Is the Italian Mafia first sophisticated OC group?

I missed my transport and I have to wait for another hour, and so I thought about writing this....

Im speaking about the US and so back in the days and even today, many researchers and ordinary posters believe that the Italian Mafia was the FIRST OC group which took corruption, labor racketeering, gambling, extortion, prostitution, loan sharking etc. on completely another level, especially in the U.S.

Well, I personally dont think that was the case at all because of various reasons.

First of all, the original Irish mob which was "born" after the Civil War, was probably the first crime group with national connections all over the country. The huge number of saloons, brothels and hotels which they owned all around the country from the late 19th century until the late 1910s, simply cannot be compared to the smaller number of joints which the Italian Mafia controlled from the 1920s until the 1980s.

Believe it or not, by 1903, only in Chicago, the Irish Mob controlled between 800 and 900 joints in which gambling and prostitution was an everyday thing. So if we include all of the other Irish operators from all around the country at the time, you do the math and witness the biggest OC group during those days. Besides the rackets, they also controlled all politics, labor unions and also many legitime enterprises.

At the end of 19th century the local Mafiosi from the southern part of Italy, including Sicily, didnt have much to do except for extortion, counterfeit and local corruption, while the criminal immigrants who reached the U.S. had much to learn from the already established Irish criminal underworld. For example, the Irish Mob was probably the first OC group which created some type of underworld commission, just to assure everyone was in good business relations and also to respect their own areas.

So.....same as the Italian Mafia which later ruled America's underworld, PREVIOUSLY the Irish Mob also had the same type of alliances with other ethnic crime groups such as the Jews, Germans, Italians and African-Americans, but with the Irish at the top.

Later I think even their "cousins" back in Sicily learned from their Americanized relatives regarding the forming of a national commission.

Many Italian, Jewish and German crime leaders depended on the Irish mob and their connections in the political world, including their rackets. Many known Italian and Jewish crime leaders started as precinct captains or aldermen and ward representatives for the Irish political crime bosses, or as union officials and enforcers, again for the old Irish mob. Some Italian criminals even changed their names to sound more Irish, obviously because the Irish society was on a higher level at the time then the Italians.

The gambling racket which was already a huge income for the Irish mob for over 30 years, it was taken seriously by the whole Italian criminal element much later or sometime around the late 1910s or during the 1920s. Again many Italian criminals learned the racket either from the old Irish operators or their Jewish accomplices. In fact, both Irish and Jewish criminals also probably introduced the US Italian Mafia to the prostitution racket, an illegal operation which was allegedly forbidden by the old Italian Mafiosi.

And as for the narcotics trade...both prostitution and the narcotics trade usually goes together and many saloons and brothels from that time period also provided that pleasure in the form of opium. So by the 1920s many Italian criminals also learned the dope trade from their Irish mentors. In fact, the African-American criminal element was also involved in the dope trade before the Italians.

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In the end, my point is that the Italian Mafia in the U.S. learned most of the lucrative rackets from other ethnic criminal organizations such as the former Irish Mob. Even though by Prohibition most of the old Irish racketeers were gone, some still remained as associates of the Italian Mafia who played vital roles in many criminal adventures. So in plane words, the Italian criminal element simply switched places with their Irish "predecessors".

In plane words, the Irish started first but the Italians lasted longer. But regarding the question on what happened to the old Irish Mob...well I believe most of them simply went up in the levels of society, while the Italians took over the whole underworld and lasted longer mainly because of their criminal traditions and with the "rebirth" of their membership and hierarchy, although whether its good or bad to stay longer in the criminal underworld, its still for you to decide.

Whats your opinion?

Cheers

I partially agree, but I also very much disagree with you on this point TD.

Although the Irish had immigrated to this country before the Italians, (and the Jews too for that matter,) and naturally involved themselves in crime, politics, business, and other facets of American life, they were not the "teachers" nor the "consultants" to the Italians...In fact, IMO, they were very far from it.

You gotta remember too, that be they Irish, Italian, Jewish, etc., what was truly considered and viewed as the beginnings of "organized crime" in this country only developed with the advent of Prohibition in 1920. Before that, although the Irish were already better established here, having arrived several decades earlier, before bootlegging arrived they only scratched out a living in crime. ALL the gangs really "learned" the liquor trade together, at the same time. The one advantage the Irish had was that many of them had already joined the local police departments and local politics. But thats all.

Back in their respective countries, the English, Irish, Jewish and any other ethnicity you can think of, never had the well-oiled, long established, "machine" that the Southern Italians and Sicilians had, whose "legacy" to a criminal "brotherhood" went back to almost antiquity.

And back in Italy, for many years the Mafia regularly engaged variously in such lucrative rackets as robberies, thefts of cattle and other livestock (a very lucrative activity,) extortions, shakedowns of businesses, usury, gambling (Italian lottery, cards, etc,) cigarette smuggling, counterfeit currencies, controlling and maintaining monopolies over the local waterfronts and agriculture, land fraud and embezzlement, political corruption, police corruption, etc....

You get my point, right?

With their migration to the U.S. (and later to other counties for that matter like Australia, Canada, Argentina, other South American locales as well as France, England, etc.) they expanded their tentacles even further.

In the U.S. they continued their operations in the same vein, the Italian lottery, shylocking, counterfeiting U.S. coins, thefts, strong-arm extortions and the weekly "pizzo" from shopkeepers, slowly infiltrating the docks and other industries, the narcotics trade on a small scale, etc.

