Courtney Mewborn February 19, 2012 English 1102 E.

Caruso Historical Inquiry Paper

Comment [BC1]: Refer to the MLA paper on Moodle for the correct format of MLA.

Mafia Times
A mafia is an organized international body of criminals, operating originally in Sicily and now especially in Italy and the US and having a complex and ruthless behavioral code (Google). La Cosa Nostra i is a phrase known well by Sicilian mafias. The phrase itself translated means this thing of ours (Askmen). If anyone disobeyed the system, they were most likely killed depending on the level of severity of what they defied. Mafias were initiated in Sicily, Italy as a way to protect ones family from the injustices of the government. Sicilians banded together in groups to protect themselves and carry out their own justiceii (History1). The groups, also known as families, took advantage of the uncertain, violent times and cruel ruling and took money from landowners for their protection. In Sicily, the term mafioso, or Mafia member, initially had no criminal connotations and was used to refer to a person who was suspicious of central authority (History2). Mafias were not the cause of social problems; they were the effects of bad, corrupt, prejudice rulings. iiiBenito Mussolini ruled Italy from about 1924-1939. Mussolini was a fascist leader who believed in corporatism, social expansion, and other ways of ruling. What made mafias seem, and soon follow, this faade was the public. In the early 1900s, migration from Italy to the U. S. was present. People from Italy were coming to the U.S. in hopes of settling in a better economy and finding a better job. The majority of these immigrants were
Comment [BC4]: Take this out. Comment [BC2]: You have good information and ideas here, but work to give transitions that will move your reader through your ideas, or work to change the sentence structure by lengthening or combining sentences. Comment [BC3]: transition

law-abiding, but, as with most large groups of people, some were criminals who formed neighborhood gangs, often preying on those in their own communities (History1). Although Sicilian and the U.S. mafias were not involved with each other and completely different, there were some things the U.S. took from the Sicilian mafia traditions. One was omerta. Omerta is an all-important code of conduct and secrecy that forbid any cooperation with government authorities. ivMafias, no matter what background they were from, had some basic, similar rules and keeping secrets and the family business to only the family was one of them. When alcohol was banned due to the eighteenth amendment, Italian-American gangs took that as an opportunity to spread their skills of stealing, smuggling, and bribing to enter the bootlegging of alcohol business (History1).v In the late 1920s, a bloody power struggle known as the Castellammarese War broke out between New York Citys two biggest Italian-American criminal gangs (History2). Salvatore Maranzano called himself capo di tutti capi after he was the one whos mob rose to the top after that war. A mobster named Lucky Luciano did not like that and he had him assassinated that year. Luciano formed an organization that would act as a board for the American mafia called the Commission. New York, which had become Americas organized-crime capital, had been divided into five main Mafia families (History2). Each mafia family has different regulations one must follow. Anyone who belonged to a mafia knew the rules and codes of behavior. There are some central canons that most families followed. viIncluding one must always be available for Cosa Nostra. It is ones duty to accessible when your mafia family needs you no matter what. Wives must be treated with the upmost respect, wives of your family members too. One should never lie, or have a reason, to one of the family. Appointments must be respected always. One also part of a mafia must not be seen with cops ever. It is not right to associate with the very people who can imprison you. Basically
Comment [BC7]: Change the sentence structure to make this clearer and more succinct. Comment [BC8]: See previous comment. Comment [BC5]: Combine these two sentences for a smoother read. Comment [BC6]: Explain exactly what this is.

the rules are summed up to being loyal, one of honor, be a team member, do not sell out and have class and independency (Abadinsky, 27). In the mafia families, everyone has a role to which they belong. viiStarting off from the bottom of the list, there is an overabundance of associates in a mafia family. An associate is someone who is not an official member, but will do work for them. Associates, if adequate for the family, can move up to become a soldier. For them to be able to move up in status, if there is an open spot in the family, capos can recommend an associate for the position. Soldiers are members of the family who are the workers also and their job is to earn money for the caporegime (captain). The job of the caporegime is to collect money from the soldiers and give to the consigliere and keep money also for himself. The consigliere in a mafia family is the right hand man to the boss. His role is to help the boss make important decisions. He is no different than an underboss except for the fact he is not the boss of anyone in the family. The underboss is the one who runs the family. He manages everyone, but the boss. The boss is the person who picks the underboss and the underboss will take the boss position if something happens to the boss. The boss controls everything that happens in the family. The boss decides who is to be killed and who is to be accepted into the family. He is usually the richest one in the mafia family because he gets money from everyone in the family (Abadinsky, 11-13). One of the five families that dominated organized crime in New York was the Gambino family. viiiThe Gambino family was named after Carlo Gambino. Though there were other bosses of this family before him, the family name is his. In addition to being a cousin, Gambino had married Castellanos sister, Katherine, (Raab, 249). Paul Castellano was in Brooklyn, New York on July 26, 1915 (Bio).
ix

