Mafia

[Rasputin]

Tony Accardo (a.k.a. "Joe Batters," "Big Tuna") was Chicago Mafia boss for about a dozen years beginning near the end of World War II. Born April 28, 1906, Accardo became prominent in the mob during Al Capone's reign. He served for a time as Capone's bodyguard. In 1931, Accardo was named as a suspect in the killing of Capone rival Joe Aiello. (Some say he may have been among the gunmen in the earlier St. Valentine's Day Massacre.) Upon Capone's imprisonment for tax evasion, Accardo remained close to new boss Frank Nitti and took the reins upon Nitti's apparent suicide in 1943. He helped guide the Chicago family into gambling ventures, entertainment industry rackets and trucking. Accardo allowed Sam Giancana to take over day-to-day mob operations in 1956. Accardo remained influential in the Family and returned to a visible leadership role when Giancana fled the country to escape prosecution in 1966. Accardo retired in the 1980s to Palm Springs, Calif., and died May 27, 1992.

[Rasputin]

Albert Anastasia (orig. Umberto Anastasio; he was dubbed by the press as "the Lord High Executioner" of Murder Inc., the enforcement arm of the Mafia) was an devoted ally of Charlie Luciano in the 20s and 30s and an enforcer of the will of Frank Costello after that. With Joe Adonis, he reportedly controlled a portion of the Brooklyn docks and the unions that worked them (useful for importing contraband) and supported Giuseppe Masseria in the Castellamarese War. After the war, Anastasia emerged as the underboss in the Mangano Family. Anastasia was also thought to be the organizer of a narcotics trafficking network. Anastasia once approached the Mafia Commission asking to support Dutch Schultz by eliminating New York State Prosecutor Tom Dewey. Mob boss Joe Bonanno suggested that Luciano had Anastasia float that idea before the Commission so Luciano himself would not be linked with it. Dewey later hoped to use hitman-turned-state-witness Abe Reles' testimony to nail Anastasia as the official go-between for the Mafia hierarchy and the hired killers of Murder Inc. But one night Reles suddenly decided to step out of a high-rise hotel window, ending the state's case against Anastasia. In 1951, with the Manganos suddenly gone, Anastasia rose to the leadership of their Family. Anastasia was shot to death Oct. 25, 1957, as he sat in a barber's chair in the Park Sheraton hotel lobby. The killing appeared to be part of a effort by Vito Genovese to eliminate the Costello-Anastasia influence in the underworld (Costello was shot in the head - but survived - just a few months earlier and turned control of his organization over to Genovese). However, it also may have been the result of Anastasia's recent moves to establish a gambling empire in Cuba outside of the influence of usual Mafia-Cuba go-between Meyer Lansky. Carlo Gambino next ruled the Family that would henceforth be associated with his name and was dominant in the national Mafia for many years. Gambino, Genovese and Lansky all had motives and may have cooperated on the Anastasia assassination.

[Rasputin]

Joseph Bonanno is the unusual case of a long-time Mafia boss who wrote his own autobiography. Bonanno's book, "A Man of Honor," deals at length with the author's personal Robin Hood fantasy and very little with the assortment of crimes of which he is certainly guilty. (It was most likely written because even the duped Gay Talese had not reported all the the bull handed to him by the Bonannos during his research for "Honor Thy Father.") Born Jan. 18, 1905 in Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily, Bonanno first came to the U.S. with his family (established Mafia leaders) at age 3. The family returned to Sicily when he was about 7 to protect its interests there. Bonanno traveled back to Brooklyn in 1924 and settled with his relatives, the Bonventres. Within a few years, Bonanno was actively bootlegging for the Cola Schiro organization (which appears to have been cofounded by another Bonanno relative, Stefano Maggadino, some years earlier and which included a large number of Castellamarese immigrants). Bonanno was a staunch supporter of Salvatore Maranzano in the Castellamarese War, but was welcomed into the new Mafia hierarchy after Maranzano's assassination in 1931. Bonanno claims to have been made boss of the Brooklyn Castellamarese clan after Maranzano's death. He held that role and expanded his families interests into Canada, Arizona and California - with some competition (made famous in the press as the "Banana Wars") and occasional interruptions (he was once allegedly kidnapped) - into the 1980s. The Family's hard times continued after Bonanno's retirement. It was kicked off the Commission in the 1980s when it was learned that the group was directly involved with drug trafficking in violation of a Paul Castellano edict. Joe Bonanno died of natural causes May 12, 2002.

