The Devious Minds of Organised Crime Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Al Capone was one of the the most infamous American gangster of the 20th Century and he engaged in many nefarious activities. But as Prohibition neared an end, his gang cornered the market in an essential legal commodity. What was it?

Answer: Milk

In 1930, with Prohibition about to end, Capone needed a new source of income. Noting that the mark-up on milk was better than that on illegal booze, he kidnapped the president of the local Milk Wagon Drivers' Union. With the $50,000 ransom, he set up a rival business and, by using non-union drivers, undercut the other suppliers and soon had a monopoly.

As Paul Lunde noted in 'Organized Crime: An Inside Guide To The World's Most Successful Industry'*, "Al Capone's Meadowmoor Dairies fixed the price of milk in Chicago and pioneered the concept of sell-by dates.

It was a rare example of a gangland takeover that created a social benefit." (*Main source for this quiz).

2. In the early part of the 20th Century, a gang that was literally a family, dominated organised crime in London. What was their name?

Answer: Sabini

The five Sabini brothers were of half Scottish-half Italian descent. They dominated organised crime in London between 1918 and 1939, often fighting bloody battles with rivals. As well as running nightclubs, gambling dens and protection rackets, the Sabinis were behind the theft of gold bullion from Croydon airport in March 1936.

3. Organised crime was traditionally a male preserve, but in Britain from the 1890s to the 1960s, a gang of women was in active operation. What name was given to them by the law?

Answer: The Forty Thieves

The Forty Thieves were a structured gang of shoplifters operating in South London. They worked in pairs and groups to raid the capital's stores. Admission to the gang only came on the death or marriage of an existing member.

4. Although Al Capone was one of the best-known American gangsters of the 20th century, he had many rivals. Which of them was also a gifted florist?

Answer: Dion O'Banion

O'Banion had a half-share in a florist's shop and worked there virtually every day. He disliked the Italian gangsters. Rather than involvement in homemade liquor, he imported booze from Canada. O'Banion did not restrict his activities to dead-heading flowers, it was estimated that he committed 25 murders.

5. As America grew in wealth and influence in the early 20th century, so too did the mobs. Few crimes were beyond them and the violence they perpetrated was brutal. Some of the most deadly killers operated from an innocuous setting in New York City. What was its name?

Answer: Midnight Rose's Candy Shop

Many New York mafia killings were subcontracted out to the Brownsville Association, which could be contacted at any time, day or night, at Midnight Rose's. All murders were cleared through Murder Inc, the enforcement wing of the so-called "National Commission" run by Charles 'Lucky' Luciano and Meyer Lansky.

In 1940, one of the Brownsville gangsters, Abe Reles, was arrested and turned informer, giving details of 200 murders. Despite being in police protective custody, he did not live to give evidence. On November 12th 1941 his body was found on the ground outside the Half Moon Hotel on Coney Island.

6. With the growth in computer technology, Nigeria became a hub for organised crime gangs. Many specialised in financial scams and took a name after the number of the government decree that banned the transfer of money overseas. What name did police forces know them by?

Answer: 419 Syndicates

Paul Lunde noted in 'Organized Crime: An Inside Guide To The World's Most Successful Industry' in 2004 that 500 Nigerian crime groups operated in 80 countries.

7. Organised crime operated internationally. Many nations had their own particular underworlds. Which of these was an incorrect underworld operation for the nation named?

Answer: Barbados - Yardies

The Yardies, in fact, had their roots in the streets of Kingston, Jamaica. Their influence spread to Britain, mainly London, in the1980s. Initially involved in prostitution and illegal gambling, they moved into drugs and this led to spiral of violence and killing.

8. Deut Kadriovski was rumoured to be the godfather of one of the 15 underworld families that operated in an Eastern European country. Which one?

Answer: Albania

Following the collapse of communism in 1991, the Albanian mafia began to spread its tentacles across Europe, North Africa and the USA. Daut Kadriovski was rumoured to have started his criminal activity in the heroin trade in the 1970s. He was arrested by German police in 1985, but escaped from prison in 1993.

He was arrested again in Tirana in 2001 and extradited to Italy the following year, after which he began a 12-year jail term.

9. No quiz about organised crime would be complete without mention of the Sicilian Mafia. Which city was regarded as being 'home' to the leading families?

