CRIMINAL ACTIVITY IN THE U.S.   Term Paper ID:29060 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: History of America's crime problems. Criminal activity and policing during the 1920s and 1930s. Law enforcement branches. Growth of organized crime. The American Mafia. Activities of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Dutch Schultz. Law enforcement. Role of the FBI and Bureau Chief J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover's motives. Paper Introduction: CRIME AND POLICING DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION INTRODUCTION: "The Roaring Twenties," -- what a perfect aphorism. It was certainly roaring with music and dance, but it also was roaring with gangsters. In the aspect of gangsterism, the thirties were also roaring. Americans in this time period tolerated criminals, especially those involved in bootlegging. Crime in the 1930s is an outgrowth and extension of the crime that developed in the 1920s, during Prohibition after passage of the Volstead Act; in fact, the Volstead Act was not repealed until 1933, four years after the beginning of the Great Depression. Crime in the 1920s and 1930s is often seen as an outgrowth of prohibition or the application of business organization to illegal activities. As regards criminal activity, the major event that came with Prohibiti Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. with Luciano and anotherJewish gangster, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. WhitePlains: Longman, Inc. did not use this power to take onthe real enemy, organized crime (Summers, 1993). In part, it was a recognitionthat the old local sheriff and Texas Ranger system was no longer adequate(Watkins, 1995). Schultz beatthe government in the trial. Cromie, Robert & Pinkston, J. The District Attorney of New York, Thomas E.Dewey, was not finished with Schultz, and continued investigating hisactivities. Often, police were under the payroll of organized crime,and police who would participate in illegal activities themselves. Edgar Hoover was out to create a power base for himself within thebureaucracy of government. Kessler, Ronald (1994). TheSicilians valued "omerta," the code of silence, and strictly adhered to theruling that this was a secret society, open only to those who sharedSicilian blood. On the evening ofOctober 23, 1935, while Schultz was informing his New Jersey associates ofhis plan, a Murder Inc. New York: Little, Brown & Co.----------------------- 1 Crime in the 192 s and193 s is often seen as an outgrowth of prohibition or the application ofbusiness organization to illegal activities. (1973). Crime had become betterorganized beyond the single locality as a result of the development oftravel and communication technology during the 192 s, and was given animpetus toward that organization by the opportunities created byProhibition. The F.B.I. He formed Murder Inc. Americans inthis time period tolerated criminals, especially those involved inbootlegging. The underworld insisted it was a"bad rap," claiming Dewey framed the case with perjured testimony of pimpsand whores who would say anything to avoid going to jail themselves.Luciano was not brought down by the F.B.I., whose Director questioned theexistence of a Mafia in America (Powell, 2 ). Luciano started his own prostitution racket in the early 192 'sand was in total control of prostitution in Manhattan by 1925. One form of crime that was prevalent in the 192 s - that of the KuKlux Klan, which saw a resurgence in its membership across the country,particularly outside the Old South in the midwest and west - continued inthe 193 s. 1973. In the 193 's, they joinedwith Luciano and formed Murder Inc. Simultaneously, there came the increased market for the moonshiner,and stills became more numerous. Daniels, Roger (199 ). With the huge sums of money they made from the sale ofbootleg liquor, the criminals were able to corrupt local governments andtheir police forces to the point where there was virtually no force withinthe country to oppose them. He trained in the Five Points Gang, a Mafia crew under John Torrio.In this gang, he became friends with Al Capone and other prominentgangsters. Hoover not only did not go after the far more dangerousorganized crime, but for many years actively and publicly pooh-poohed theidea that organized crime and a group like the Mafia even existed outsidethe pages of more lurid crime reporting (Summers, 1993). Dewey convictedhim on compulsory prostitution charges. "The Syndicate" ruled Americanorganized crime for nearly fifty years (Powell, 2 ). In contrast to the noble Sicilian mafia, the American mafiahas proved to be a conniving, cold hearted organization (Powell, 2 ). Soon the Bureau had a virtual monopolyon the supply of crime information, not only to the police but to thecountry at large. Eventually, hewas arrested for tax evasion. Rather than go after the Mafia, Hoover went after the gansterdescendants of the old traditional form of American outlaw, bankrobberslike John Dillinger or Bonnie and Clyde, and other traditional killers andthieves like Pretty Boy Floyd and Machine-Gun Kelly. Scheingold, Stuart (1984). Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Policedepartments would not cooperate with one another and share information,which left law enforcement at a disadvantage with criminals who wereorganized in national syndicates and operating across political borders(Summers, 1993). Powell, Hickman (2 ). Crime in the 193 s is an outgrowth and extension of the crimethat developed in the 192 s, during Prohibition after passage of theVolstead Act; in fact, the Volstead Act was not repealed until 1933, fouryears after the beginning of the Great Depression. Such feeling added to the mystiqueof the criminals such as John Dillinger or the duo of Bonnie and Clyde, whoin normal times would be condemned for what they were - brutal murderersand thieves. The Politics of Law and Order. The FBI. He becomefamiliar with Joe Adonis, Vito Genovese and - most important among Italiangangsters - Frank Costello. The Great Depression: America in the 193 s, Vol.1. The Chief of Police requested from the Mayor an emergency hiring ofofficers that resulted in twenty-five to thirty extra men on the streets,the largest number that had ever been hired by the department at one time.The new officers used their own cars while the city supplied the gas. Many citizens ofWaco are believed to have survived the Great Depression because of thispolice-initiated soup line. Accurate or not, its version became gospel (Summers,1993).CONCLUSIONS: The Great Depression saw the "professionalization" of both lawenforcement and the criminals they fought. Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was born in Brooklyn, NY in 19 6. New York: Ivan R. Hoover's destruction of these outlaws, in well-publicized shootouts that aved the government the expense of a trialafterwards, were as much for the purpose of reinstilling a fear ofgovernment power as they were to fight crime (Scheingold, 1984). Edgar Hoover. Meyer Lansky was never an initiated member of the Mafia since he wasnot Italian. Lucianoimpressed by the way Costello bought protection from city officials and thepolice, which Meyer Lansky had already been sayin was the most importantingredient in any organized criminal operation (Powell, 2 ). The development of the automobile for getawayscontributed to both bank robbing and moonshining. It wouldonly be when the drug problem was out of hand that the F.B.I. The equal and opposite reaction to this development was the growth ofthe Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the leadership of J. Schultz diedlater that evening in a Newark City hospital (Powell, 2 ).THE F.B.I.: Unfortunately, the Waco example of "community policing" was not wide-spread. The beginning of 1936 saw the end of Luciano as a power in theAmerican underworld. While stilla teenager, he met Meyer Lansky and went on to form the Bug and Meyer Mob,which specialized in gambling and car theft. (Summers, 1993, 45) When hebecame Director of the Bureau in 1924, he quickly formed an elite force ofpowerful law enforcement officers. He miraculously survived this, which is wherehis nickname of "Lucky" came from (Powell, 2 ). He opened a saloon in the Bronx during Prohibition and organized agroup of thugs to expand his bootlegging operations. New York: Harper Perennial. (Kessler, 1994). Later, with the help of Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, he killedSalvatore Massimo, the apparent "victor" of the war. New York: Barricade Books. "Coming to America: A History of Immigrationand Ethnicity in American Life. Thesyndicate moved to control bootlegging, prostitution, narcotics, gambling,loan-sharking and labor rackets. The remnants of theold Mafia were incorporated in a new national crime syndicate, a more opensociety that combined all the ethnic elements of organized crime. This periodestablished many young men as leaders in the New American Mafia (Daniels,199 ). The Sicilian Mafia was based on the belief that justice, honorand vengeance are for a man to take care of, not for a government. Inthe aspect of gangsterism, the thirties were also roaring. As headof the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924 until his death in 1972,he was the nation's chief law enforcement officer (Summers, 1993). (199 ). His empire soon grew,with many illegal establishments in the Bronx and Manhattan. Galveston, in particular, developed organizedcrime similar in many ways to the Chicago example with ethnic minoritiesand corrupt law enforcement officers playing prominent roles (Watkins,1995). Unfortunately, Hoover went after the "easy" criminals like JohnDillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd and Machine-Gun Kelly - who is supposed tohave given the bureau its popular name when he cried "Don't shoot, G-men!"upon his capture. Lansky became a close associate of Luciano after his rise topower and influence among the Jewish gangsters, known as Myer's mob. New York Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Hoover brought to the task his own brilliance as an organizer, ashrewd ability to read the national mood and a capacity for self-advertisement unparalleled in public life. In 1931, Luciano created what can be called the New American Mafia bywiping out the last important exponents of the