The Rise of Mafia

From the story of the Bermuda Triangle can anyone blame Me-Righteous for his failure? No. He lived up to his name literally. Now let me narrate the case of Mafia to make my reader understand what really happens to all that goodness we speak of.
In this instance the USA is in the role of good: it is the land of hope and glory. A free democratically elected government is in place there. As to the moral strength of Presidents like Theodore Roosevelt, Hoover or Coolidge no one can lay a finger against them. While in Italy a fascist government has come to power. Mussolini was unsavory character: a braggart and a villain. Thus this play is a morality play of good versus evil.
The rise of Mafia in America drew its strength from the mass exodus of poor Italians to the USA. A few Italian families that could trace their ancestry to Italy had already entrenched into all walks of American life. The poor immigrants hardly spoke English and didn’t possess the necessary social skills either. They had to compete with the Irish community that had already established in Chicago. Besides Police force was filled with members from the Irish community. Mafia offered the newcomers their protection and found them jobs a service that, of course, came with a price tag.
After Mussolini came to power in Italy in the late 1922 he muzzled in the Mafia. In the USA Thomas E.Dewy who was then the District Attorney succeeded in sending the powerful Mafia boss ‘Lucky‘ Luciano to jail but the WW II intervened.
At a time Nazi Germany had sent their U-boats to create havoc on the Atlantic shipping lane Mafia secretly succeeded in scuttling Normandy berthed off the NY harbor. U.S government asked Navy intelligence to cooperate with the Mafia since labor unions backed by them effectively controlled the ports. Before the Allied invasion of Sicily the U.S government struck a deal with the mafia chief. As part of the deal ‘Lucky’ Luciano was released. Italy lost the war that proved as a shot in arm to the fortunes of Mafia.
Edgar J. Hoover was the FBI chief from 1920 for a period of 50 years and Mafia as reports go, was blackmailing him. His sexual predilections are not of interest as how much he contributed to the phenomenal growth of Mafia during his tenure as the head of FBI. In 1957 at Palermo a few clan chiefs including ‘Lucky’ Luciano, Joseph Bonnano and others held a meeting where an important decision was taken: Mafia would henceforth deal in heroin. It was a very lucrative business. As a result of that meeting shortly thereafter heroin was flooding into the streets of USA.
Tailpiece: Where do you draw the line or tell apart a villain from the hero? Where is the Christian Right and where is the progressive liberal? Where are the Gods chosen but intellectual wimps? Where are the intellectual terrorists?
benny