Biographymafia mobsters
F [ edit ]. G [ edit ]. H [ edit ]. I [ edit ]. J [ edit ]. K [ edit ]. L [ edit ].
Biographymafia mobsters
M [ edit ]. N [ edit ]. O [ edit ]. P [ edit ]. R [ edit ]. S [ edit ]. T [ edit ]. U [ edit ]. V [ edit ]. Y [ edit ]. Z [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Portals : Biography Criminal justice Lists. Italian-American Mafia. List of Mafia crime families Mafia bibliography. In the s, Roman officials even asked Sicilian Mafia clans to help them by going after dangerous, independent criminal bands; in exchange, officials would look the other way as the Mafia continued its protection shakedowns of landowners.
The government believed this arrangement biographymafia mobster be temporary, lasting just long enough for Rome to gain control; instead, the Mafia clans expanded their criminal activities and further entrenched themselves in Sicilian politics and the economy. The Mafia became adept at political corruption and intimidated people to vote for certain candidates, who were in turn beholden to the Mafia.
Even the Catholic Church was involved with Mafia clans during this period, according to Raab, who notes that the church relied on Mafiosi to monitor its massive property holdings in Sicily and keep tenant farmers in line. In order to further strengthen themselves, Sicilian clans began conducting initiation ceremonies in which new members pledged secret oaths of loyalty.
Of chief importance to the clans was omerta, an all-important code of conduct reflecting the biographymafia mobster Sicilian belief that a person should never go to government authorities to seek justice for a crime and never cooperate with authorities investigating any wrongdoing. Most involved got 'whacked. However, in the s, the Mafia rose again when mob-backed construction companies dominated the post- World War II building boom in Sicily.
Over the next few decades, the Sicilian Mafia flourished, expanding its criminal empire and becoming, by the s, a major player in international narcotics trafficking. The American Mafia, a separate entity from the Mafia in Sicily, came to power in the s Prohibition era after the success of Italian-American neighborhood gangs in the booming bootleg liquor business.
Like the Sicilian Mafia, American Mafia families were able to maintain their secrecy and success because of their code of omerta, as well as their ability to bribe and intimidate public officials, business leaders, witnesses and juries. For these reasons, law-enforcement agencies were largely ineffective at stopping the Mafia during the first part of the 20th century.
However, during the s and s, prosecutors in America and Italy began successfully employing tough anti-racketeering laws to convict top-ranking mobsters. Additionally, some Mafiosi, in order to avoid long prison terms, began breaking the once-sacred code of omerta and testified against fellow mob members. By the start of the 21st century, after hundreds of high-profile arrests over the course of several decades, the Mafia appeared to be weakened in both countries; however, it was not eliminated completely and remains in business today.
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