In popular imagination, the Mafia is primarily associated with the large cities of the Northeast and industrial Midwest, particularly New York City and Chicago. These cities, especially New York, experienced the greatest influx of immigrants in the early 20th century, and thus had large, impoverished ethnic neighborhoods from which crime families could draw recruits. The most famous of all gangsters, Al Capone, is forever associated with Chicago, while New York has been the popular locale for Mafia-themed books, films, and television shows, from The Godfather to "The Sopranos." Surprisingly, however, the Mafia first rose to prominence in American culture not in New York or Chicago but in the "Big Easy," New Orleans, and it remained a part of the city's social fabric for over a century (Jones). The following essay will examine first, why Italian-Americans settled in large numbers in New Orleans in the 19th century; second, the factors that led some of these immigrants into organized crime; and third, how the New Orleans Mafia developed over the years.
In the 19th century, before immigration to the United States came to be concentrated through Ellis Island, New Orleans claimed the largest share of immigrants from Italy, including Sicily (Jones 2). They came in part because its warm climate was reputed to be more comfortable for Mediterranean peoples than the cold-winter climate of the Northeast. The Gulf shrimping industry also drew fishermen from Sicily and Southern Italy who were familiar with shrimping. In addition, New Orleans had from an early date a highly mixed population. It had originally been established as a French colony, still commemorated by the city's famed French Quarter. From colonial times on, New Orleans also had a substantial free African-American population. Thus, early immigrants from Italy found there a varied population and Latin-flavored, Catholic culture into which they could
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