Sicilian-style Mafia in thiscountry, most prominently his supposed leader, Joe "The Boss" Masseria. To address the problem at its root, a policematron and an ex-Chief of Police started a soup line in the early 193 sthat sometimes extended four or five blocks. The major event ofthe 193 s was the emergence of a Federal response to crime that had goneinterstate, in the form of J. Hot stew, made from vegetablesand meat donated by local stores, was served every day with day-old breadfrom the bakeries. In addition, gettinga big-time gangster like Al Capone for failure to pay his income taxes -while indeed ironic in the context of his career - was not the kind ofending to a gangster's life that generated a lot of newspaper headlines andcreated the image of a powerful organization, which is what he wanted forthe F.B.I. It was certainlyroaring with music and dance, but it also was roaring with gangsters. The organized criminal activity of alcohol smuggling thataccompanied prohibition is well known from the Chicago and New Yorkexamples, but Texas was the scene of much of the same. Summers, Anthony (1993). Siegel killed Joe "The Boss" Masseria,the last of the "Old Mafia" leaders, which ended the New York mob wars atthat time(Powell, 2 Siegel continued to carry out murders for Luciano and by 1937 therewere a number of contracts out of Siegel's life, since he had angered somany of the bosses. Hoover's decision wasas much political as it was bureaucratic; these criminals had struck achord with an American public that disliked the banks that were robbed, andlooked on these outlaws as "Robin Hoods," even if they never gave more thana dime to any poor people. CRIME AND POLICING DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSIONINTRODUCTION: "The Roaring Twenties," -- what a perfect aphorism. Edgar Hoover was one of the mostpowerful officials in the Federal government of the United States. Attimes, commercial robberies averaged between eight and ten a day in thecity. Hisspeciality was gambling. (1995). J. As regards criminal activity,the major event that came with Prohibition was the expansion of organizedcrime by the Mafia in the major cities of the country. EdgarHoover. Inthe later 193 s, following the example of Hitler's Germany, there arosehome-grown fascist movements in America like the pro-Nazi German-AmericanBund and the Silvershirts, who did attempt to promote race and religion-based hate crimes in the northern cities in which they were based (Watkins,1995).ORGANIZED CRIME: At the turn of the 2 th century, the American Mafia was differentfrom the Sicilian Mafia in a number of ways. To protect him, Lansky and Luciano persuaded Siegel tomove to California. He was particularly successful in dealing with the Jewishorganized criminal gangs (Powell, 2 ). By 1924, Mussolini was determined to rid Italy of the Mafia inSicily, and many members fled to the United States to avoid persecution.These fleeing criminals were well aware there was money to be made in theUnited States through extortion, prostitution, gambling and bootlegging.Every large city soon had its own Mafia chapter. Luciano's great achievement in his reformation of the Mafia was thathe took it out of its purely-ethnic roots. This organization was a group ofspecialized contract killers who were hired out to other mobs(Powell, 2 ). Chicago: Chicago Historical Bookworks. In 1929 he was kidnapped, beaten and stabbedseverally with an icepick. His career isreally tied more to the period of the 192 s and Prohibition in Chicago. The failure of banks andconsequent impoverishment of depositors contributed to the strengthening ofan anti-bank feeling that had existed at least since the Jefferson-Hamiltondebates and Jackson's attacks on banks. Much of the crime problem was related to an overwhelming need forfood, clothing, and money. Luciano was amazed by the old-line mafiosi who counseled him to stayaway from Costello, "the dirty Calabrian." Costello led Luciano astray byintroducing him to other ethnic gangsters like Big Bill Dwyer, and Jewssuch as Arnold Rothstein, Dutch Schultz and Dandy Phil Kastel. During his trial, many of his rackets weretaken over by Luciano, who expected Schultz to be convicted. The old Mafia was founded on asense of loyalty and respect for culture, family and the Sicilian heritage,and was organized to protect its members interests and grant them freedomin business in exchange for absolute loyalty and submission to the"family". used the same technology that had allowed the criminalsto grow into a nationwide organization to became a national police forcethemselves. Edgar Hoover's F.B.I., known at the time as"The G-Men" (Adler & Mueller, 1973). Dee Co. Schultz decided to eliminate Dewey, but the crime syndicatedisagreed. Its long border withMexico and its long coastline just a few days sail from Cuba made Texas aprime locale for rum runners. Even if it had been, it would likely not have mattered; lawenforcement of the day - whether in major cities or small towns - wasstruggling badly. While Al Capone may have been the most famous Italian gangster of theperiod, he was actually not the most important; the fact that he wasNeapolitan, not Sicilian, prevented him from