America an era of gangsters and speakeasies? The Guardian. Retrieved online from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/aug/26/lawless-prohibition-gangsters-speakeasies
