In Denton and Morris’ The Money and the Power (2001), we get an excellent sociological illustration of the relationship between organized crime and politics in the United States. We do so because we see that it is most often the most powerful, most wealthy, and most influential individuals in American society who are the real power behind the workings of organized crime. Without the sanction of these individuals, it would be impossible for organized crime to exist as it does because there would be no political influence of law enforcement control regarding its activities. Meyer Lansky who was responsible for creating what is now the economic Mecca of gambling known as Las Vegas, understood all too well how it was the wealthy and politically powerful who maintained the power providing the fuel for the proceeds of organized crime. As Denton and Morris (2001) report, “He adopted another grander axiom as well: That crime and corruption were no mere by-products of the economics and politics of his adopted country, but rather a cornerstone” (22).
Lansky’s world was the hands-on grit of pimps and prostitutes, protection and extortion, bootlegging and narcotics, and as Denton (2001, et al.) maintains, “legitimate business fronts, corrupt police, and ultimately, always, the rich and powerful who owned it all but kept their distance” (22). We see how men like Joseph Kennedy were as corrupt as major underworld crime bosses, including bootlegging and influence the outcome of elections in Chicago and other cities. Such a close relationship between major political influences and organized crime is a constant of organized crime in American society and most others, for it is often the most wealthy and political infiltrated and influential members of society who are behind organized crime at its highest level. Men like Lansky not only resorted to the most brutal violence to stop anyone or anything that got in their way, but they w...