But, admittedly, all of these activities paled in comparison to what became their most profitable racket of all...and the one that gave ALL of them, Irish, Jewish and Italian alike, the biggest foothold into American life and commerce - alcohol bootlegging!

Bootlegging, coupled with their Roman-legion like design and power structure, is what eventually catapulted Cosa Nostra to heights never before seen in this country or anywhere else for that matter. They became monolithic in their power and influence....eclipsing all other criminal ethnic groups, Irish or otherwise.

And with their eventual infiltration and ironclad control over almost the entire American labor movement, it was now all over. They had become a "second government."
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If we're talking about the actual Italian Mafia like in Italy, they're laundering money on Bitcoin platforms today, so yes in that regard I'd say they're very much sophisticated and up with the times.

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With the possible exception of the ancient Chinese Triads and Japanese Yakuza, I respectfully submit that the Italians were the forerunners of truly "structured" and organized racket crime.

Everybody are laundering money using Bitcoin.

Yes that's true but I find the Italian Mafia to be more surprising because seemingly everyone says they're lagging behind.

Ok I understand your position and already confirmed it in my previous post, but let me explain with examples and details some of your opinions. Also dont forget that Im talkin about the "beginning of time" over here and on who started what and when.

Btw, I love these civilized convos



Lets look at the situation like this...legendary Italian crime boss Jim Colosimo started as streetsweeper, shoe shiner, newspaper boy and also as a water carrier at the railroads, but later he was recruited by Irish political crime bosses and worked as their precinct captain. SO these guys took Colosimo out of the streets and taught him about political corruption and above all, prostitution. This was during the late 19th century and during those days the Italians were quite far away from being involved in the hooker business. In fact, all of the joints which Colosimo visited on daily basis to take his bosses' cut, were already owned by the Irish Mob. Make some research on Kenna and Coughlin and you'll get what Im saying.

Second example....Johnny Powers...member of the old Irish Mob who got his political positions through violence and intimidation. During those days the Italian bloc was headed by prominent Italian faces such as Sabatino Falone, Raffaele DeBartolo, Antonio Greco, Vincenzo Pacelli, Giuseppe Spingola and others, but they all answered to the alderman for the whole ward John Powers. Powers was also connected to the Italian bloc from the 17th Ward by constantly sponsoring their newspaper known as La Democrazia which in turn was operated by Mafai political bosses such as Steve Malato and Onofrio Serritella. As I previously said, the Italians simply switched places with the old Irish Mob, but lets go further shall we...

Third example....In 1913 Mafia member Paul Labriola, was arrested regarding an assault with a deadly weapon and since Labriola worked as bailiff in the Municipal court, Alderman John Powers rescued Labriola from imprisonment.

And last example, Mafia boss Tony D'Andrea was also a protege of John Powers but in 1919 they became opponents. Proof for the previous connection between D’Andrea and Powers was that some of D’Andrea’s associates like Paul Labriola decided to stay with Powers and turned their backs to the boss. This is a proof regarding the huge power of the old Anglo-Saxon political crime bosses that was still present even during those days. So during this period, few of D’Andrea’s precinct captains in the 19th Ward were Peter Granata from the third precinct, Pete Fosco from the fifth precinct, Louis Battaglia from the 6th precinct, Benjamin Geldrman from the 24th precinct and Victor Tortoriello from the 26th precinct, and in the end D'Andrea decided to run again for alderman against Powers and that was the beginning of the so-called “Aldermen's Wars”, during which D'Andrea ended up dead.

This means the "younger" generation was taking over from the old one.



"scratched out a living in crime" <----- I completely disagree with this since ill give you another example...In 1919 James Marzano and his lieutenant Diamond Joe Esposito challenged Alderman Johnny Powers and story goes that the old time Irish boss spent $25,000 ($444,000 in today’s money) to defeat his Italian opponent and he succeeded in doing it. This obviously means that the Irish crime bloc was still richer than the Italians at the time.

Regarding "ALL the gangs really "learned" the liquor trade together, at the same time"...sorry bud but I disagree again. You ever heard that Prohibition was established one or two years earlier (I dont remember) in St. Louis and later around the rest of the country? And guess who were the first ethnic gangs which were involved in the business?! The Irish. Why? Because they were the first main guys in the underworld. In fact, Capone's main killers Willie Heeney and Johnny Moore aka Claude Maddox came from that area and connected Capone to killers from all around the country. How did they know all of the guys? Obviously because previously the irish mob also had national connections.



I get your point bud but first of all, some of the rackets that you mentioned didnt exist in Italy during the late 19th century or the at the beginning of the 20th. Im talking about whole parts of cities being filled with saloons, brothels, restaurants and all types of joints and all of that being controlled by only one organization during a certain time period. Im talking about having a huge building next to City Hall, filled with hookers and gambling operations.

Extortion? Every criminal organization since the "stone age" was involved in the racket and believe me it wasnt invented by the Italians.



And I completely agree with you on this since I previously said the same thing. Yes, the Italian Mafia lasted/lasts longer because of their unique internal organization.

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@Liggio my man, Im talking about who started what and when around 100 years ago lol

They wouldn't be on top of organized crime for 50+ years if they are lagging behind.

Then I agree with NYM's reply: With the possible exception of the ancient Chinese Triads and Japanese Yakuza, I respectfully submit that the Italians were the forerunners of truly "structured" and organized racket crime.

