Hello All.

As i have mentioned before, i am currently writing my dissertation on the socio-political impacts of the American mafia on twentieth century American life.

It hasn't escaped my attention that there are some people who post on here who could easily be considerred experts on the mafia. I would very much like to post sections of my dissertation so that you may read it and offer oppinions/let me know of any mistakes.

Would this be acceptable?! I dont want to just post up large sections and annoy the hell out of people...i thought i would at least ask.

Thanks.

Ben.

I will give my opinion, even though I'm no expert on the Mafia yet. Post the parts that you want people to read in this one thread, that way people who want to read it can read it and those who don't can skip the thread.

I think, at least for me anyway, that people get annoyed when people have one topic they want to talk about but keep making new threads about it.

Go for it BB Ben. In fact a few here would be curious and appreciate it to see your work and I doubt anyone will have a problem with you doing so. But like DMC says, you're probably best keeping it in one thread. I'm no expert on the mafia but I'd be willing to read it. My dissertation isn't until next year but I wish I could do something similar. I don't think they'd allow a business dissertation on illigal organised crime.

By all means, 3B, it'd be a welcome thread.

Nice One fellas.

I shall endeavour to post up my introduction as soon as i am happy with it.

Please bring it on Ben. I am very interested in reading what you have written.


Don Cardi

good on you ben

I'm writing a book too, but it's not about real life crime. It's totally fictional but I want to make it believable.

Anyway, I would be interested in reading anything anyone has written.

Okay two little bits. Have a read and let me know if it is a load of shite.

cheers.

Any comments welcome.

Ben

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The Castellamarese war of the last 1920s pitted two rival factions against each other. Slavatore Maranzano came out the victor. However, he was murdered when he tried to consolidate his position as “Capi du tutti capi” (Boss of all bosses). Charles “Lucky” Luciano, organised an alliance with several other young and ambitious mobsters, to have Marazano killed. After this Luciano assigned territories out and organised the formation of “The Commission”, a council of family bosses that would mediate in disputes and inter-family rivalries. There was no overall Boss of bosses, though that said, it was widely regarded that Luciano was “first among equals”.

Luciano also formalised the structure of a mafia family. This structure still exists to this day, as do the rules on membership. At the head of the family is the “Boss” or “Don”. Directly below him in the hierarchy is the Underboss. Equal with the Underboss is the “Consiglieri”. He is the senior advisor to the Boss and will often counsel the Boss on problems between family members. Under the “Consiglieri” are the “Caporegimes”, more commonly known as “Captains”. They run “crews” of ten or so soldiers. The Soldiers are the bottom of the ladder. They are every day criminals who do a lot of the dirty work for the higher ranks of the family. Crimes they are engaged in are wide and varied. However the more common “bread and butter” include truck hijacking, extortion rackets, illegal gambling, drug dealing and burglary. It is only the top earners who will eventually rise up the ranks and become captains or higher. The Soldiers are often keen to do whatever it takes in order to progress, often this will include murdering on the behest of the Boss. For example, John Gotti was given orders to kill James McBratney, an Irish gangster who had been behind the kidnapping of a nephew of Carlo Gambino (Don of the Gambino crime family and most powerful mafia leader in the country at that time). The Soldiers are obliged to pay tribute (or “kick up”) to their Captain. This is usually around 20% of what they make. In turn the Captains have to kick up to the Boss. The Boss will rarely receive money directly from soldiers, there is almost always some insulation between the low ranking criminals and the higher echelons of the family . Though the soldiers may be lowest rank within the family they can still be worth many millions of dollars .

The mafia also receives income from other ethnic groups. These people can never be “made” members as they are not of Italian descent. They are known as “Associate” members of crews. Henry Hill, the mobster whose live story was told in the movie “Goodfellas” was only ever an associate member due to his father being of Irish descent. He was, however, massively involved with a crew in the Luchese Family in Brooklyn, New York. He paid tribute to Paul Vario, the longtime Brooklyn Captain, but would eventually be instrumental in his imprisonment after “flipping” (becoming an FBI informant) and giving evidence in court against Vario and his crew, people whom he had grown up with and with whom he was supposed close friends. In “Wiseguy”, the book that the motion picture "Goodfellas" was based on, Hill tells Nick Pillegi, the ghost writer, exactly what it meant to be backed up by a “made member” of the mafia.

“They’re like the police department for wiseguys. For instance, say I’ve got a fifty-thousand dollar hijack load, and when I go to make my delivery, instead of getting paid, I get stuck up. What am I supposed to do? Go to the cops? Not Likely. Shoot it out? I’m a hijacker, not a cowboy. No. The only way to guarantee that I’m not going to get ripped off by anybody is to be established with a member, like Paulie. Somebody who is a made man. A member of a crime family. A soldier, a captian. Then, if somebody fucks with you, they fuck with him and that’s the end of the ball game. Goodbye. They’re dead, with the hijacked stuff rammed down their throats, as well as a lot of other things. ”

Honestly it needs to be edited, but sounds good so far-its easy to read which is important. How much have you wrote on it so far?

