NCJ Number
137487
Date Published
1992
Length
207 pages
Annotation
Based on his personal experiences as a second- generation immigrant growing up in Brooklyn, the author of this book describes how members of ethnic minorities have used organized crime as one vehicle of upward mobility to advance from lower-class status to the middle class and respectability.
Abstract
The criminal road to prosperity is one of displacement and succession as each new immigrant group competes with and eventually ousts its established predecessor from the leadership of organized crime. This historical criminal succession of Irish, Jewish, and Italian criminal gangs mirrors the upward mobility of the rest of these ethnic populations through more conventional means. The author argues that blacks, Hispanics, and Asians are pursuing similar criminal routes, and he disputes the more widespread, pessimistic view that the current plight of minorities in the U.S. is unique and dire. According to this thesis, the situation of minorities today differs only in degree from that of previous ethnic minorities, and the grandchildren of today's drug kings and gang leaders will end up in the middle class as a result of organized crime.