- Polish Mob
Polish-American organized crime has existed in the
United States throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Although not as well known as Russian or Italianmafia s, the Polish mob has a presence in many urbanPolish American communities.Prohibition-era
During the Prohibition era, many Polish or Polish-American criminal gangs took advantage of the opportunity to make money through the illegal sale of alcohol. In
Chicago , "Polack Joe" Saltis allied himself withAl Capone 'sChicago Outfit in the gang wars that gripped the city, while Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik became a trusted associate of Capone's. However, fighting Capone was theNorth Side Gang , which, while mostlyIrish-American , had a large Polish presence in it as well, with the leaders "Bugs" Moran andHymie Weiss both having a Polish heritage. The Polish AmericanFred Goetz was involved in carrying out theSt. Valentine's Day Massacre .Meanwhile, in
Philadelphia , the organization led byMickey Duffy , born William Michael Cusick, was the dominant bootlegging gang in theDelaware Valley until his assassination in August 1931.Joseph Filkowski , a Polish Catholic organized crime figure, actually led a mostly Polish bootlegging ring inCleveland, Ohio , along with gangsterJoseph Stazek .Paul Jawarski (orPaul Jarwarski ) was also a prominent figure, carrying out the first armored car robbery.The Kielbasa Posse
The Philadelphia Polish Mob, known as the Kielbasa Posse, are a Polish American organized crime group operating from the Port Richmond area in Philadelphia. Named after a type of Polish sausage, the gang is made up of Polish immigrants living in Port Richmond, Kensington,
North Philadelphia ,Northeast Philly ,Bucks County , andSouth Jersey , as well as second-generation Polish Americans.The gang moved into territory occupied by Russian and Italian Mafia outfits, namely the trafficking and dealing of Ecstasy, and are said to have moved into bookmaking and loansharking operations as well. They would meet several times a week at a local Polish bar and although they have a tough and fearsome reputation, they are said to be very polite and gentleman-like to local citizens and do not start fights unnecessarily. [ [http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2002-12-12/cb3.shtml Philadelphia City Paper - Pole Vaulting] ]
The Greenpoint Crew
In March 2006, the
United States Attorney's Office inNew York published a press release covering the indictment of twenty-one members of the so-called Greenpoint Crew, an infamous Polish criminal organization operating out of the heavily Polish neighborhood ofGreenpoint, Brooklyn . Led by Ostap Kapelioujnyj and Krzysztof Spryasak, the gang ran it's operations ofgunrunning ,armed robbery ,drug trafficking ,extortion ,car theft ,credit card fraud and fencing (reportedly including a stolen 18th centuryStradivarius violin ) mostly inNew York City , as well as having connections back inPoland andEastern Europe . The gang was not above resorting to violence to achieve their aims, as one video used as evidence shows Kapelioujnyj discussing his threatening to kill a debtor with a golf club after already taking two computers, a camera, and aniPod . [ [http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye/pr/2006/2006mar8.html United States Attorney's Office - Greenpoint Crew Indictment] ]Other
Polish organized crime groups exist and have existed in
New York City ,Philadelphia ,Chicago ,Detroit ,Pittsburgh ,Cleveland , Buffalo, and many other cities with large Polish American populations.Associates of organized crime with Polish heritage include
Richard Kuklinski , a contract killer known in the underworld as "The Iceman."References
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