Salvatore, not Slavatore (sp)

Capo di tutti capi or Capo dei capi (sp)

This is something I wanted to ask for a long time but forgot to ask: Wasn't it Maranzano who formalised the structure of the families. He held a speech for all the top guys, explaining everything Bada Bing Ben said in his essay (structure, hierarchy, ...), so actually he should have credit for what's generally given to Luciano.
The only difference is that Luciano excluded the position of capo dei capi.

Don't take my criticizms the wrong way. I'm just nit picking I guess lol

I think they have become VERY lax on the rules these days.


Ambition can sometimes be a persons downfall. Top earners are not always looked upon as being good (like in the movies) they are also looked upon as wanting to take someones job, which can be detrimental to one's health


It seems like you are writing more of a "movie" type of paper rather than real life (I'm not trying to be mean). It's just that in real life the structure doesn't really matter and positions sometimes don't mean anything. I'm jogging my memory here but didn't Castellano make Dellacrocce underboss just to try to make peace? in reality Dellacrocce had no power.

And that was the big difference. With Maranzano he structured it like the Roman Empire, with his being the Julius Caesar. He still gave the orders and no one under him had any real power without his approval.

But Luciano and Lansky were smarter. They structured it like a corporation with a board of directors/shareholders. Luciano and Lansky made the other bosses feel like they were equals. Gave them a say of sorts. Maranzano didn't.


Don Cardi

Maranzano also made the fatal mistake of demanding a tribute from each and every Mafioso in the Five Families. The bottom line in the Mafia (as elsewhere in society): money talks. They might have put up with Maranzano's Julius Caesar fantasies, but when it came to demanding money--fuggeddaboutit. (In a modern parallel: Paul Castellano violated Mob protocol by failing to attend Neil Dellacroce's funeral and wake, by never going out on the street to meet with his people, and by carrying on with a Columbian servant under his own roof, with his wife and daughter present. The people under him might have put up with it. But he was also a compulsive cheapskate who squeezed them unmercifully--and that's why they supported Gotti's regicide of Castellano.)

Part of Luciano's brilliance was that, although he was born in Sicily in the 19th century, he was a thoroughly modern, thoroughly American Mafioso. As DC said, he and Lansky organized the Commission like a corporate Board of Directors.

Even more brilliantly, Luciano didn't appoint himself "Chairman of the Board" because he didn't have to--everyone knew he was first among equals. In fact, another of his brilliant moves was to appoint Al Capone as chairman--and Capone was not only not a Sicilian, his "Outfit" wasn't a Mafia family. The title was ceremonial: he gave it to Capone to keep him and his cowboys on the ranch, so to speak. Luciano also appointed Joe Bonanno, the most loner-prone of the five NYC Dons, as "secretary" to the commission--another ceremonial title designed to flatter him and keep him cooperating with the others.

BTW: Lansky arranged the two assassinations--of Masseria and of Maranzano--that put Luciano on top. Although Lansky didn't pull a trigger, his allies did. Still another brilliant Luciano move: Masseria and Maranzano would have recognized his people, but not Lansky's.

Here's something you might want to think about for your book. When I first watched the movie The Godfather I researched the history on how the mafia was started. What I understood was that it basically started after the black plague swept through Italy. The people there had always had to give up what food they grew to someone higher than them plus what they grew was limited because of the population. After the plague there was a huge loss of life, and so people could grow more food for themselves and different foods, like olives. I understood that the poor people in the country could have nothing because of their own government. Then the mafia was started as a protection for those poor people and because Sicily had previously been invaded by other countries so much. I could be wrong about some of the stuff I say so you'd have to research it yourself or ask someone who knows for sure. I seen it as being similiar to a government that ruled its own boundaries against a government that oppressed its own people. I watched some stuff about this on the history channel and read online about it. Now after that I don't know much and couldn't argue the point, but it seems to me that at one point in time the mafia was a good thing. I think putting in a little information on how the mafia started would help people understand your story quite a bit and would also be important for people who have no clue how the whole thing started to begin with.

Cathy, did you ever read John Dickie's Cosa Nostra?

That book explains very good how the Mafia was 'founded', and it didn't really was the same as how you explained it.
Maybe Dickie is wrong, but he looked very credible. So I don't want to offend you, but I just wanted to say there is a considerable chance that you aren't correct.

I'm not offended by what you posted, I've just read all these theories and this is the one that came out the most and I was thinking about what the guy was writing about. I probably need to read the book you mentioned. Thanks.

Cathy the connection to the dark ages and the black plague is a mythos spread by the mafia themselves. They like to see their roots in the 1298 uprising against the Anjou, "Vespera Siciliana" (the black plague, came also around than 1346 over Messina into Europe/Sicilia), and a legendary secret society of that time the "beati paoli". Historicans (Lupo...etc, nonitalian Dickie) proofed that this a legend. Beside other groups, the Cosa Nostra mainly originated from the gabelloti, criminals, who controlled the land for the lords, and defended it against the poor workers/farmers.

I bought the book Cosa Nostra and started reading it. I'm on page 20 where the introduction starts, and so far it is quite different than the other stuff I've read online.

Plus I kinda believe there is a grain of truth to some of Puzo's novels, because I know when I write things that I write as make believe they are actually quite truthful and did happen, but it's nothing I would want to put a non-fiction label on, and through meeting other writer's I've learned they do this same thing. Most people don't know that.