Everywhere I look, I can really only find the Triads and Yakuza being on the same level. True there has always been organized gangs of nearly all stripes since the days of old, but not with rigid structures and rituals complete with lines of leadership succession stretching generations.

@Liggio Im talking about the U.S. When did the Yakuza or Chinese Triads ruled all of America's underworld?

Never. Then the Italian Mafia would be the only ones, with numerous powerful associates of other ethnic backgrounds.

Thats right but my argument is that those same "powerful associates of other ethnic backgrounds" first started that shit around the states, which was later inherited by the Italian criminal element. Read my second response to "@NYM.

Italians were and still are most powerful organized crime group in US, but they never "ruled" it. Its impossible to have complete control of crime in US. In Italy , yes , Russians in Russia yes, but in US its impossible.

Thats another point of view which I also agree with. Although again, my point is that the Italian criminal element (being more violent) took over everything which was previously ruled by other ethnic groups for many decades. Take the policy/numbers racket for example...the African-American criminal element owned it since the late 19th century.....but when the Italians took it over, it lasted for about 30 or 40 years and that was it. Again, Im talking about the US.

Dope topic, TD ( see what I did there)
I can see this blowing up because they're aome inaccurate narratives being laid out. The first organized crime outfits, globally, were pirates. They raided towns for plunder, extorted them for tribute, for protection, and intercepted and hijacked cargo transport. Captain Kidd lived on Wall St at one time. The NYC waterfront at the time was on the E. River side, in the 4th Ward, this lead to a proliferation of a criminal underworld to serve the needs of the pirates. The Patsy Conroys controlled E. River traffic and would often waylay river travellers, and river cargo traffic. From River pirates, organized crime made its way inland to the 6th Ward and the Five Points. The order of immigration to NYC was Dutch, English, German(Hessians), Irish, Italian. The Irish began immigrating in 1840 with the onset of the Potato famine in Ireland. As a result, nativist groups of American born men, resentful of competition for work from the newly arrived Irish, organized into gangs with political agendas to oppress immigration. This led to frequent gang fights which evolved into riots such as the Astor Pl riot in 1849 and the Bayard St riot between the Dead Rabbits and Bowery Boys in 1857 as depicted in Gangs of NY. Tammany Hall's involvement came when politicians realized the newly arrived immigrants value as future voters. Now, Tammany Hall begins recruiting political muscle to persuade ignorant immigrants into joining their political agendas. This is how gangs transitioned into organized crime outfits leading first to The Syndicate and then to the American Mafia. Pegleg Lonergan and the Irish White Hand controlled the Brooklyn waterfront until Frankie Yale had Lonergan killed and wrested control to the Black Hand Italians. Then, Prohibition led to an incredible proliferation of opportunity for these outfits, who now generated enormous profits sufficient to bribe and buy the Tammany Hall politicians into supporting their criminal enterprises. The rest is history.

Italians also brought that rigid top-down structure built to last decades to the table, other groups simply came together for common interests and purposes and then disbanded. But no the Italians weren't the first to do organized crime in the US. That's my view, though I could be a little off.

Wasnt there a story something like the Christmas Day massacre??

I agree with everything you said, they took over them and made them more sophisticated. But no one ruled all of America's underworld.

And if you want to go to the days of Noah lol......

During the 1850's Chicago's racketeer Roger Plant and his local were located near the Chicago River’s entrance into Lake Michigan and as a result, the streets that surrounded the local, were in muddy conditions. Because of that, Roger Plant “talked” to some of the City’s officials and they decided to raise the foundations of the buildings along the newly upgraded roadways. The end resulted with the creation of underground passages, streets, and underground rooms. Legend goes that the many underground passages and rooms that existed beneath the joint gave the birth to the term "UNDERWORLD" as a description of the society that engaged in criminal activity. Those same underground tunnels were later used also during Prohibition and some exist even today.

+1

So would you agree with the part where I said that many other groups came together for common criminal interests then disbanded or evaporated? LCN Families were meant to last forever and ever. Of course many went extinct due to lack of recruiting or law enforcement pressure and infighting, but I think it's still a good point..

I completely agree on everything you just said and I also said the same thing that LCN lasts longer for the reasons you already mentioned, but ill add another one and that is, many old Irish bosses died in their home beds who previously went up in the American society, especially their families who in turn inherited all of the cash and political contacts. Take the Kennedys for example...or take the current Chicago mob, meaning more than 20 years ago they already began infiltrating many legit enterprises and so now their sons and daughters inherited everything. And here we are, blaming them for their last names and making charts and shit lol

I can't speak for everyone, but not all of us are judging. Some of us, myself included, are just fascinated and take no moral stance whatsoever. As for the Irish brand of organized crime you mentioned, I feel like once you work your way up in society and legitimize everything, you no longer count because you're no longer outlaws. You can still be scumbags, but legally scumbags. That's probably the only issue I take with the government and big business are all gangsters argument. Yes, I absolutely agree. But for this subject matter we're talking about crime groups that still operate on the opposite side of the law.

Thats another point of view which should be taken quite seriously, and obviously the Italian criminal element wins regarding the underworld. BUT who FIRST started the SOPHISTICED rackets and who INHERITED what in AMERICA, well I still believe thats another story.

Fabulous explanation and the correct chronology CNote, my compliments to you!

