Five New York Crime Families - Research Paper Example

? Five New York Crime Families Crime families have been a menace since the inception of the mafia, and the crime families have seen plenty of changes in the American society. The influence of these crime families is the focus of this essay in that it looks at how the five New York crime families affected the American society. Genovese The Genovese influenced the American society by making use of novel ways that no other crime family had ever thought of, including law enforcement. This is because the Genovese crime family saw the American society introduced to new crimes that had a high degree of inventiveness, and ones that the criminals could get away with easily. These included the application of gambling using enhanced technology over the internet without falling under the jurisdiction of the American legal system. This was done by having gambling occur through websites that were offshore and that had little chance of ever being intercepted by American law enforcement. Because of this, the family saw the American society face some of the largest debts owed by individuals to a crime family because of illegal gambling. This was as the case of Nicholas Cosmo, who started his own con after owing the family tens of thousands of dollars, which saw him run the Ponzi scheme to repay his own debt. This influenced the American society by bringing in the concept of crime to pay off debts owed to other criminals. The upgrade in the technological application of criminal activity was seen by the use of wired transfers to commit fraud by Nicholas Cosmo, who did all these as part of a debt that he owed to the family.1 Altogether, the Genovese crime family brought together technological advancements for criminal gain, showing how vulnerable the American society is and how easily it can be defrauded. Gambino The Gambino family had a similar impact to that of the Genovese in that it applied technology in means that had not been applied prior to the Gambino era. As such, the Gambino family was a powerhouse of power and brains, where they came up with a new means of defrauding people over the internet and using mobile phones. The Gambino family applied new principles by infiltrating the pornography industry and taking it over by storm and engineering a fraud that provided free tours to pornographic internet sites. This infiltration saw the family rip millions of dollars from unsuspecting Americans who revealed their credit card number in order to go on with the free tours of the websites. This was designed such that once the user had provided their credit card details to the website, large amounts of funds were charged to the credit card illegally since none of them was authorized by the users and regulatory authorities. In addition, since the family made use of billing via telephone, they charged the government and other American in excesses of millions of dollars for their fraud. This is following the procurement, by the Gambino family, of a bank and a telephone company that allowed the family to plan elaborately their frauds and schemes to defraud Americans and the government.2 As such, the Gambino crime family influenced the American society in that it showed how powerful the crime families were to the point of infiltrating some of the most basic sectors such as banking and even internet use, as well as phone calls. Their scams also led to the development of new waves of crime across America that were perpetrated in the most ingenious of ways that not even the government was able to crack until much later. This dug deep into the credibility of law enforcement in the American society since they were unable to bring to book, let alone discover the crime wave. It was part of the introduction of white-collar crime in the USA, where it showed how sophisticated organized crime rings were getting. In addition, Gambino family influenced the American society in that it inspired fear amongst Americans to the extent that even law enforcement had to guard against the family since they could infiltrate any organization after being in a position to defraud the government through phone calls. Colombo Similar to the other two crime families, the Colombo crime family had its fair share of impact on the American society as it is known now. The Colombo was infamous for it crime antics, and were used by the law enforcement to assist in solving various crimes during its heyday. The crime family changed the way law enforcement operates in that it was used at one time to recover murdered Mississippi civil rights workers. The FBI sought the assistance of the family by giving a gun and a cash payment in order to reveal the whereabouts of the bodies of the civil rights workers.3 This changed the society in two lights based on the negative, where law enforcement lost credibility by having to negotiate with criminals to achieve their goals. In this case, the FBI cooperated with a criminal gang in order to solve a crime giving criminal gangs the boldness to carry on with their activities. On the other hand, the incrimination of the Colombo family and the sentencing of the members saw law enforcement come up with improved means of improving security. This is because, most of the members ranted out the rest of the members leading to mass convictions and a safer society thereafter. It also saw the volunteering of information by informants and citizens who assisted in bringing down the family a crucial change and step towards a secure community. In relation to methods of gathering information, the Colombo family saw law enforcement upgrade its techniques in that law enforcement agents collected all relevant intelligence prior to arresting them and charging them in court. As such, they collected all relevant details about their lives including personality traits and other data on their personal lives.4 Considering this information, the society charged in that criminals could be nabbed and charged following the successful use of profiling for a more secure society as opposed to one that depended on conventional means. The crime family also influenced the American society by ruining the economic conditions through tax evasion, a crime that they later paid for and strict measures to counter it were put in place improving security. Lucchese The Lucchese crime family affected the American society by coming out as one of the most peaceful crime families where peace was relative until the takeover of leadership by some brutes. This changed everything in that they ordered the death of anyone who came between them and their goals, especially the leaders. Because of this, the crime family saw the murders and rise in insecurity in the American society as all scampered to ensure that they did not cross paths with the new leaders and their activities. In addition, the Lucchese family also changed the American society in that the economy of some areas in the USA lay in their hands, as they could not stand anyone competing against them. This is as seen in cases of sanitation contractors who competed against the Lucchese family and had their buildings and trucks razed down. The family also saw the use of the mob as the main source of labor and security for those in the construction industry as businesses of contractors who did not follow the mob suffered damage to their businesses including the death of certain employees.5 The impact of this family was mainly in relation to the brutality applied after changes in leadership and the transition from a peaceful crime family to one that could not stand competition or challenges to its existence. It is because of this that the family caused heightened insecurity and incessant loss of life. Bonanno Bonanno family influence over the American society remains widely seen in modern times, especially following the application of leadership styles never before witnessed. This is because leadership of the crime family was mainly done based on an interim or acting capacity, as most of the actual leaders were serving time behind bars. This way, the family was led from prison with the acting leaders on the outside being mere pawns of the leaders in prison. This way, the power of the family was put across for the society to see that incarceration had little to do in stopping crimes as even after imprisonment; the families were still functional. The family also showed a rigorous vetting process before one could become either a member or an associate of the crime family.6 This is because each member had to be part of a crime ring and do business for or under the protection of the Bonanno family, creating an intricate ring of criminal activity. In conclusion, the five crime families of New York saw a large number of changes in the American society, for which they are credited ranging from the use of technology to infiltration of law enforcement. With this, they changed the perception of security and means of committing crimes, as well as generating revenue for criminal activities. Bibliography Finckenauer, J. La Cosa Nostra in the United States. National Institute of Justice. (2007). https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/218555.pdf [Accessed Feb. 24 2013] “Organized Crime: historu thru film” (2012). http://coachburke.homestead.com/Organized_Crime_Book.pdf [Accessed Feb. 24 2013] Maddux, M. Goodbye Colombos! FBI tactics toppling Mafia clan. New York Post. (2011). http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/fbi_tactics_toppling_mafia_clan_lvrZ45drrP27qx0od6E2WJ [Accessed Feb. 24 2013] Walker, C. Gambino Mafia Rips Off U.S. Government, Porno Lovers and Cell Phone Users Across the Globe in Multi-Million Dollar Scheme. American Mafia. (2004). http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_288.html [Accessed Feb. 24 2013] Smith, G. Genovese family has avoided rat infestation-unlike many rivals. Daily News. (2009). http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/genovese-family-avoided-rat-infestation-unlike-rivals-article-1.377977 [Accessed Feb. 24 2013] The five New York mafia families. Telegraph. (n.d.). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8447929/The-five-New-York-mafia-families.html [Accessed Feb. 24 2013] Read More