Criminal Masterminds

by Anne Williams

  It has been alleged that, in exchange for his help, the US authorities allowed Luciano to run his Mafia interests in the USA, and later in Italy, where he was deported to after the war. Luciano set up major heroin trafficking networks between Italy, Corsica and France, with supplies from Turkey, establishing the so-called ‘French Connection’. Later, in the wake of the Vietnam War, he expanded his operations to South-east Asia, establishing the ‘Golden Triangle’ and importing enormous amounts of heroine into the USA, Australia and other countries through the US military.

  The Mafia today

  Today, the Mafia in the USA is a separate organisation from the Sicilian Mafia. It is thought to be the largest organised crime group in the USA, despite the fact that it was the subject of a major FBI investigation in the late 1990s. The Cosa Nostra is strongest in New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago. It also operates international organised crime networks across the world. Its activities include extortion, drug running, corruption of government officials, gambling, loan sharking, prostitution, pornography, tax fraud schemes and labour racketeering. Murder, torture and kidnapping are common ways of enforcing deals within the organisation. In recent years, Mafia members have become involved in more white-collar crime, such as stock manipulation scams and other nefarious financial activities. Some commentators have argued that in the twenty-first century, the FBI’s preoccupation with tracking down terrorists, and the consequent lack of attention paid to organised crime, has led to a rise in Mafia activity in all areas of organised crime.

  In Sicily, the criminal activities of the Mafia are still a major issue, and they constitute a serious threat to law and order in the region. During the 1980s and 1990s, rival gang wars took out many leading Mafia figures, to the degree that the organisation’s power was seriously undermined. For that reason, the Sicilian Mafia, like their US counterparts, have begun to infiltrate the white-collar business world, recognising that large profits are to be made from underhand dealing on the stock exchange, which is a safer, less violent way to make money than racketeering, drug running and the like.

  There have been a series of attempts on the part of government officials in the police and judiciary to prosecute Mafia members for their criminal activities, but many of these courageous individuals have been murdered by the organisation. For example, two magistrates, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, both from a poor area of Palermo, dedicated their lives to prosecuting members of the Mafia to improve conditions of life for their people. Falcone helped to set up the Maxi Trial, charging over 400 Mafiosi with crimes, over 100 of them in absentia. He gained the trust of Tommaso Buscetta, the first Sicilian member of the Mafia ever to inform on the organisation. He also cooperated with US Attorney Rudolph Guiliani (later Mayor of New York) to prosecute members of the Gambino and Inzerillo families there. However, both Falcone and Borsellino were killed in bomb attacks in 1992, which took place less than two months apart.

  Today, there is some evidence to show that law enforcement is beginning to prevail in Sicily, and that the code of ‘Omerta’ is finally breaking down. However, other developments are that women are beginning to take control of the Mafia there, since so many of the male members of the organisation are now in jail.

  Triads

  The Triads are a complex group of underground criminal societies currently based in Hong Kong, whose network stretches across mainland China, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. The Triads also operate in the Chinatown areas of many major cities across the world, from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand to South Africa. Like the Mafia, the main business interests of the Triads include drug trafficking, gambling, prostitution, money laundering, theft and many other forms of crime. In recent years, the Triads have become involved in piracy and counterfeiting of CDs, DVDs, computer software and other products. The gangs’ speed in understanding and adapting fast-changing technology to their own ends has resulted in substantial profits for their members, and it has become more and more difficult for police to track them down.

  Violence and Extortion

  Triads have a long history, beginning in the late eighteenth century, when a society called the Tian Di Hui was set up in China. The members of Tian Di Hui, which means Heaven and Earth Society, were dedicated to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, and wanted to install a Han Chinese ruler in place of the Manchu emperor that led the dynasty. The society soon became popular and spread to many regions in China, spawning new societies, many of which used the symbol of the triangle to illustrate their names. These names often consisted of three parts (for example, the Three Harmonies Society, whose three elements were heaven, the earth and human beings). Eventually, the existence of these societies became known to the British government in Hong Kong, who called them ‘Triads’, referring to the use of triangle in their imagery.

  The Triads slowly developed from a political group, with moral beliefs and aims, to an underground criminal organisation. This development took place over centuries, and at first the change was imperceptible. During this time, the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in China, which was in some ways a victory for the societies, but from 1911, some members, particularly those of the Hung Clan, found themselves without a political purpose. Having lived for years as outlaws, many of them were unable to adapt to ordinary life as citizens, and therefore began to form underground groups with a criminal, rather than political purpose. This was because they no longer received donations from the general public, but had to fund the organisations themselves. Instead, they began to extort money from ordinary people through violence and intimidation. Little was done to ban their activities, since the general population were so afraid of them.