Thats largely correct Liggio. Only the Italians had the innate ability, born of their ancient history and cultural background, to organize into the rigid hierarchy structure as they did, which they brought along with them when they immigrated to America.

They rest of ALL the other ethnic "gangs," the Irish, English, German, Jewish, Greeks, etc., etc. (which, in essence, was all they were, regardless of their size,) just came together out of common interests, poverty and happenstance. For the Sicilians, Calabrese and Napolitani, who already had the ancient brotherhoods of the Mafia, Societa' Onorata and Camorra, resepctively, it was an inbred way of life, a way of existence, since almost antiquity.

TD, You gave me a lot to respond to, lol. Thats why I'm answering the shorter comments first....But I will read, digest and then provide you my opinions on your statements later on, ok buddy.

I agree. All of these gangs were organized and came together for "opportunities" at the time, but either disputed or were knocked out of the box, within a relatively short period of time.

Cosa Nostra was meant to perpetuate itself, the same as its done for hundreds of years already, on multiple continents.

Lol take your time bro, its a simple but at the same time productive discussion

For sure. Very interesting and engaging for everyone here.

.....in addition, I already posted this in one of my previous threads on Chicago's early gangs and so for those who missed it, heres how the original Irish Mob looked like during the old days....

First Ward, Loop and South Halsted St, Chinatown, South Side and Near West Side - 1900 - 1920

Michael Cassius McDonald (First Ward political crime boss who operated from a four story building located next to City Hall) (member of the Trust/gambling commission) (died on August 8, 1907)

- George Murray (assistant for McDonald and the Trust)

- Hall Varnell (McDonald’s second in command)

- Mike Kenna (political ctime boss for McDonald and Varnell)

- John Coughlin (political ctime boss for McDonald and Varnell)

- James O’Leary (South Side rackets boss with headquarters at 4183 South Halsted and also at 6300 S Cottage Grove) (member of the Trust/gambling commission)

- John Ryan (top enforcer for McDonald and O’Leary)

- Dickie Dean (top enforcer for McDonald and O’Leary)

- John Condon (owner of Harlem racetrack)

- Tom McGinnis (Mike Kennas’s gambling operator)

- Patsy King (policy operator on the South Side)

- Charles Smith

- Harry Perry

- Bud White

- Patrick O’Malley (W Clark and Polk streets, Loop)

- Maurice Enright (union racketeer and enforcer for O’Malley) (killed February 1920)

- Thomas Enright

- Sonny Dunn

- Patrick Paddy Ryan (leader of the group known as the Valley gang and Enright’s lieutenant) (killed in June 1920)

-Danny Vallo (precinct captain for the 19th Ward and Ryan's second in command)

- Cornelius Con’Shea

- Walter Quinlan

- Mickey Norris (saloon owner and agent for Lime and Cement Teamsters Union)

- George Vogel

- John Nolan

- Pete Kusanski

- James Linden

- Harry Bartlett

- William McPadden

- Hughey McGovern

- Raymond Cassidy

- Frank Carpenter

- Frankie Pope

- Frankie Lake

- Terry Druggan

- Danny Stanton

This particular syndicate was Chicago’s oldest organized crime group that mostly included criminals from Irish heritage, followed by few Jewish, German and Italian racketeers, and this was Chicago’s original Irish Mob, not the latter one during Prohibition which was wrongfully labeled by the newspapermen at the time. In fact, these were Chicago’s first racketeers and political corruptors who formed the base for all future organized crime.

Michael Cassius McDonald was an Irishman born in 1839 in Niagara Falls, between Canada and the United States and lived together with his good mannered father Ed McDonald and mother Mary, two brothers and one sister. In 1854 McDonald moved to Chicago where he worked as a candy vendor on railroad cars and trains, while selling half-filled boxes of candy and fake jewelry to unsuspecting passengers. At the time guys like McDonald were known as “train butchers” and it is believed that McDonald was the inventor of the “prize package” swindle.

By 1863 McDonald was already a very wealthy guy and he was only 24 years old. He bought a residence in Bridgeport, in an Irish neighborhood. In those days Bridgeport was named as the “Terror District” which in fact was the place where McDonald received his nickname “King Mike”. In 1885, McDonald formed a bookmaking syndicate which controlled gambling at the Chicago and Indiana race tracks and some reports say that in just one season his syndicate alone profited to the extent of $900,000 which was a lot of money in those days.

During this time, that in an effort to overcome many reform activities, McDonald contributed lots of cash to many political figures and so he sort of “created” the first real corrupted political machine of Chicago which became known as "Mike McDonald’s Democrats". He built a four-story building which was placed next to Chicago’s City Hall, which in fact was a big gambling parlor at Clark and Monroe known as The Store and was reportedly the largest brothel and gambling house in Chicago.

Back in those days every big shot criminal had a desire to win respect also as a legitimate businessman and so one day McDonald purchased the Chicago Globe newspaper and also took over as manager of Chicago`s first elevated rail system, the Lake Street Line, which became known in gambling circles as “Mike`s Upstairs Railroad”.

By the early 1900’s, McDonald had an army of younger and more powerful notorious thieves, forgers, gambling operators, smugglers, corrupt aldermen and other associates of every nature. The most prominent of those was one big time gambler known as James “Big Jim” O’Leary, and two very powerful political crime bosses Michael Kenna and John Coughlin. They became his legacy and also became Chicago’s most high profile organized crime faces at the beginning of the 20th century.

