The Mafia Essay Research Paper Their guns — страница 3

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of. So, while the prominent members of society shot craps or played black jack the owners were in the back conducting business as usual. Outside of the casino, the Mafia made a significant amount of profit with gambling. The Mafia ran “numbers”, the equivalent of the lottery of today. For a few cents, people would pick numbers for the weekly drawing. Whose ever number was picked would receive a large jackpot. The Mafia really capitalized on human beings’ obsession with gambling, by making it available for every person in New York. Anybody from the prominent shop owner to the struggling apple-vendor could afford to gamble on a regular basis. The “numbers” were the most beneficial and popular for the people because they were inexpensive and they provided many jobs. Many

of the poor neighborhood kids made good money “running numbers” for the Mafia. The most popular and profitable “service” the Mafia provided was prostitution. Many of the Mafia leaders, started out as pimps. Prostitution was so profitable, because it offered the most easily marketable and vendible product in the world; sex. The Mafia used the prostitutes as tools to make more business. They placed their “girls” throughout their clubs, so they could lure some high roller in the back for a drink or two. They worked the bars, and listened to lonely middle class men who needed a shoulder to cry on. They were on the streets mingling with the crowd, looking for their next perverted customer. The bosses often used prostitutes to “sweeten” deal between rival leaders or

crooked politicians. They were as dangerous as the trained killers were, because they possessed something more powerful than guns. They were just as ruthless as the men that put holes in people’s heads; they only came in a nicer package. The Mafia men of the 1920’s and 1930’s were some of the most influential men in American history. They robbed banks, killed people, stole, cheated, lied and corrupted an already corrupt country. They were not role models, and they did not aspire to be. They were businessmen, men who had only two objectives, money and power. They saw a need for something and they produced it. 31a