Organized crime in America began shortly after the immigration of Italians coming over to America during the 1880s and 1890s. In 1910, the number of Italian Americans was roughly half a million, and there simply weren't enough jobs for the influx of immigrants. The majority followed government and state laws, but gangs began to form all over New York - the largest becoming the mafia. The history channel has valuable evidence at the beginning of the mafia mainly in Brooklyn, New York. It originated as a consequence of the 18th amendment which banned the sale and manufacturing of alcohol in the United States. The mafia still remains in business today even with the government's plans to stop them such as the .
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act passed in 1970. .
The Lufthansa heist of 1979 was carried out by the Lucchese crime family and representatives of the Gambino family. Mrs. Clifford cites information on a mafia member by the name of Vincent Asaro - a fellow member of the Bonanno crime family. He was found not guilty of involvement in one of the largest amounts of money stolen in a heist on American soil. Mr. Asaro had been involved with organized crime all his life and is poor because he did not receive his share for helping steal the money from the JFK airport. Clifford offers good information on the wiretapping of conversations held by Asaro with the help of recent crime member Gaspare Valenti who started working for the government for some extra money. .
Matthews, Chris. "Fortune 5: The Biggest Organized Crime Groups in the World.".
Organized crime is still very abundant in our world today, Matthews informs us on the billions of dollars that these mafias and cartels are raking in on illegal activities. These include cyber-crimes, such as identity theft which has become quite popular in America among groups of various hackers. Nearly 20 billion American dollars have been stolen from law abiding citizens by criminals that sit behind a desktop stealing your hard earned cash.