American Mafia : a history of its rise to power / Thomas Reppetto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reppetto, Thomas A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mafia--United States--History.

Mafia.

Italian American criminals.

History.

United States.

Organized crime--United States--History.

Organized crime.

Italian American criminals--United States--History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 318 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : H. Holt, 2004.

Summary:

Organized crime -- the Italian-American variety -- has long been a staple of popular entertainment. Now, Thomas Reppetto, coauthor of the highly praised NYPD, president of the New York City Citizens Crime Commission, and a former commander of detectives in Chicago, unravels a history of the Mafia's rise that separates fact from legend. Reppetto's vivid narrative describes how crime families from a variety of ethnic backgrounds were shaped by conditions in big cities in the late nineteenth century. Spurred by prohibition, which exploded opportunities for organized crime, men like Chicago's John Torrio and New York's Lucky Luciano built their organizations along corporate lines, parceling out territories and adopting rules for the arbitration of disputes. Good management and a tight organizational structure enabled Italian gangs to continue operations even when leaders were jailed or rubbed out.

Though bootlegging ties to "legitimate" businesses and cafe society gave Mafia big shots a shadowy respectability, it was bullets and bribes, not Stork Club glamour, that counted. Additional muscle accrued to the mob during the Depression, when it successfully infiltrated the labor unions. By the late 1940s, the American Mafia had tentacles in Hollywood and Detroit, Miami, New Orleans, and, of course, Las Vegas. Frank Costello -- known as the prime minister -- and other underworld figures lived like Old World princes. How a locally grown organization of criminals achieved, enhanced, and maintained power through long-established alliances among local politicians, racketeers, and cops lies at the center of this definitive account. With American Mafia, Thomas Reppetto has added flesh and blood to one of the most notorious chapters in our nation's history.

Contents:

Introduction: "The Most Secret and Terrible Organization in the World" ix

1. "We Must Teach These People a Lesson": A Murder and Lynching in New Orleans 1

2. A Place in the Sun: Italian Gangs of New York 18

3. Italian Squads and American Carabinieri: Law Enforcement Wars on the Mafia 36

4. Diamond Jim: Overlord of the Underworld 54

5. In the Footsteps of Petrosino: Big Mike 75

6. Prohibition: The Mobs Strike a Bonanza 91

7. The "Get Capone" Drive: Print the Legend 111

8. Lucky: The Rise and Rise of Charlie Luciano 132

9. The Commission: The Mobs Go National 148

10. Racket-Busting: The Dewey Days 162

11. The Feds: Assessing the Menace of the Mafia 181

12. Overreaching: Hollywood and Detroit 198

13. The Prime Minister 215

14. New Worlds to Conquer: Postwar Expansion 234

15. TV's Greatest Hits: Senator Kefauver Presents the Mafia 251

Epilogue: The Decline of the American Mafia 270.

Notes:

"A John Macrae book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages [291]-298) and index.

ISBN:

0805072101

OCLC:

52858498