Crime is prevalent everywhere. No matter where we turn it’s among us whether in the midst of shadow of an unknown party or on the fifty-inch TV broadcasting the State of the Union speech. Yet, we are oblivious to the crimes occurring around us. We are unable to envision the tremendous corruption resting around the lurking street corners contributed by the Mafia. At the same time we cannot ponder that idea elected officials are too worthy to be labeled criminals. Even though, many citizens are oblivious to both distinctive groups of criminals, there is a great similarity between both parties.
The hierarchy and structure of the Mafia and the U. S. Government are identical and correlate to equal success of both factions. Both groups are capable of completing crime through this system and become undiscovered, given there isn’t a flaw within the system. Many would argue that the U. S. Government and the Mafia’s crimes are not on the same plateau, but given the power and prestige of the government they should be held to higher standards when sentencing is decided. The Mafia is portrayed as a secret faction that keeps strong ties to its group while raising mischief within the community in order to promote lucrative living conditions.
Their consistent secrecy and ruthlessness has been the motivating factor for its success in producing video games such as, Grand Theft Auto IV, where a player can live the lives of the Mafia by shooting disgruntled associates, picking up hookers, or visiting the boss. The Mafia’s fame has landed the TV show Sopranos. The show tells the story of the life of a crime boss of the DiMeo family, Tony Soprano, who robs, kills, and lies, to everyone around him. Also, the movie The Godfather, which is the second placed ranked film of all-time, portrays the life of Don Corleone nd how he has built the largest Mafia empire and sticks to the morals of the family. This incredible popularity of the Mafia portrayal can be deciphered by analyzing the structure and loyalty of the gang. During the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo, Italian officials were able to discover a list of Mafia commandments.
The Ten Commandments or “Omerta” of the mafia included: “I swear to be faithful to La Cosa Nostra should I betray my flesh would burn. ” “1. No-one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it. 2. Never look at the wives of friends. . Never be seen with cops. 4. Don’t go to pubs and clubs. 5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty – even if your wife’s about to give birth. 6. Appointments must absolutely be respected. 7. Wives must be treated with respect. 8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth. 9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families. 10. People who can’t be part of La Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn’t hold to moral values. These rules give testament to the Mafia’s strict loyalty and basis for a firm structure.
By establishing a stern policy the family is ingrained in faithfulness to the family code. The fear of immediate death is the driving factor that would keep members in the family aware of its rules and keep it flawless. This truthfulness to the Mafia commandments is clearly portrayed in the movie The Road to Perdition. Tom Hanks plays the role of Michael Sullivan who is a soldier to John Rooney, his mafia crime boss who adopts Sullivan at an early age and acts as his father figure.
Sullivan grows into the Mafia family and completes numerous tasks for Rooney, his father and boss. However, one-day Sullivan’s son Mike Jr. witnesses his dad and Connor Rooney, a capo commit a murder. Although Michael Sullivan swears his son to secrecy to withhold the Mafia’s laws, Connor tries to neglects this devotion and kills his wife and other son. This case shows that even a close bond between two close members of the Mafia family can be broken when a commandment that breeds success is broken. Michael violates the “anyone with a two-timing relative” When Mike Jr. s a bystander to the murder he can no longer be trusted because he has no ties within the Mafia family. The Mafia’s loyalty is forced to act quickly and prevent any secrets from rising to protect the family.
This meant dispensing of Michael Sullivan’s family. This type of behavior is outrageous, but tprevent any kind of exposure to law enforcements. Another reason to the Mafia’s undoubted success can be illuminated by the structure of the individual’s operations within the family. The cascade of the amount of power within the system is what prevents the more notorious individuals from being discovered.
It is because of this hierarchy that shades us from knowing all the actions that exists within the Mafia. The highest rank in the Mafia chain of command is the boss. All decisions are made through him such as, hits on suspicious people, money decisions, or even in Michael Sullivan’s case, disposing potential threats to the family. The boss must be a vigilant and powerful leader (Grabianowski). This responsibility occasionally causes the boss to take cruel measures to protect the family code of La Cosa Nostra. The next member is a consigliore who is not actually a part of the hierarchy, but rather an advisor to the boss.