[Rasputin]

Louis Buchalter (known as "Lepke") has the distinction of being the first organized crime lord to be sent to the chair. Buchalter was the administrative head of a Syndicate enforcement group known in the media as "Murder, Inc." Under Lepke, the Murder, Inc., group would perform cold-blooded hits (devoid of detectable motive) ordered by the Mafia's ruling commission. The 1940 arrest and subsequent court testimony of admitted Murder Inc. killer Abe "Kid Twist" Reles aided New York prosecutor Burton Turkus in convicting Lepke of murder. Buchalter had other lesser known criminal interests, including working both sides of labor-management disputes in the garment industry.

[Rasputin]

Paul Castellano was born in 1915 into one of the older Mafia clans in the U.S. His family, believed to have been part of the Toto D'Aquila organization, was already working the rackets in New York when a wave of Sicilian Mafiosi arrived here fleeing from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in the early 1920s. The Castellanos sponsored new arrival Carlo Gambino in 1921 (and Gambino eventually rose to lead the criminal organization). Paul Castellano grew up as an apprentice to Gambino and took over the powerful Gambino Family - powerful because Gambino didn't adhere to agreements on the limits of Family membership - upon Carlo's death in 1976. Castellano, who moved into a replica of the White House at 177 Benedict Road on Staten Island, became an important figure on the Commission and is thought to have been boss of bosses in the early 1980s. Castellano's rise to power (and his insistence that New York Mafiosi give up drug trafficking) displeased those in the crime group who had hoped Gambino underboss Aniello Delacroce, a less business-like Mafioso, would lead the family. John Gotti, later known as the "Dapper Don" and the "Teflon Don," was part of the unhappy faction. While Delacroce was alive, he was able to keep the Gotti wing loyal to Castellano. But with Delacroce passing away, Gotti set up the assassination of Castellano and his bodyguard Thomas Bilotti in front of Sparks Steak House in Manhattan in 1985. Gotti then grabbed the leadership of the Gambino Family for himself. The hit on Castellano, while personally motivated on Gotti's part, also served the interests of the Mafia as a whole. Castellano had inadvertently supplied federal agents with a wealth of information about the inner workings of the Syndicate and the Commission by speaking openly about such things in a room of his house that had been bugged. Mafiosi also reportedly feared that Castellano, who last served time after a 1934 robbery conviction, wouldn't be able to stomach a long haul behind bars.

[Rasputin]

Joe Colombo was among the more outspoken of the New World Mafia chieftains. After rising to power in what was previously the Profaci Family in the mid-1960s, he founded and actively sought publicity for the Italian-American Civil Rights League. Claiming that reports and rumors of the Mafia were designed to damage the reputation of Italian-Americans, he conducted public rallies and spoke frequently with the press. The Commission, particularly Carlo Gambino, was unhappy with the media attention Colombo and the rest of organized crime were getting as a result of League activities. It is believed that the Gambino-controlled Commission ordered Colombo's death in 1971. He was mortally wounded during a League rally on June 28, 1971. Interestingly, Joe Bonanno considered Colombo one of the instigators of trouble within the Bonanno Family in the early 1960s. Bonanno claimed that Colombo was working directly with Buffalo's Stefano Magaddino (a relative of Bonanno's) and indirectly with Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese to take over Bonanno's organization. It was through this alliance with Gambino, Magaddino and others that Colombo was able to win control of the Profaci group. Later, his League involvement caused a falling out with the other more established and less conspicuous bosses.

