His official name in the United States was Frank Ralph Nitto, but after his birth in Italy on 27 January 1886, he was registered at the registry office in Angri, in the province of Salerno, as Francesco Raffaele Nitto. Frank Nitti was a central figure in Italian-American organised crime based in Chicago.

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In the early 1940s, Nitti convinced Ricca and the rest of the Outfit's management to extort money from film studios in Los Angeles, California . Chicago gangster John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli controlled the film industry workers' union Projectors Union and threatened the studios with strikes and other union problems. To avoid labour unrest, RKO, Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 20th Century Fox paid several hundred thousand dollars to the Outfit. However, two Chicago Mafia men, Willie Bioff and George Browne, were arrested for extortion and agreed to testify against the Outfit's management. In March 1943, Ricca, Nitti and other Mafia leaders were indicted for extortion.
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Paul Ricca whose real name was Felice De Lucia, of Italian descent, was born on November 14, 1897 in Naples , Campania, to Antonio and Maria Annunziata De Lucia.   He was considered an Italian-American mobster with increasing roles within the Cosa Nostra for 40 years, until he became its godfather within the Chicago mafia family, also known as de Outfit. In 1958 according to a Senate crime investigation subcommittee Ricca was called “the most important criminal in the country.”


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Joe Valachi was the first “pentito” in the history of the Italian-American mafia, he was the first to reveal the name of Cosa Nostra to the world. His collaboration can be considered a turning point for the Department of Justice led by Robert Kennedy. In October 1963 his deposition on live TV was seen by tens of millions of American television viewers. It was a media event that we can define as historic for the activity of the federal government in the fight against organized crime. For the first time, during television broadcasts the American public heard a mafioso talk about commissions and godfathers.

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Joe Valachi was the first “pentito” in the history of the Italian-American mafia, he was the first to reveal the name of Cosa Nostra to the world. His collaboration can be considered a turning point for the Department of Justice led by Robert Kennedy. In October 1963 his deposition on live TV was seen by tens of millions of American television viewers. It was a media event that we can define as historic for the activity of the federal government in the fight against organized crime. For the first time, during television broadcasts the American public heard a mafioso talk about commissions and godfathers.

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Between 1963 and 1965, chaired by Democratic Senator John McClellan, the Senate Federal Government of the United States of America established the Senatorial Subcommittee, whose investigations constituted an important turning point in the US government's fight against organized crime. The first hearing was held on September 27, 1963, at the United States Senate, around 10:00 am. The commission was desired by Robert Kennedy. He initially served as consultant to the McClellan Commission, and then as Attorney General. Robert Kennedy, John's younger brother, considered the Mafia an organization that contaminated all the economic and political nodes of the United States.

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Carlos Marcello is much less well known to the public than infamous gangsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, or John Gotti. Yet he wielded far more power than anyone else, and for far longer. He was the undisputed boss of the New Orleans mob.

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Carlos Marcello is much less well known to the public than infamous gangsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, or John Gotti. Yet he wielded far more power than anyone else, and for far longer. He was the undisputed boss of the New Orleans mob.

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Trafficante always wanted to make it big in the Cuban casinos and in 1946 sent his son, Santo Jr., to Havana to run the Mafia casinos. However, even in Cuba, Lansky was the ringleader, maintaining influence at the highest levels of the government, so much so that Trafficante was never more than a junior partner on the island.

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