Crime Legends: Mobsters Who Defined America’s Underworld

At one point in America's history, particularly during the prohibition of the 1920s, the American Mafia had significant power and influence in many major cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Through a variety of illegal activities, the mafia wielded their authority and terrorized their territories. Many of these mobsters were crime legends who defined America's underworld.

Gangs ran criminal activities, including prostitution, gambling, narcotics, bootlegging, racketeering, and extortion. Few organized city police forces were strong enough to control the mayhem; many police officers were bought off by the money generated by crime. It took decades for the Federal Government to find a way to prosecute mobsters.

In 1970, Congress passed RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. This act allowed prosecutors to pursue crime families and their sources of revenue. Although the mafia still exists today, it is a shell of its former self, and many of these mobsters who defined America's underworld are a thing of the past.

To assemble a list of crime legends: mobsters who defined America's underworld, 24/7 Tempo consulted various sources such as the Crime Museum, the Mob Museum, the Crime Library, American Mafia History, and History, the website for the FBI. We created our list based on the power and influence a given gangster wielded and the historical and cultural impact the criminal had on American society.

Today, the influence of the mob may not be as great as it once was but organized crime remains a threat to society. According to the FBI, 33,000 violent gangs continue to operate in the U.S. today. (Click here for the most notorious cases in FBI's history.)

Here are crime legends: mobsters who defined America's underworld.

• Criminal activity: Larceny, prostitution, gambling, narcotics, extortion
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1890s-1920
• Fate of mobster(s): Killed by a crooked Prohibition law enforcement officer

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, racketeering, extortion
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1902-1931
• Fate of mobster(s): Allegedly executed by associates of Lucky Luciano

• Criminal activity: Bookmaking, loan sharking, hijacking, prostitution, and opium trafficking
• Area(s) of operation: Chicago
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1925
• Fate of mobster(s): Retired and died in 1957 from a heart attack

• Criminal activity: Gambling, narcotics, bootlegging
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1928
• Fate of mobster(s): Allegedly killed by gambling partner

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, rigging boxing matches, extortion
• Area(s) of operation: New York City/Hot Springs, Ark.
• Period of criminal activity: 1903-1965
• Fate of mobster(s): Died at home

• Criminal activity: Robbery, assault, bootlegging, gambling, prostitution
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1908-1957
• Fate of mobster(s): Retired from crime life after assassination attempt, died in 1973

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, newspaper wars, robbery, assault
• Area(s) of operation: Chicago
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1924
• Fate of mobster(s): Gunned down in his flower shop

• Criminal activity: Racketeering, murder, prostitution, extortion, bootlegging
• Area(s) of operation: New York City/Chicago
• Period of criminal activity: 1912-1928
• Fate of mobster(s): Gunned down in Brooklyn

• Criminal activity: Racketeering, gambling, murder, prostitution, extortion, bootlegging, tax evasion
• Area(s) of operation: Chicago/New York City
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1931
• Fate of mobster(s): Convicted of tax evasion, died from syphilis in 1947

• Criminal activity: Labor racketeering, bootlegging, murder
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1915-1944
• Fate of mobster(s): Became only organized-crime figure to die by execution in 1944

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, hijacking
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1931
• Fate of mobster(s): Shot in his bed in 1931

• Criminal activity: Gambling, narcotics, prostitution
• Area(s) of operation: New York City/Las Vegas
• Period of criminal activity: 1918-1947
• Fate of mobster(s): Shot to death at his home in Hollywood

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, kidnapping, gambling
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1935
• Fate of mobster(s): Gunned down in Newark, N.J., restaurant

• Criminal activity: Prostitution, drug smuggling, bootlegging
• Area(s) of operation: New York City/Sicily
• Period of criminal activity: 1919-1931
• Fate of mobster(s): Allegedly executed by associates of Lucky Luciano

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, racketeering, extortion
• Area(s) of operation: Chicago
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1946
• Fate of mobster(s): Died in prison in 1957

