AHC: Create Native American Mobsters

[Mike Stearns]

Winnipeg? No really helpful.

Until the 1920s, Winnipeg had the second biggest railway yards in the world after Chigaco. It would be a vital transportation hub for anyone looking to move illicit drugs or alcohol.

 

[mikegold]

A lot of Navajo were relocated to LA in the interwar period, IIRC. Many Navajo have historically struggled with alcohol abuse. Maybe during Prohibition, you get a major Navajo-led concern smuggling tequila in from Tijuana, that quite naturally expands into extortion, gambling, etc. In fact, maybe they link with with Bugsy Siegel, et al, when Vegas gets going, or even get the jump on him and establish the Nevada concerns first.

So the Navajo syndicate's power arc stretches from San Diego (for Tijuana-based smuggling), through LA, Nevada, and into the Four Corners region. The Baja may develop into a strong Navajo extraterritorial base with more corruption and less oversight, like Cuba for the East Coast/Florida mob in the 50's. When Italian and Jewish mobsters start comimg west in a big way in the 40's and 50's, they'll have a war on their hands.

Also interesting to consider - the Navajo relationship with LA and San Francisco-based Asian mobsters such as Triads and Yakuza. In LA, they overlap and both constitute "the other"; this could either lead to a strong alliance or some nasty internecine violence.

Nothing on this? I think it's surprisingly plausible.

 

[SPJ]

[FONT=&quot]I think I found someone who has promise in being an intelligent criminal.

Sylvester Clark Long AKA Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance

[/FONT][FONT=&quot] The Man had an interesting life which sadly ended in tragedy. I suggest looking him up to read the basics about his life like I did and hear I'll just give the basics about why I think he'd make a good NA mobster.[/FONT]

1. [FONT=&quot]He cared deeply about Native American issues regardless of their tribe affiliations or if they resided in the USA or Canada.[/FONT]
2. [FONT=&quot]He was a WW1 vet with combat experience and acted as a bodyguard when his career went downhill. (i.e. He know how to use violence for his benefit)[/FONT]
3. [FONT=&quot]He was willing to do morally questionable things for his own benefit and in the attempt to help others.[/FONT]
4. [FONT=&quot]He was very intelligent and had a fairly broad education. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Sadly he committed suicide in 1931 at the age of 41 due to downturns in his career due to the discovery of his having an African ancestor. But what if instead of getting sad what if he decided to get MAD![/FONT]

 

[SPJ]

Here is a photo of him.

Edit: Sorry the photo won't show up here is a link to photos of him. http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/sh...Buffalo-Child-Long-Lance-Sylvester-Clark-Long

 

[Osakadave]

It's my understanding that AIM's objections to organized crime, in the form of corrupt tribal governments, played a part in the events of Wounded Knee in the early 70s. I expect it'd be something of a chore to dig up good info on it, but i would not at all be surprised if there weren't outfits in operation much earlier. George Kelly's 1928 arrest was for smuggling alcohol onto a rez, for example, and there had to be somebody on the rez to distribute it. And considering that the Mohawk rez in NY is a hub of drug, illegals, and tobacco smuggling now, I'd be very surpised if it wasn't for alcohol back in the prohibition days as well.

Organized crime may or may not be involved in rez gaming as well, depending on who you ask....

 

[Enigmajones]

I'd like to offer up Tulsa as a possible option. If any of the native populations, begin to make moonshine, a profitable market could be found in one of Oklahoma's major population centers. The lack of cooperation between Reservation and regular police would create a perfect safe zone.

 

[Osakadave]

I'd like to offer up Tulsa as a possible option. If any of the native populations, begin to make moonshine, a profitable market could be found in one of Oklahoma's major population centers. The lack of cooperation between Reservation and regular police would create a perfect safe zone.

I don't tgink that would really qualify as AH. That's where Kelly was arrested in'28 for smuggling liquor...

 

[SPJ]

Any new ideas?

 

[TheMann]

Any new ideas?

Maybe get a few of them in New York in the early 1900s to work with La Cosa Nostra, like Bumpy Johnson did for example. This gets them a link with the powerful Italians, with whom guys like Lucky Luciano could deal with.

 

[DanMcCollum]

I know, at least by the 1960s, Minneapolis had a large Native American population, due to its existence as an economic and cultural hub (while, oddly enough, not being a northern plains city). If such an ethnic urban community existed in the 1920s, Minneapolis would be a great choice, as the city was up to its neck in gangsterism in the 20s and 30s. The problem, however, is the Irish mob dominated the city and was fairly brutal in its dominance. Anyone else know the history of the Twin Cities better to comment?

 

[Anime Ninja]

The mob wanting to move boozes across the border finds that the Native Tribes that straddle the border will move it for them and other "shipments" get stopped before crossing. The mob knows that they can't get on the reservation and if they do they will be sticking out like a sore thumb.

 

[phx1138]

Are there any big cities where a significant minority of the population is American Indian?

That's Oklahoma, isn't it? Largest Native population of any U.S. state?

You also need them connected to something valuable, like liquor or marijuana, & a major (white) population center to sell into/corrupt.

You also IMO need a charismatic leader of some kind, to gain the respect of the white gangsters: a kind of Native Bumpy Johnson or Charlie Luciano.

opium being brought in from the Canadian Prairies

Seriously? Alcohol smuggled in from Canadian breweries, yes. Even illegal cigarettes... (Those do appear better suited to Lake Superior, & so Ontario, but...)

Why smuggle pot over the border? It's an actual weed out west. Plant the outer dozen rows of a field with corn or something, and then plant pot in the rest of it. And then just harvest it like you would anything else. It's not very hard, and would be something done on the rez, where one can almost by default exploit the dislike of outside law enforcement by the general population, and bring money into the community, thus gaining a bit of respect and popularity, (like Pablo Escobar in a way.)

This also has the advantage, in some Native communities, of being considered acceptable use, where alcohol is seen as a poison to be banned, so smuggling grass could be okay. It could even be seen as a fair payback for white mistreatment.

Maybe during Prohibition, you get a major Navajo-led concern smuggling tequila in from Tijuana

It's much more likely to be Mob exploiting Navajo, even allowing these are "town Navajo" (or what you might call Oreos).

Given Navajo have been ranchers, what about organized cattle rustling?

Winnipeg was known as the "Paris of the Prairies" for a time. If they can link up with American gangsters in the Midwest they could have a lot of success in smuggling alcohol.

It's also got probably the largest Native minority of any city in Canada as a percentage of population.

The mob wanting to move boozes across the border finds that the Native Tribes that straddle the border will move it for them and other "shipments" get stopped before crossing. The mob knows that they can't get on the reservation and if they do they will be sticking out like a sore thumb.

You may have hit it. Rez booze North of 49 is tax free, & several rez straddle the border (in Ontario, for sure; in NY, too, IIRC). So you want a U.S. gangster making an alliance with a Canadian native gang to smuggle it south. OTL, we've seen that with cigarettes going both ways...