Influenced Transplantation: a Study Into Emerging Mafia Groups in The

Influenced Transplantation: A Study into Emerging Mafia Groups in the United States pre-1920 Simon May Submitted version deposited in Coventry University’s Institutional Repository Original citation: May, S. (2017) Influenced Transplantation: A Study into Emerging Mafia Groups in the United States pre-1920 . Unpublished PhD Thesis. Coventry: Coventry University. Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Some materials have been removed from this thesis due to Third Party Copyright. Pages where material has been removed are clearly marked in the electronic version. The unabridged version of the thesis can be viewed at the Lanchester Library, Coventry University. Influenced Transplantation: A Study into Emerging Mafia Groups in the United States pre-1920 By Simon May May 2017 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the University’s requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 2 REGISTRY RESEARCH UNIT ETHICS REVIEW FEEDBACK FORM (Review feedback should be completed within 10 working days) Name of applicant: Simon May ...................................... Faculty/School/Department: [Business, Environment and Society] International Studies and Social Science .................................................................. Research project title: PHD on Organised Crime: Links between pre-prohibition mafias in the US and Sicily Comments by the reviewer 1. Evaluation of the ethics of the proposal: 2. Evaluation of the participant information sheet and consent form: 3. Recommendation: (Please indicate as appropriate and advise on any conditions. If there any conditions, the applicant will be required to resubmit his/her application and this will be sent to the same reviewer). Approved - no conditions attached Approved with minor conditions (no need to re-submit) Conditional upon the following – please use additional sheets if necessary (please re-submit application) Rejected for the following reason(s) – please use other side if necessary 3 X Not required Name of reviewer: Anonymous ................................................................................................ Date: 10/04/2013 ...................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract The current literature on mafia transplantation into the US does not address the relationship between Italian mafia groups and United States mafia groups in the pre-prohibition era; any connection between the two is assumed rather than proven. This thesis argues that mafia transplantation theory, showing that the operation of an overseas outpost by an Italian mafia is insufficient in explaining the movement of mafiosi from Italy to the United States and the formation of groups in the United States. Instead, it suggests that members of groups in the United States used knowledge obtained in Italy, but in the form of imitation rather than control. This imitation was based on elements of cultural heritage with which the mafioso would be familiar, helping define the structure, relationships, rituals and modus operandi of the US groups. The research involved examining records from various archives; newspaper, police, immigration records, personal records, etc., in order to find proof of transplantation outposts operations, influence or of home-grown mafia. The thesis tackles transplantation in three areas; migration, markets and operations. It shows that generalised migration was not a factor in determining the transplantation of a mafia group and shows that individual Mafiosi travelled often as the result of increased law enforcement efforts against them rather than as part of a strategy. The thesis demonstrates that the markets in which these migrated Mafiosi operated in the United States were not comparable in a way that suggests the running of an outpost from Italy, but instead that these mafiosi’s groups adapted to changing conditions in the United States. At an operational level, the groups in the US fed off the reputation of their Italian counterparts but were imitating their practices rather than being subservient to their control. Overall the thesis shows that the Mafia groups in the US were not operating as an outpost under control of an Italian organisation and instead were made up of close affiliations of individuals with the relevant skills to take advantage of and adapt to the local American conditions in a form influenced by their Italian counterparts. 5 Acknowledgements Firstly I would like to express special gratitude for Dr. Rino Coluccello as Director of Studies for his continuous support of my work on the PhD, professional and personal development. His knowledge and guidance helped me immensely with the research and writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Alex Thomson and Dr. Simon Massey, again for their support and guidance with the PhD and with my professional and personal development. They provided encouragement when needed and helped me develop perspective regarding my work. I also want to thank other colleagues at the university who have both supported me with the PhD in both professional and personal capacity. In addition I would like to thank the external for their help in refining the final elements of the PhD in the corrections. Outside the university I would like to thank the many researchers and academics who I had a chance to discuss my (and their) research with. Those who helped me locate or obtain sources on mafia in the US; David Critchley, Thomas Hunt, Mike Dash and others who responded to my queries. Vittorio Coco I am grateful to for guiding me around the Palermo State archives and for being very patient with my language troubles. Finally, I wish to thank my family and friends who have supported me through good times and bad across the last five years, for putting up with me when at my most stressed, for making sacrifices on my behalf along the way, and for making sure I kept going. 6 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 8 Literature Review ........................................................................................................................ 33 Migration ..................................................................................................................................... 67 Markets ..................................................................................................................................... 124 Operations ................................................................................................................................. 180 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 219 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 234 Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 246 7 Introduction In October 1888, the Chicago Daily Tribune newspaper asked the question ‘Has Chicago a Mafia’ in one of the paper’s front page headlines. The answer they provided exclaimed that the Italians have brought ‘their national customs, their secret societies, their traditions of murder’ with them to the US (1888). These were incriminatory words imposed upon the millions of migrants that headed to the US from Italy, yet this headline and its accompanying article were not alone in their blame. From the late nineteenth century, the debate raged, mostly within the confines of the local newspapers, as to what the nature of the mafia was in the US. Where had the mafia come from, who ran it, and who was to blame? Tthe answers to these questions normally consisted of Italy/ Sicily, a foreigner, and Italians/Sicilians/lax- immigration laws respectively [see (White, 1909), (New York Times, 1890), (New York Times, 1902)]. Even those newspapers which levied some of the reasoning for the emergence of these crime groups on the conditions of American society ultimately sought to blame a foreign machination. For example the Salt Lake Herald in August 1895 ran the following headline; ‘Society of the Sicilly [sic] Mafia, Curious Workings or the Murderous Gangs, Originally All Right, But That Was Five Hundred Years Ago, Growth in Louisiana Shows How Easily a Weed of Foreign Origin Can Take Root in This Fertile Soil and How Noxious a Plant it May Become’ (Salt Lake Herald, 1895). The origins of organised crime in America, particularly of Italian American mafias, have long been debated across academic disciplines as well as through government research, the media, popular culture and art. After the aforementioned newspaper reports of the late nineteenth century came early literary studies such as Herbert Asbury’s ‘Gangs’ series in the 1920s and 30s (1927, 1933, 1936 and 1940). These were followed by US government

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