24. The Moral Crusade That Boosted the Rise of the Mafia
By the early twentieth century, Italian criminal gangs had formed in the northeast, most notably in New York City. Their activities were small-scale operations, of no particular distinction to set them apart from other NYC gangs. They generally operate in Italian neighborhoods and prey upon Italian immigrants. That all changed in 1920, after the Eighteenth Amendment was passed, and the manufacture, transport, or sale of alcohol was banned. Making alcohol illegal did not reduce the high demand for alcohol, however. Instead, it created an environment of widespread tolerance of crime in order to provide a thirsty public with the booze it craved.
The profits that could be made from the sale and distribution of alcohol were astronomical. That was coupled with widespread tolerance by much of the public, as well as many cops and politicians who did not see the sale or consumption of alcohol as particularly immoral. It made bootlegging irresistible to criminal entrepreneurs across the US. Prohibition thus gave a boost to organized crime in general, and to the Italian mafia in particular, as Italian gangsters were particularly well positioned to take advantage of the new environment. Unlike other ethnic criminal entities, Italian criminals, thanks to the mafia in the old country, could readily draw upon a tradition of sophisticated, organized, hierarchical, and disciplined criminal organizations. They not only had a model but also experienced personnel who could readily duplicate the system in the US.
