Word: crimeds
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Fear has always been a palpable part of life at the top in the Mafia, an almost feudal society in which men rise by murder and treachery and can never feel secure. But these are days of even greater tension than usual. The crime organization is going through one of its most crucial internal struggles since Prohibition, when the fight for control led to the bloody Castellammarese War (named for the Sicilian town of Castellammare del Golfo, birthplace of many of the leading thugs). Only when the smoke cleared from that battle and a nationwide commission of Mafia dons...
...present turmoil is centered in New York City, where ex-Mafia Executioner Dellacroce is struggling with Drug King Carmine Galante over leadership of the city's five crime clans. Mafiosi from coast to coast will look on the winner as the don with the most "respect," the capo di tutti capi (translation: boss of bosses); in a word, the Godfather. The loser may wind up dead...
Although several notorious gangsters are being prosecuted, pressure on organized crime has eased considerably in the past few years because of disarray among federal law enforcement agencies, notably the FBI, IRS and Drug Enforcement Administration. They are still suffering from the backlash against the civil rights violations committed by some overzealous agents in the 1960s and early 1970s. In addition, the FBI has not yet settled down from the inevitable turmoil that followed the death of Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1972; its parent, the Justice Department, has been disoriented by a revolving door at the top: five chiefs since...
During those years, an attempt at a broad-scale attack on organized crime by the federal strike forces broke down because of internal rivalries. Says William Aronwald, former leader of the strike force in New York: "Cooperation among agencies is the exception rather than the rule." But without joint efforts by law enforcement agencies at all levels of government, Aronwald and other investigators fear, organized crime can never be attacked successfully. He adds: "You've got to be ballsy. You've got to be aggressive. You can't wait until they come to you." A successful assault will probably require...
...Concentrating more money and manpower on fighting the Mob. According to a study by G. Robert Blakey, director of the Cornell Institute on Organized Crime, all levels of government employ only 400 lawyers who specialize in organized crime. Says he: "The Mafia now has more lawyers than we have...