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#1 La Mafia, a secret society, was formed in Sicily to protect the peasants against the tyranny of the feudal lords. It came to the United States during the wave of Italian and Sicilian immigrants between 1880 and 1914. The American version developed both imported and homegrown.

#2 The Mafia was a product of organized crime, and thrived during the Great Depression. It was in control of many aspects of life in Brooklyn, New York, particularly in Red Hook, where Italian men had two choices: be a longshoreman and break your back on the piers, or be a hood with a chance of rolling in dough.

#3 Red Hook, Brooklyn, was a grimy neighborhood of narrow cobblestone streets built upon a hook-shaped piece of land that protruded into New York Bay. It was a perfect place for cargo boats to pick up and drop off. The area was run by a gang called the White Hand in the mid-1920s.

#4 Carmine and his wife, Assunta, were young parents when they got married. They had four children, three of whom survived infancy. Carmine was a violent man, and he would often discipline his wife by hitting her.