70 articles
American Mafia
The American Mafia, or La Cosa Nostra, is Italian-American organized crime operating in the United States since the 1920s through families such as New York's Five Families.
Apalachin meeting
The Apalachin meeting, also called the Apalachin raid or summit, was a November 14, 1957 gathering of American Mafia bosses at Joseph Barbara Sr.'s estate in Apalachin, New York, broken up by New York State Police under Sgt. Edgar Croswell, first public proof of a national crime syndicate.
Black Hand (extortion)
The Black Hand (Mano Nera) was an American extortion method of the late 1800s and early 1900s, using mailed threat letters signed with a black hand; not an organization, it declined after Joe Petrosino's 1909 death and Postal Inspector crackdowns.
Black Mafia
The Black Mafia was a Philadelphia African American organized crime group formed in the 1960s, distinct from Detroit's Black Mafia Family (BMF), known for extortion, heroin trafficking, the 1972 Club Harlem and 1973 Hanafi massacre murders, and the Junior Black Mafia successor.
Black Mafia Family
Black Mafia Family (BMF), cocaine trafficking and money laundering organization founded in early 1990s Detroit by Demetrius "Big Meech" and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory; dismantled in 2005 by Operation Motor City Mafia; also the name of the 2021 Starz drama series.
Bonanno crime family
Bonanno crime family: one of New York's five La Cosa Nostra families, founded under Maranzano and led by Joseph Bonanno; marked by the Donnie Brasco infiltration, Pizza Connection trial, and boss Joseph Massino's 2003 cooperation.
Bufalino crime family
The Bufalino crime family, also called the Scranton Mafia, was a small Italian American Mafia organization based in northeastern Pennsylvania, named after boss Russell Bufalino.
Buffalo crime family
Buffalo crime family, also called the Magaddino family or "The Arm," is a La Cosa Nostra organization based in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York, led by Stefano Magaddino from 1922 to 1969, active in labor racketeering, gambling, and southern Ontario, and the subject of renewed federal prosecutions since 2024.
Cali Cartel
Cali Cartel (Cartel de Cali), Colombian cocaine trafficking organization founded by Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela; less violent and more politically embedded than Medellín, supplied about 80% of US cocaine, collapsed after 1995 arrests and 2006 guilty pleas.
Castellammarese War
Castellammarese War: 1930–1931 New York Mafia gang war between Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano's Castellammare del Golfo faction; about 60 killed; ended with both bosses dead, Luciano's Commission, and the Five Families.
Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit: Chicago's single La Cosa Nostra family, also called the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob. Founded via Colosimo, Torrio, and Al Capone during Prohibition; crew-based structure; known for street tax, juice loans, gambling, labor racketeering; weakened by Operation Family Secrets.
Clan del Golfo
Clan del Golfo (Gulf Clan), also AGC/Urabeños and since 2024 Ejército Gaitanista de Colombia, is Colombia's largest illegal armed drug-trafficking group, founded in 2006 from AUC paramilitary remnants, active in hundreds of municipalities.
Cleveland crime family
The Cleveland crime family, also called the Porrello crime family or Cleveland mafia, is an American Mafia organization based in Cleveland, Ohio, arising from the Mayfield Road Mob.
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family, originally the Profaci family, is one of New York's five Mafia families, founded by Joseph Profaci, renamed under boss Joe Colombo in 1963, marked by three internal wars, and led for decades by imprisoned Carmine Persico.
DeCavalcante crime family
DeCavalcante crime family, also called the New Jersey family or 'Real Sopranos': an Elizabeth/Newark-based La Cosa Nostra family, the only indigenous New Jersey Mafia family, built on construction union rackets under Simone 'Sam the Plumber' DeCavalcante and John Riggi.
Detroit Partnership
The Detroit Partnership is Detroit, Michigan's Italian-American La Cosa Nostra family, also called the Tocco–Zerilli crime family after its intermarried ruling families; known for Prohibition-era Purple Gang roots, gambling and extortion rackets, and the 1996 GAMTAX indictment of 17 members including boss Jack Tocco.
Dixie Mafia
Dixie Mafia: a loose confederation of white Southern criminals active from the 1960s, based in Biloxi, Mississippi, with no formal hierarchy or ties to La Cosa Nostra; known for Gulf Coast corruption and the 1987 Sherry murders.
Drug cartel
Drug cartel: term coined in the 1980s for Colombia's Medellín and Cali syndicates, now applied chiefly to Mexican DTOs such as Sinaloa and CJNG; large criminal organizations trafficking cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana.
Enedina Arellano Félix
Enedina Arellano Félix, also known as Enedina Arellano Félix de Toledo or La Jefa, born 1961 in Sinaloa, is the sister of the Tijuana Cartel founders, reportedly its financial operator from 2006 and leader from 2008, and an OFAC-sanctioned individual.
Five Families
The Five Families are New York City's major Italian-American Mafia organizations: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese, formed after the 1930–31 Castellammarese War under Lucky Luciano's Commission. Once controlling rackets citywide, they remain active in gambling and labor racketeering despite RICO-era prosecutions.
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of New York's five La Cosa Nostra families, formed in 1931 from the Mangano family, named for boss Carlo Gambino, and led later by John Gotti; known for gambling, loansharking, labor racketeering, and construction extortion.
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family is one of New York's Five Families of La Cosa Nostra, founded as the Luciano family and renamed for Vito Genovese in 1957; known for secrecy, labor racketeering, and relative freedom from informants.
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela
Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela (El Ajedrecista), with brother Miguel, led Colombia's Cali Cartel, which trafficked about 80% of world cocaine by the early 1990s; arrested 1995, extradited 2004, pled guilty 2006, sentenced 30 years, died in U.S. prison 2022.
Guadalajara Cartel
Guadalajara Cartel (Cártel de Guadalajara), a Mexican drug trafficking organization of the early 1980s founded by Félix Gallardo, Caro Quintero, and Fonseca Carrillo; precursor of the Sinaloa, Tijuana, and Juárez cartels; linked to DEA agent Camarena's 1985 murder.
Gulf Cartel
Gulf Cartel (Cártel del Golfo, CDG), a Tamaulipas-based Mexican drug trafficking organization dating to 1930s alcohol smuggler Juan Nepomuceno Guerra; once dominant nationally, it spawned Los Zetas and has since fractured into warring factions and was designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2025.
Illegal drug trade in Colombia
Illegal drug trade in Colombia: the cocaine-centered illicit economy making Colombia the world's leading cocaine producer, with 253,000 hectares of coca in 2023, Medellín and Cali cartel history, Plan Colombia, and record seizures.
Jalisco New Generation Cartel
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, CJNG) is a Mexican drug cartel founded around 2010 by El Mencho, a main rival of the Sinaloa Cartel.
James Galante
James Galante, Danbury, Connecticut trash hauler and owner of Automated Waste Disposal and the Danbury Trashers, ran a mob-linked property rights system and pleaded guilty in 2008 to racketeering conspiracy.
Jewish-American organized crime
Jewish-American organized crime, often called the Kosher Nostra, was the participation of Jewish immigrants in US criminal enterprises, chiefly from the early 1900s through the mid-century.
Joe Adonis
Joe Adonis (Giuseppe Antonio Doto, 1902-1971) was an Italian-American mobster of the Genovese/Luciano circles in New York, a Masseria killer, Kefauver figure, and deportee to Italy in 1956; not the actor or the Chippendales troupe.