  Crackdown on crime

  This bullying reached a peak in the early part of the twentieth century. However, in 1949, the Communist Party of China took control, and there was a crackdown on organised crime across the entire country. The Triads found it difficult to operate within their usual territories in China and were forced to move to Hong Kong, which was ruled by the British at that time. Here, they began to prosper, dividing the different areas of Hong Kong between the various ethnic groups, and operating a system whereby each area was controlled by its own branch. There were initially eight main groups: the Luen, the Yee On, the Fuk Yee King, the Sing, the Chuen, the Tung, the Rung and the Wo. This setup persisted into the 1950s, and the Triads became more powerful than ever in the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, the Hong Kong police began to collude with the Triads, leaving it to the thugs to control their regions as they thought fit, in return for a quiet life and, in some cases, a share of the profits. However, in 1974, after years of criticism, an independent commission was set up to stamp out police corruption, which did a great deal to limit the Triads’ activities, especially in big business. The gangs were forced to take control of other areas of the economy, and began to operate in secret, conducting nefarious business dealings in areas such as entertainment, especially cinema.

  Today, it is estimated that there are over fifty Triad groups in Hong Kong, including the Sun Yee On, the Wo Shing Wo and 14K. In general, they operate on a small scale, wielding power over small areas such as a street, a building, a market or park. Their organisation is complex, and in many cases there is no one overall leader, a situation that often helps them evade prosecution by the police. In some areas, small groups are formed as subsidiaries of larger groups (for example, the King Yee is a subsidiary group of the Sun Yee On), but these small groups do not necessarily take orders from the central group. A great deal of violence takes place among Triad members of different groups, but unlike the Sicilian and American Mafia, it is comparatively rare for Triads to involve outsiders, or the general public, in their gang warfare.

  Hanging the Blue Lantern

  In modern times, few Triad gangsters earn their entire living from their illegal business activities as part of the clan, so the structure of the groups has become quite flexible. A Triad leader, or ‘Red Pole’, will have a small gr
oup of around fifteen men at his command, but most of these will be working in different fields as well as conducting Triad business. There is a traditional structure within the Triad group, consisting of the Mountain Master at the top; under him, the Vanguard, The Deputy, The Ceremony or Incense Master and, under them, the Advisor, or ‘White Paper Fan’, the Fighter or ‘Red Pole’, and the Liaison Officer, or ‘Straw Sandal’. At the bottom are the Ordinary Members and the Temporary Members. However, in many cases, this structure is modified, and in some cases, ignored altogether, to prevent the police finding the kingpin of the operation. In a further effort to make the activities of the organisation impenetrable to outside observers, a series of coded numbers are used to identify ranks within the Triad structure: for example, the code 49 denotes an Ordinary Member of the group, whereas the code 489 denotes the Mountain Master. Some of the codes are now well known, having been used in the press and in films, so much so that the code 25, used to denote the ‘spy’, or undercover member of the group, has come into common parlance in Hong Kong, and is used to signify a traitor.

  The once complex ceremonies and procedures used to initiate new Triad members have also been simplified in recent years. Today, the most common one is ‘Hanging the Blue Lantern’, in which the initiate gives an informal verbal promise to obey the leader. Also, the notion of moral duty and responsibility has changed within the Triad underworld; whereas in the past, a Triad member was expected to demonstrate his commitment to the group, whether or not it was in his personal interests to do so, today there is less onus on him to do so. In many cases, Triad members change their allegiances to suit their own ends; and this has resulted in an overall decline of the individual organisations, which can no longer rely on the loyalty of their members.

  The Triads today

  Currently, Triad groups are thought to exist in the Chinatowns of New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Seattle, Toronto and among other cities in North America. New Triad groups are also said to be moving into Amsterdam, London, Manchester, Dublin and Belfast, where much of their activity centres on the smuggling of East Asian illegal immigrants into Canada, the USA and the UK.

  Today, the Triads are still powerful in Hong Kong. There have been several initiatives by the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB) to try to combat the problem. Together with the Criminal Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Bureau, Commercial Crime Bureau, Customs and Excise Department and Immigration Department, the OCTB work to identify the leaders of the gangs and the territories they cover, to limit the expansion of the criminal network.

  Since the police have not been given adequate authority to investigate matters under the law, a series of special Ordinances have been issued that are directly aimed at the Triads. It has now become a crime to manage a Triad organisation, with a punishment of up to fifteen years’ imprisonment and a fine of one million Hong Kong dollars. Membership of a Triad group carries a penalty of three to seven years’ imprisonment, and there are also fines for this, ranging from 100,000 to 250,000 Hong Kong dollars. In addition, a Witness Protection Unit has been formed to encourage the public to report serious criminal activities by Triad gangs. In recent years, there have been a number of scandals regarding high-level police corruption among officers working with Triad groups in Hong Kong. However, from the late 1990s to the present day, the proportion of Triad crimes in the city – at around three per cent of all crime – has remained fairly steady.

