Module 2 Check Your Understanding 1

Running head: CHECK UNDERSTANDING 2

Module 2 Check Your Understanding

Andrew Uhlenkamp
Allied American University

Author Note
This paper was prepared for CRJ 455: Investigation of Organized Crime, Module 2
Check Your Understanding taught by John Dauser.

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Directions: Please define each of the following concepts by providing examples from the text.
Please use proper APA format. Each response should be 1-2 paragraphs.
1. Black hand
The Black Hand was an organization that extorted money from lucrative Italian families.
They first began operating in the 1750s in Italy and Sicily before later expanding their
operations to target Italian families in the United States (Lyman & Potter, 2011). Their primary
method would be to send notes to the victim depicting violence and threaten to kidnap or murder
a member of the victims family or destroy their business if they were not paid.
After the Italian immigration into the United States, The Black Hand cross the pond with
them, targeting Italian citizens in New York, Kansas City, and Chicago after 1890 and up until
1920. It was during this time that the organization flourished, while stories of their violence were
also particularly gruesome. Ignazio Saietta in New York, Joseph and Peter DiGiavanni in Kansas
City, and James Cosmano in Chicago ran operations that murdered and threatened countless
Italians. After prohibition, the majority of the thugs working for the Black Hand found it to be
more rewarding running bootlegging operations. The organization became relatively defunct by
the middle of the 1920s.
2. Twenty-first Amendment
The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution made it illegal to manufacture, sell,
transport, import, or export alcohol. It was met with heavy criticism and resistance, and resulted
in an explosion of organized crime. Underground nightclubs and bars that served alcohol were
run almost right beneath the noses of law enforcement- in the thousands in some cities. This
resulted in violence among contending crime organizations. After years of failure to enforce
prohibition and the crime and violence that followed, a campaign to repeal prohibition was

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launched. Repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment was done with the Twenty-first amendment in
1933, 14 years after it was ratified.
3. Volstead Act
The purpose of the Volstead Act was to provide clarity and direction for the enforcement of
the Eighteenth Amendment. While prohibition was set forth in the Eighteenth Amendment, the
Volstead Act was able to define and set parameters to enforce it. It carefully spelled out what
conditions specifically defined a substance as an intoxicating liquor under the provisions set
forth in prohibition. It also provided penalties for the violation of prohibition.
4. Noble Experiment
Prohibition was promoted and championed by those who believed that alcohol was an evil
substance that poisoned those who consumed it. The idea of removing alcohol from society was
done with the best of intentions, truly believing that booze only caused problems. No thought
was given to the effects that outlawing the substance would have on organized crime and the
underground world of illegal alcohol sales. As such, the entire campaign promoting the
Eighteenth Amendment was nicknamed, the Noble Experiment.
5. St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Al Capone systematically destroyed his competition in the underground bootlegging
industry. After nearly wiping out every bootlegging contender in Chicago, Capone set his sights
on the only other operation left in town opposing him. Two of Capones men dressed as police
officers and were allowed in to the headquarters of rival gang leader, Charles Moran. Once
inside, they ordered the men they encountered against the wall. Thinking they were real
policemen, they complied, and were subsequently murdered in cold blood by a spray of gunfire.

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Seven men were killed, and while no arrest was ever made, the suspected hitmen were later
murdered by Capone himself.
6. Bootlegging
Bootlegging was a term used to describe transporting illicit liquor in the Midwest in the
1880s. At the time, Native Americans were offended by the presence of liquor, and it was
common practice to hide a flask of it in the top of ones boot to prevent it from being detected.
After prohibition in the 1920s, it became the common term used to describe the illegal activities
revolving around the sales, transportation, and manufacture of alcohol during the days of
prohibition. With such a broad definition, anyone who was involved in any step of the process
was guilty and could be labelled a bootlegger.
7. Land pirates
Just as pirates robbed ships at sea, around the early nineteenth century, organized bands of
criminals conducted similar operations on the roads and highways of the southern United States.
They would attack and rob traveling merchants and trade caravans. As slavery was still common
practice at the time, these same groups of criminals also practiced in stealing and selling slaves.
This involved kidnapping black people in whatever capacity the land pirates could find them,
whether they were free citizens, slaves who had been granted their freedom, slaves who were
away from their plantation on errands from their owners, runaway slaves, and on some
occasions, even slaves as they were working on the plantations run by their owners. This was an
early example of organized crime in the United States.

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8. Moonshining
Moonshine was a term used to describe illegally manufactured spirits, which were
popular in small communities that were typically out of commercial reach. During prohibition,
this illegal stills became very popular sources of a hot commodity. Moonshiners, or those who
operated such stills, made a huge profit selling their product to bootleggers who would sell it to
their clientele at a huge mark-up. While prohibition increased the demand for moonshining, the
low cost and ability to craft their own spirits with alcohol levels higher than the usual
commercial liquor helped moonshiners continue the sale of their product even after it was
legalized once more.
9. River pirates
Much like land pirates, river pirates operated by preying upon merchant and trade
transportation on the rivers. Riverboats were very popular in the 1800s, and were often floating
casinos. In addition to robbing such lucrative targets, pirates would also kidnap and ransom
young girls traveling down the river on keelboats and rafts. Like land pirates, these pirates were
the beginning of organized crime in the United States.
10. Political corruption
As organized crime began to take hold in the 1800s, the growing sway of such groups
pushed their leaders to look into ways to increase their power and security. As political
campaigns were waged, it became apparent that it would be in the best interest of a criminal
organization to gain the protection and influence of the same politicians who made the laws they
set out to break. Using their contacts, abilities, and underground resources, criminal
organizations were able to offer politicians a significant advantage in any election, including
fraudulent votes and the assets available with criminal enterprise to intimidate opponents and
promote their agendas.

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References1. Lyman, MD. & Potter, GW. 2011. Organized Crime, fifth edition. Pearson Education

LTD.