Criminology

When one thinks or hears of the word  Mafia,  what would immediately come into mind are gangsters or the mob, organized crime, secret rites, code of silence,  family,  illegal activities, the clich of making an offer one cannot refuse, and more often than not brutal public executions out of retribution.  What is even worse is Italians, including Americans of Italian descent are more often than not stereotyped as mafiosis compared to other ethnic groups in the United States, no thanks to colorful characters from Al Capone and Lucky Luciano of the Prohibition Era to John Gotti of the 1990s who have ironically become  legendary  for a mobster.   Mafia  and  Italian  has seemed to become intertwined.  Hollywood has further reinforced that stereotyping in the movies they produced portraying the Mafia ranging from the serious  The Godfather  trilogy and  Goodfellas,  to even the light-hearted ones like  Analyze This  and its sequel,  Analyze That,  and even a television mini-series  The Sopranos.    As a matter of fact, acclaimed Hollywood actors Robert de Niro and even Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone (to an extent) are often associated with such roles as though no other role would fit them except that of gangster owing also to their Italian ancestry.  Nevertheless, former Mafia members, either arrested or  retired,  have also helped shed more light in the face of the testimonies they gave to help one gain a better understanding of the Mafia.

Criminal organizations are formed when it involves two or more people because a network is created.  The composition of this network varies from loose, informal groups to highly structured ones common among institutions such as corporate or military organizations.  If there is something these mainstream organizations and criminal organizations have in common, it is the existence of a hierarchy of authority, division of labor and continuity (Finckenauer and Waring, 11-12).

Being a criminal organization, the Mafia has often clashed with the law on countless occasions.  Owing to their unique nature of appearing legitimate as well as their ability to work behind the scenes, there are times when they are capable of controlling the police through a combination of bribery and blackmail though there are times they can also fight the law by killing police officers.  In the United States, there is probably one law enforcement institution that the Mafia could not penetrate, this is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which is the premier law enforcement agency of the United States whose history has been also colorful and sometimes the stuff of legend dating back to the time of the  G-Men  of the Prohibition Era as well as the era of the Public Enemies, cracking down on gangsters of all forms and sizes, much of it was attributed to the FBIs first director, J. Edgar Hoover who himself was a legend in his own right.  They have developed a reputation so great that no criminal would dare go up against the FBI, this also includes the Mafia.  When it comes to the FBI, this is where criminals balk.

The Mafia
The word  Mafia  is not associated with a single monolithic organization of organized criminals. It is a loose association of various criminal organizations in Sicily, sometimes called  families.   Despite differences in leadership, they share a common organizational hierarchy and follow a code of honor which is considered very unusual for a group whose business is crime ranging from the petty street crimes to white-collar crimes.    Criminal organizations have been in existence since the early times and the word  mafia  was first introduced sometime around the 1850s in Italy.   The  Mafia is often associated with Italians and also Italian-Americans,  but eventually, this word would also be used by other non-Italian criminal organizations especially that of the Russian mobs that also established their  franchise  in the United States as well as in other parts of the world.  To a certain extent, the word is also used to label similar criminal outfits like the Japanese Yakuza and the Hong Kong Traids although they themselves do not use that name.  Yet despite the different cultural backgrounds, they still share that common hierarchy and honor code as the  original  Sicilian families.

The United States has become one of the  franchises  of these mafias owing to the immigration of these people to American shores and it would be here that they would establish their own outfits that would be independent from the ones in their countries of origin.  When Italian immigrants created their American-based mafia, it is collectively known as La Cosa Nostra though the families under it are autonomous from one another, most especially from the  old country.   As a  family,  a mafia outfit is centered on its head or boss.  Hollywood popularized the term as the  Godfather  or  Don  though the actual term used by insiders is the  capofamiglia.   He receives a portion of every  job  done by a family.  The  coronation  of a Don varies from one family to the other.  For some, a Don can designate anyone to take his place should he die or be imprisoned, whether it is his son or a trusted subordinate though not necessarily the underboss.  In some cases, according to insiders, a Don can be elected among the  caporegimes  in a ceremony similar to electing the Pope.  A  consigliere  is an adviser who provides counsel to the boss and can be made up of more than one men.  They primarily serve as mediators between other families in settling disputes peacefully.  Below would be the  caporegime  or simply the  capo  who is the head of a  crew  made up of  soldiers  who make up the muscle of the family and perform all the tasks.  The Don appoints a capo from the ranks based on reliability (Capeci, 7-10).