  Lucky Luciano

  Lucky Luciano is a pivotal figure in the history of organised crime. As one of the most powerful Mafia bosses of the twentieth century, he almost single-handedly transformed the ‘Cosa Nostra’ into a massive underground criminal network, and at the same time masterminded the expansion of the drug trade, particularly heroin. By the end of his career, the Mafia had evolved from a few rival Italian families who were constantly in violent conflict with one another, to an international empire with a large number of ethnic groups connected to it, involved in all kinds of criminal activities from prostitution to drug trafficking to white-collar crime. Like his colleague Al Capone, Luciano was a ruthless, violent man who had absolutely no qualms about killing – viciously and repeatedly – to get whatever he wanted. And also like Capone, he was more than a common thug: he was a sharp-witted businessman, able to seize opportunities to make money whenever they arose, with a powerful personality which enabled him to rule those around him with a rod of iron. Not only this, Luciano was a patriotic American who ended up helping the American government during and after World War II, while serving a prison sentence for his crimes. The contradictions of his life were many, such that in later life he was deported from the USA, the country he regarded as home; and only when he died was he finally allowed to resume his place as a US citizen – as a corpse buried in a graveyard.

  Pimping and protection rackets

  Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano was born Salvatore Lucania on November 24, 1897 in a town called Lercara Friddi, known for its sulphur mines, near Corleone in Sicily. In 1907, when he was ten years old, he moved with his family to the USA, in search of a better life. The family settled in New York, where the young Salvatore, or ‘Charles’, as he now became known, began his career of crime.

  The year he arrived, he was arrested for shop­lifting. He also set up a protection racket on the rough streets around his home, demanding that the younger children playing on the streets paid him a cent a day to protect them from older ones. The children who would or could not pay were given a beating. One of those who refused to be intimidated by Luciano was the young Meyer Lansky, who gave as good as he got when Luciano began to fight with him. In later years, Luciano and Lansky became firm friends, and both became leading Mafia bosses.

  By the time he was eighteen, Luciano was involved in the drug trade and was sentenced to six months in a reformatory for selling heroine and morphine on the streets. When he was released, he was anything but reformed, and straight away he joined a team of criminals known as the Five Points Gang, headed by local gangster John Torrio. At one time, the members of the gang also included Al Capone, who was a close associate of Torrio’s. The gang was a thorn in the side of the New York police, and were suspected of being involved in many serious crimes, including murder. Following his childhood interests, Luciano’s special area of responsibility was the protection rackets; he also organised pimping and prostitution rings, and dealt heroine on the streets.

  Amazing survival

  Luciano’s tireless commitment to the expansion of crime on the streets of New York soon attracted the attention of powerful local Mafia bosses, including Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. Luciano was promoted to work for them, and began to carve out a career for himself under the tutelage of the most influential Mafia families in the country, the Masserias. Here, he built up an empire of boot­legging and drug trafficking activities, as well as running numerous prostitution businesses. However, his increasing profile as one of Joe ‘The Boss’ Masseria’s right-hand men made him a target for a rival family, the Maranzanos. By the end of the 1920s, the Masserias and the Maranzanos were at loggerheads as they battled for control of the same turf, and it was Luciano who almost lost his life as a result.

  Maranzano’s men were sent to take out Luciano, and captured him as he stood on the dockside, waiting to receive an illegal shipment of drugs. The thugs bundled him into a car, taped his mouth shut, and took him out to the beaches of New York Bay, where they beat him, stabbed him and cut his throat. Assuming that he was dead, or about to die, they left him in a ditch. However, by some extraordinary chance, he managed to survive the ordeal. He was left with a large scar on his face and a drooping eye. Some believe that this incident was how he acquired the nickname ‘Lucky’; others point to his skill at gambling as the origin of the name, since he was known for his ability to pick winning horses at the races.

  Ruthless ambition

  Unlike many Mafia men, Luciano had very little time for the traditional Italian way of
doing business and had few family loyalties. He was a ruthlessly ambitious man, who would stop at nothing to achieve his ends and amass his fortune. Thus, he was happy to do business with ethnic groups outside the narrow world of the Italian Mafia, and indeed anyone who would advance his cause. In the same way, he had few qualms about getting anyone out of the way who tried to stop him. Thus, he joined forces with Jewish gangsters such as his old friend Meyer Lansky; he also did business with Bugsy Siegel. Together, the three went on to form the so-called National Crime Syndicate, with Luciano as the boss, Siegel as the brawn and Lansky as the brains.

  Luciano’s boss, Masseria, opposed this innovation of working with other ethnic groups. Masseria was also losing ground in the turf wars with his rival Maranzano. Realising that he was backing a loser, Luciano switched sides, and arranged for Masseria to be taken out. Six months later, he decided it was time to dispatch his new boss, Maranzano. Now, with all obstacles out of his way, he became leader of a large criminal network, which he went on to restructure. Instead of allowing the warring families to continue fighting over their territories, he gave each of them a separate responsibility for a different area of crime, and he also allowed non-Italian families to take part. His own role was to act as an arbiter of any disputes that arose, and to make sure that the entire network was running smoothly. What he had realised, in contrast to the Mafia bosses before him, was that everyone involved in the crime world would be more successful, and make a lot more money, if the different parties involved worked together instead of against each other – and if old feuds, as well as old loyalties, were swept away.