NCJ Number
140455
Journal
Crime, Law and Society Volume: 18 Issue: 3 Dated: (November 1992) Pages: 303-318
Date Published
1992
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Numerous books assert that the American Mafia long had a prohibition against engaging in drug trafficking, either for reasons of morality or because of the public stigma attached to drugs; in reality, however, there are many problems with the belief in voluntary abstention.
Abstract
The mythical nature of internal prohibition and the far different reality is illustrated from the case of Philadelphia, supposedly the base for one of the most powerful and traditional-minded of all the American Mafia groups, the family headed from 1959 to 1980 by Don Angelo Bruno. An explanation is offered for the roots of the prohibition myth, both for writers and for the wider public that appears to be so enthusiastic about sagas of organized crime. Implications of this myth for policymakers in successive wars on crime are discussed. 37 notes