National Crime Syndicate
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Founder
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Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano
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Founding location
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Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
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Years active
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1929–1960s
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Territory
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United States; mainly active in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California, Nevada and Florida
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Ethnicity
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Mainly people of Italian and Jewish descent
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Membership
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At least 14 criminal organizations
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Criminal activities
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Racketeering, rum-running, extortion, bribery, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, pimping, robbery, fraud, money laundering, fencing, loan sharking
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Allies
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Murder, Inc., American Mafia
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Rivals
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Several gangs in the all country
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The National Crime Syndicate was the name given by the press to a multi-ethnic American crime organizations. Its origins are uncertain.
According to writers on organized crime, the Syndicate was an idea of Meyer Lansky[1] and was founded or established at a May 1929 conference in Atlantic City, attended by leading underworld figures throughout the United States, including Lansky, Johnny Torrio, Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Frank Costello, Joe Adonis, Dutch Schultz, Abner "Longy" Zwillman, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, Vince Mangano, gambler Frank Erickson, Frank Scalice and Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia.[2] Others described the Atlantic City meeting as a coordination and strategy conference for bootleggers.[3]
According to the findings of the U.S. Senate Special Committee in the 1950s chaired by Estes Kefauver, it was a confederation of mainly Italian and Jewish organized crime groups throughout the United States.
The media dubbed the enforcement arm of the Syndicate "Murder, Inc.", a gang of Brooklyn mafiosi who carried out murders in the 1930s and 1940s for various crime bosses. It was headed by Buchalter and Anastasia, who reported to commission members Lepke and Adonis, and included many infamous mobsters.
In his 1991 biography of Meyer Lansky, Little Man, journalist Robert Lacey argued that no National Crime Syndicate ever existed. "The idea of a National Crime Syndicate is often confused with the Mafia. Yet they are not the same thing," probably referring to the American Mafia.[4]
Although many of its members were imprisoned and some were executed, the demise of the organization is as uncertain as its origins. By the late 1940s, Murder Inc. and most of its non-Italian components were defunct. Some individuals, such as Meyer Lansky, continued to operate as affiliates of Italian groups.
Contents
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History 1
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The National Crime Syndicate in popular culture 2
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See also 3
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References 4
History
Murder Inc. consisted of two factions, The Jewish Brownsville Boys headed by Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, who reported to Lepke Buchalter and Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro, and the Italian Ocean Hill Hooligans led by Harry "Happy" Maione, who reported to Albert Anastasia. Bugsy Siegel was involved in many of Murder Incorporated's murders, but as a leading figure instead of a soldier.
The National Crime Syndicate in popular culture
The National Crime Syndicate was the subject of numerous movies, mostly in the 1950s, some of which were inspired by the Kefauver hearings. Among them were 711 Ocean Drive, which focused on the nationwide gambling syndicate.
The National Crime Syndicate features heavily in Thomas Steadman's book The Flames of the West.
A variation on the National Crime Syndicate (simply called 'The Syndicate') is the main antagonist in most of the later seasons of Mission: Impossible, and the film Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.
See also
References
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^ Howard Abadinsky, Organized Crime, Cengage Learning, 2009, p.115.
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^ Carl Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia: second edition (Checkmark Books).
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^ Dennis Eisenberg, Uri Dan, Eli Landau, Meyer Lansky: Mogul of the Mob Paddington Press, 1979.
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^ Robert Lacey, Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life, (Little Brown & Co., 1991), pp. 200-207.
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