James O'Leary was an Irishman born in 1869 in Chicago and his childhood was filled with shame because of the blame that his family carried over the Great Chicago Fire. O’Leary grew up among the South Sides slaughterhouses and later worked at the Union Stock Yards, where he acquired the nickname "Big Jim." He also began working for many gambling and saloon operators and made many connections which caught the eye of one of McDonald’s associates "Prince" Hal Varnell. During the mid 1880’s because of the threat of reforms, McDonald decided to expand his gambling operations around northwest Indiana and so he instructed Varnell to send O’Leary to act as their scout.

By the early 1900’s the big cash started falling into O’Leary’s pockets when he made a connection with the Santa Fe Railway which ran three “Gamblers Special” trains out to O’Leary’s gambling joint while the Western Union provided the wire services and with the protection of police officials like Nicholas Hunt, O’Leary became the rising star of illegal gambling in Chicago.

During that time O’Leary became the most prominent gambling boss in Chicago and so he opened another joint which became Chicago’s most prominent two-story gambling local at 4183 S. Halsted, which included a billiards room, several bowling alleys, a saloon, a barbershop, and a sauna. The name "O'Leary" was written in giant electric letters on the front door as a sign of his pride and the joint also had false partitions, tunnels, hidden passageways and reinforced doors. He also opened a branch of suburban shopping malls in Du Page County with the help of new contacts from different syndicates such as Mike Heitler and Jim Colosimo.

Michael Kenna and John Coughlin were born in the same shack at Polk and Sholto Sts. at the western edge of Connelly’s Patch. Kenna was born in 1858 and Coughlin was born in 1860 and both grew up in the same Irish Slum District .They went to the first Jones School at Harrison and Plymouth Court and to get to school they would have passed the Custom House Place Levee in the " Cheyenne " District every day, in those times perhaps the wickedest place in America.

Coughlin at the age of 15 left school and began working in a Turkish bathhouse at Clark St, rubbing down politicians and underworld figures. It was here he made some of the connections that would later propel him upward in First Ward Politics. The bathhouse was often visited by Varnell and McDonald and they became his mentors. Later Coughlin opened a bathhouse himself, where he gained the nickname “Bathhouse John”.

As a teenager, Kenna was a very quiet boy but very aggressive in the business sense, thus making connections with many madams, prostitutes and anyone who might come in handy. In his late teens Kenna also owned his own newsstand but later decided to leave Chicago and went to Colorado. Over there he worked as a circulation manager at Lake County Reville in Leadville. After few years Kenna came back to Chicago and opened his own saloon, which was visited by many politicians and with that Kenna got mixed in the world of politics. The hooking up with Coughlin made them the most infamous duo in Chicago’s politics.

The duo hung around at a saloon at 120 East Van Buren which was called the "Workingman’s Exchange" and it was a sort of a “home” to many Chicago racketeers, followed by a well disciplined army of voters on every Election Day. They even had a so-called defense fund that was headed by two lawyers who were always placed on retainer to immediately appear in court anytime if some of Kenna’s and Coughlin’s associates were arrested.

At first their territory, the Levee, occupied the blocks between Harrison and Polk, from Dearborn to Clark St, but later their operations were relocated between 19th and 22nd Streets. During the early 1900’s the Levee was now in the Second Ward and this troubled the two crooked aldermen and in order to regain control of the Levee, Kenna and Coughlin with the help of their supporters and the resistance from the unsatisfied residents, they proposed a redistricting ordinance that would return the Levee to the First Ward. The "New Levee," as it was called, now consisted over two hundred brothels with Kenna’s and Coughlin’s headquarters being the Frieberg’s Dance Hall which was a big prostitution house.

In 1903, McDonald gathered all leading political crime bosses, racketeers and gamblers and formed Chicago’s first underworld commission which became known as “The Trust”. This was in fact a so-called gambling combine, which included gambling bosses from all four sides of the city, meaning North, West South and all southern suburbs. For example, McDonald and Jim O’Leary controlled the First Ward, Loop, South Side and all southern suburbs, followed by Mont Tennes on the North/ West and the Gazzolo family together with Mike Heitler on the West Side. O’Leary was represented by McDonald’s successors and First Ward political bosses Kenna and Coughlin, while the Gazzolos and Heitler were represented by 19th Ward Alderman John Powers.

Kenna and Coughlin were also often seen in the company of Alderman Johnny Powers who in turn was also very important regarding the Italian voters. These guys were the main representatives at the time who were followed by numerous street bosses, such as Jim Colosimo, the Benvenutti bros, Patsy King and Sam Young.

Patsy King was a former Mississippi riverboat gambling operator who arrived in Chicago sometime during the late 19th century and became closely associated with McDonald’s syndicate on the South Side. Even though the policy game was a black man’s racket, legend goes that King was allegedly the one that devised the game and became closely associated with many African-American and Italian racketeers from the South Side. In 1903, King together with another one of Kenna’s underlings, Tom McGinnis, controlled the policy wheel companies called the ''The Union and the Phoenix'', which were headquartered at The Emporium.

