Racket Busters, 1950-1970

I. The Mafia: Myth and RealityII. Organized Crime in American

LifeA. StructureB. “Going Legit”

III. Government responseA. Popular AttitudesB. Political ConditionsC. Investigations

IV. ImpactA. National PoliticsB. LawC. Benefits and Costs

Myth and Reality

Structure• Bosses

– Control territory– Pay off politicians– Organizational

models• Family• Fraternal societies• Unions• Partnership

• Made Men– Lead & staff crews

• Crews find their own sources of profit– Theft, gambling,

loans, extortion, fraud, vice, drugs

National Network

• Mob war leads to calls for 1957 meeting of Mafiosi from all over America

• Busted Joseph Barbara’s house, Apalachin, NY

“Going Legit”

• Expansion– Unions– Politics

• Investment– Business

• Contracting

– Las Vegas

Popular Attitudes

• Hero worship of 1930s turns to demonization in 1950s

• Fear bad actors will subvert or corrupt new order– Communists– Gangsters

• But continuing fascination, glamour– Sinatra

• Creates ambiguity

Blood donor watching crime hearings, 1951

Political Conditions

• Powerful constituencies– Urban machines– Labor unions– Contractors– Ethnics

• Irish, Italian, Jewish, Latino, & African Americans

• Target for Republicans & Democratic mavericks– Thomas Dewey– Estes Kefauver– John Kennedy

Investigations

• Kefauver hearings, 1951

• Rackets Committee, 1957

• McClellan hearings, 1963

National Politics

Candidates• Thomas Dewey

– GOP: 1944, 1948

• Estes Kefauver– Dem VP: 1952,

1956

• John F. Kennedy– Dem: 1960

• Robert F. Kennedy– Dem: 1968

High Profile Busts

• Mobsters– Vito Genovese

(1959)

• Labor leaders– Jimmy Hoffa

(1964)

• Businessmen?

Teamsters’ president James R. “Jimmy” Hoffa

Changing Policy

• Aggressive prosecution– Organized Crime

Control Act of 1970

– Witness Protection

• Racketeering– RICO Act of

1970

Results

• Good– Purify

urban government, business

• Bad– Prosecutors

gain immense power Ambassador William O’Dwyer before

Kefauver committee