Organized Crime in the 40's (APUSH)

Mob bosses

1

This guy still influenced the Mafia from his prison cell until he was deported to Italy in 1946.

Lucky Luciano

2

This mobster took over much of Luciano’s influence during the 1940s and later lent his name to a major crime family.

Vito Genovese

3

This “Prime Minister of the Underworld” helped organize the National Crime Syndicate and remained powerful through the 1940s.

Meyer Lansky

4

This Chicago Outfit boss maintained control during WWII and expanded gambling operations in the 1940s.

Tony Accardo

5

This mobster, known for his violent reputation, became a key figure in Murder, Inc. before his 1944 execution.

Louis "Lepke" Buchalter

CRIME & WORLD WAR II

1

Wartime rationing led to a booming black market in this everyday commodity, often stolen or forged.

Ration stamps

2

This U.S. Navy operation secretly partnered with the Mafia to secure New York docks from Axis sabotage.

Operation Underworld

3

Mob controlled unions in this industry were crucial to wartime shipping and to smuggling.

Longshoremen or dockworkers industry

4

This type of illegal gambling, popular among soldiers and civilians alike, surged during the 1940s.

Numbers racket

5

The government’s need for wartime labor allowed organized crime to infiltrate this major American labor organization.

Teamsters Union

LAW & ORDER

1

This federal agency, led by J. Edgar Hoover, downplayed the existence of a national Mafia during the 1940s.

The FBI

2

This type of crime, involving extortion and forced “protection payments”, remained a Mafia staple.

Racketeering

3

Local police corruption in this major East Coast city allowed organized crime to flourish throughout the decade.

New York City

4

This legal tool, often used later in the 20th century, did NOT yet exist in the 1940s, making it harder to prosecute mob networks.

RICO Act

5

This Senate investigation of organized crime began in 1950, but its roots trace directly to 1940s mob activity.

Kefauver Hearings

MOB MONEY & MARKETS

1

This illegal activity, essentially unlicensed casinos, was one of the Mafia’s biggest moneymakers.

Illegal Gambling

2

The Mafia expanded into this desert city during the 1940s, helping build its future as a gambling capital.

Las Vegas

3

This is the act of selling one's body for sexual means and gave a steady revenue stream for organized crime.

Prostitution

4

Mobsters profited heavily from wartime shortages by selling stolen or counterfeit versions of these government-issued items.

Ration books

5

This type of loan, enforced through violence, became a major postwar income source for the Mafia.

Loan sharking

Events of the Underworld

1

This 1942 fire on a New York pier fueled fears of Axis sabotage and helped justify Operation Underworld.

SS Normandie fire

2

This mob-run enforcement group, responsible for hundreds of murders, was dismantled by the mid‑1940s.

Murder, Inc

3

This 1946 Havana gathering brought together major mob leaders to discuss postwar expansion.

Havana Conference

4

This mobster’s 1947 murder in New York remains one of the most famous unsolved Mafia hits.

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel

5

This 1940s shift saw organized crime move from Prohibition era bootlegging to more corporate style operations.

Transition to the modern American Mafia