The article "Old" Sicilian Mafia told about the history of the emergence of the mafia in Sicily and the traditions of this criminal community. We also talked about the struggle that he waged against the mafia Mussolini, and the revenge of the Duce mafia in the United States and during Operation Husky (the seizure of Sicily by the allies). We also mentioned La Stidda, a group that has split off from the old mafia clans and now controls the south of the island of Sicily. In this one we will begin a story about the mafia in the United States. And let's talk about the first Sicilian Black Hand gangs that appeared in New Orleans and Chicago (the appearance of Cosa Nostra will be discussed in the next article).
The Black Hand of New Orleans
Beginning in 1884, Italians began to settle in New Orleans in large numbers, the number of which soon reached 300 thousand people.
Many of them were from Sicily. We remember that it was sunset time on this lemon rush island. Bankrupt farmers, not finding work at home, went overseas. One of the districts of New Orleans even received then the unofficial name "Little Palermo".
It is not surprising that the first ethnic criminal group created by immigrants from Sicily in the United States appeared precisely in New Orleans - in 1890. It was called simply and uncomplicated - La Mano Nera ("Black Hand").
The leaders of this gang were the brothers Antonio and Carlo Matranga, immigrants from Palermo. They started with selling vegetables: at first retail, and then they registered a company for the import of fruits.
Having engaged in wholesale trade, the brothers drew attention to the port of New Orleans, which employed many immigrants from Italy, whom the locals contemptuously called "dagami" (on behalf of Diego). Through threats and bribery, the Matrangas soon ensured that no ship in this harbor was unloaded until its owners paid them a certain amount.
They were also concerned about the leisure of visiting sailors, having opened a brothel and several taverns near the port. The "business" was so profitable that soon a rival criminal organization appeared in New Orleans - a gang of Prevenzano brothers, also Sicilians.
The Matrongs won in the end.
Police Commissioner David Hennessy did not like the order established in New Orleans by the Sicilians. He was a very strong and strong-willed person. While still a teenager, Hennessy detained two adult thieves, who were taken to the station without assistance. At the age of 20, he was already a police detective, and by 1888 he had risen to the position of Chief of Police of New Orleans.
After examining the list of his subordinates, he was surprised to find that most of them are ethnic Italians. Moreover, many were relatives of people suspected of racketeering and banditry. There was every reason to believe that they were helping them to avoid arrest.
Hennessy's "excessive" zeal was the reason for his murder on the street on November 16, 1890. Hot on the trail, 19 people were arrested, but only three of them were convicted.
The indignation of the New Orleans was so great that the jury had to leave the courtroom through the back door. The next morning (March 12, 1891), the local newspaper The Daily States published a proclamation:
“Rise people of New Orleans!
Outsiders have spilled martyr's blood on the civilization you extol!
Your laws have been trampled upon in the Temple of Justice itself, having bribed the people who swore allegiance to you.
Night killers have cracked down on David C. Hennessy, whose premature death died the greatness of American law.
It was buried with him - a man who during his lifetime was the guardian of your peace and dignity."
On March 13, 1891, the residents of New Orleans went to a rally, which ended with the storming of the prison, where the suspects were still there.
Two Sicilians were hanged from street lamps. Nine people were taken to the prison wall and shot (a large number of volunteers, on command, fired at them with hunting rifles and revolvers). But eight of the accused managed to escape death.
Among them was the main boss of the gang - Carlo Matranga. He then quietly led his gang until the 1920s, when he handed over control to Silvestro Carollo, better known as "Silver Dollar Sam" (you might have guessed that he also came from Sicily).
In the underworld of the United States, Carollo became especially famous in 1929, when he expelled Al Capone himself from New Orleans, who decided to "build local brothers" and crush this city under himself.
The "Godfather" of Chicago and his men were greeted at the train station. After Capone's bodyguards broke their fingers, he chose not to continue the "disassembly", but quickly go home. It was under Carollo's leadership that the patriarchal Black Hand became the typical clan of the new American Cosa Nostra.
In 1930, Carollo was arrested and charged with the murder of drug control agent Cecil Moore. But already in 1934 he was released. Allied with Frank Castello of New York, he set up a slot machine network in Louisiana. In 1938 he was arrested again. And in 1947 he was deported from the United States to Italy.
Once in Sicily, Carollo became a partner of the famous Lucky Luciano (who had been expelled from the United States a year earlier). In New Orleans, the former boss was replaced by Carlos Marcello, who was named by a US Senate committee in 1951
"One of the worst criminals in the country."
Marcello led the New Orleans mafia until the end of the 1980s, when, after several strokes, he was forced to "retire."
The name "Black Hand" has become in the United States common to all gangs organized by the Sicilians. Only in St. Louis, Missouri, the mafiosi who settled here in 1915 chose the original name - "Greens". In addition to racketeering, they were actively involved in the livestock trade, having achieved a monopoly position in the state's markets.
But in Chicago, the Sicilians did not bother. And they also called their organization "Black Hand".
Gangster City Chicago
Chicago, founded in 1850 by a small river (the Indian name of which he "appropriated" for himself) grew by leaps and bounds, becoming extremely rich in the trade in grain, cattle, meat and timber.
Within 25 years (in 1875) it became one of the largest cities in the United States.
There was Little Palermo in New Orleans. And in Chicago - "Little Italy". It is the area between West Taylor Street, Grand Avenue, Oak Street and Wentworth Avenue.
The old-timers also called him
"Spaghetti zone".
In the 1920s, about 130,000 Italians lived in Chicago.