gaining full membership in theold organization, and he did not see how to reorganize it. Independent gangsters could have the rest,which in profit meant practically nothing. (Cromie, Pinkston, 199 , 45) Interestingly, crime rates fell about one third between 1934 and 1938while the nation was struggling to emerge from the Great Depression andweathering another severe economic downturn in 1937 and 1938 (Adler &Mueller, 1973).Crime in the "Hinterland": Crime during Prohibition and the Great Depression was not limited tothe major cities. Criminology New York:McGraw-Hill, Inc. Watkins, T.H. However, rates of lynching declined most significantly duringthe Great Depression. Though Luciano's depredations forced him tomove his operation to New Jersey, Schultz was still considered soinfluential that Luciano asked him to be a member of the Board of Directorsof the crime syndicate. Lucky Luciano: The Man Who Organized Crime inAmerica. In California, Siegel, as the main representative ofthe Luciano and Lansky gang, extorted money from movie studio owners, whilehe continued to do murders for Luciano (Powell, 2 ). Rather than economic downturns, neighborhood influxesof ethnically diverse people were most likely to spur bigoted violence. Sternsher, Bernard (1989). Interestingly, as soon as he had wiped out the outlaws, Hoover wentback to what he had learned first, under Attorney General A. The Piney Woods and the Cross Timbers wereespecially prone to such activity as a result of cultural values anddistance from coast or border. MitchellPalmer - rooting out political dissidents and fighting "disloyalty"(Kessler, 1994). The food was gathered by the police matron andcarried in the police paddy wagon and the city ambulance. In another example, in Waco, Texas, crime rose dramatically from thework of a small group of known career criminals to a mass problem. Prohibition - which was alegal ban on the manufacturer and sale of intoxicating drinks - generated awave of illegal activity since there was big money to be made. At the same time, there was a romanticization of the "gangster" inpopular culture. One could consider this an early example of"community policing" (Sternsher, 1989). References Adler, Freda & Mueller, Gerhard O.W. New York: G.P. would admitwhat everyone else had known for years, that organized crime was the realenemy (Kessler, 1994). During thistime, gangsters openly flaunted their wealth and power. Putnam's Sons. In Texas, the Department of PublicSafety was created by the legislature in 1935 because of the need forgreater professionalism in law enforcement. The newsyndicate included such important mobsters among its governing directors asLansky, Joe Adonis, Dutch Schultz, Louis Lepke and Frank Costello. Dillinger : A Short and ViolentLife. InLuciano's opinion, Masseria's prejudice against other gangsters, Sicilianas well as non-Sicilian, created an unconscionable obstacle to making realprofits. There isno way the organization could have been Mafia-dominated; it is actuallypossible that Jewish gangsters may have outnumbered the Italians. hit man assassinated all of them. He enhanced the FBI's fame by capturingmany gangsters, bank robbers, and other lawbreakers in highly-publicizedevents. In addition, alcohol was readily availablein the oil boom towns of the period in flagrant disregard of the VolsteadAct (Watkins, 1995). Unfortunately, the F.B.I. While Hoover would generate headlines chasing poverty-strickenCommunists in later years, his real enemy made billions of dollarssupplying the American public with the illegal goods it wanted. "Dutch" Schultz was another major player in organized crime at thetime. The most important of all the Mafia leaders of this period wasCharles "Lucky" Luciano, born in 1897 in Sicily, who came to New York in19 6. For nearly half a century J. Where before the members of theMafia would only deal with each other, under Luciano the organization wasable to cooperate with other ethnic-based gangs on items of mutual self-interest. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. Hoover developed a massive crime laboratory, room after room in whichrows of experts peered over ballistics evidence and analyzed poisons,hairs, and fibers. As regards the response of local law enforcement, on the nationallevel the expansion of the FBI is well known, but similar efforts werebeing conducted at the state level. They feared the killing of a District Attorney would only add totheir problems but Schultz would not drop his plan. He realized that getting the Bureau involved infighting the kind of crime that was the forte of organized crime wouldexpose his agents to the same possibility of corruption that had neuteredthe power of local police forces across the country. Hitting Home: The Great Depression in Townand Country. The FBI Crime Laboratory quickly became the mostadvanced in the world - and the key to the expansion of Hoover's empire.The fingerprint and laboratory operations alone changed the Bureau from asmall agency with limited jurisdiction to a vital facility upon whichall other law enforcement depended. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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