The  soldiers  form the crew of the capo.  They perform the  dirty  work in order to move up the ranks.  To be a  soldier  is to be considered a  made man  which in turn means one is fully accepted to the family after completing a rite of passage or proving ones worth to the capo and the hierarchy after performing a mission whether it would be to transport illegal goods or to kill a marked person.  Nevertheless, the primary role of the soldier is to make money which in turn is moved up to the upper echelons but they still keep a portion for themselves as an incentive (Finckenauer and Waring, 11).  At the bottom of this totem pole are the associates.  They are not full-fledged members of the family but they collaborate with them whether it involves unloading hijacked trucks or a union member with ties to the mob and does their bidding in the course of their regular duties and even lawyers who defend   represent mobsters in criminal cases.  Non-Italians can be associates but can never rise up the hierarchy as membership is exclusively for men of Italian descent though half-Italians are also accepted provided he is Italian on his fathers side of the family.  Yet even these  worker bees  of the family hierarchy can become rich and powerful with the money they earn from their illegal trade but in the underworld, it can be competitive and possibly cutthroat.  This can be very dangerous for associates.  Because of their distance from the family, their loyalty is suspect as they are the most susceptible to being turned by rival families or even the authorities and more often than not, a lot end up dead.  Killed for betraying the family (Capeci, 11-12).

As stated before, only men of Italian descent, or at least Italian on their fathers side can be accepted into the family.  They may be made to undergo  tests  to assess their resolve and commitment to the family and if often involves committing murder though not necessarily performing the act but acting at least as accomplices.  If they successfully complete these missions, these new soldiers are inducted in a ceremony that is an eclectic mix of Roman Catholic and masonic rituals.  The most common part of the rite is where the candidates finger is pricked and blood is smeared on a small statuette of a saint and made to take the vow of  omerta,  or silence.  The code of silence is one of the treasured values of the mob and it requires all its members never to disclose their activities to anyone outside, including their spouses under the pain of retribution which would also be extended to their families.  To become a member of the family is a blessing and a curse.  For the former, it promises wealth and power if they play their cards right and a feeling of belonging to a bigger family with a vast network.  But all of these come at a higher price should one betray the family as death is often the punishment meted out and it is done in a very brutal and inhumane way so as to set a lesson that this should not be done by others.

Like a legitimate business, criminal organizations exist mainly to make money.  And given their criminal nature, they have a free hand on how to obtain it and it is mostly through illegal means.  The means on how the mafia makes money has not changed over the years of their existence.  If the early generation were engaged in petty thievery and smuggling, this is still continued by their present-day counterparts.  Mafia operations run nearly the whole gamut of activities which may be too numerous to enumerate.  Besides thievery, other  small-time  means of making money would involve extortion where they would demand protection money from the community to protect them from rival gangs.  Those who refused would be roughed up or terrorized to force compliance.  They also indulge in loan-sharking where they lend money and charge high interest rates making it difficult for the debtors or payees to pay back and if they are unable to pay, they are punished severely.

The huge amounts of money made from these activities would enable the families to invest it in legitimate businesses.  Before this can be done, they would deposit them in banks and in the process  launder  the money to make it  clean  or legitimate enough to be used for legitimate activities such as buying a house or starting a legitimate business which in turn could serve as a front for their continuing illegal operations which keep their coffers full (Volkman, 133-136).  In effect, mobsters can appear like upstanding members of society rather than the scruffy-looking, coarse and heartless underworld image often associated with them.  With their new found power and influence, money became a new weapon for them to wield.  This money has enabled them to infiltrate other legitimate businesses, they can afford the services of the best lawyers to protect them legally and if this is not enough, they would bribe the authorities and use blackmail if any of them waver in their commitment.

What makes mobsters different from individual petty criminals is that they have  rules  or parameters on how they operate and they are untouchable.  The latter attribute  is a combination of the power and influence they wield and the endearing reputation they made to the common folk which made them more sympathetic rather than resentful.  The  legendary  Al Capone was an example.  His ill-gotten fortune was invested in businesses which enabled him to live in luxurious hotels and was able to rub elbows with the whos who of society. Despite being known as a criminal.  He was virtually untouchable.  Contrary to the notions that such mobsters are heartless by nature, men like Capone also knew how to play to the crowd.  In doing so, they would become the proverbial Robin Hoods of taking from the rich and giving to the poor.  In Capones case, this was the era of Prohibition and Capone and his gang knew that the law could not keep men from wanting to have a drink and he supplied them and in the process was endeared to them that they would overlook the fact he was a criminal (Reppetto, 111-115  Calderon).

Another reason why mobsters are untouchable is they would do a favor to someone who could not go to the authorities in times of trouble.  Such was the case of Frankie Yale, who recruited Capone into the family before the latter moved to Chicago and later went on to become the boss of the Brooklyn-based  Black Hand  family.  Yale helped a friend, a Greek emigre restauranteur Nick Colouvos with his problem when the latters daughter was sexually molested by his own brother.  Yale helped the girl recover and helped bring justice to Colovous telling him that killing may not be fun but it is sometimes necessary especially to those who deserved it (Balsamo and Carpozi, 1-6).  Furthermore, although most of their activities are illegal, they are  harmless  in the sense that no one gets hurt or killed except for those who deal with drugs.  From here, it is easy to understand why mobsters are protected by the very people they victimize because they know how to win hearts and minds in the right places.  This was part of the rules where they operate to ensure the continued cooperation of the people and less interference from the authorities.  The violence they employ is measured and yet proven effective as it keeps people docile.

