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Fascinating Facts About the Birth of the Italian-American Mafia

Khalid Elhassan February 13, 2025 17 min

Mafia - Lucky Luciano, who midwifed the birth of the modern Italian-American Mafia — Lucky Luciano, who midwifed the birth of the modern Italian-American Mafia. The Mob Museum

7. The Americanization of the Mafia

Yale’s criminal enterprise typified a new trend. Italian-American Mafiosi “families” began to employ Italians from all regions, not just the boss’ hometown or district, and willingly cooperated with other ethnic gangs so long as there was money to be made. From protection, Yale branched out into prostitution, running a string of brothels, and when Prohibition arrived, he became one of Brooklyn’s biggest bootleggers. The high profits came with high risks. In 1921, Yale barely escaped an assassination attempt by rival bootleggers, getting shot in the lung while one of his bodyguards was wounded and another killed. He survived another assassination attempt a few months later, that claimed the life of another bodyguard. In yet another attempted assassination in 1923, Yale escaped with his life only because the assassins mistook an associate for Yale and shot him instead.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.