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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

15. The Mafia’s Growth in New York City

Mafia - A 1910 NYPD wanted poster, in connection with Black Hand activities — A 1910 NYPD wanted poster, in connection with Black Hand activities. Wikimedia

By the early twentieth century, Italian criminal gangs had formed in the Northeast. Most notably in New York City, as America became increasingly attractive to Italian immigrants. They were small scale operations, little different from other NYC gangs, generally operating in Italian neighborhoods and preying upon Italian immigrants. That changed in 1920, after passage of the 18th Amendment and the introduction of Prohibition, banning the manufacture, transport, or sale of alcohol. Making alcohol illegal did not reduce the high demand for alcohol, however, and simply created an environment of widespread tolerance of crime in order to provide a thirsty public with the booze it craved. Essentially, Prohibition took a major American industry, hitherto operated legally, and gifted it to organized crime.

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.