The FBI
The natural enemy of any criminal, petty or organized, is the law, and the war between these two protagonists have been going on since time immemorial.  Organized crime has proven to be one of the most challenging adversaries of law enforcement agencies.  What makes them so difficult to defeat is the fact that these mobsters often appear as legitimate individuals running legitimate businesses and trying to obtain evidence to the contrary is very difficult if not impossible.  The mob is  smarter  than the average street criminal in the sense that they know how to operate in mainstream society and they know how the rules work, as well as the law.  They have an army of lawyers and accountants to protect them from any legal or fiscal entanglements that could implicate them.  Furthermore, their monetary power is employed to  buy  local law enforcement or court officials which is why they are hardly arrested or convicted of any crime (Finckenauer and Waring, 15).

The only law enforcement agency that has proven to be more effective in combating organized crime in the United States is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  Created in 1908, it began as the Bureau of Investigation.  They investigated mainly white-collar crimes.  By the First World War, the role of the Bureau evolved to include intelligence and counter-intelligence as they dealt with foreign spies operating on American soil.  During the gangster era of the Prohibition years, the Bureau competed with the Department of the Treasury in investigating these crimes and the latter prevailed.  Furthermore, another weakness the Bureau had was dealing with federal crimes that were local in jurisdiction and called for creative and innovative ways to address them.  It was upon the appointment of J. Edgar Hoover as Director of the Bureau that the FBI began to evolve into an effective law enforcement agency.  This was underscored by the exploits of the  G-Men  during the Prohibition era where they brought down colorful characters such as John Dillinger.

Yet despite the reforms made by Hoover and the successes they had against other crime syndicates, FBI operations against the mafia in the 1930s was hamstrung by the lack of federal laws. Following Prohibition, many mob activities were carried out locally, or if interstate, and they did not constitute major violations within the Bureaus jurisdiction.  The FBI could not interfere in local crimes and this was why the mob was able to get away and continue their activities with impunity. Furthermore, FBI agents never did undercover work during the administration of Hoover because of the  clean  image he wanted to uphold for the FBI and engaging in such would sully the Bureaus image especially if the agents get involved in nefarious activities in the line of duty (Pistone, 112).  It was only in 1957 that a need for federal legislation was needed with the discovery of the New York State Police that many of the renowned mobsters from all over the United States had congregated in upstate New York for a meeting. The FBI managed to obtain information on all the participants that were identified, and based on these findings, they arrived at the conclusion that there existed a nationally-organized crime network. However, it was not until insider Joseph Valachi agreed to testify that the mafia was given a name - La Cosa Nostra. Nevertheless, the  mafia  or  mob  still stuck as the term to describe members of this syndicate.  It was then that the public and the authorities realized the true extent of organized crime networks in the United States and was not exclusively limited within a given state (US Department of Justice).

Following Valachis expose, Congress passed two new laws to reinforce federal racketeering and gambling statutes that were enacted in the 1950s and early 1960s to aid the FBIs fight against mob influence in these activities. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 provided for the use of court-ordered electronic surveillance in the investigation of certain specified violations which involved wiretapping and later on more sophisticated means as new technology was introduced. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Statute of 1970 entailed that these families are to be prosecuted for these diverse criminal activities even without the direct involvement in the crimes. The FBI also began employing agents for undercover work by the late 1970s, and through their efforts, these helped the FBI develop cases that put almost all the major crime family bosses in prison by the 1980s.  The successful infiltration of FBI agent Joseph Pistone into the Bonnano family underscored these efforts.   Along with Valachis testimony, Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco, corroborated Valachis accounts into the day in the life of a mobster as he spent six years with them, participating in jobs and gaining their trust.  He was exposed after the arrest of several  big fishes  and had a contract put out on him.  Today, he still lives under close protection and in secrecy (Pistone, 10-14).

What makes the FBI more effective than local law enforcement is that they adhere to strict moral standards that it is virtually impossible for anyone in the mob to penetrate it or even  buy  an FBI agent.  The FBIs Office of Professional Responsibility has always seen to that as they have exposed agents who have been spying for the Soviets during the Cold War era.  Furthermore, mobsters adhere to a code that they would never attack an officer of the law and try to avoid it as much as possible for killing one, no matter what the circumstances, would  turn up the heat  against them and would be counter productive.

Despite the fall of several prominent mob bosses, the ongoing  battle  between the mafia and the FBI still goes on as both sides try to outdo, outthink and outwit each other in a game of cat and mouse while avoiding violence.  This is why they have made great efforts to prevent the authorities from trying to look into their business and finance records that could incriminate them.  The FBI has to play by the rules and could not arrest outright any mobster on mere suspicion unless they are caught in the act of committing a crime and in the aftermath of Pistones undercover work, the mob has become very cautious in dealing with others.  Despite being hampered by legal technicalities, the FBI is still determined to crack down on organized crime because it can still do greater harm to society and it has remained true to the missions defined by its leaders and will continue to adhere to it for they are the last line of defense of civil society when other law enforcement agencies fall short.