[Rasputin]

Aniello Dellacroce ("Neal"), who learned his craft under Albert Anastasia, served as underboss to Carlo Gambino. The fact that Dellacroce had been a protege of Anastasia could have caused some conflict with Gambino, who is believed to have had a hand in Anastasia's death. But Dellacroce reportedly kept himself in check and served his boss loyally. Upon Gambino's death, many felt Dellacroce should be elevated to Family boss, but he stepped aside for Gambino relative Paul Castellano. If there were hurt feelings, Dellacroce hardly let on. He insisted that his supporters, who were based at the Ravenite social club on Mulberry Street, remain loyal to Castellano. Dellacroce died on Dec. 2, 1985, clearing the way for his followers to act against Castellano.

[Cop]

axe dadashe doostam koo! ye paaa mafias lamassab jedi migam

[Rasputin]

axe dadashe doostam koo! ye paaa mafias lamassab jedi migam

Ki ro migi !?

[Cop]

nemishnasish ye pa mafia hast khodesh iranie to kuwait zendegi mikone

[Rasputin]

Cop ye doc. daram az Kuwait mafia vali khatarieh gozashtanesh inja

[Rasputin]

About the Chinese Mafia

The death of Wheeler Cassidy's politically connected brother throws a monkey wrench in the easy, free-wheeling life of this Beverly Hills playboy. Suspicious of the circumstances and determined to bring the Chinese gangsters behind his brother's death to justice, Wheeler Cassidy soon finds himself thrust into the complex, frightening and mysterious world of the Chinese underworld.
Chinese Triad societies originated well before the birth of Christ, originally as rebel factions intent on overthrowing the current government. Based on the concept of sworn brotherhood, Triads evolved into criminal organizations that form the basis of the Chinese underworld. The clannish quality of the Triads was reinforced by and built on kinship and elaborate secret rituals. Reports of the rituals are extremely rare, but one commonly known official Triad initiation rite consists of beheading a rooster, pouring its blood into a wine glass, and having the member being initiated drink it. Little of these bonding rituals is left today in the current Triad organizations.
The original Triad, whose name translates to "Red Eyebrows," formed in an attempt to overthrow the Chinese Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). By the 17th century, Triads had expanded to form "societies." One of the more powerful was formed by five monks who wanted to over throw the Chi'ing Dynasty and restore the Ming.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, the Triads were less concerned with political activism and more concerned with robbery, extortion and blackmail. By the first half of the 20th century, the Triads had established strongholds in Hong Kong, and had fully evolved into criminal organizations. A vast political crackdown in 1956 vastly limited Triad activities. In a few years, they had regrouped and formed throughout Hong Kong and other parts of China. Current estimates say that 5-10 percent of all "detected" criminal activity in Hong Kong is Triad-related.
Like Russia, the onset of free enterprise has given the Triads increased opportunity for control in Hong Kong and other areas of China. Unlike the Russian mafia or the various mafias in America, Chinese Triads rely less on brute force and more on intimidation tactics, bribery, and the select placement of "their" government and banking officials.

Their main criminal activities are extortion, drug trafficking, loan-sharking, credit card fraud and video piracy. In Hong Kong, Triads control prostitution, gambling and many private and public sector businesses. More reinforcement of anti-crime laws has led many Hong Kong triads to turn their attention to southern China.
While some Westerners fear the spread of Chinese Triads to North America, most officials find this unlikely as Triads tend to operate in areas where smuggling is impeded by as few international customs as possible. The greatest source of income for Triads tend to be in southern China and Hong Kong. Many officials do point out that Triads (as well as the Russian, Japanese and Italian mafias) have key connections working for them all over the world.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

The Yakuza Godfathers Part II

Kodama used the yakuza to suppress anything that might be considered a Communist initiative. In 1949 Kodama ordered one crime group, the Meiraki-gumi, to disrupt a labor movement at the Hokutan Coal Mine. A fervent nationalist, Kodama used his clout in the hope that the honor and glory of the Japanese empire could one day be restored. To that end he modernized the bickering and disorganized yakuza gangs and brokered coalitions between the larger factions, throwing their combined support to the conservative, anti-Communist Liberal Democratic Party. Personally Kodama detested warfare and abhorred street hoods, although they were an important part of his power base. Ironically his dream was to insure a peaceful Japan.

