Mafia "Americanization"

[Angelo Santino]

One thing to remember about Bonanno is that he started being "open" about himself when he was in his late 70's so his perspective may have changed. Joe B of 1920 may not have been the traditionalistic Castellammarese adhering to the tradition in a fair and just way. Others around him have described him as a devious hoodlum. His protege was Carmine Galante as B. pointed out in a call, which is very telling as to the type of man he was.

I think as you get older its human nature for some to look back on life and reflect, and in doing so you tend to care more about certain things that you scoffed at when you were younger.

[thekiduknow]

I definitely agree that Bonanno's views were impacted not only by age, but by the image he wanted to present to the world. Although, I don't think he was one way in the 40s and the other in the 80s(not that you were saying its that black and white). For example, there's that informant who said that Bonanno personally presided over his ceremony, and it was done traditionally. Contrast that with Willie Dara, who was made in 49/50 and had the verbal ceremony that we see from the 70s on.

B. made a good case that the first informant was Epifanio D'Angelo, who was Castellammarese. If Bonanno did preside over his ceremony, maybe it shows that he did adhere to tradition when it was his compaesani at least.

[B.]

No question Joe Bonanno whitewashed who he was in his book and left out many of the darker/nastier things. If we look at the 1896 case where his uncle was ID'd as a mafia figure, the traditional Castellammarese were involved in vicious and petty crimes even back then.

That 1940s source knew them as the "Castellammarese gang" and compared them to the guys from "Montedoro" in Pittston. He said Bonanno was more vicious while Garofalo was the more smooth one. The Bonanno Family shows the most evidence of clan and hometown based membership, so no evidence Bonanno had a later epiphany and revised that side of it. Bonanno Family was a traditional organization in that they recruited heavily based on clan and hometown but brought in everyone from hardcore criminals to doctors based on these connections.

[B.]

Can look at Americanization through the lens of the boss position...

- First ~84 years of the Gambino Family's known existence had an official boss from Palermo citta with the exception of 6 years in the 1950s. 78 out of 84, with the 6 under Anastasia happening at least 50 years in is significant.

- First ~70 years of the Bonanno Family's known existence had an official boss from Trapani province (Camporeale, Castellammare, Salemi).

- First ~51 years of the Colombo Family's known existence had an official boss from metropolitan Palermo, longer if they split from Lupo and we include Magliocco who was unrecognized.

- First ~51 years of the Lucchese Family's known existence had an official boss from Corleone or nearby inland Palermo, with over 15 years after that led by an official boss from metro Palermo.

We see the influence of each Family's roots later, in some cases still today, but the 1960s-1980s are when we really start to see Americanization influence the selection of official boss. Available evidence shows the membership of these Families heavily (though not exclusively) reflected the same towns/regions as their bosses earlier in history, though there were elements in each Family that did not even early on (i.e. Gambino Family's Agrigento faction appears to go back to Lupo).

Can debate what qualities made each boss a candidate, but we know not all of these bosses had the exact some characteristics, personality type, and activities. They certainly weren't all chosen for being the biggest criminal mastermind. The common factor as to who qualified for boss is hometown, and in most cases they also came from an established mafia clan. Obviously other factors played a role in the selection of each individual, but the evidence strongly suggests you can't separate someone's origin from the politics of a Family even after Americanization began to change their internal make-up. Once the dam broke, though, it broke.

Not each Family around the US is the same either. The Genovese Family doesn't fit in as well with the others in NYC from what's known, and if we go around the US we can see some cities named non-Sicilians as official boss by 1930/1931 but those reflected different degrees of Americanization and local influence. Cleveland and Chicago named non-Sicilians as official rappresentante by that time, but Milwaukee remained almost exclusively Bagheresi and Palermitani throughout its existence and the leadership showed this. Seems Milwaukee could have easily taken more influence from Chicago and inducted larger numbers of non-Sicilians and non-clan members but they didn't. Detroit didn't either and their leadership continued to reflect the members' origins with an informant in the 1960s saying compaesani politics and the role of interrelation were still alive and well in that Family, which other evidence supports.

The breaking of these patterns in the boss position are a great example of full Americanization. The longer the organizations existed in the US, the more likely they were to induct members from different backgrounds and the backgrounds of bosses changed accordingly. Some groups welcomed these influences and others didn't, but everyone in the US was impacted and dealt with Americanization.

[CabriniGreen]

I might call some of this, especially in reguards to the Sicilians, Calabrians, and Naples mafiosi, during the 60s and 70s, not so much an Americanization, but a Coporatization of mafia structures, and operations. They started to become business focused, rather then exclusively territory/ Extortion based. It's the reason they initiated the Naples guys, and Calabrian families, to better expand the Tobacco trade.

[aleksandrored]

This conversation reminded me that an informant said that although Toto Riina had a lot of money, he was a guy who didn't dress well or care much for luxury, what he liked was power.

[West Coast1]

What does this mean to people when they say the Mafia Americanized?

I have my own opinion but I want to hear what others think.

If someone is good with posting pictures, please post some before and after photos showing how guys dress now vs then.... I won't have to type anymore.

Just look at the clothes and tell me if they look like a boss or a street gang member

[aleksandrored]

What does this mean to people when they say the Mafia Americanized?

I have my own opinion but I want to hear what others think.

If someone is good with posting pictures, please post some before and after photos showing how guys dress now vs then.... I won't have to type anymore.

Just look at the clothes and tell me if they look like a boss or a street gang member

But I think this is worldwide, criminals don't wear Don Corleone suits anywhere anymore, even here in my country the bosses dressed one way in the 50's and they dress another way nowadays, things change.