Russian Mob

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Mafia

This is the most brutal form of organized crime. They have a nickname, bravta, which means brotherhood in Russian.

Criminal Activities
Extortion
Arms Trafficking
Fraud
Cybercrime
Human trafficking
Prostitution
Drug Trafficking
Smuggling nuclear weapons
Money laundering
Illegal oil trade
Contract killings
Bombings
Kidnapping
Police corruption

History
The Russian mob has existed since the time of the czars. In those times, it existed in the form of banditry and thievery. Desperate for money, many government agents turned to crime as a way to pay the bills. In 1993, almost all banks in Russia had been owned by the mafia and almost 80% of them had to pay protection money.

Japanese Yakuza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza

Also known as gokudo, Yakuza are criminal gangs out of Japan. The Japanese police call them boryokudan (violence group), while the Yakuza call themselves ninkyo dantai (chivalrous organization). They are known for their strict code of conduct

Structure

Rituals

Yubitsume, the cutting of one's finger, is how you pay the price for doing something wrong. 1st offence is cutting off the tip of your little finger and it is given to your boss. Also many Yakuza members have full body tattoos. In Japan, they are known as irezumi, and it's done the old fashioned way, called 'hand poking' by the Japanese. By using a non electric needle, basically using a sharpened needle of steel or bamboo and inserting the ink that way. It can take years to complete and also be very painful. When yakuza members plays cards or games, they usually strip to the waist to display their full body tattoos to each other. But when out in public, they wear long sleeved shirts with high collars to conceal the tattoos as many establishments in Japan bar yakuza from coming in if they see the tattoos. When new members join, they are required to remove their pants to reveal any lower body tattoos if any.

Syndicates

In Japan, there are 3 very large Yakuza groups.

-Yamaguchi-gumi

-Sumiyoshi- Kai

-Inagawa-kai

Most Yakuza run businesses have a wooden board on the front door, to display name and emblem. Members often wear sunglasses and colorful suits so that their profession can immediately be recognized by civilians (katagi). They even walk differently. Civilians walk with an unassuming gait, where as yakuza walk with a cocky self assured strut. Also yakuza can flash their tattoos if needed. The Yakuza also helps out in emergency situations if the need arises. 

Crimes

Sex Trafficking

Pornography

Smuggling

Prostitution

Extortion

Blackmail

This sign is quite a common sight in Tokyo. It's usually seen outside bars basically saying that if you have tattoos that look like this, you're prohibited to enter. 

Yakuza gangster showing off full body tattoos

United States

The Yakuza is also present in the US. They're mostly relegated to Hawaii, where the Japanese population is higher than most places. But they can also be found in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle,  Las Vegas, Arizona, Virginia, Chicago and New York City. The Yakuza use Hawaii as a way station between Japan and the US, smuggling crystal meth and firearms back to Japan. They can blend in to the island because a good deal of the Hawaiin residents are of full or partial Japanese descent and because of the high amount of Asian tourists who visit the island regularly. 

The Italian Mafia

The reason that this is blog post is not music related is because I think I may have stumbled onto something that sort of interests me. I'm a big history buff, and for some reason, Italian mob history also interests me. So I thought about making this post about the mob.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime

The Mafia or Cosa Nostra (in Italian) is a criminal organization that started in Sicily. There are many little criminal groups associated with this that have the same structure and order. Following waves of Italian immigrants coming to the US in the 19th century, including some of those immigrants having ties to the mob is how the American Italian Mafia got it's start. In New York, there were five families, almost like the 1971 movie The Godfather, only the real Five Families didn't have the names in the Godfather. The REAL Five Families that ruled New York for years with an iron fist were The Gambinos, The Genovese, Luccese, Bonanno and Columbo. Almost 90% of all Mafia activity is confined to the Northwest, around Chicago and New York.

The word Mafia applies to not just Italians, but also Chinese Mafia(Triads), Japanese Mafia(Yakuza), Russian Mafia, Irish Mafia, Mexican and Jewish Mob. When the Racketerring Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) was applied to federal law, this made it easier to prosecute mobsters and mob families. In 1991, when Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano decided to cooperate with the FBI and turn state's evidence, they were able to convict top Mafia leaders in New York.

