How Tony Soprano Endorsed Your Mayor

When people think of the mafia, they think of The Godfather, A Bronx Tale, or The Sopranos. However, what made The Sopranos an award-winning series was that it portrayed the mafia for how they actually operated. In this case, Tony Soprano, the fictional crime boss of the North Jersey crime family, juggled his professional life in “waste management” and his personal life with his wife, two children, and sister. The setting takes place in an area that has been historically dominated by mob activity: New York City and Northern New Jersey. Both areas have a history of the mob influencing politics and important policy discussions.

During the mafia’s heyday in the 1920s – 1970s, they engaged heavily in politics. Outside of planning who to whack, many activities they engaged in were stuffing ballot boxes, exchanging bribes, and making massive donations to political candidates who would do their bidding. In addition, the mob worked heavily with unions to control the labor supply, extort businesses, and secure no-show jobs for their associates. Similar to how Tony Soprano got Christopher Molitsanti a job as a union safety official in the season three episode Fortunate Son. While Tony and Co. mostly dealt with business and religious leaders, there was an NJ congressman who worked with the mafia.

Neil Gallagher represented NJ’s 13th congressional district from 1959 to 1973. The district was dissolved in 2013. Gallagher, a native of Bayonne, did business with mobster “Bayonne” Joe Zicarelli, whose connections in business and politics extended to the Caribbean. Gallagher served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which made him an influential figure in shaping U.S. foreign policy. This made the perfect breeding ground for Zicarelli. However, the life of crime caught up to the two when the LIFE reported on the FBI allegedly wiretapping Zicarelli’s phone conversations between him and Congressman Gallagher, where Gallagher was recorded trying to protect Zicarelli from the police in an illegal gambling operation. Gallagher denied any involvement and, despite the serious allegations brought against him, was re-elected in 1968.

During the 1990s, crime was running rampant in the Big Apple. A lot of that changed when NYC elected Rudy Giuliani became active in shaping the political and legal discourse in the greatest city in the world. Giuliani taking on the mob became a prominent part of his successful political career. He would lead arguably the most aggressive approach to dealing with the mafia. Giulinli prosecuted high-ranking mob bosses, particularly from the Genovese and Gambino crime families, two of the five major crime families that operate in the New Jersey-New York metropolitan area. However, Rudy’s most famous case happened in 1992 when he prosecuted John Gotti, the boss of the Gambino crime family. Gotti was convicted of murder and racketeering and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In 2002, he died in prison.

Rudy Giuliani’s time as U.S. Attorney shaped the way he dealt with crime as NYC mayor. Giuliani’s way of handling the mafia was known as the “broken windows” strategy, which focused more on smaller crimes and quality of life crimes and keeping the city clean. The theory was that small crimes end up leading to bigger crimes, so focusing on the smaller crimes would halt the bigger crimes. Although the mafia influence still hangs high in this part of the country, violent mob-related crimes have seen a sharp decline over the past few decades, although some major stories involving the mafia have emerged in the last 365 days.

Just last month, The New York Post covered a major story in Englishtown, NJ, where Mayor Dan Francisco, former Project Veritas Executive Director, appointed former Gambino crime family hitman John Alite, who did time in prison for murders, to the council. Alite acknowledged his chequered past and wants to redeem himself by giving back to the community. His appointment led to 4 council members resigning, with one claiming they feared for their safety and others alleging that Francisco was operating an authoritarian government. This past week at the last Borough Council Meeting, Alite was heckled by a John Gotti Jr. underling, Christopher George from Long Island. The residents started booing George, with one resident shouting, “Do me a favor! Step the f–k out of here!” The residents at the meeting stood with Alite. Alite then claimed to the crowd that George was “hired by guys from my ex-life, and had his own fallout with the Gottis himself.”But wait, that’s not all. Just this month, a NJ councilman and 39 members of the Lucchese crime family were arrested for operating an illegal gambling ring, which is one of the biggest mob busts in recent memory.

While many of us enjoy our mobster entertainment, I do not recommend engaging in any of these activities. Every politician, even the ones we admire the most, has baggage they do not want the public to find out about. In Alite’s case, he acknowledged his criminal past and wants to reform himself. Politicians are always going to have their hands in lots of different pockets. The ones who work with the mafia are pretty bold, but it is also very dangerous. Anytime someone sees this kind of behavior from government officials working with criminal organizations, it must be condemned by everyone.