His job is to help the boss make rational decisions based on matters pertaining to the family in maintaining fairness and order within the regime. A consigliore does not actually partake in the crime itself, but may insist the boss on deciding who should perform certain actions. The underboss is the next leader within in the system is the underboss is second in command, although the amount of power he exercises can fluctuate. His role is to resolve any disputes that are not worthy of the boss’s attention. He must be ready to fill the shoes of the boss’s duties if he is in danger or becoming old in age (Grabianowski).
A caporegime is the position right beneath the underboss. The boss selects this position and his duties consist of commanding soldiers to perform the crimes that are needed to fill the oath of the Omerta or code to La Cosa Nostra. A capo may perform tasks that are too reputable for the soldiers such as, overseeing hits of members outside the family, robbing, or hijacking trucks or ships to transport stolen good (Wilson). The next rank within the mafia is the soldiers. These members are the lowest rank in the chain of command.
They are part of the family, but they have a small voice and make a minuscule amount of money in comparison to the “dirty work” they perform, such as racketeering, stealing, and confronting disgruntled associates (Wilson). Underneath the soldiers the Mafia keep in contact with associates, who are not actual members of the organization. Associates are not part of the Mafia, but they partake in criminal activities, such as producing fake documents for the family. At this same time associate work another job such as a lawyer or investment banker while assisting the family (Wilson).
This type of structure of the chain of command and loyalty to its members has allowed the mafia’s crime to become so prevalent and successful. The Mafia’s oath demands loyalty to the point of death. Omertà implies “the categorical prohibition of cooperation with state authorities or reliance on its services, even when one has been victim of a crime. ” Even if somebody is convicted for a crime he has not committed, he is supposed to serve the sentence without giving the police any information about the real criminal. Within Mafia culture, breaking the oath of Omertà is punishable by death.
This type of loyalty to a tradition of the Omerta has promoted the Mafia to be successful at robbing, shooting, extortion, racketeering, and fraud in our everyday society. The structure of the family also keeps its highly regarded members out of trouble because they know their limits. When bosses, underbosses, consigliores, capos, and soldiers are all in conjunction with the same common goal they perform at a levitated success rate to perform its numerous corrupt jobs (Anderson). Under these particular circumstances they are upgraded to a level of local superpowers that are beyond reach of the government.
One similar group that shares the same system is the U. S. Government. Our Government officials work each and everyday to carry The President of the United States is a mirror image of a boss. The President’s duties are to enforce the laws of the Executive Branch, power over the Armed Forces, and enforce their “implied powers. ” The President is in charge of the entire countries security, enforcing laws and treaties, developing policy, and appointing appropriate officials. This role is very similar to Mafia crime boss because of their similar tasks.
The country demands a great job from the President so the country can succeed, which is also similar of a Mafia family. The next position is the Secretary of State. The President appoints the Secretary of State whose job is to serve as his principal advisor on policies within the country. This is a mirror image of the consigliore’s job, since he is chosen by the boss and aids with decisions within the family. The next position held within the U. S. Government is the Vice President who serves as the President of the Senate. He also is in place to serve as replacement President.
The job of an underboss is directly parallel to the Vice President because he serves as the substitute for the boss and he oversees the rest of the family. Further down the hierarchy is the Congress. Both parties operate together in creating laws of our land. They also decide tax rates, minimum wage, and how to spend the Federal Government’s money. This can be correlated to the job of a capo. His occupation is to coordinate the jobs for the soldiers in order to make their family run; similar to the way the country operates because of taxes.
The last group in the hierarchy of the U. S. Government is our military forces. They are the heart and soul of our country and make our nation what it is today. Without a military that was willing to die for protecting our freedom, our country wouldn’t be what it is today. The soldiers of the Mafia share the same desire to keep the family values intact. They perform many illegal activities to keep their family in power and wealthy, which is comparable to the way our military sheds blood for the freedom of our country. It is evident to state that the U. S.
Government and the Mafia structure share many characteristics and can both be looked at, in terms of fraud, equally. Even though our Government has established itself as one of the best in the world through its intricate structure and relentless desire to succeed, corruption is still competent to leak through. Government corruption is defined as, “the sale by government officials of government property for personal gain (Shleifer,Vishny). One brief example of the corruption our Government is responsible for is the Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin Roosevelt.
The Order stated that over 120,000 people of Japanese descent would be swept from their homes and sent to internment camps after attack on Pearl Harbor. The Government tried to justify this action by saying the Japanese Americans were a threat to the country. However, after an American citizen is granted freedom he should be given the equal rights that are similar to the President. The camps were not by any means comfortable and by sentencing innocent Americans to them was flagrantly corrupt (HistoryontheNet). “It was really cruel and harsh.
