Chair’s Letter Dear Delegates, We are delighted to welcome you to the Gang Wars Crisis Committee as part of the third Kent School Model United Nations Conference. Your chair for the committee is Brandon Schuster ‘19; he have been part of KSMUN for the past three years. Brandon has chaired the EU Committee on Migration (KSMUN ‘17) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (‘18) in the past two years and is now the Under Secretary-General for Logistics. He also runs cross country, is a coxswain for the crew team, and is co-president of Grilling Club. I am so excited to have you in my committee! Our committee deals with the Apalachin meeting of 1957, where the five main bosses of the New York crime scene gathered in upstate New York to discuss their futures. After decades of a stable conservative majority in The Commission, the structure of organization for America’s mafia, the 1950s have brought about a new liberal movement. At this meeting, some expect to be elected the new Chairman of the Commission, some are pushing for liberal reforms, and some are trying to cling on to power. Your goal will be to gain power and influence, represent your delegate and family’s views, and to eventually choose a new leader of the Commission. All are welcome in to join in this committee, but a basic knowledge of the workings of MUN procedure, the history of the American mafia, and the position of your delegate you represent will aid you in preparation for the committee. All delegates are expected to research these things and come ready with the information that they will need, as electronic devices will not be allowed in the debate room. If it is extremely necessary to use a device, you may be excused from the room; however, you are always welcome to seek help from the dais. As this is such a broad and complicated topic, having a good understanding of the issues and positions will help accelerate and add depth to the debate. The Introduction and Background Guide below, along with the list of delegates and their positions, are a starting point for your research, but is far from all the information that you will need to know in order to negotiate a good outcome for your delegate. You are also expected to write a short position paper explaining your delegate’s stance on the issues and consolidating your research. Please feel free to print both your position paper, this background guide, and your research to bring to committee. If you have any questions or see any mistakes in this guide, please feel free to email me or any of the other members of KSMUN. Thank you for being a part of our conference and we look forward to seeing you there. Your chair, Brandon Schuster ’19 [email protected] Introduction At the height of their power, the organized crime families of New York were unrivalled in power, stealing, trafficking, and killing all without detection by the FBI. However, as the old “conservative-Sicilian” faction grasped onto power, the younger “liberal-American” faction split over ideological differences and struggles for control. This came to a head at the Apalachin Meeting in 1957 when the younger guard attempted a coup after six tumultuous years leading up to this moment and the FBI was forced to recognize the Mafia’s existence. How will you navigate the wrestles for power, the sabotage, and the creeping realization that the Mafia can no longer live underground? As a member of the Mafia, you must be daring, ruthless, and convincing; through your own crisis notes, you will be able to accumulate influence and disarm enemies, but it is through cooperation with your fellow delegates that you will come up to a solution to the Mafia’s problems. In the end, the committee must find a way to evade the authorities, decide whether narcotics trafficking is aligned with the Mafia’s values, and deal with the growing power of the liberal faction. Background Following the death of the ​capo di tutti capi ​(“boss of all bosses”) Salvatore Maranzano in 1931, the “father of organized crime,” Charles “Lucky” Luciano, established a new way of controlling the American Mafia with the first Commission. Maranzano had organized the gangs into the “Five Families,” and the Commission gave them the ability to jointly make decisions and mediate conflicts. It consisted of the heads of the Five Families, along with their underbosses, and was presided over by the Chairman, which was Luciano. After Luciano’s imprisonment in 1936, the Commission’s power devolved more to the heads of the Five Families, with Vincent Mangano beginning to chair. From the beginning, the Commission was filled with power struggles, secret alliances, and sabotage. At first, the bosses of the Five Families all belonged to the “conservative-Sicilian” faction and for almost thirty years their views prevailed. They inherited values from their Sicilian roots, including opposition to prostitution and narcotics trafficking. In general, these conservative members were older and grew up in Sicily. Since the imprisonment of Boss Luciano, they dominated The Commission and its politics, policies, and rules. However, as the Commission evolved and new bosses began to lead the Five Families, tensions grew between the “old guard,” whose entrenched power interfered with the new “liberal-American” ideology, and the new leaders who believed in it. By 1951, the liberal bosses began infighting among the Families. Boss Vito Genovese had recently gained control of the Luciano family, the most powerful of the Five, in 1946, after being released from jail. He was able to wrest power from Frank Costello, and now that he controlled the largest and most powerful family, he intended to take control of The Commission. But, as a member of the liberal-American faction, he had to break the conservative faction hold on power. He led the charge to overturn the conservative order, leading with allies Gaetano Lucchese and Carlo Gambino, and from 1951 to 1957, he began agitating for power. Between these years, he and his allies orchestrated the assassination of five New York mafia bosses and many other attacks on the established power. At some point, Boss Genovese decided to overtake Costello. To do so, he also needed to remove Costello’s ally on the Commission, Albert Anastasia, the boss of the Anastasia crime family. Genovese directed a murder with his allies Lucchese and Gambino, who was Anastasia’s underboss. In 1957 he ordered the assassinations; Costello was shot in the head as he entered is apartment building and though it was not deadly, it convinced him to retire. Vito Genovese was now the undisputed boss of the Genovese family. A few months later, he and Gambino ordered Anastasia’s murder, based on the rumors that Costello and Anastasia were conspiring to regain power. As he stepped into the Park Central Hotel on October 25, two men shot and killed Anastasia. Now, with no competition as to who controlled the most powerful family and an ally in now-Boss Gambino, Vito Genovese called for a meeting of all the bosses to establish his supremacy over The Commission; this was to be the final battle between the liberal and conservative factions. Topics For Debate Narcotics Trafficking The main reform pushed by the “liberal-American” faction is allowing the trafficking and sale of narcotics. They believe it is a new way for the Commission’s families to make money that has not yet been used. The conservative faction disagree, pointing to long-standing tradition against narcotics trafficking and the new opportunities law enforcement would have to catch gang members in illegal acts. Choosing a New Chairman of the Commission The underlying goal of the Apalachin Meeting was to decide who would lead the Commission after Costello stepped down from his family. The liberal faction is pushing for one of their bosses to take the chair, while the conservative faction wants to retain it for themselves. You must decide who must come out on top, or pick someone else - perhaps a consensus pick or someone who rises up and surprises the committee. Evading Law Enforcement While the Commission operates out of the knowledge of law enforcement, they are growing ever closer to the gangs. You must ensure that they do not catch the group of all five bosses together, which would be disastrous, or worse - that there is a mole in your midst. Blocs and Positions The Genovese family operates mainly in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey. The are generally part of the “liberal-American” faction and want to push for narcotics trafficking being allowed by the Commission. The members of the Genovese family at the Apalachin Meeting were: - Vito “Don Vito” Genovese ​is the boss of the Genovese family and holds immense sway over its members and will not tolerate dissidence in his own family. He also controls the hundreds of men in the Genovese gang. He is dead set on gaining the chairmanship of the Commission and expanding its power. He is also a staunch supporter of the liberal reforms, wanting to be able to deal in more unethical trades, such as drug trafficking and prostitution. - Gerardo “Jerry” Catena ​is the underboss of the Genovese family and, therefore, runs the day-to-day operations of the gang. He has close relationships with the hundreds of the gang’s members and has a fortune from investing in the slot machine company Bally’s. He has risen through the ranks and wants to continue to do so. He was born in New Jersey and intensely wants to enact the reforms of the “liberal-American faction” in order to enrich himself.