AHC: La Cosa Nostra in the American West!

During the early to mid 19th Century seems to be the time that the Sicilian mafia began, which is around the time of the gold rushes out in the American Old West in the 1840's.

So, this got me thinking...

Find a way for a significantly larger population of exiled Sicilians and eventually mafiosos to enter the American west in time for it to be wicked badass cool.

19th Century Sicilian mobsters controlling liquor, gambling, and prostitution (among other things) out west is just too cool not to attempt.

Pretty self explanatory challenge, actually.

Go!

EDIT: I'm aware there wasn't any mafia activity that we know of in the U.S. until the 1880's or '90's, but that's part of the challenge.
 
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Was there actually enough money in a vast area of land which had barely just been settled to be worth their while? And in a land of vigilante justice, surely they wouldn't have their control of the courts to keep themselves safe? I'm not sure it would be a sensible decision to move there.
 
Was there actually enough money in a vast area of land which had barely just been settled to be worth their while? And in a land of vigilante justice, surely they wouldn't have their control of the courts to keep themselves safe? I'm not sure it would be a sensible decision to move there.

The idea was that enough Sicilians escaping vendettas (or something else, it's up to you) in their homeland and being given asylum by the Italian Jesuits in California (if indeed, any still existed at that time, I have no sources) that the Gold Rush appealed especially to these exiles and eventually, once the "Wild West" was a lawless frontier of gambling, prostitution, and vice, Cosa Nostra would coalesce to control it in a similar fashion to her northeastern twin.

A much earlier "Las Vegas" analog would be rather interesting, especially in California or Texas. We could call it: Nuovo Palermu (or would it be Palermu Nuovo?)

I like the image a lot.

For some reason, I saw TR as becoming an Elliot Ness like figure...

Ideas?
 
Was there actually enough money in a vast area of land which had barely just been settled to be worth their while? And in a land of vigilante justice, surely they wouldn't have their control of the courts to keep themselves safe? I'm not sure it would be a sensible decision to move there.

To be sure there would need to be more cashflow to the area and an almost ASB concentration of Italians and in particular Sicilians in the West for it to be absolutely plausible.

Immigration can be a coin toss. We have no idea what makes some groups of people migrate to certain areas (for example, for a long period of time the second largest population of European immigrants to Mexico were Austrian. I can see the Maximilian connection, but this was, I believe, pre-Max. Wtf?) It's not difficult to make Sicily a place you want to leave and a Gold filled California a place you want to go.

As far as more money in the West, maybe several of the gold rushes occur simultaneously?

Just spitballing. It's too cool not to try... :p
 
Maybe some sort of disaster in Italy causing large numbers of Italians to seek their fortune in the American West? A famine, or large-scale war maybe?
 
Maybe some sort of disaster in Italy causing large numbers of Italians to seek their fortune in the American West? A famine, or large-scale war maybe?

It's not far fetched. Maybe create a situation in which a large group of Butteros from Tuscany end up in California, the Sicilians see the American West as Italian friendly and when their famine/war breaks out they flock to the Italian missions just in time for the Gold Rush.

Later, once the Sicilian population is high, a Black Hand develops in the west.

The Black Hand Gang...

I got chills.

Sergio Leone is directing this. :cool:

EDIT: Unless he's butterflied. But I hope he's not by some miracle of the Space Time Continuum.
 
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Upon further reading of the history of Sicily, it seems like any time during the beginning of the Gold Rush is a good time for mass immigration. All we need is one vocal and well respected settler from Sicily in the West and when the news reaches the war torn island, the rest just kind of works out.

Any ideas for candidates for this individual?

EDIT: A slightly alternate Niccolo Turrisi Colonna could work. He was suspected of being perhaps the leader of the Sicilian Mafia in the 1860's and a simple change in his character (make him even more "mobster-esque") followed by the revelation of his connections could lead to him seeking his fortune in the West and taking a small army of "Men-of-Honor" with him. More soon follow.
 
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For Austrians and Mexico... It's maybe the fact USA is a protestant nation to the core, made by a majority of protestants... maybe there was troubles with catholics, and words passed by... better imigrate in a catholic nation.
 
Isn't there a strong cattle-raising tradition in Sicily? If so, would convincing some rural Sicilians that they'd have a better life working in the Great Plains help this scenario at all?
 
These proto-monsters might find a bit of fortune in he gold rush towns of California. Thy can start by not doing well in legitimate business, then maybe shaking down miners and Chinese immigrants. Nextthing you know they own gambling, prostitution, and see the lawlessness of the West, particularly during the Civil War, as a boon to their operations. You could see mob run towns like Tombstone, Denver, Boulder, Reno, and even maybe an earlier Las Vegas as the capital of vice in America.
 
You probably need some nativist movement in New York/New Jersey that targets especifically Italians (like it happened to Chinese on the other coast) so they end moving to Chicago and eventually California.
 
You probably need some nativist movement in New York/New Jersey that targets especifically Italians (like it happened to Chinese on the other coast) so they end moving to Chicago and eventually California.

Victory (at the local and state level) of the Know-Nothings? Another possibility could be a larger number of former slaves immigrating to the East Coast and taking many of the jobs that the Italians would later take in the big cities.
 
It may be too obvious, but if whatever proto-mafia grouping existed at the time was to play a role in the 1848 Sicilian revolution and subsequently to be caught up in the reprisals of King Ferdinand II, that'd be an excellent catalyst to head elsewhere.
 
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