(Paoli, 2003, p. 4) The mafia itself cannot be discussed without at least some history, as the film depicts the waning of the system, and not its hey day. Initially, the American Maria was a prominent supplier of bootlegged liquor. That required good connections with the local police department and political machines. Paying off the local beat cop provided a speakeasy, with its conspicuous and regular flow of traffic, little effective

176) it is also interesting that the legitimate first response to the dissolution of prohibition was to officially tax it and therefore gain legitimate revenue from a vice. It would not surprise any historian if the idea to tax vice's such as alcohol, which even today the government makes a great deal of money doing, was not born of the substantial success the early mafia made of making money

Italian-Americans -- 1930s The American experience for Italian immigrants (with particular emphasis on the 1930s) is the salient topic for this paper. The materials presented from scholarly sources in this paper show the positive and negative impacts experienced by Italian-American immigrants; those sources will also be critiqued and analyzed in the context of the experiences, including impacts such as discrimination that Italian-Americans went through during the 1930s. Italians Arrive in the United

Even the better aspects of the Corleone family are shown in a light that makes them seem contrary to the personalities and wills of other, more "typical" Italian-Americans. That is, their positive qualities are shown in the film to be aberrations; departures from the Italian-American norm. Don Corleone's initial reluctance -- refusal, in fact -- to become involved in any way with the drug trade makes him appear noble, yet

La Cosa Nostra The name La Cosa Nostra aka LCN for short refers to a group of American (with Italian backgrounds) crime brotherhoods which have been in existence in America since the early '20s. This group has other named like the outfit, the mob, the office or simply the Italian Mafia. For over 75 years, specifically during the period of Prohibition and the early '90s, no criminal group held more power

The Five Families have dominated organized crime in New York City since the 1930s. In 1931, the Five Families, in addition to the Chicago Outfit, established The Commission, a governing body that helped to eliminate feuds, disputes, and wars among the various crime families who were constantly vying for control over illegal activities, among other things ("Organized Crime-American Mafia"). Most mafia activities were restricted until 1920. Prior to the Prohibition,