Gangsterism

[dippy_dumbo]

Hey, I'm doing my history coursework on Prohibition and links with gangsterism etc. Does anyone know roughly when gangsterism actually started, as we have been told that Prohibition wasn't the actual cause of gangsterism, but the cause of the increased amount of gangsterism.
Thanks

[woofgang]

I guess the first time that two monkeys realised that they could gang up on a third monkey and take his food, girlfriend, life and no one could stop them!!

[Octavius]

The 18th Amendment had banned the sale, transportation and manufacture of alcohol in America. But it was clear to some, that millions neither wanted this law nor would respect it. There was obviously a huge market for what in the 1920's was an illegal commodity. It was the gangsters who dominated various cities who provided this commodity. Each major city had its gangster element but the most famous was Chicago with Al Capone.

Prohibition did increase the crime rate during 1920s. Criminals and gangsters tried to find way to gain money by selling alcohol for a higher prize. The criminals and gangsters got richer, and they became more powerful, no one dared to stop them once they were armed with guns. Whenever police caught these gangs, the gangs often bribed or killed the police.

Sometimes the police or the officers could be bought for the right prize to become one of the gangsters. And even some governments threw parties with alcoholic beverages.

The criminals and gangsters ran the speakeasies, they bribed police or they had either police or officials as their spies.

[Ouisch]

Organized crime existed long before Prohibition.  Here's an article about the Five Points Gang, which existed in New York in the mid-1800s:

 

http://urbanography.com/5_points/

[jno]

The Martin Scorsese movie Gangs of New York covers 19th-century gangsterism, but doubtless it went back much earlier.

[Octavius]

Gangs have been in existence for as long as there have been inhabitants of this world. The word thug dates back to India in the year 1200 AD and it refers to a gang of criminals (Thugz) that roamed the country pillaging towns in their course. These Thugz had their own symbols, hand signs, rituals and slang. In the west, we grew up with tales of our own form of thugs like pirates and gangsters, therefore, gangs, undoubtedly, were not a new concept.

Throughout the 1800's, Americans were fascinated with gangs and gangsters. The James Gang, Billy the Kid and other outlaws, legend has it, ruled the Wild West. As the late 1800's roared in, the new generation of gangs and gangsters was created out of the new immigrants. Irish gangs like the Whyos, Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies, and Jewish gangs like the Monk Eastman Gang terrorized New York City streets. The most notorious gang during this era formed in New York City during the late 1890's and early 1900's.

This gang, The Five Points Gang, led by Italian immigrant, Paolo Antonini Vaccarelli, also known as Paul Kelly and his second in command, Johnny Torrio, was the most significant street gang to form in the United States, ever! Johnny Torrio, who became a significant member of the Sicilian Mafia (La Cosa Nostra) recruited street hoodlums from across New York City to the Five Points Gang. The Five Points Gang became the Major League to many young street gangsters and a farm club for the Mafia. The most notorious recruit into the Five Points Gang was a teenaged boy of Italian descent who was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1899 to immigrant parents. His name was Alphonse Capone, better known as Scarface. He became a member of the James Street Gang, which was a minor league of sort, to the Five Pointers. One of Capone's childhood friends, and fellow member of the Five Points Gang, was another street thug named Lucky Luciano.

The rest is history....

[Dhistorygirl]

"Gangs" or "gangsterism" has always been a part of human culture. American gangs in particular are a product of immigration and immigration patterns, especially during the Industrial Revolution. As the British and the French were the first Europeans to settle the US, those that followed (in particular those from Eastern and Southern Europe) were discriminated against. The earlier groups felt superior. It was an "I was here first!" kind of thing. As a result, the ethnic groups that immigrated later on tended to stick together within their own ethnic group for protection. Research on the ethnic neighborhoods in New York City and Chicago will provide further evidence.

As the Industrial Revolution created jobs and people began to move to urban areas for work, some groups were discriminated against in terms of gaining employment because of their ethnicity. If you read some of Jacob Riis' writing you will see how deplorable the conditions were in the slums of the cities. It will also describe how some of the groups tended to stick together for security and financial reasons.

Gangs were a way to get a piece of the pie they didn't otherwise have access too. And who better to ally with than those that understood your plight?