blogpost 5: Why the Mafia was born in the world

One of the main objective of the mob is to gain money and power. To gain control of the city by money and by scaring the weak with its soldiers. On the recent blogs that I've posted,we already answered how they do it. Now in this particular blog, we are going to find out why do they do it. Going back to the year 1920's and 30's, the U.S. had an economic crisis, they called it the "Great Depression". In those times, there we're lots of citizens who did not have any jobs at all. Many of them lived in the streets, beside the dumpster and some of them steal for their daily meal, for them to eat and to survive the daily life. Looking deeper into this, some of the most wanted, rich and powerful mobsters grew up to this environment. 

 According to this article I found, entitled: Mafia in the United States, from the website history.com, the American mafia was composed of Italian-American organized-crime network with operations in cities across the United States, particularly New York and Chicago. During the 1920s Prohibition era, they  rose to power through its success in the illicit liquor trade. After the Prohibition era, they moved other operations on criminal ventures. This includes drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and even infiltrating labor unions and legitimate businesses such as construction and New York’s garment industry. 

  The Mafia’s violent crimes, secret rituals and notorious characters such as Al Capone and John Gotti have fascinated the public and become a part of popular culture. Trying weaken the Mafia, the government used anti-racketeering laws to convict high-ranking mobsters. However, it remains in business today.  In New York City alone, the number of Italians soared from 20,000 to 250,000 between 1880 and 1890, and by 1910, that number had jumped to 500,000 immigrants and first-generation Italian Americans, or one-tenth of the city’s population, according to historian Thomas Repetto.

 The majority of these immigrants were law-abiding, but, as with most large groups of people, some were criminals who formed neighborhood gangs, often preying on those in their own communities.