page_title: Italian Immigrants in Prohibition media
section_title: The Mafia
hierarchical_section_title: Italian Immigrants in Prohibition media / Formation of Stereotypes / The Mafia
caption_attribution_description: English: An episode of the lynching of the Italians in New Orleans in 1891 after the murder of police chief David Hennessy. The citizens breaking down the door of the parish prison with the beam brought there the night before for that purpose.
context_page_description: Italian Immigrants in Prohibition media refers to the public perception of Italian Americans from 1920 to 1933, when the Eighteenth Amendment was in force. Anti-Italian sentiment was prevalent in the United States before Prohibition, as seen in the 1891 New Orleans Lynchings. The rise in popularity of feature films led to an increase in the exposure of Italian stereotypes. The image of the Italian gangster was promoted by such films as Little Caesar and Scarface. These films were associated with bootlegging and organized crime that was seen as on the rise during Prohibition.
  Many academics believe that the portrayal of Italian Americans in media and film has damaged their image in the public eye. Stereotypes surrounding the love of food, family honor, possessing certain political opinions, and propensity to commit crime were portrayed often in film, newspapers, and other forms of media. According to scholars, these stereotypes continue to be associated with Italian Americans, due in part to the coverage of these stereotypes during the Prohibition Era.
context_section_description: Beginning in the 1880s, Italian immigrants began arriving in the United States, mostly in the Mid-Atlantic region. From 1880 to 1915, almost 15 million Italians would immigrate to the United States, the largest mass migration in modern history. Many immigrants came from the troubled island of Sicily, where crime and disorder were rampant. The large-scale immigration of Italian to North America  brought with it elements of the Sicilian Mafia. While these criminal elements were ultimately a minority within the large Italian immigrant community, the influence of yellow journalism tied Italian immigrants with criminality.
  Organized crime in the United States is referred to as La Cosa Nostra (Italian for "our thing"). Traditions of organized crime in the United States trace their roots to similar organizations in Sicily and southern Italy during the late 19th century. As Italian Americans normally lived in ethnic neighborhoods, often known as "Little Italy," many traditions and customs from Italy continued over generations. Anti-Italian sentiment was linked to the Mafia, as in the infamous lynchings of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans on March 14, 1891. Accused of murdering a New Orleans police chief, the suspected Mafia soldiers were assaulted and lynched while in prison awaiting sentencing. The news coverage from the event helped publicize the term "Mafia" in the United States, and from 1891 on, Italian Americans would be associated with the Mafia in the media.
caption: The lynching of 11 Italian Americans, suspected of Mafia connections, in New Orleans, 1891.
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