To pack and evacuate in forty-eight hours was an impossibility. Seeing mothers completely bewildered with children crying from want and peddlers taking advantage and offering prices next to robbery made me feel like murdering those responsible without the slightest compunction in my heart. ” -Joseph Yoshisuke Kurihara The decision to place numerous U. S. citizens essentially in concentration camps tried to be justified as a benefit to the nation. However, the people sentenced to the camps were a part of our nation and in no way did they benefit them.
By singling out a group of blameless citizens for punishment in order to protect the well being of those not in the same group is unlawful. The President exploited his “inalienable rights” by singling out a group of blameless citizens for punishment. His pity attempt for an increase in social credibility should not have been anywhere close to a legitimate reason when relocating innocent Americans in camps. Another example of this political fraud that many Americans were oblivious to was the Watergate scandal that shook America in the 1970s.
Richard Nixon who was the President of the time was the most respected and trusted individual in the nation because of his solemn power to protect our land. However, Nixon was deceitful to the nation and opened the door further to the thought that the political system may have enormous flaws. The Watergate scandal proved that energizing force of the political system is prone to corruption. The “checks and balances” of our country were violated and the citizens of America were doused in the corruption of our own government, because we were disheartened in the sanctity of our government.
The Presidential Oath states, “I, (name of incoming President), solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and I will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. ” The Watergate scandal is a polar opposite of Nixon’s sworn oath. His actions should be held to a higher standard because of his responsibility to not only protect but also preserve the sacredness of the Constitution.
The Constitution’s Preamble states, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ” This dishonesty of our President’s selfish mishap can essentially erode American’s trust and belief in the legitimacy of our government.
Nixon’s job was to withhold the laws of the land when merely he broke the laws of, illegal political espionage, bribery, and attempted obstruction of justice. Another demonstration of how one with an abundant amount of power can break the trust of citizens is illustrated through Bill Clinton’s scandal with Monica Lewinski. When he committed treason by lying to the nation many citizens felt emotions of disgust towards their elected and trustworthy leader. This type of corruption carries many political costs that could impact not the innocence of American citizens belief in our Government.
However, it could potentially limit society’s desire to elect political officials in the future. This robs our nation of the best-elected administrators and spiral into the downfall of our Democratic Republic and could potentially lead to the dismantlement of the hierarchy, which would direct us to become an unsuccessful nation. Within our everyday routine there is corruption amongst us everywhere. There is hideous corruption that lies within the robbing, killing, and stealing of the Mafia, as well as the lies, deception, treason.
Both parties are very similar in structure and belief, which has led to the ongoing activity of the Mafia as well as the United States classification of the greatest country in the world. Since the similarities are so precise between both parties they are capable of being analyzed by which is more corrupt. I believe that the U. S. Government. The Government is the organization that I am counting on to make important decisions for our country in the time of need. There is glimmer about the Government that gives citizens a sense of security when we see treaties being signed or laws being made.
However, when our officials partake in dishonest acts that happen to hit the fan, then the little array of light burns out and we can argue that government officials are more corrupt than the Mafia. The U. S. Government’s lack of consideration of their fraudulent actions is an undeniable way to determine their guilt. If an elected leader of over 305,529,237 citizens can neglect the thought of his/her actions to a point of committing a crime should be rightfully punished (U. S. Census Bureau). As a nation we count on the Government to not only make decisions us, but for others around the nation.
The networking that takes place in running a successful government is unbelievable. Yet, when that network is broken due to White House “affairs” a trust is broken not only with the U. S. citizens, but with the nations around the world who count on our support. However, the Mafia is a clan of close family members whose actions are not blanked by the whole entire nation. Unlike government officials the Mafia works as a family and are not worried about increasing resumes or credentials. When Mafia members commit a crime it is done for the safety of the family. However, in many U.
S. scandals the elected official has corrupted our nation as a whole for political or self-gain. Many representatives are more worried about saving their own reputations rather than the job they sworn into. The fact that our U. S. Government officials are held at a higher regard for their actions, they should be sentenced to even heavier crimes than Mafia Bosses. If a message is sent to a corrupt representative we are capable of preserving our nation from political corruption and makes strides towards dismantling the group who was once superior over our government.
