It was welfare. For the entire country. Following the Depression. Italian-Americans were on the teet like everyone else.
And, for the umpteenth time, the many social programs of the early-to-mid 20th century are the reason those white working class neighborhoods held up so well, including Italian neighborhoods. They had help.
"...the successful annihilation of organized crime's subculture in America would rock the 'legitimate' world's foundation, which would ultimately force fundamental social changes and redistributions of wealth and power in this country. Meyer Lansky's dream was to bond the two worlds together so that one could not survive without the other." - Dan E. Moldea
