Rise and Change in Organized Crime in the US

The history of organized crime in the United States is closely linked to the social and political developments of the early 20th century. The years of alcohol prohibition and the tightening of drug laws, which formed the breeding ground for new criminal structures and alliances between different ethnic groups, were particularly formative. in theThe development of the American mafia and the Jewish syndicates is followed below, with central personalities, economic interests and social changes being the focus.

Tradition and Change: The mafia’s first reactions to banned business

At the beginning of the 1920s, American mafia groups were still based on the honorary codes of the Sicilian “honorable society”. These traditional values forbade any involvement in drug trade and prostitution. For this reason, they initially ignored the profitable businesses that were associated with the ban on drugs and alcohol, and left themfields of other criminal actors. During this time, particularly powerful Jewish gangsters dominated organized crime in the USA and controlled both the heroin and the prostitution business.

Prohibition as a catalyst for new criminal structures

With the introduction of prohibition, not only did the consumption habits change, but also the composition and self-image of organized crime. Before the turn of the century, it was mainly women from the white middle class who consumed opium preparations from pharmacies. After the prohibition, the image of drug addicts changed: Well, it was mostly men whoOn the street heroin acquired – supplied by the syndicates who served this new demand. The Prohibition thus did not lead to less addicts, but rather drove new, wealthy customers into the arms of the criminal organizations. Small, local gangs became nationwide syndicates that did billions of dollars in business.

Jewish Syndicates and the Professionalization of Drug Trading

A particularly striking example of this development is the career of Irving “Waxey” Gordon Wexler. Gordon began his career in the Jewish underworld of New York and became one of the major players in the cocaine and heroin business in the following decades. Shortly after the Harrison Narcotics Act 1914 came into force, he was involved in the trade in cocaine. aidhe became known by Arnold Rothstein, one of the most famous Jewish gangsters of the time, who became known for his involvement in the 1919 World Series manipulation. Jewish gangs such as the drug trade, alcohol smuggling and gambling associated with Gordon and Rothstein to a lucrative, professionally managed business model.

Numbers and Structures: Jewish Influence in Drug Trading

The Jewish dominance in the drug trade of the 1920s can also be statistically proven. For example, in a survey in New York, 83 of 263 known drug traffickers were identified as Jews. Of the syndicates that controlled cocaine trade, 85 percent were Jewish, the rest of it Italian. The business in the Lower East Side, a quarter thatwas considered a stronghold of Jewish crime. Wholesalers operated from Philadelphia to Boston, while almost half of the retailers focused on a few roads in Manhattan.

International dimensions: heroin trade between Europe, Asia and the USA

The international interdependences of drug dealers grew over time. Jacob “Yasha” Katzenberg, for example, was an expert on procurement and smuggling of heroin from Asia. In the 1920s, drugs could still be bought legally in Paris, later shopping shifted to Shanghai. A notorious case was the so-called Katzenberg-Lvovsky-Buchalter complex, which from 1935Heroin smuggled into the USA from China on a large scale and made enormous profits. The actors had to resort to sophisticated international networks and smuggling routes in order to maintain drug deliveries despite increasing controls.

Change of Domination: The rise of the Italian mafia

While Jewish syndicates were still the main players in drug and alcohol trading in the 1920s, this began to change in the 1930s. The Italian mafia changed through internal power struggles and the up-and-out new leaders of new, less traditional leaders like Salvatore “Lucky” Luciano. Luciano, who is one of the most important crime managers of modern timesapplies, broke with the old codices and systematically integrated the drug and prostitution business into the mafia. He created a nationwide network that relied on cooperation between the various ethnic groups – an alliance with Jewish gangsters like Meyer Lansky lasted almost four decades.

Innovations and expansion: the modernization of the mafia

Luciano fundamentally modernized the mafia. He created a centralized organizational structure that made it possible to operate nationwide and to open up new business areas. In addition to smuggling alcohol and gambling, the mafia now increasingly focused on heroin trading and organized prostitution. The connection between these two areas was particularly lucrative: many prostitutes wereHeroin addicted to secure your loyalty and workforce. By 1935, Luciano controlled hundreds of brothels in New York, and the gains from drug and sex businesses amounted to millions.

Displacement and Monopolization: The mafia takes over the business

With the rise of the Italian mafia, the Jewish syndicates were gradually suppressed, partly through violence, partly by skillful pricing strategies. The mafia achieved an almost complete monopoly in the street trade with heroin. However, this development also led to a drastic deterioration in the quality of the drug: the degree of purity decreased and healthDamage to consumers increased. Contemporary witnesses reported that the mafia lost business ethics and that profit was put above all else.

State countermeasures and weakening of the mafia

In the late 1930s, state pressure on organized crime grew. Large-scale investigations and trials led to spectacular convictions, including those of the mafia boss Luciano, who was sentenced to decades of imprisonment. Other leaders fled abroad to avoid prosecution. The decline of the mafia in the USA was also supported by parallelsdevelopments in Europe, where Mussolini’s fascist government in particular fought an uncompromising battle against the Sicilian mafia.

Mussolini’s campaign against the Sicilian mafia

In Italy, Mussolini launched a merciless campaign against the Mafia from the mid-1920s. With modern police methods and brutal violence, his prefect Cesare Mori managed to permanently weaken the mafia in many regions of Sicily. Thousands of mafiosi were arrested, many structures smashed. The “honorable society” only survived at the beginning of the Second World Warremote areas.

Organized crime in transition

The history of the American mafia and the Jewish syndicates shows how closely social upheavals, changes in the law and criminal innovations are intertwined. Prohibition and the first drug laws created new markets that were quickly used by flexible and unscrupulous actors. The Italian mafia developed into amodern, efficient organization that shapes the image of organized crime to this day. But the constant pressure from the police and the judiciary and internal power struggles repeatedly caused change and reorientation – a process that determines the history of crime in the USA up to the present day.