He dropped out of school in eighth grade and

started working for his father in his butcher shop and running lottery numbers. He spent three months in 1934 after being arrested for robbery and would not give the police the names of the

others involved, understanding the principle of omerta. He pleaded guilty to the robbery and served only three months out of his one year sentence (Raab, 248-249). In 1937, Castellano married the sister-in-law of Carlo Gambino, Nino Manno, (Bio). Castellano spent years gambling and bootlegging and was called to testify about the connections he may have with organized crime. He denied it all and sentenced to five years in prison for contempt of court and only served seven months. After Gambino died in the mid 1970s, Castellano became the boss of the Gambino family. Castellano was in his early sixties when he became the head of the most infamous mafia families of that time. His dominant stature in the Mafia and his imposing height of six-feet two-inches ennobled him with the complimentary nickname Big Paul, (Raab, 249). In 1985, the government enlisted the aid of Castellano's maid and lover, Gloria Olarte, to place a wire tap in his kitchen, (Bio). Castellano was arrested for the murder of twenty four people due to the device holding evidence detailing the crimes and he was later released with a two million bond. A year later, he was arrested along with several other crime family bosses in what became known as the Commission Case, an investigation into mob control over the New York City construction business, (Bio). When Neil Dellacroce, who followed Castellano in the family, passed away, it became the perfect opportunity for rival John Gotti to turn over the family into his hands and convince majority to change loyalty. Paul Castellano was invited to Sparks Steak House in Manhattan to pay respects to Neil Dellacroces son. Castellano was with Thomas Bilotti, his driver, who neither knew Castellano was about to be murdered by someone close to them. John Gotti and Sammy Gravano who were followers of Dellacroce and believed he should have ruled and not Castellano, they had some business to take care of. They shot Paul Castellano on December 16, 1985 (GambinoFamily). x
Comment [BC9]: Courtney, Although you have a great deal of information in your paper, and or the most part, you have a streamlined focus, your movement from one topic or idea to the next is extremely quick. You dont seem to stop and give detail or stop to demonstrate an idea. You assume your reader knows what you are talking about. Take the time to introduce and idea, rather than rushing through the paper to get the ideas written down. It will help you think through the situation, and your whole paper will be clearer for your reader. Paragraph separations will help with this, especially since your entire paper is only separated into two paragraphs. Also, work to strengthen your sentences through a stronger word choice and more deliberate phrasing. Although you are clear, your sentences could be much more forceful and deliberate to convey your points. Works Cited: Please bring your Works Cited page to you conference. Whenever you use sources, you must include a Works Cited page. Although you use your endnotes to talk about your story, use them to detail more of your ideas. Use the endnotes as brainstorming. Elaborate upon some of them and even add endnotes so you can allow your concept to come together. Im looking forward to seeing what youll do in your concept! -Ms. C

This is a consideration for the title of my movie. Its Italian and all about a mafias and crimes- It this thing of ours. ii In my movie I might include at the beginning background information on how mafias became to be what they are today. iii I like this phrase a lot and will probably use it in my trailer to catch the attention of the viewer because I believe the line really makes you think about the mafias. iv This is considered a big deal and rule to follow in the mafia family, so this would be included to catch the readers attention also for my movie. v Reflect on the prohibition a little bit just to tie in some crimes the mafias were involved in. vi I would also demonstrate how important it is to follow these rules while a part of the family and mention consequences of not following regulations. vii I will include the roles each person has in the family. Once the audience understands who is who and the status they play in the mafia family, they can put more things about that character and how they act with others in the family together. viii I will not spend too much time elaborating on the Gambino family. Or at least I will not focus too much on the bosses before Carlo Gambino and the bosses after Paul Castellano. ix One of my main topics of my movie will be Paul Castellano life and giving that background will help the audience know what kind of man he is and how he runs his family. xx My main character in my story will be included in the murdering of Castellano once he figures out Castellano killed his father when he was younger.