By 1906, the so-called “Trust” broke apart and all hell broke loose, with dozens of bombs being unleashed around the city of Chicago. In 1907, Mike McDonald died of natural causes and later his “throne” was shared by McDonald’s protégés Kenna, Coughlin and O’Leary, the leading figures from the former “Trust”. In July 1907, John Condon’s residence on S Michigan Av was completely destroyed by a bomb, followed in August 1907, O'Leary's resort on S. Halsted was also bombed and later in 1908 his gambling place was bombed twice and each time he rebuilt. This situation became known as the infamous “Gambling Wars” that lasted until 1911.

One source stated that some of the bombings that occurred at the time were in fact thrown or planted by the owners themselves, so later they were able to collect the insurance. Frauds and schemes like these were very often used by many criminal ethnicities, and this was only “the tip if the iceberg”. For example that same year, the Empire Voting Machine won a $1,000,000 contract from the election commissioners but a scandal occurred after some of the investigators found out that McDonald’s associate John Condon and some of his associates were the largest stockholders in the company through some of their front men. This was probably one of the biggest schemes ever executed by the old Irish Mob.

Patrick O’Malley was another Irish racketeer and close associate of both Condon and O’Leary, who owned a saloon in the Loop area at corner of W Polk and S Clark streets. Few of O’Malley’s close associates were the Enright brothers, Maurice and Thomas, and also Simon O’Donnell and Sonny Dunn. Now these guys were probably few of the most ruthless enforcers in Chicago at the time, who completely opened the doors to the field of labor racketeering. This was a result from the gambling conflicts and government pressure over the gambling racket in Chicago at the time.

During the waning years of the Harrison administration 1913-14, the massive gambling operations and conflicts stabilized because Mont Tennes from the Northwest Side consolidated his holdings at the expense of his rivals and allies. Condon passed away in 1915 and O’Leary kept his old gambling parlor but also turned to other more legit businesses, which was a sign that this particular faction slowly began to lose its influence and power within Chicago’s underworld. This was the same time period when the Italian and Jewish syndicates from the South Side somehow “inherited” a large criminal empire.

In 1920 Robert E. Crowe was elected as state’s attorney and declared war on the gambling business and the bosses and so a “big haul” was made and O’Leary’s ancient stronghold and was closed for good. So Crowe’s campaign at the time shook the foundations of the Irish handbook empire in Chicago and spread panic through Chicago’s underworld, so some of the old bosses like O’Leary used the illegal schemes of the recently arrived law of Prohibition.

Story goes that O’Leary allegedly joined Torrio’s gang in the bootlegging ventures. That same year O'Leary, who had been delivering whiskey to Colosimo's Cafe under arrangement with Torrio, was also a suspect of being involved in the murder of Jim Colosimo. Despite his connection, there were no charges brought against him. But few weeks after Prohibition went into effect, federal agents discovered a large supply of liquor in O’Leary’s basement, although he produced a pharmacist`s license that he claimed allowed him to sell whiskey. But one not-too-sympathetic judge revoked that license and ordered the saloon shut down as a public nuisance.

Other younger remnants from the old Irish Mob, such as Enright and his gang of followers, continued to bring illegal income from the unions which they extorted, and so this particular crew was “formed” sometime during the mid 1910’s. For example the leader Patrick “Paddy” Ryan was a strong Irish lad who used to be involved in planting bombs during the infamous gambling wars and later became a protégé of Enright . But besides being a product of the South Side syndicates, still by the late 1910’s most of Ryan's taverns were located around the Near West Side in an area which back then was called the "Valley” and was known as Irish enclave, though surrounded also by Jewish and Italian population.

Ryan owned a saloon at 1403 S Halsted St and was also part owner together with his associate and brother-in-law Mickey Norris in another saloon at 1916 Halsted St. Norris was a business agent for the Lime and Cement Teamsters Union, and so Ryan and his gang were often used as labor sluggers and also slowly wedged their way into labor politics, like for example one of Ryan’s prime enforcers and partner in the labor field was Cornelius Con’Shea.

Another close and most valuable associate of Ryan was Danny Vallo who in turn was a prime connection to various gangs, including the Mafia from the Northwest Side. Vallo’s blood ties were possibly from Potenza, Basilicata and he worked as a precinct captain for the 19th Ward but he didn’t live in that area, which gives the impression that he probably had strong Mafia and Camorra contacts in that same ward. In 1919, Vallo managed to escape from the state’s attorney’s office while being under arrest on robbery charges, while that same year their associate George Vogel shot to death a police detective in one of Ryan’s saloons during a quarrel between members of the gang.

At beginning of the year 1920 and with the start of Prohibition, the gang managed to steal $162,000 worth of booze during a holdup in one wholesale liquor house but the problem was that they started bothering other bosses and began making trouble in different areas around the city. For example, it seems that Ryan’s boss Moss Enright was different than some of his mentors and predecessors, meaning he possibly despised the Italian faction from the South Side and created many problems for them and also the Irish racketeers that were closely associated with the Italians.

For example, Enright and his gang harassed Johnny Patton from the Burnham area who in turn was close associate of Jim Colosimo and the South Side Italian faction, followed by Mike Heitler who was also connected to the Italians through the prostitution business. In February 1920, Enright was eliminated by those same Italian racketeers who he despised the most and also tried to extort. Reports say that Enright received a lavish funeral that blocked the main streets of the city, and Ryan together with few of his gang members were honorary pallbearers.

