9781422284100

As the Sicilian-American population increased, it spread fromNew Orleans to form ghettos in New York, Boston, Chicago, and most other major cities, and with these went the Mafia. At first, these unrelated gangs of organized criminals were known not as the Mafia, but as the La Mano Nera (“The Black Hand”), and they specialized in extorting law-abiding Sicilians and other Italian immigrants. The extortion method was crude, but effective. Wealthy businessmen would receive an oddly courteous letter demanding money and promising threatening actions if it was not delivered. A prominent Italian resident of Chicago received a typical Black Hand letter in 1902: Most Gentle Mr. Silvani, Hoping that the present will not impress you too much, you will be so good as to send me $2,000 if your life is dear to you. So I beg you warmly to put them on the doorstep within four days. But if you do not, I swear in a week’s time not even the dust of your family will exist. With regards, believe me to be your friend. Initiation Rites In 1886, Commissioner Giuseppe Alongi, Palermo’s chief, wrote La Mafia , a book in which he described the initiation rites performed by new recruits to the brotherhood. It echoes almost exactly the de- scription of his own initiation rites given by Joseph Valachi to a Senate hearing some 75 years later. Alongi wrote: “He (the novice) walks into a room and halts in front of a table on which is placed a paper image of a saint. He offers his hand to one of the brotherhood, who draws enough blood to wet the effigy. The novice then swears this oath: I pledge on my honor to be faithful to the Mafia, as the Mafia is faith- ful to me. As this saint and few drops of my blood are burned, so will I give my blood for the Mafia, when my ashes and my blood will be returned to their original condition. The novice then burns the effigy with the flame of a candle. From that moment on, he is a ‘made man,’ tied indissolubly to the association, and he will be required to carry out the next killing sanctioned by the association.”

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ORGANIZED CRIME