The Colombo Crime Family - Research Paper Example

The Colombo Crime Family As an organized criminal group, the Colombo Crime family is the youngest of the five crime families that operates in many parts of the United States of America. The Colombo Crime family has it’s headquarter is in New York (Santos 114). The initial activities of the group commenced with the entry of Joseph Profaci from Italy in 1928. Like most crime-based organizations, the Colombo family was formed with the principle purpose of generating money through various criminal undertakings that includes extortion, illegal gambling, and credit collections. In order to achieve their targets, the group used methods that included threats and use of violence that included murder (Santos 115). This essay provides an analysis of the activities of the Colombo Crime family by highlighting its origins, famous leaders, organizational hierarchy, legal and illegal activities, and the criminal activities that later on lead to the arrest of some of its members. During the reign of Joseph Profaci, the group operated under the name Profaci crime family but this changed in Joseph Colombo’s leadership era. It is the period under the leadership of Joseph Colombo, which the crime family experienced a number of changes, including a public image campaign under a league that Joseph formed to agitate against the alleged discrimination and stereotyping of Americans of Italian origin. The crime family experienced some internal feuds in its history were some of the members were not contended with the decisions of their bosses for example the feud between Profaci and the Gallo brothers that threatened to split the crime family into two (Milhorn 117-118). Joseph Profaci is the first boss of the Profaci Crime family, later christened the Colombo crime family after the leadership position went to Joseph Colombo senior. Profaci became powerful during a time when the Castellammarese war was coming to an end that made him serve with Tom Gagliano, Vince Magano, Lucky Luciano and Joe Bonanno. This group of five served as the heads of five mafia families in New York and was part of the larger national crime syndicate. He was born in Palermo in 1897 and relocated to the United States in 1922 dues to Mussolini’s policy that targeted Mafiosi. An ex-convict in Italy, Profaci managed to avoid serving any prison service in the United States, which is a major achievement considerering the crime family, was named after him. Among activities that made Joseph Profaci unpopular is the $25 tax that his organization charged monthly on each member of the family for the creation of a slush fund that would be used in taking care of members of the family who were in prison. Instead of spending the money for the intended purpose, Profaci would pocket it. Due to his activities, Profaci later on faced a revolt in his Colombo crime family. Some of his soldiers that included the Gallo brothers Jiggs Forlano and Persisco started planning his death but he discovered the plan before they could execute it. To divide them, Profaci promised rewards for some of those against him, which convinced Forlano, Persisco and their associate to come back under his fold living the Gallos brothers on their own, which led to a revolt against him, but he was able to divide the members so that he remained in power (Milhorn 117-118). Profaci was the owner of about twenty legitimate businesses with importation of olive oil from Italy being his biggest business, which made him the single largest importer into the United States. Although a leader of a criminal organization, Profaci was an avid church member. He was a friend to the priest at the time and a large contributor to charities sponsored by the church (Abadinsky 101). Profaci died in 1962 due to natural causes, with his brother in law, Joseph Magliocco, taking up the vacant leadership position. Magliocco did not hold the position for long as he also died of natural cause in 1963 with Joseph Colombo senior taking up his position in the crime family (Abadinsky 102). During his reign, Magliocco was summoned to appear before the national commission to answer to question about his role in the Banana wars. Magliocco confessed about all of his activities as the leader of Colombo crime family but since he was ailing, the commission let him live (Milhorn 218). Colombo Joseph senior was the youngest person to take up the leadership position of the Colombo crime family and at the same time the youngest to be assassinated. The mafia leader was resented by many, not only his enemies from other organizations, but also some members of his own crime family who thought he did not rise to leadership because of his brains but due to his opportunistic tendencies (Sifakis 108). When he took over power in the Colombo crime family, Colombo tried to rally the American of Italian origin into an anti-defamation league to complain about public views linking him to Italian mafia. Colombo took part in a one-year protest that included an appearance on the Dick Cavett television show and picketing the FBI offices. Colombo molded this league into a vehicle that would protest against negative stereotyping and discrimination of Americans of Italian origin. Part of the success of the Colombo and the league was the