And the clans of the Sicilian mafia immediately began to "patronize" these émigrés.
Arrested at the beginning of the twentieth century, Joseph Janite, the police found in his pocket a letter with the following content:
“Dear Mr. Silvani!
Please give me $ 2,000, if, of course, your life is dear to you.
I hope that my request will not burden you too much.
I ask you to put money on your doorstep within four days.
Otherwise, I promise that in a week I will grind you and your entire family to dust.
Hoping to remain your friend - the Black Hand."
The Black Hand in Chicago was led by Jim Colosimo (Big Jim). His deputy was his nephew Johnny Torrio, who previously (from 1911 to 1915) controlled the port of New York and was nicknamed "Terrible John" in this city.
Looking ahead, let's say that Torrio and Colosimo did not agree on the further development of the organization they lead (for some reason, the old boss did not want to engage in bootlegging). Therefore, Torrio summoned Frankie Whale from New York, who on May 11, 1920, shot the "intractable uncle."
We'll talk a little more about Frank Whale in the article on the mafia clans of New York.
It was Torrio who invited another New Yorker, Alphonse Capone, to Chicago.
He began his criminal career as a member of a teenage gang. And in one of the fights, he received a wound on his left cheek, earning the nickname Scarface (literally - "Scarface").
The only "drawback" of this enterprising bandit was his Neapolitan origin. That is, he was a stranger to all the Sicilians of the clan.
In addition, in Sicily, Naples was traditionally considered “the city of petty crooks”. And the "serious people" of the Chicago mafia did not trust Al Capone at first.
Soon Chicago became the leader not only in industrial growth, but also in the number of unsolved crimes. So, in 1910, 25 unsolved murders were registered. In 1911 - 40. In 1912 - 33. In 1913 - 42. But these were, as they say, “flowers”. Truly mafioso
"Unfolded in the United States during the" dry law "period.
No alcohol law
The first section of the famous Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which entered into force on January 16, 1920, read:
"One year after the ratification of this article, the production, sale or transport of intoxicating beverages for consumption is prohibited in the United States and in all territories under its jurisdiction."
On the same day, evangelical preacher Billy Sandy organized in the city of Norfolk (Virginia) a ceremony of the symbolic burial of the coffin with "John Barleyseed" (this name became a household name after the publication of the ballad of the same name by R. Burns).
In his farewell speech, he named "John"
"A true enemy of God and a friend of the devil."
But he and his supporters rejoiced early.
The amendment did not provide for any sanctions against violators. True, the US Senate supplemented it with the so-called "Act" or "Volstead Act" - this was the same "Prohibition".
The Volstead Act only prohibited the production, import and sale of alcohol. But the storage of alcoholic beverages and the use of alcohol were allowed.
Thus, a strange situation arose: the producers and sellers of liquor were "outlawed", and their customer base remained. Satisfying the demand for alcohol became dangerous, but extremely profitable: the mark-up on a bottle of whiskey reached $ 70-80, the purchasing power of which was then much higher than it is now.
Mafia clans in the United States immediately launched illegal delivery and sale of alcohol. New criminal "specialties" have also appeared. The best known in our country are bootleggers who illegally imported alcohol into the United States. But there were also moonshiners, who were called moonshiners - because they made their products at night (by the light of the moon).
Illegal eateries were called speakeasy. There they ordered alcohol in a whisper with a wink at the bartender or waiter, receiving whiskey or brandy under the guise of tea.
At the same time, both sellers and their customers switched from beer, cider, wine and other low-alcohol drinks to strong alcohol: it was more convenient to deliver it to the point of sale, and the state of intoxication was achieved faster. In addition, during the period of Prohibition, drug use in the United States increased by about 45%.
Per capita alcohol consumption initially fell sharply - and positive consequences were noted: a decrease in the number of accidents and accidents, a decrease in the number of divorces and minor offenses. But very soon alcohol consumption returned to the previous level and even increased.
The scale of the illegal trade in alcohol soon became such that the budget of the Federal Bureau of Enforcement of Prohibition increased from $ 4.4 million to $ 13.4 million a year. And the government spent $ 13 million a year on the maintenance of special units of the US Coast Guard, specializing in combating smuggling.
According to experts, in 1933, when the eighteenth amendment was canceled by President F. Roosevelt, per capita alcohol consumption exceeded the level of 1919 by 20%.
Gangster Wars in Chicago
In Chicago, Sicilians faced rivals - ethnic gangs of immigrants from other countries.
The Irish were especially strong, led by Dion O'Benion (after Prohibition came into force, he was called the "beer king" of Chicago).
In 1920, Colosimo was killed. And John Torrio became the boss of the Chicago mafia. Under his leadership, the mafiosi managed to destroy O'Benion in 1924.
His successor, Hymie Weiss, retaliated by firing at Torrio's car. It was then that American gangsters first used the machine gun.
True, "the first pancake came out lumpy": Torrio's driver died, and the Chicago mafia boss was not injured.
A few days later, the Irish repeated the attack, firing 50 bullets at the leader of the competitors. Only three of them reached the goals. Torrio survived again, but the consequences of his injuries were so severe that he decided to retire. Gathering his "lieutenants" (kapi), he recommended Al Capone to them.
This was an unheard-of violation of tradition: until then, only Sicilians could hold the highest command positions in the mafia. However, Capone's authority was already high enough. And the "lieutenants" agreed to obey him.
And it was only then that the "gang wars" in Chicago acquired a special scope.
Some of their episodes were reproduced in many Hollywood films "about the mafia": sometimes with almost documentary accuracy, sometimes - in a "free interpretation."
