Organized Crime Group: The Gambino Family CJA/384

Organized Crime Group: The Gambino Family CJA/384 Introduction The organized crime group Learning Team A chose to conduct research on was The Gambino Family. Their entire organization was based in New York City. This paper will reflect the Gambino's national and multinational structure and operating methods pertaining to the drug business. Also a comparison of the Gambino's from their past to present role in prohibition, drug syndicates, political corruption, and other illicit activities will be examined. Over time, the Gambino family had various business interests that made them even more notable in the Italian Mafia history. National and multinational structure and operating methods, pertaining to the drug business. The Gambino family’s drug business structure and operating methods stem from very strong ties in the Sicilian Drug trade (Critchley, 2008). Until 1914, there were no real laws or boundaries against the drug industry in the United States of America (Critchley, 2008). The Boylan anti-drug Law, passed by the New York state legislature on March 28, 1914, was the first regulatory limitations seen against drugs. This law was not truly enforced until the 1920s, with legitimate businesses continuing to serve recreational drugs to addicts. This drug law was instituted because of the overwhelming numbers of innocent drug slaves, according to Charles B. Towns, the attorney who drafted the law (Shaffer, 2012). The section of legislation most significant to the newly formed war on drugs was The Harrison Tax Act of 1914, which, among other things restricted the sale of heroin and cocaine (Head, 2012). Until the time that drug production and use became illegal, it would not have been necessary for the mafia to become involved. However, after said Harrison Tax Act of 1914, and the Boylan anti-drug Law, the drug business became a prime target for organized crime. In 1920, when Carlo Gambino was only 18 years old, the United States Supreme Court ruled that non-medical use of drugs was illegal, opening the window for organized crime groups to become the sole source of narcotics (Head, 2012). In the mid-to late 1920s, Charles Luciano was the Cosa Nostra's point man in Italy, and Carlo Gambino was the point man and the Cosa Nostra’s director of drug activities in America (Critchley, 2008). The Gambino family’s Sicilian ties to the Cosa Nostra’s Italian drug business was introduced to the United States through Carlo Gambino. Past a...

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