Answer: Palermo

All were, in fact, Mafia centres, though the movement had its roots in the west of the island around Palermo and Trapani and spread throughout the island and then to mainland Italy. Opinion differed on the origins of the word 'mafia'. Some said it came from an Arabic word, others that it was an acronym. Mafia was the anglicised version of the word 'mafioso', or, in Sicily, 'mafiosi'. The organisation was at times in an almost constant state of conflict with the Italian state, though the Allies sought assistance from the gang families during the invasion of Sicily in WW2.

10. He always said he would prefer a Colombian grave to an American prison. Which crime boss got his wish in 1993?

Answer: Pablo Escobar

A member of the Medellin drug smuggling cartel, Escobar was also suspected of murder and kidnapping. In 1976, he and two colleagues were arrested by the Columbian authorities, and Escobar embarked on a violent campaign against the government that led to the deaths of 1,000 judges and officials.

When the Colombian army stepped up its campaign in 1991, and - facing extradition to the USA - he negotiated a deal that saw him imprisoned in 'soft' conditions in Colombia that enabled him to keep on running his cartel.

A year later and facing transfer to a military prison, he escaped and went on the run. On December 1 1993, his hiding place was surrounded by troops and he was shot dead as he tried to escape.

11. In terms of organised crime, the mafia was always long associated with Italy. It was not, however, the only crime gang in the country. One other was the Camorra. In which city were they based?

Answer: Naples

The Camorra dated back to at least 1820 and originally controlled the city's prisons. It was also involved in gambling and theft and took a cut of all goods arriving at the docks. Later, the mobsters became involved in politics. Other Italian mob organisations included the Sacra Corona Unita, the 'Ndrangheta and the Sicilian Stidda.

12. "Some will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen", sang Woody Guthrie. In 1996 the Russian Mafiya was suspected of being behind the biggest money-laundering operation ever uncovered. How much was involved?

Answer: $9 billion

In what became known as the Benex scandal, huge amounts of money were transferred from Russian banks to 'Benex Worldwide' accounts at the Bank of New York. It was then distributed among shell companies in Europe. The money made its way back to Russia.

In 2002, more than 50 people were arrested after a police investigation that last two years. According to Italian authorities, $9 billion from Russian criminal proceeds was laundered between 1996 and 2002 - making it the largest money-laundering operation uncovered up to that time.

13. The Mexican Mafia became known as 'Los Mafoso'.

Answer: False

In fact the organisation was known as 'La Eme', which is Spanish for the letter M. Some sources claim that La Eme was actually created in Folsom Prison, California in the 1950s. By the 1970s, Mexico overtook Turkey as the world's largest exporter of heroin. The main activity of La Eme was to traffic drugs across the border from Mexico to the USA.

14. A punishment meted out by a criminal organisation formed the basis of the phrase "death by a thousand cuts". Which criminal organisation?

Answer: Triad

'Triad' was a coverall term for a huge number of family gangs within the Chinese community. Many myths surrounded the history of the Triad: the members viewed themselves as part of a folk hero tradition dating back centuries. New recruits to Triad gangs were required to take 'The 36 Oaths'. One of the penalties for breaking the oaths was to die by a myriad of swords, in which the muscles of the scalp were cut through with a butcher's knife.

This led to the phrase 'death by a thousand cuts'. La Cosa Nostra, literally "our thing", was the name given by the American Mafia to themselves.

15. He was known as 'Il Papa', the pope, and entertained powerful businessmen and politicians at his villa in Sicily. Which Mafia leader engineered water shortages, then sold supplies back to the authorities?

Answer: Michele Greco

Born in 1924, Michele Greco's role as a Mafia Godfather went un-noted until 1982 when his role was disclosed at the trial of another mafia gangster. A seemingly legitimate businessman, Greco provided hiding places for Mafia members on the run. The boreholes on his estate near Palermo supplied a third of the city's water supplies.

He was not above organising shortages, then selling water to the city. In 1986, he was convicted of involvement in 38 murders and was jailed.

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor DakotaNorth before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

"Three or more people acting in concert to commit one or more serious crimes for material benefit": that is the UN definition of organised crime. These questions look at a worldwide phenomenon.

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