Attacks on Organized Crime
In the years following the assassination of president John F. Kennedy the United States government took aim to control organized crime. The attacks, led mainly by Robert Kennedy until his assassination, called for a nationwide end to violence.
Robert Kennedy
“Top mob members wanted Robert Kennedy and later John Kennedy murdered … they were alarmed at the increasing danger of being further investigated and prosecuted. The hypocrisy they saw derived from their notion that Joseph Kennedy's history with organized crime figures plus some racketeers' support of JFK's election warranted protection from … aggressive prosecution. Major mob leaders were outraged and planned revenge.” |
“Ever since Robert Kennedy had arranged for his deportation to Guatemala, Carlos had wanted revenge... he knew that to rid himself of Robert Kennedy he would first have to remove the President. Any killer of the Attorney General would be hunted down by his brother; the death of the President would seed the fate of his Attorney General... Roughly one year later President Kennedy was shot Dallas - two months after Attorney General Robert Kennedy had announced to the McClellan committee that he was going to expand his war on organized crime.” |
Breaking Omerta
“Sam Giancana was murdered in his own home. He had a massive wound in the back of the head. He had also been shot six times in a circle around the mouth."
Description of the murder of Chicago Mob Boss Sam Giancana, the wounds around the mouth was a universal mob symbol for “talks too much” |
“Omerta is the Code of silence when dealing with the government … Breaking the code of Omerta in serious cases specially if Mafia is concerned can lead to the assassination of the informant by the Mafia.” Description of the Mafia’s code of silence when dealing with the law, definition by Vendant Jain |
Joseph Valachi
“Convicted New York mobster Joseph Valachi broke the Mafia’s sacred code of silence, or omerta, and became a government informant, revealing and confirming details about the Mafia’s structure and customs for the first time [in 1963].” Article from History.com detailing the first time “Omerta” was broken by a member of the mafia |