deletion of all the references to Costa Nastra or the mafia from the script of the television series The FBI and The Godfather. New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and the United States attorney General John Mitchell ordered their employees to stop using such reference (Abadinsky 103). Although this league had a lot of success, other crime family bosses did not approve of its activities and that of Colombo crime family leader, Joseph Colombo senior. These crime family bosses, particularly Carlo Gambino felt that Colombo should have shared with the proceeds from testimonial dinners and dues. They also resented the way Colombo had publicized his activities (Abadinsky 103). A lone gunman disguised as a newsman later shot the Colombo crime family boss during one of his rallies, which kept him in a vegetative state for seven years until his death in 1978 (Milhorn 218; Abadinsky103). After the death of Joseph Colombo senior, the leadership position has seen several changes where it went to the aged Thomas Dibella before going to the relatively younger Carmine Persisco junior. Persisco junior became the boss but was later on imprisoned for a hundred years, which made available the chance for Vic Orena to be the new boss of Colombo crime family. Vic could not escape the long arm of the law, as he was caught, charged, and convicted for racketeering. Andy Russo took over from Vic Orena for a short stint as he was also imprisoned for fifty-seven months for jury tampering. Orthmann, and Hess notes the five crime families that is made up of Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese and Bonanno as being part of Cosa Nostra group in new York. Alongside the made members, there were also around ten thousand associates working for the crime families (578). Theoretically, as with all mafia families, the Colombo family has a well-established leadership hierarchy that includes a boss who controls the family he belongs to and makes its executive decisions and policies. The underboss, directly occupying one position below the boss in the leadership structure, is the second in the crime family’s command chain. The consigliere or councilor follows in the chain of command where their task is to advice the crime family in their capacity as senior advisers. The captains fall beneath these leadership positions. These captains also called, capo regimes and skippers are responsible for the supervision of the crews, which are made up of made members who are people who have gone through a process of omerta oath that prevents them from divulging any detail about the organized crime family (Santos 114-115). It is the duty of the crew to generate funds for the Colombo Crime family through various criminal activities sanctioned by the top management of the group. It is this funds that is collected by the by the organization and later shared by members according to rank and the discretion of the boss. To provide protection and negotiation in times of disputes between members, some of the highest-ranking members of the family are entitled to a percentage of the illegally derived funds (Santos 114-115). The Colombo crime family as with the other crime families were grounded under the standards of conduct practiced in the southern Italy tradition was loyalty to the family was an important binding force. Loyalty to the Colombo family took first priority before loyalty to a member’s blood family (Orthmann and Hess 578). Racketeering in the construction industry is one of the major sources of income for the crime family. Together with the other four crime families represented under Cosa Nostra, the Colombo crime family exerts their control and influence over the industry through various measures. The organization succeeds through threats of labor unrest, disrupts the delivery of material to construction sites, and offers promises of labor peace to companies that cooperate. Money from other illegal activities finances other ventures in the construction industry to get illegal profits or as a means of hiding profits from their criminal activities (Goldstock 78). The Cosa Nostra enforced their cartel in the garment industries through trade associations. Under Cosa Nostra, The Colombo crime family controlled the Master Truckmen of America (MTA), which had the task of policing, and the management of the trucking cartel for Cosa Nostra. The MTA ensured any foreign trucker who tried to set up business in the industry faced a number of anticompetitive measures. The MTA warned the new organization that was trying to practice in the Garment District that they were not allowed to do business in the area. Some businesses were lucky or well connected to extend that they were able to establish their businesses. Such business were allowed to join the cartel but, but they could not get clients until they got a cartel number. Companies that did not pay their dues or refused to join the MTA were faced with massive strikes of their drivers. In case such measures would not force such companies to cooperate, their trucks were stolen or vandalized. Trucks that complied with the cartel regulations also engaged in a monopolistic parking practices that would ensure companies had not complied do not deliver their goods. In this way, the Colombo crime family controlled