Who was the mafia's most notorious member in American History?

Question

Like Al Capone or John Gotti. I really don't know much about this stuff so I'm not sure what either of these men have really done but yea I'm looking for an interesting American to research and so far I have Ted Bundy and I need like two more people so someone in the Mafia and one more person...

Answer 1

If you ask me Gotti isn't all that interesting. Go instead with the man that played a role in getting the MAFIA families together
Lucky Luciano he is credited with turning the mob into a regular business ( this was before the SOPRANOS).

He even forged an alliance with the Jewish gang in NYC with Meyer Lansky it was a lifelong friendship built on business. Cuba is going to come up between Rum smuggling prohibition and latter the casinos. The MAFIA owned pre- Castro Cuba.

Finally during WWII the US government let this go out of prison, because they knew he would take care of pro-Nazi spies and protect the shipbuilding and docks. Also helped out in Sicily got Sicilians to turn against the Germans.

Answer 2

I would have said Lucky Luciano (Salvatore Lucanio) and Vito Genovese.
Al Capone was just a Chicago figure, while John Gotti was around during the decline of the Mafia.

Answer 3

They beat me to it, Lucky Luciano was the 'godfather' of the mob and one of the first boss of bosses. He created the Commission and established the 5 families in New York. Capone was not a Sicilian and Gotti was the don of the Gambinos, one of the 5 families in NY.

You might want to research Murder Inc. too, with the likes of Bugsy Seigal.

Answer 4

Check your previous question. You got a lot of great answers.
I would go with Benjamin "Bugsy" Segal for "gangster". He was Jewish and could not become a "made man" in the mafia, but he was associated with the mob. He created Las Vegas and died in a spectacular way in his Florida home.