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, extortion, murder, hijacking, and gambling
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1918-1970
• Fate of mobster(s): Died of lung cancer in 1983

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, prostitution, racketeering, gambling, extortion
• Area(s) of operation: Chicago
• Period of criminal activity: 1920-1943
• Fate of mobster(s): Committed suicide

• Criminal activity: Kidnapping, robbery, burglary, murder
• Area(s) of operation: Midwest
• Period of criminal activity: 1934-1936
• Fate of mobster(s): Convicted and paroled in 1960s, died in Spain in 1979

• Criminal activity: Kidnapping, robbery, burglary, murder
• Area(s) of operation: Midwest
• Period of criminal activity: 1934-1936
• Fate of mobster(s): Fred killed, Arthur arrested

• Criminal activity: Narcotics smuggling, gambling, casinos, prostitution
• Area(s) of operation: Chicago
• Period of criminal activity: 1920s-1960s
• Fate of mobster(s): Died in 1992 from natural causes

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, murder, robbery, assault, theft
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1959
• Fate of mobster(s): Sentenced to 15 years in federal prison

• Criminal activity: Racketeering, murder, prostitution, gambling, extortion, bootlegging
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1962
• Fate of mobster(s): Died of heart attack in 1962 in Italy

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, labor racketeering, truck hijacking, white-collar crime
• Area(s) of operation: New York City, New England, New Jersey, New Orleans, Florida, Chicago, California, Pennsylvania and Detroit
• Period of criminal activity: Early 1900s-1976
• Fate of mobster(s): Died in 1976

• Criminal activity: Murder, car theft, burglary, bootlegging
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1920s-1967
• Fate of mobster(s): Executed at his home in Oak Park, Illinois in 1975

• Criminal activity: Gambling, racketeering, bootlegging
• Area(s) of operation: Philadelphia/South Jersey
• Period of criminal activity: 1920s-1980
• Fate of mobster(s): Murdered in 1980

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, murder, robbery, assault
• Area(s) of operation: Chicago
• Period of criminal activity: 1921-1925
• Fate of mobster(s): 3 brothers killed, 3 others fled Chicago

• Criminal activity: Bootlegging, gambling, bookmaking, extortion, tax evasion
• Area(s) of operation: Los Angeles
• Period of criminal activity: 1922-1961
• Fate of mobster(s): Died in 1976 after release from jail

• Criminal activity: Breaking and entering, prostitution, murder, bootlegging, pornography, truck hijacking
• Area(s) of operation: New England
• Period of criminal activity: 1925-1984
• Fate of mobster(s): Died at home in 1984

• Criminal activity: Murder, racketeering, extortion, drug trafficking, armed robbery, loansharking
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1940s-1982
• Fate of mobster(s): Sentenced to 20 years in jail, died in 1996

• Criminal activity: Numbers rackets, bribery, murder, gambling
• Area(s) of operation: Chicago
• Period of criminal activity: 1940s-1987
• Fate of mobster(s): Died in Houston in 1987

• Criminal activity: Drug distribution
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1960s-1980s
• Fate of mobster(s): Died in 2019 at age 88

• Criminal activity: Racketeering, loansharking, gambling, drug distribution
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1960s-1988
• Fate of mobster(s): Serving a 60-year sentence in prison

• Criminal activity: Truck hijackings, murder, illegal gambling, loansharking
• Area(s) of operation: New York City
• Period of criminal activity: 1950s-1992
• Fate of mobster(s): Died from cancer while in prison

• Criminal activity: Racketeering, money laundering, bribing law enforcement, extortion, murder
• Area(s) of operation: Boston
• Period of criminal activity: 1943-1995
• Fate of mobster(s): Convicted in 2013 and died in 2018

• Criminal activity: Murder, racketeering, extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, drug dealing
• Area(s) of operation: Philadelphia/South Jersey
• Period of criminal activity: 1950s-2017
• Fate of mobster(s): Died in 2017 in prison