Structure

Boss- Head of the family, reigns as dictator, often called Don or Godfather. Recieves cut of everything on every operation

Underboss. Usually appointed by the boss, the underboss is the 2nd in command. They run the day-to-day stuff

Consigliere. Advisor to the family and often seen as the right hand man. Also seen as a mediator of disputes, representative of family members in meetings with other families.

Caporegime. In charge of a crew. Groups of soldiers report directly to these guys. 

Soldier. Soldato in Italian. Member of the family, and according to tradition, the Soldiers can only be fully Italian, meaning that the family should be able to trace your ancestors back to the old country, Italy. These guys are the workhorses for the family

Associate. Not a member but works for the family none the less. Includes a wide range of people who work for the family

Rituals

The traditional entrance ceremony for being accepted into a crime family involves a member of the family pricking the finger of the newbie and having them smear their blood all over an image of religious nature, usually a saint and that photo would be burned, making it an official blood oath. 

Crimes

Racketeering

Assault

Burglary

Counterfeiting

Drug Trafficking

Extortion

Fencing

Fraud

Illegal Gambling

Murder

Prostitution

Robbery

Rules/Customs

1. Omerta- code of silence. Never talk to authorities


2. Ethnicity- only men of full Italian descent are allowed to become full members. Associates, partners, etc have no ethnic ban


3. Family Secrets- Members are not allowed to talk about business to non-family members


4. Blood for Blood- If a family member is killed(by another member) no one can commit murder(for revenge) until the boss gives the go ahead


5. No fighting among members- from fist fights to knife fights


6. Tribute- every month, members must pay the boss


7. Adultery- members are not allowed to commit adultery with another family member's wife


8. No facial hair- members are not allowed to grow facial hair.

Also homosexuality is bad with in the family. It started when John 'Johnny Boy' D'Amato, boss of the DeCavalcante family,  was killed because of his sexual orientation and sexual relationships with other men. 

Symbolism in murder

• For allowing Joseph D. Pistone to go undercover in the Bonnano crime family, caporegime Dominic 'Sonny Black' Napolitano had his hands severed after he was killed. 


• In the murder of Luccese crime family soldier Bruno Facciolo, a dead canary was stuffed into his mouth after he was shot.

By Region

• New York


• Bonanno


• Columbo


• Luccese


• Genovese


• Gambino


• New Jersey


• DeCavalcante


• Pennsylvania


• Scarfo crime family


• Bufolina crime family


• New England


• Patriarcha crime family


• Southern US


• Trafficante crime family- Florida

In Popular culture

-The Godfather and the Godfather pt. II, loosely based on the Genovese crime family

-Casino, who was based loosely on the life of Frank Rosenthal who ran the Stardust Casino for the Chicago Outfit from the 1970s to the 1980s.

-Goodfellas, which was based on the story of the rise and fall of Luccese associate Henry Hill from 1950-1980.

-The Untouchables, based on the true story of government agent Eliot Ness and his group of anti-Prohibition agents out to bust Al 'Scarface' Capone.

-Mobsters, based on the rise of Meyer Lansky, Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, Frank Costello, Charles 'Lucky' Luciano.
-Donnie Brasco- based on the story of FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone and how Dominic 'Sonny Black' Napolitano took him under his wing in the Bonnano crime family.

-The most popular TV show about the mob is HBO's The Sopranos. This family is loosely based on the Jersey-based  DeCavalcante family. And also HBO followed up with Boardwalk Empire which is also based in New Jersey

My favorite is the one 2nd from the left in the gray suit and the one 2nd from the right with the funny hairdo.

List of famous mobsters

-Joseph 'Joey' Abate- Luccese
-Frank 'Fingers' Abbandando Jr- Gambino
-Salvatore 'Sammy Meatballs' Aparo- Genovese
-Joseph 'Piney' Armone- Gambino

-James 'Mad Bomber' Belcastro- Chicago Outfit

-Thomas Bilotti- Gambino. Nicknames include Zombie Bilotti, Tommy

-Joseph 'Joe Bananas' Bonano- leader of the Bonanno family

-Henry 'Dirty Harry' Borelli- Gambino

-Russell 'McGee' Bufolina- head of the Bufolina crime family
-Al 'Scarface' Capone- Chicago Outfit

-Frank 'Buzzy' Carone- Gambino
-Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso- Luccese

-Louie 'Louie Eggs' Consalvo- DeCavalcante
-Louis 'Louie Bagels' Daidone- Luccese
-Paul 'Big Paul' Castellano- Gambino

Michael 'The Yuppie Don' Franzese- Columbo

-Carmine 'The Doctor' Lombardozzi- Gambino

-Thomas 'Tommy Karate' Pitera- Bonanno

-Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero- Bonanno. Also went by Lefty Two Guns, Lefty Guns

-Gregory 'The Grim Reaper' Scarpa- Columbo

Salvatore 'Good Looking Sal' Vitale

Facebook for Hire!