Kodama was a pivotal figure in the notorious Lockheed scandal that emerged in 1976 when it was revealed that the aircraft giant had paid the godfather more than two million dollars to influence the Japanese market away from McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing and toward Lockheed. To do this, Kodama sent a gang of sokaiya (shareholders' meeting men) to disrupt a meeting of All Nippon Airways stockholders. The sokaiya spread rumors of an illegal million-dollar loan made to the president of the company, Tetsuo Oba, who had rejected Lockheed's bid for a new fleet of passenger aircraft. The pressure mounted on Oba, and he was soon forced to resign. His replacement was handpicked by Kodama, and the new president was more favorably disposed to purchasing Lockheed's wide-bodied jets. In 1976 Carl Kotchian, Lockheed's president, was called to testify before a United States Senate committee investigating the Lockheed scandal. The ripple effect of his shocking testimony reached back to Japan, spurring the national police to investigate Kodama's participation in the scandal. Though the police could not uncover enough proof to prosecute Kodama on charges stemming from the Lockheed incident, they found that he had evaded taxes on more than $6 million. The public was outraged by the enormity of Kodama's tax-fraud scheme. In fact, a distraught young actor who had been a great admirer of Kodama's attempted to crash a small airplane into Kodama's suburban Tokyo house.

Kodama survived the kamikaze mission, but his empire was crumbling. He was indicted for perjury, bribery and violation of the exchange laws, but was deemed too sick to stand trial. He suffered a stroke and died quietly on January 17, 1984.

The other legendary godfather of the yakuza was Kazuo Taoka, oyabun of Japan's largest crime family, the Yamaguchi-gumi. His reign lasted 35 years, ending with his death in 1981. Under his leadership, the Yamaguchi-gumi membership grew to 13,000. Their presence was felt in 36 of Japan's 47 prefectures, and they controlled more than 2,500 businesses, ran extensive gambling and loan-sharking enterprises, and invested heavily in sports and entertainment.

[Rasputin]

The Yakuza Godfathers Part III

Taoka first came to power in the port city of Kobe, where his gangs rounded up unskilled laborers and sold their services cheaply to shipping companies. Other yakuza clans competed for this lucrative racket, but under Taoka's guidance, the Yamaguchi-gumi took the lion's share of the labor business.

Unlike Yoshio Kodama, who disdained street-level violence, Taoka had lived with it all his life and had no problem using it to his advantage. Orphaned as a boy, Taoka was forced to work on the Kobe docks where he was taken in by a local gang leader named Noburu Yamaguchi. As a young man, Taoka proved to be a fierce street fighter. His signature move was to claw his opponents eyes with his fingers, which earned him the nickname Kuma (The Bear). In 1936, at the age of 23, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for murdering a gang rival.

Upon his release in 1943, he was welcomed back into his old gang, and in 1946, at the age of 33, he became the new oyabun after the death of Yamaguchi. Police arrests and the military draft had reduced the Yamaguchi-gumi to just 25 loyal kobun, but under Taoka the gang's ranks would soon swell. His organizational genius and natural aggressiveness helped to make the Yamaguchi-gumi Japan's premier yakuza clan. The cunning Bear made a pact with Kobe's largest bakuto gang, the Honda-kai, but in fact he was uncomfortable with sharing power. The traditional gamblers were no match for his soldiers, and soon the Honda-kai was devoured by the Yamaguchi-gumi.

A Korean gang from Osaka, the Meiyu-kai, was Taoka's next target, and its defeat gave the Yamaguchi-gumi a controlling share of the Osaka rackets. Operating like a wartime commanding general, Taoka moved in on the Miyamoto-gumi next and swallowed their ranks into his own. In the 1960s even the great Kodama had to negotiate with Taoka to keep the Yamaguchi-gumi from muscling into Yokohama.