So Ryan was the next one to go and just like in their own style, the Italians or the Colosimo syndicate possibly picked one of Ryan’s close associates John Nolan to finish the job. In June 1920, Ryan was murdered by his own gang and his “throne” was instantly taken by Vallo, who in time slowly managed to transfer most of the gang members on the Northwest Side, while some remained on the South. In fact, as they entered the new era of Prohibition, this gang also gave the “birth” to future bootleggers and racketeers such as Frankie Pope, Frankie Lake, Terry Druggan and Danny Stanton.

The highways, roads, and streets in 17th and 18th century England were fraught with danger. The transformation of the marketplace in London, and other large cities, affected the nature of criminal organization. The expansion of trade and commerce, the concentration of a large, casual labor force, and the emergence of leisure institutions produced more opportunities for crime. The abundance of consumer goods meant large numbers of people were carrying easily stolen objects of value such as scarves, linen, cheap jewelry, silks, and metal items. As the nexus for finance, commerce, government and law, London, and to a lesser extent other large cities such as Glasgow, Edenborough, York, and others attracted the nobility, the gentry, the skilled professionals, and the wealthy merchants – all of whom carried valuables and money.


As cities in the American colonies and the early republic grew in the 18th and early 19th centuries similar forces came into play, particularly in the major port cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk. As trade and commerce grew, particularly following the American Revolutionary War, the wealth and availability of consumer goods in these locations increased.

Im not sure but during the 1900's i think that US completely took the same law which previously or already existed in England regarding white slavery. I think Chicagos Harry Guzik's case (Jake's older brother) was the main reason for it, since the scandal even reached Washington DC at the time. Again, by a non-Italian lol

Today’s Masonic lodges in the U.S. have a largely benign public image, seen as a place for smalltown businessmen (the order is limited to men) to engage in social gatherings, networking, and opportunities for charity. But the group, with its secret symbols and handshakes, was not always so harmless.


The United States Masons (also known as Freemasons) originated in England and became a popular association for leading colonials after the first American lodge was founded in Boston in 1733. Masonic brothers pledged to support one another and provide sanctuary if needed. The fraternity embodied European Enlightenment ideals of liberty, autonomy, and God as envisioned by Deist philosophers as a Creator who largely left humanity alone.

Those theological views created friction with established Christian churches, particularly Catholics and Lutherans. While the Masons captured the allegiance of much of the early Republic’s elite, the group did fall under widespread suspicion. The William Morgan affair of 1826—when a former Mason broke ranks and promised to expose the group’s secrets—threatened its demise. Morgan was allegedly abducted and presumed killed by Masons, and the scandal proved a low point in the public image of the fraternal order.

The anti-Mason backlash grew. Abolitionists like John Brown railed against the often pro-slavery Masons. Prominent figures including John Quincy Adams, a former president and former Mason, and publisher Horace Greeley joined in the widespread castigation. Future president Millard Fillmore called Masonic orders nothing better than “organized treason.” In 1832, an anti-Masonic party ran a one-issue candidate for president. He captured Vermont’s electoral votes.

American Masons were not above engaging in controversial foreign adventures. In 1850 a contingent of American Masons and Mexican War veterans invaded Cuba to foment a rebellion against the Spanish crown. The group failed to gain a foothold and retreated after suffering heavy casualties. Its leaders were later tried in New Orleans for violating U.S. neutrality laws.

The group’s long-term fraternalism and secrecy has traditionally served as a vehicle of exclusion, not inclusion. Today, its reputation is buttressed by an affilation with the Shriners, a related fraternal group noted for its charity and health work. The Masons’ revolutionary and sometimes violent past now serves as a kind of historic footnote as the order established itself as a placid participant in the American social fabric. Even with its controversial past, it’s hard to imagine the Masonic order serving as a contemporary hotbed of violent insurrection.

To TD...

I think the best way to respond to what you said about the Irish gangs being the “benevolent teachers” “consultants” and “guiding hands” to the Italians, the Jews and any other ethnic organized crime groups is to consider this…

Just because the Irish (and the English before them,) had arrived so much earlier in the U.S., many decades “earlier,” than other ethnicities, and, quite naturally, some of whom got involved in crime as they established themselves in American life, doesn’t mean that they were the most powerful, nor the architects of what later became known as “traditional ”organized crime.

Yes, you can point to numerous instances in Chicago, Illinois, and all around the country for that matter where the Irish first settled and formed strongholds where they eventually rose to positions of power in what can be categorized as “organized crime.” This was as they also established themselves in the business world and the world of politics for that matter - but they weren’t the “granddaddy’s” and teachers, as you say, to the others.

That makes it sound like they first went out and created and established the “rackets” (which is completely untrue,) and then with open arms, rolled out the red carpet and welcomed the other ethnicities to join in the spoils by bringing them in, teaching them, and guiding them in the ways of the underworld…

In truth…nothing could be further from the truth!

If anything, the Irish (understandably so,) tried their best to smother and eliminate and destroy the other groups, all other groups, be they Italian, Jewish or otherwise from gaining control or a foothold over lucrative illicit rackets or making the headway the Irish were making in the “upper world.”

This was true even before alcohol bootlegging rackets became a major source of money and power. This dates back to “day one.”

Be it in the legitimate business world or the illegal business world, the Irish weren’t looking to cede even one inch of territory to the Italians or anybody else for that matter. To them, the Italians were considered less than the blacks, back then, whom they referred to as negroid or negroes (among many other less palatable terms.)

And THATS a fact!…every bit of it!