Yeah, the title should attract attention. While I was in class on Tuesday looking at different social networking sites, the teacher for the class informed us that some employers hire people based on what is on their Facebook account. Personally, this is ridiculous, no employer should hire someone based on what is on their Facebook account. What an employer should hire someone because of is how they work with others, their qualifications or something else, not a Facebook account. I mean, I have an account and if an employer were to look at mine, they'd see that I'm a music lover, because most of the stuff on my Facebook page have to do with music, like announcements for Rihanna going on tour, U2 going on tour, Paul McCartney going on tour, the Beatles releasing an album, etc. I personally think it's stupid that some employers would hire you because of what is on a social networking site that you use. Because when we looked at Facebook accounts, I'm pretty sure everyone in the world has seen mine and they pretty much know that I'm a  music lover because of all the music tour announcements, album releases, etc. But I just think it's stupid that some people would do that, it's almost an invasion of privacy, I mean, on Facebook, you can say just about anything and that some people who hire would look at one's account and see something like someone talking about partying or something, that might make the person hiring a little hesitant to hire.


What I think an employer SHOULD look at is what that person can bring to the table, their skills, if they can work well with others, their qualifications, what they can do, their interests or something, my dad has a friend who is a Graphic Designer and he told me he thought that it was ridiculous that some people hire based on what one has on a social networking site. He said that most should hire because of skills/qualifications. And if Denise reads this, I'm totally with her on the whole Facebook issue, no employer should hire a person based on what is on a social site like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.


Personally, If I'm going to look for a job, I'm just going to keep the same Facebook account that I currently have, if you ever see mine, there is never usually anything dirty on it, most of the stuff on my wall is stuff pertaining to the Breast Cancer Foundation, I'm a strong believer in there being a cure for breast cancer, it runs in my family, happy joy!, Shriner's Hospital is on my wall, I believe in kids getting miracles, a-lot of the stuff on my wall is charity and good stuff and music tour dates, music album releases, musician announcements, etc and just friends talking, but unfortunately, most of the friends I have on there like to talk dirty and I usually tell them I don't talk like that and they just keep on doing it!


Just thought I'd make my text green because of the rapidly approaching Christmas holidays. And thank the Good Lord I have my Christmas shopping done. I swear, I never knew shopping for family would be so hard, I have my sister taken care of, I bought her a blanket of this cartoon character she likes, called Invader Zim, and a book about this athlete she likes, Apolo Ohno, I bought my dad a movie,The Expendables, he loves all those exploding action movies, I bought my mom a book about the topic of Organized Crime, she finds in interesting, I bought my step-father a set of model race cars, he's a major fan of all those car races, like the Le Mans, Indy 500, etc. So hopefully, they love their gifts, I care about family and just wanted to give them something they like.

Love of Reading

I'm the kind of person who just loves to read anything! My personal favorite types of stories or books are murder/mystery, stories where police investigate crimes(CSI books, etc), thriller stories( The Big Bad Wolf, Judge and Jury), any stories about mysteries or if any, maybe vampires, there is usually a good vampire story out there! What's even more creative: if you enjoy writing, write your own stories! In high school English, each student had to write a short story for our portfolio, and they told us that if our stories were good enough, they would publish them. I remember the story I wrote, it was about 2 cops who had to investigate a mob hit in Colorado. I'm the kind of person who enjoys writing, reading, looking at tropical island poetry, I'm your basic, average beat-nik hippie, I guess. Poetry I enjoy reading as well, mainly Island tropical poetry, I just enjoy the simple things in life, reading, writing, you name it. I do enjoy reading, whether it be a vampire story, good murder/mystery story, police investigation story, anything. I'm even the type to write short stories and keep them to read. It may sound weird, but I do have a very overactive imagination.