John Donato Torrio was an Italian-born mobster who helped build the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s later inherited by his protégé Al Capone. Torrio proposed a National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s and later became an adviser to Lucky Luciano and his Luciano crime family.
Jack "Legs" Diamond, also known as John Nolan and Gentleman Jack, was an Irish-American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during the Prohibition era. A bootlegger and close associate of gambler Arnold Rothstein, Diamond survived a number of attempts on his life between 1916 and 1931, causing him to be known as the "clay pigeon of the underworld". In 1930, Diamond's nemesis Dutch Schultz remarked to his own gang, "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?"
The Valley Gang was an Irish-American street gang in Chicago, Illinois during the early 20th century, which ultimately made the transition to organized crime and became a de facto extension of the Chicago Outfit under Al Capone.
The Irish Mob is a usually crime family–based ethnic collective of organized crime syndicates composed of primarily ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and have been in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish-American street gangs – famously first depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1927 book, The Gangs of New York – the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, especially in the Northeast and the urban industrial Midwest, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago.
The Gustin Gang was one of the earliest Irish-American gangs to emerge during the Prohibition era and dominate Boston's underworld during the 1920s. The name "Gustin Gang" came from a street in South Boston ("Southie"), which was off of Old Colony Avenue, not from the name of any "members."
Stefano Ferrigno was an American mobster of Sicilian origin who led an important Italian criminal gang in the 1920s. Ferrigno was murdered along with Alfred Mineo during the so-called Castellammarese War.
Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In media and popular culture, it has variously been referred to as the Jewish Mob, the Jewish Mafia, the Kosher Mob, the Kosher Mafia, the Yiddish Connection, and Kosher Nostra or Undzer Shtik. The last two of these terms are direct references to the Italian Cosa Nostra; the former is a play on the word for kosher, referring to Jewish dietary laws, while the latter is a calque of the Italian phrase 'cosa nostra' into Yiddish, which was at the time the predominant language of the Jewish diaspora in the United States.
The Atlantic City Conference held between 13–16 May 1929 was a historic summit of leaders of organized crime in the United States. It is considered by most crime historians to be the earliest organized crime summit held in the US. The conference had a major impact on the future direction of the criminal underworld and it held more importance and significance than the Havana Conference of 1946 and the Apalachin meeting of 1957. It also represented the first concrete move toward a National Crime Syndicate.
The Broadway Mob was a New York bootlegging gang during Prohibition. Although headed by Joe Adonis, the gangs day-to-day operations were handled by Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello as well as financially backed by Arnold Rothstein. During Manhattan's bootleg wars, Rothstein would bring in the Bugs and Meyer Mob, led by Meyer Lansky and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, to protect alcohol shipments.
Harry Stromberg, known as Nig Rosen, was an American mobster who was a major organized crime figure on the East Coast with influence as far as Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.
Daniel J. "Danny" O'Leary was an Irish Philadelphia mobster involved in bootlegging who, a rival of Maxie "Boo Boo" Hoff throughout Prohibition, would struggle for dominance among the many gangs of Philadelphia's underworld. His death, only six days after his participation in the gangland slaying of Hugh "Hughie" McLoon, would mark the beginning of gang wars during the late 1920s eventually leading to a Special August Grand Jury investigating corruption and influence of organized crime in the city.
Polish-American organized crime has existed in the United States throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Although not as well known as Cosa Nostra or Irish and Russian crime groups, the Polish Mob has a presence in many urban Polish American communities.
Max "Big Maxie" Greenberg (1883–1933) was an American bootlegger and organized crime figure in Detroit, Michigan, and later a member of Egan's Rats in St. Louis. He oversaw the purchasing of sacramental wine from Orthodox rabbis, then allowed under the Volstead Act, which were sold to bootleggers in the St. Louis–Kansas City, Missouri area during Prohibition. He was also associated with mobsters in this particular method of acquiring illegal liquor including Waxey Gordon, Meyer Lansky and Arnold Rothstein.
Charles Dean O'Banion was an American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day made him better known as Dion O'Banion, although he never went by that first name. He led the North Side Gang until 1924, when he was shot and killed, reportedly by Frankie Yale, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi.
The Lanzetta Brothers, also known as the Lanzetti Brothers due to an incorrect spelling used by newspapers, was a group of six brothers who ran bootlegging operations in Philadelphia and possibly Atlantic City.
Ignatius Andrew "Frank Pius" Lanzetta was an American criminal and member of the Lanzetta Brothers gang, who ran bootlegging, drug trafficking, and bookmaking operations. He and his brothers were often incorrectly called the Lanzetti brothers.
Leo Lanzetta was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1895. Leo had five other brothers, with whom he formed the bootlegging and drug trafficking Lanzetta Brothers gang. He and his brothers were also called "the Lanzetti brothers".
Max "Boo Boo" Hoff was an ex-boxer who later became a bootlegger and gambler.
Nucky Johnson's Organization was a corrupt political machine based in Atlantic City, New Jersey that held power during the Prohibition era. Its boss, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, coordinated the Organizations's bootlegging, gambling, racketeering, and prostitution activities.
John Gilbert Finiello was an agent of the Bureau of Prohibition who was killed during a September 19, 1930 raid on the Rising Sun brewery in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Born in Italy, Finiello was a naturalized immigrant and decorated veteran of World War I who had a reputation for honesty and courage. He had previously turned over a $10,000 bribe intended to avert a raid on another distillery. When he was recognized during the raid he was shot by at least eight gunmen.
