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Mafia - Organised Crime needs Poverty & Prohibition - author David Southwell

1,431 views · Published 14 August 2013 · 3:01 · Indexed 27 October 2026

Channel: Public Enquiry · 2013 · News & Politics

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From the back streets of London to neon-soaked Las Vegas, organized crime is the world's biggest and most profitable business. A truly global enterprise, no country can claim to be free from the taint of this ever-growing threat to established society. This explosive investigation reveals the past, present and future of organized crime, from the mysterious origins of the Sicilian Mafia and the Chinese Triads to the new emerging global powers in organized crime including the Russian Organizatsiya and the Mexican Cartels. Bypassing the codes of silence that often surround the activities of those involved, in "The History of Organized Crime" David Southwell sets out the history, rules and secrets of every major criminal network across the globe and tackles their crimes, methods and key figures in chilling and compelling detail.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847323197

The Prohibition era of the 1920s gave rise to the organized crime syndicate in the United States. Federal efforts to enforce prohibition, including raids on speakeasies, were countered by well-organized bootlegging operations with national and international connections. A particularly notorious gang of the times was Al Capone`s mob in Chicago. There were also gangs in Detroit, New York and other cities. Wars among gangs, producing grisly killings, frequently made headlines.


Eventually, the public`s repugnance, given voice by the 1930 Wickersham Commission inquiry, as well as numerous revelations of compromised municipal officials, produced a temporary suppression of political corruption. 

When the 1933 repeal of prohibition made buying liquor legal once again, gangs that were still intact resorted to different sources of illegal gain, among them gambling, narcotics trafficking and labor racketeering.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1596.html

Charles "Lucky" Luciano was the alias of Salvatore Lucania born in Sicily on November 24, 1897.  He came from a hard-working yet poor Sicilian family.  The family came to America in 1906 and situated themselves in the poverty stricken lower east side of manhattan, New York a few blocks away from "Little Italy."  From a young age Luciano partook in any illegal activity he could get his hands on.  This eventually landed jail in jail at the age of fifteen.  His dealings within the heroin market fully opened the door for his birth into the world of crime. In the 1920s with the birth of Prohibition Luciano got involved with bootlegging liquor. His involvement in bootlegging, and his partnerships with prominent gangsters such as Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Seigal set the foundation for Luciano to build his empire.  After an attempt to take his life, Luciano gained further motivation and continued to climb to the top of the hierarchy of mobsters during the era of Prohibition.
https://sites.google.com/site/mafiaprohibition/notable-mafia-figures

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