La Cosa Nostra
La Cosa Nostra, literally
translated into English, means "this thing of ours." It is a nationwide
alliance of criminals, linked through both familial and conspiratorial ties
that is dedicated to pursuing crime and protecting its members. The La Cosa
Nostra, or LCN as it is known by FBI agents, consists of different "families" or
groups that are generally arranged geographically and engaged in significant
and organized racketeering activity. It is also known as the Mafia, however
this term is also used to describe other organized crime groups.
The La Cosa Nostra is
most active in the New York metropolitan area, Philadelphia, New England,
Detroit, and Chicago but has members in many other major cities around the
country and also participates in international criminal activities.
History of the La Cosa
Nostra
Although the La Cosa
Nostra has its roots in Italian Organized Crime (IOC), it has been a separate
organization for many years. Today, the La Cosa Nostra cooperates in various
criminal activities with the different IOC groups which are headquartered
in Italy. However, the La Cosa Nostra alone is the foremost organized criminal
threat to American society.
Giuseppe Esposito was
the first known Sicilian Mafia member to emigrate to the United States. He
and six other Sicilians fled to New York after murdering eleven wealthy landowners,
the chancellor, and a vice chancellor of a Sicilian province. He was arrested
in New Orleans in 1881 and extradited to Italy. New Orleans was also the
site of the first Mafia incident in the United States which received both
national and international attention. On October 15, 1890, New Orleans Police
Superintendent David Hennessey was murdered execution-style. Hundreds of
Sicilians were arrested, and nineteen were eventually indicted for the murder.
An acquittal followed and with it rumors of bribed and intimidated witnesses.
The outraged citizens of New Orleans organized a lynch mob and proceeded
to kill eleven of the nineteen defendants. Two were hanged, nine were shot,
and the remaining eight escaped.
The American Mafia has
undergone many changes. From the Black Hand gangs around 1900 and the Five
Points Gang in the 1910s and 1920s in New York City, to Al Capone's Syndicate
in 1920s Chicago. By the end of the 1920s, two factions of organized crime
had emerged causing the Castellamarese war for control of organized crime
in New York City. With the murder of Joseph Masseria, the leader of one of
the factions, the war ended uniting the two sides back into one organization
now dubbed La Cosa Nostra. Salvatore Maranzano, the first leader of the La
Cosa Nostra, was himself murdered within six months and Charles "Lucky" Luciano
became the new leader. Maranzano had established the La Cosa Nostra code
of conduct, set up the "family" divisions and structure, and established
procedures for resolving disputes. Luciano set up the "Commission" to
rule all La Cosa Nostra activities. The Commission included bosses from six
or seven families.
In 1951, a U.S. Senate
Committee, led by Democratic Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, determined
that a "sinister criminal organization" also known as the Mafia
operated around the United States.
In 1957, the New York
State Police uncovered a meeting of major La Cosa Nostra figures from around
the country in the small upstate New York town of Apalachin. This gathering
has become known as the Apalachin conference. Many of the attendees were
arrested and this event was the catalyst that changed the way law enforcement
battles organized crime. This war continues today.
In 1963, Joseph Valachi
became the first La Cosa Nostra member to provide a detailed looked at the
inside of the organization. Having been recruited by FBI Special Agents,
and testifying before the US Senate McClellan Committee, Valachi exposed
the name, structure, power bases, codes, swearing-in ceremony, and members
of this organization. All of this had been secret up to this point.
Today the La Cosa Nostra
is involved in a broad spectrum of illegal activities. These include murder,
extortion, drug trafficking, corruption of public officials, gambling, infiltration
of legitimate businesses, labor racketeering, loan sharking, prostitution,
pornography, tax fraud schemes, and most notably today, stock manipulation
schemes.