The Commission (mafia)

The Commission is the governing body of the mafia in the United States. ^[1] Although its makeup has changed several times since its creation, the bosses of the Five Families remain the core membership of The Commission. Upon the Commission's founding, gangster Meyer Lansky allegedly remarked its influence to be "bigger than U.S. Steel."

Reasons for The Commission's formation

Pre-Commission situation

The Commission was established in 1931 by Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky in Atlantic City, New Jersey. ^[1] The purpose was the desire to replace the old Sicilian mafia regime, modeled after the Roman Empire. The former system, set up by the New York Don Salvatore Maranzano, resulted in the most powerful boss imposing his will by brute force, assuming the mantle of capo de tutti capi ("boss of all bosses") and ruling over all the other American bosses. This old system had led to a number of costly mob wars, and, in the aftermath of the Castellammarese War, Luciano (with the advice of Lansky) came to the realization that some structure was needed for the various mob families to settle their differences without bloodshed, thus benefiting the business interests of all and allowing the mob to stay out of the public eye.^[2] The answer, Luciano and Lansky reasoned, was a sort-of mob board of directors--to be known as "The Commission"--that would oversee all mafia activities in the US and serve to mediate conflicts between families.^[3] Naturally, the savvy Luciano assumed the position of chairman. Lansky served as Luciano's chief advisor. The Commission would often meet every five years or when needed.

Post-formation

The formation of the Commission did not stop the gang wars from taking place, but it did make them to be on a smaller scale and at greater intervals. When one Family declared war on another, the aggressor Family would find themselves at war with all of the Commission from mutual defense factions. To settle wars or internal conflicts, the Commission would appoint a new Don of the Family and have the usurper or the previous Don assassinated. An example of this is the case of the Bonanno family in the Bonanno War.

The Commission today

The Commission is still reported to exist today, though its current membership is composed solely of the bosses of the Five Families and its activities, like much of the Mafia in general, have receded from public view as a matter of necessity.^[4]

Structure

The Commission officially comprised seven family bosses: the leaders of New York's Five Families (Lucky Luciano, Joseph Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Vincent Mangano, and Tommy Gagliano) and the "Fathers" from Chicago (Al Capone), representing everything in the Western United States, and Buffalo (Stefano Magaddino). ^[1] Non-Italian mobsters such as Louis Buchalter were also allowed membership in the syndicate, but governing (voting) power was strictly restricted to Italian members. Lansky, beyond being Luciano's chief advisor, was made the official Financial Advisor to the Commission. Although largely acting in the shadows (which helped explain Lansky's eventual "untouchability"), he was able to exercise a good deal of influence (even talking Luciano and the Commission out of putting out a contract on Bugsy Siegel on two occasions).

Executive position

There was no "ruler" of the Commission, but there was a nominated Chairman or Head of the National Commission. This was used as a substitute to the role of capo de tutti capi, as that had the connotations of the old Mustache Pete system of one man rule. However, after the Havana Conference, Lucky Luciano took this title anyway so as to solidify his rule after being deported from the United States by the actions of Governor Thomas Dewey.

Judicial

The enforcement arm of The Commission was the notorious Murder, Inc. operation out of Brooklyn. This service had to be authorized by the Commission by vote first, along with the number of targets. Even then the number of targets was usually limited to one or a few individuals. This way the Commission avoided a confusing situation that could result in a war, and minimized possible press exposure.

Fictional portrayals

The Commission played a prominent role in both The Godfather and The Godfather, Part III. In the Godfather universe, the Five Families are known as the Corleone, Barzini, Tattaglia, Stracci, and Cuneo crime families. A Commission meeting occurs after the murder of Vito Corleone's son, Sonny, in order to broker a peace between the warring Corleone and Tattaglia families. Don Barzini appears to hold the executive position on The Commission. At the meeting, Vito realizes that the Barzini, Stracci, and Cuneo families had secretly aligned themselves with the Tattaglia family in order to force the Corleone family into sharing its political protection with the rest of The Commission, which was involved in a burgeoning drug trade that Vito was opposed to. Vito reluctantly agrees to share his political influence to promote the drug trade, thus avoiding further bloodshed and ending the war. The film ends with Vito's youngest son and successor, Michael, exacting revenge by having Dons Barzini, Tattaglia, Stracci, and Cuneo assassinated in dramatic fashion, effectively wiping out The Commission and consolidating the now-hegemonic power of the Corleone family. By the start of The Godfather, Part III, The Commission had reformed while the Corleone family had receded from criminal activity in an effort to become "legit" through corporate endeavors. Michael still appeared to exercise de facto control over the body, as he was personally responsible for blocking Joey Zasa's progress through The Commission. As a result, Zasa is believed to have organized a helicopter raid during a Commission meeting at an Atlantic City hotel, but it is later revealed in the film that the person who was trying to whack Michael was infact his temporary ally, Don Ozzie Altobelo who asked for the meeting in the first place. Most of the bosses were killed, but Michael was able to escape. Another fictional depiction of The Commission is the movie Mobsters starring Christian Slater as Lucky Luciano. During the movie Luciano is caught between the conflict of rivals families, and ultimately arrives at the idea to start The Commission to end the bloodshed, setting himself up as the "chairman of the board".

Further reading

• Bernstein, Lee. The Greatest Menace: Organized Crime in Cold War America. Boston: UMass Press, 2002. ISBN 1-55849-345-X
• Bonanno, Bill. Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-312-97147-8
• Bonanno, Joseph. A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003. ISBN 0312979231
• Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
• Downey, Patrick. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld, 1900-1935. Barricade Books, 2004. ISBN 156980267X
• Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
• Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra. New York: NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4230-0
• Maas, Peter. Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997. ISBN 0-06-093096-9
• Mannion, James. 101 Things You Didn't Know About The Mafia: The Lowdown on Dons, Wiseguys, Squealers and Backstabbers. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media, 2005. ISBN 1-59337-267-1
• Milhorn, H. Thomas. Crime: Computer Viruses to Twin Towers. Boca Raton, Florida: Universal Publishers, 2005. ISBN 1-58112-489-9
• Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8
• Reppetto, Thomas A. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7798-7
• Saggio, Frankie and Fred Rosen. Born to the Mob: The True-Life Story of the Only Man to Work for All Five of New York's Mafia Families. New York: Thunder Mouth Press, 2004. ISBN 1-56025-559-5
• Schatzberg, Rufus, Robert J.Kelly and Ko-lin Chin, ed. Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. ISBN 0-313-28366-4

References