the garment industry. Thus reaping millions from the royalties paid to them for companies to do business (Jacobs, Friel, and Raddick 23). Among the criminal charges taken to court that concerned the activities of Colombo crime family includes the charges against Gennaro “Gerry Lang” Langella who was a Colombo crime family underboss. In the case against Langella, he was convicted and handed a prison sentence of fifteen years after being charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in 1985. He was also sentenced to sixty-five years due to conviction of RICO in 1987. Carmine Persisco, a Colombo crime family de facto boss was imprisoned from 1973 to 1979 for his role in loan sharking and hijacking. Convicted of RICO and sentenced to life in prison in the commission case (Jacobs and Cooperman 27). The year 2003 was when twelve individuals were charged with labor law violations and racketeering which concerned payoffs and extortion in the New York construction industry. In this case, Charles Panarella, a captain in the Colombo crime family alongside John Deross, an underboss, Lawrence Persisco, son to the already in prison, Carmine Persisco, together with a number of their associates were charged in a fifty nine count indictment. The accusation alleged a range of crimes that included rip offs and fraud charges connected with the crime family’s activities in the construction of the Brooklyn General Post Office and Staten island Yankee stadium (Milhorn 218). Over the last few decades, the federal government has put in place several stringent measures that have weakened the mafia in USA. From 1978, the federal government used some extraordinary efforts to eradicate the crime families that include use of undercover agents, mob turncoats, and surveillance. These strategies were taken in addition to the investigation and prosecution efforts of the federal organized crime task forces, FBI, and the US attorney’s offices (Cole, Smith, and Dejong 22). Other factors apart from government efforts have contributed to the continued decline of the crime family’s influence. The current leaders of the families are old where most of them are in their eighties leaving leadership positions to the younger inexperienced leaders. The younger generation of leaders lacks the skills to operate the family, as they tend to break the cord of secrecy where some of them have turned into government informers. The changing values of the American society can also be attributed to the changing fortunes of the crime family. The American Italian neighbouhoods, which had been the core of the family’s activities, have seen their populations dwindle as members migrate to the suburbs. Education has dealt a blow to the crime family as most of the young people seek success through education making them competitive enough in their legitimate enterprise (Siegel 543). From the foregoing, although The Colombo Crime family was the youngest of the five crime families represented in the Cosa Nostra group it achieved many successes. The crime family was able to popularize their activities through the efforts of various bosses who took over leadership. The first two bosses were instrumental in ensuring the crime family remained relevant in the organized crime syndicate. Joseph Profaci, through his business enterprises especially the olive oil import coupled with his abilities to handle rebellions in the crime family ensured the propagation of Colombo Crime family’s interest. Joseph Colombo senior also made great strides, as he was able to convince the many people that he was running legitimate business through the creation of a league against discrimination and stereotyping of Americans of Italian origin. It is also apparent that the golden years of the Colombo crime family and its allies in Cosa Nostra are over as the federal government continues to crackdown on their members. The current generation is also not interested in their criminal activities due to their newfound concentration on education. Works Cited Abadinsky, Howard. Organized Crime, 10th ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Cole, George F., Christopher E. Smith, and Christina Dejong. The American System of Criminal Justice. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Goldstock, Ronald. Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry: Final Report to Governor Mario M. Cuomo. New York: NYU Press, 1990. Print. Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel, and Robert Raddick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City was liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 2001. Print. Jacobs, James B., and Kerry T. Cooperman. Breaking the Devil's Pact: The Battle to Free the Teamsters from the Mob. New York: NYU Press, 2011. Print. Milhorn, H. Thomas. Crime: Computer Viruses to Twin Towers. Florida: Universal-Publishers, 2004. Print. Orthmann, Christine MH, and Karen Matison Hess. Criminal Investigation. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Santos, Michael. Profiles from prison: Adjusting to Life Behind Bars. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003. Siegel, Larry J. Criminology: Theories, Patterns & Typologies. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. 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