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anyone fancy helping a little??
#205598
03/26/06 01:48 PM
03/26/06 01:48 PM
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 116 Nottingham, UK
Bada Bing Ben
OP
Made Member
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OP
Made Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 116
Nottingham, UK
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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.
Thats where you're wrong...out there its the 1990s. In here its 1952.
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Re: anyone fancy helping a little??
#205602
03/26/06 02:54 PM
03/26/06 02:54 PM
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 116 Nottingham, UK
Bada Bing Ben
OP
Made Member
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OP
Made Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 116
Nottingham, UK
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Nice One fellas.
I shall endeavour to post up my introduction as soon as i am happy with it.
Thats where you're wrong...out there its the 1990s. In here its 1952.
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Re: anyone fancy helping a little??
#205606
04/18/06 08:47 AM
04/18/06 08:47 AM
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 116 Nottingham, UK
Bada Bing Ben
OP
Made Member
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OP
Made Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 116
Nottingham, UK
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Okay two little bits. Have a read and let me know if it is a load of shite.
cheers.
Any comments welcome.
Ben
----------------------------------------------------------- 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. ”
Thats where you're wrong...out there its the 1990s. In here its 1952.
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Re: anyone fancy helping a little??
#205608
04/18/06 12:33 PM
04/18/06 12:33 PM
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,854 Milky Way
Enzo Scifo
Underboss
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Underboss
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,854
Milky Way
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Originally posted by Bada Bing Ben: Slavatore Maranzano
“Capi du tutti capi”
Luciano also formalised the structure of a mafia family. 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.
See, we can act as smart as we want, but at the end of the day, we still follow a guy who fucks himself with kebab skewers.
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Re: anyone fancy helping a little??
#205609
04/18/06 05:45 PM
04/18/06 05:45 PM
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,950
DonMichaelCorleone
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,950
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Don't take my criticizms the wrong way. I'm just nit picking I guess lol This structure still exists to this day, as do the rules on membership. I think they have become VERY lax on the rules these days. It is only the top earners who will eventually rise up the ranks and become captains or higher 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.
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Re: anyone fancy helping a little??
#205610
04/18/06 06:00 PM
04/18/06 06:00 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 18,238 The Ravenite Social Club
Don Cardi
Caporegime
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Caporegime

Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 18,238
The Ravenite Social Club
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Originally posted by Enzo Scifo: [ 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. 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 
Don Cardi Five - ten years from now, they're gonna wish there was American Cosa Nostra. Five - ten years from now, they're gonna miss John Gotti.
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Re: anyone fancy helping a little??
#205611
04/18/06 06:39 PM
04/18/06 06:39 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 19,696 AZ
Turnbull
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 19,696
AZ
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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.
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
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Re: anyone fancy helping a little??
#205615
04/27/06 09:53 AM
04/27/06 09:53 AM
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 32 Cartago
Franklin
Wiseguy
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Wiseguy
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 32
Cartago
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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.
Pruvamulu, potommunillo cu nualtri, videmu supergiù comi si cumporta, comi nun si cumporta
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