How do you think that the Italians first got labeled with the insulting monikers of WOP (without passport,) or DAGO (work for one day and let go,??) Or guineas, spaghetti snappers, greaseballs, etc? Who do you think gave them those labels and referred to them as such? It was the Irish and the English.

And these disparaging names were commonly used by the more educated and upper crust Irish set. Do you really think the uneducated blue collar irishmen and those gruff Irish thugs involved in street crime thought any differently? Or viewed the Italians any more benevolently than they’re better established brethren?…I doubt it.
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We need look no further than your City of Chicago.

Dion (Dean) O’Banion, George (Bugs) Moran and all the others in their Irish Gang weren’t “friends” and “compatriots” to the Italians, nor did they view them as allies.

The Italians were considered their competition, and by extension, their enemies…thats another well-worn fact.

And at best, at times they may have worked out an “uneasy” alliance or “understanding” with those “spaghetti snappers.” But no way, no how, we’re the Irishmen gonna help the Italians better establish themselves…Thats why the Italian Mob eventually killed them all or drove them out of Chicago! Or they capitulated and eventually “allied” with the Italians.

Whats that old saying, “If you can’t beat em, then join em?”
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I’m not gonna address every little nuance or “instance” that you mentioned where Irish “allowed” these other ethnic groups in, because it doesn’t affect what I said, nor matter to this conversation.

The bottom line is that the English and Irish didn’t establish or later teach the Italians or Jews, or anyone else for the matter, the rackets.
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And truth be told, the Mafia elbowed their way into everything. Nobody opened the door or welcomed them in...whether it was New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago or anyplace else. Lastly, the Mafia has a legendary history of adapting themselves and establishing numerous rackets in many cities and countries, on several continents. They sense opportunities and then either create rackets or absorb rackets as opportunity allows.

On a side note Dutch OC goes back to the VOC.

Already in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, Dutch ‘merchant capitalism’ was based on trading, shipping and finance, rather than on manufacturing or agriculture. Merchant capitalism included investments in highrisk ventures such as pioneering expeditions to the East Indies to engage in the spice trade.
These ventures were soon consolidated in the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which established the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, subsequently renamed the Amsterdam Bourse, in 1602. This was the first stock exchange to formally begin trading in securities. Trade and ship building also helped Rotterdam become Europe’s largest harbour (de Vries & van der Woude, 1997). Still today, the port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe, and until 2002 also functioned as the world’s busiest port, only later to be surpassed by ports in Singapore, Dubai and China. The trade and finance orientation of the Dutch, combined with their central geographical location on the North Sea amidst large European countries, a big harbour and an important airport, Schiphol, make the country attractive for legal as well as illegal trade and finance. Organised crime groups (hereafter OCGs) in the Netherlands have adjusted to the Dutch trading patterns and to the country’s multi-ethnicity.

Always intrigued by the term "white slavery" lol, when was it first used?

Legendary CN boss Joey Aiuppa was literally schooled by Irish mobster Jonh Moore aka Claude Maddox. William O'Donnell was one of the masterminds of the infamous Holywood extortion case in which Ricca ended up in jail and Nitto killed himself, while O'Donnell remained untouched. Wasnt Catena schooled by Abner Zwillman before entering many of the lucrative rackets and going up in the CN hierarchy? One of Chicago's most powerful capos Turk Torello was schooled by Fifke Corngold before entering Cosa Nostra. And there are countless other examples in which non-Italian associates acted as recruiters for CN members and sometimes even vouched for those same guys.


I disagree. The Irish mob didnt "create" the rackets in the US, nor did the Italians, but instead the Irish established the base for all future OC in the US and they were the first to do it. Thats a fact. You can see that with a simple comparison between the Irish mob and Italian OC during the early 20th century. The Irish were at the top. Owney Madden retired sometime around the 1950s but Chicago's non-Ital faction brought him back to an extent. The Italians simply breached the borders of being more violent and eliminating everyone who stood in their way. When the Irish had their own internal conflict during the 1900's, they mostly bombed houses or joints with no people in it, but as i already said the Italians were different. Take Capone for example lol




Dont know about other cities but in Chicago was different since during the early 1900's the Irish controlled a gambling commission which also included Italian representatives, followed by African-American and Jewish reps. As I previously said, during the 1910's the Irish and the Italians were in alliance, both in illegal rackets and politics. There was never a racial problem in Chicago's underworld.



Mostly the English and the German, not the Irish. During the late 19th and early 20th century the Irish were also considered a "second class" and as you already know, there are also many racial slurs regarding the Irish too.



Now you are on my turf lol lol

First of all, the original Irish mob in Chicago "died" at the beginning of Prohibition and the so-called O'Banion gang wasnt Irish at all since O'Banion was the only Irish guy in that "alliance". Im saying that because O'Banion WAS in fact in alliance with other ethnic mobsters AND the old Chicago Mafia, especially with Mike Merlo and Joe Aiello and everyone in Chicago who was with the D'Aquila regime, against the Masseria group. Thats why he was killed by Yale and Pollaccia.

On the other hand, later we have Irish killers and money makers who worked with the Chicago Outfit, mainly because their connection already started since the days of Colosimo. And even AFTER Capone or decades later, we still have many Irish racketeers like Heeney, Moore, O'Donnell etc. who were literally considered "members" of the Chicago crime syndicate and were involved in many key rackets and also both political and union connections, and also answered directly to the CN bosses.

It was all "peace and love" LOL