MovieChat Forums > Kill the Irishman (2012) Discussion > The Great Mafia/Irish Mob State of ...Oh...

The Great Mafia/Irish Mob State of ...Ohio?

posted 4 years ago by ecarle (14979)
2 replies | jump to latest

What's interesting in "Kill the Irishman" is the look at ...OHIO as a hotbed of Mafia/Irish mob activity. We know about New York, and New Jersey and Chicago and Kansas City.

But...Ohio?

Actually, Ohio makes great sense as a mob state. The history of America finds "the East Coast" steadily moving Westward from NYC through Philadelphia and Ohio before becoming the Midwest...the tenticles of organized crime just kept moving to each adjacent state.

Though evidently the West Coast was a harder nut to crack. We have LA Confidential and Mullholland Falls to show us how the Mafia didn't make much headway in LA. There's little talk of Oregon or Washington State Mafia. Of course, they sewed up Vegas for a few years....

Anyway, the Ohio Mob. It has stories, too.

PS. Dean Martin hailed from an Ohio mobtown -- Steubenville. His real name was Dino Crocetti.

[–] BourbonKing (5777) 4 years ago

The Syndicate (Lucky, Meyer, Chicago outfit) had their fingers in some L.A. rackets but because there were no large Italian, Jewish, or Irish immigrant communities in L.A. or greater Southern California it wasn't as easy to build an army of recruits and associated, plus none of them were eager to recruit Mexican Americans, Chinese or Blacks who lived there. Most of California was Agriculture with entertainment in Hollywood like a big island all to itself.

The advantage of having rackets in the Midwest is that you already have established medium-sized and large cities to conduct your vices and make a quick buck. Also, as they showed in this movie, the ports into Cleveland were bringing in lots of contraband from Canada so you had that as well.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

All very educational, BourbonKing. Makes sense. Thanks.