Black Organized Crime in Chicago

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how understanding the ceiling of power that separates the enterprising successes of black versus other crime group control over crime activities, such as numbers gambling, require a thorough exploration of the interrelationships between their subsequent and independent histories, structure, and culture. In particular, the paper reviews the growth in power of black organized crime in Chicago and its interconnectivity with the Chicago political and economic structure, as well as with other ethnic organized crime groups.

From the Paper:

"During the mid 1800s, over one thousand runaway black slaves migrated from the south to Chicago. They left behind discrimination, poverty, and slavery and headed north where African Americans found work, community, and education. They settled in the South Side district between 12th and 39th Street, close to Illinois Central Station, and as the migration of blacks increased, the district became known as the Black Belt (Lombardo, 2002). The ability to vote was foreign and novel to the new immigrants, however, they soon learned that with this came significant power. They quickly built of a number of gambling and drinking clubs to generate their economy. The Black Belt's first vice lord in 1890 was John "Mushmouth" Johnson. He operated several gambling houses in the Levee red-light district and sold protection within the Chinese quarter thus providing financial support to the black community. By 1912, 3000 black female sex trade workers lined the night streets of the Black Belt. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Capeci, D. J. (1998). African American organized crime: A social history. The Journal of American History, 84(4), 1547-1549.
• Griffin, S. P. (2003). Emerging organized crime hypotheses in criminology textbooks: The case of African American organized crime. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 14(2), p. 287.
• Lee, J. (2006). Cultural assets or structural advantages in numbers gambling. American Sociological Review, 71(1), 157-172.
• Lombardo, R. M. (2002). The Black Mafia: African American organized crime in Chicago: 1890-1960. Crime, Law, and Social Change, 38(1), 33-65.
• Potter, G. W. (2004). Philadelphia's Black Mafia: A social and political history. Contemporary Sociology, 33(5), 596-598.

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